Homily
— Sr. Rhonda’s First Profession — September 25, 2013
Today
is a very special day in the life of Sr. Rhonda and of this
Community; it is also the
Feast of St. Sergius whom,
until this past week, I knew nothing about except that he had been an
Abbot and founder of a religious community in the 14th
Century. I’d like to share a little of what I have learned about
St. Sergius.
According
to one author St. Sergius is the most loved of all the Russian
saints, 2nd
only to the Virgin Mary, especially in Northern Russia. In another
book I read, he is described as a ‘peasant
saint’
(in character if not by origin) —
simple, humble, grave, gentle and neighbourly.
[These words might describe Rhonda except for the word “grave”;
her joy has a tendency to bubble up to the surface in giggles or
gentle laughter, especially when doing exercises in the therapeutic
pool at St. John’s Rehab. The last few week or so she’s had
difficulty keeping her feet on the ground.] St. Sergius has been
compared to St. Francis in his love of nature, a rather wild kind of
nature compared to that of Italy. There is a story, perhaps
apocryphal, that he once fed his last piece of bread to a bear who
was hungry, and thereafter he and the bear became friends.
St.
Sergius lived during the time when Russia was occupied by the Mongol
Tartars; he and his parents & brothers were driven from their
home in Moscow so they moved into the forest north of Moscow and
started farming there. After his parents’ death, Sergius, at the
age of 20, went deeper into the forest about 45 miles NE of Moscow to
seek spiritual solitude. He convinced his older brother Stefan to
join him and together they built their individual cells and a small
chapel. [According to Jane deVyver,] “he lived a very austere
ascetic life, marked by extreme poverty, hard physical labor, and
profound humility and simplicity.” This was too much for Stefan who
returned to the monastery where he had been living before joining
Sergius. For some years Sergius lived a solitary and extremely
austere life, keeping long vigils in his tiny chapel. However, as so
often happens with hermits or mystics who try to live a solitary
life, others learned of this holy man, were attracted by his life,
and began making their own cells close by. By 1354 a number of other
monks were living the communal life with Sergius although they soon
learned that living the communal life was much more difficult than
living as hermits. It was only the selfless conduct of St. Sergius
that held them together. Thus began the monastery of the Holy Trinity
— to whom Sergius was devoted — the first of approx. 40
monasteries founded by him and his disciples, “in the most
impracticable places”.
Sergius
was perhaps best known for his humility. He only became a priest and
abbot of his community after continued persuasion by his monks and
much later when the Metropolitan of Moscow & principal bishop of
the Russian Church asked him to be his successor, he flatly refused
saying: “Who am I but a sinner and the least of men.”Sometime
after the death of St. Sergius, his original wooden church of the
Holy Trinity burnt down and was replaced in 1422 by a white stone
church for which Andrei Rublev did much of the iconographic work,
including his most famous Holy Trinity icon which you see in front of
the altar.
The
readings for today were well chosen for St. Sergius. The first
reading from Sirach talks about seeking
wisdom,
rising
early to seek the Lord,
opening
one’s mouth in prayer and
asking
pardon for one’s sins.
These are important qualities for all monastics — well, some might
disagree with me about “rising early” to seek the Lord but Sr.
Rhonda is an early riser. What is true is that as Sisters, prayer is
our primary vocation. We believe that our ministry must be upheld,
informed and permeated by prayer. The most essential aspect of our
daily personal prayer is listening, opening ourselves to God to
discern God’s will for us both individually and corporately. Prayer
is not intended to make us feel comfortable (although there will be
times of consolation). Prayer is meant to challenge us and open us to
God’s transforming love and, as you know, being transformed is not
comfortable. As monastics, we keep trying to open ourselves to what
God is calling us to be in the depths of our being. Discernment never
ends. Today God might be challenging me to be more patient or more
understand- ing; tomorrow something may happen which is challenging
me to be more forgiving, and next month I may feel called to let go
of resentment or of controlling others or of some other weakness God
has uncovered in me.
The
desire for wisdom and a deeper relationship with God involves
journeying more deeply into ourselves — seeking the true Self which
God created us to be without any of the masks we’ve all learned to
wear to protect ourselves from being hurt by others. We have no idea
where that journey is going to take us. Just as St. Sergius moved out
into the deep forest 45 miles NE of Moscow to seek God and found an
area of wilderness, extreme poverty, and frightening creatures, so
when we seek a deeper relationship with God and with ourselves, we
too may find wilderness, inner poverty, and demons that we would
rather run away from. But the only way to deal with those inner
demons or fears is to face them in a safe place.
We
may feel inadequate, believing that we have nothing to give: “Why
would God call me
to this life?” We will definitely be challenged by the vows of
poverty,
chastity and obedience,
in different ways at different times. Poverty
will mean something different to each one us. Is it giving up my
freedom to travel or to buy a Starbucks coffee whenever I feel like
it or to take someone out for a meal? Am I ready to give up a
one-on-one relationship with someone and thus be open to “to love
the world for the sake of Christ”. Am I willing to be obedient to
the needs of my Sisters and to the leadership of this community,
especially when I’d prefer to do something my own way. It is easy
to see the vows only from a negative point of view, but the vows also
free us to be the people God is calling us to be and to use our gifts
to serve others and one another.
For
the last few weeks I’ve been reading a book entitled The
Emergent Christ
by Ilia Delio. In her chapter entitled “the Inner Universe” she
writes about the poverty
of being:
“Poverty is not so
much about want or need; it is about relationship. Poverty impels us
to reflect on our lives from the position of weakness, dependency,
and vulnerability. It impels us to empty our pockets—not of
money—but the pockets of our hearts, minds, wills—those places
where we store up things for ourselves and isolate ourselves from
real relationship with others. Poverty calls us to be vulnerable,
open, and receptive to others, to allow others into our lives, and to
be free enough to enter into the lives of others.” (p. 124)
“On the level of
human relationships poverty allows us to be open to one another, to
receive and share with one another. Poverty is the basis of
personhood because it involves kenosis or self-emptying. Only care
for one another truly humanizes life.” (p. 126)
This
is what each of us is called to as Christians and it is seldom easy.
In Ps 34 appointed for today, the psalmist says,
“I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually
be in my mouth” (vs
1) and (vs 4),
“I sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from my
fears.”
St. Sergius was first and foremost a man of prayer; that is what
attracted others to join him. And prayer is about relationship —
relationship with God — which in turn enables one to have good
relationships with others. The essence of prayer and love is
“presence”,
that is, taking time to be fully present to God or to
The
Gospel reading for today sums up the Christian life and the life of a
monastic: “Where
your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Sr.
Rhonda has found her treasure in seeking this deeper relationship
with God and offering herself to God through service to God’s
people; God has responded by giving her “more than she can ask or
imagine”. May God bless you, Rhonda, as you continue your journey
in the Sisterhood of St. John the Divine.
