May 2005
Poor Clare Nuns coming
to Arizona
Part One of Three
In May of this year, as the stately Saguaro blooms in the Arizona
desert, five young women known as Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration
will be coming to the Diocese of Phoenix. With God's help and
that of anticipated local benefactors, these contemplative nuns
will establish a monastery on a mountain peak in Black Canyon
City.
Why here and why now?
At my invitation, these sisters in Christ are being sent
from Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Hanceville, Ala. Since
that monastery in the Deep South has been blest with an abundance
of vocations in recent years, they have felt called by God to
expand their mission of prayer and penance to the Great Southwest.
But why would young women who seem so bright and
so full of life choose a sacrificial way of life, cut off from
all the "advantages" and the "excitement"
of the 21st century? Why spend time every day in Eucharistic Adoration
and get up in the middle of the night for silent contemplation?
Why forego married life and a "successful career?" Why
not assist young mothers at Maggie's Place? Why not teach in a
Catholic school? Why not serve the poor and hungry at Andre House?
Quite simply, they are Poor Clares because of the call of Christ,
whom each of these sisters encountered in a profound and life-altering
way. They would be the first to affirm the goodness of other vocations
in the Church; indeed they support these through their prayers.
Poor Clares live their monastic vocation out of a grateful love
for Jesus and an awesome awareness of His love for them. Although
cloistered within a tiny earthly space, they are living out a
thrilling journey of the spirit, passing through dark nights of
the senses and crossing rugged terrains of the soul, yet focused
intently on the finish line: life to the full with the Blessed
Trinity in heaven.
Singing pilgrimage
Each sister knows herself to be, as St. Clare of Assisi wrote,
a "spouse and mother and sister of my Lord Jesus Christ."
This seems foolish and even contemptible to those whose treasure
is in this world. But to those called by Christ, it is as St.
Paul writes (I Cor 1:24), "the power and the wisdom of God."
The first biographer of St. Francis and St. Clare, Thomas of Celano,
wrote, "Francis wished that everything should sing pilgrimage
and exile." This is the song sung by the Poor Clares, and
by all cloistered religious as they leave behind what "this
world" has to offer and set their hearts firmly on the one
thing that will last forever, the Kingdom of God.
Like other men and women religious, the Poor Clares call our attention
to the Church's essential identity as the Bride of Christ, far
more than just an institution. Of the two great commandments,
the Poor Clares beam a bright light upon the first and greatest
(Mt 22:37): "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all
your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind."
Totally yours: that's what monastic vows of poverty, chastity
and obedience say in dramatic fashion. At the same time, they
also strive to fulfill the second great commandment, love of neighbor
as of self, by praying for the needs of the Church, offering sacrifices
in reparation for sins, and interceding for the needs of all people.
The love of Christ caught the imagination of these young consecrated
women, sustained them through eight years of religious formation,
and led them to make a perpetual consecration through vows of
poverty, chastity and obedience. That same love impels them to
come west from Alabama to establish a new monastery in our diocese.
Contemplation supports action
Thousands of apostolic religious have come to serve
Christ in Arizona before them, from the early Franciscan and Jesuit
missionaries to the many sisters who have taught in our Catholic
schools and who have cared for the sick and poor. We thank God
for the many apostolic religious who continue their work among
us. Now, for the first time, a contemplative religious community
comes to our diocese to complement the great work that has gone
before.
St. Clare saw her mission and that of her sisters
as linked with these Apostolic Institutes, especially with the
evangelizing work of St. Francis and his Friars. One was not more
important than the other. Both were necessary in the mission of
Christ in the world.
As the five Poor Clares come to a mountaintop in Black Canyon
City and begin here in Arizona to pray for us and for the needs
of the whole Church, we give thanks for their witness to Christ
in the hidden life of the cloister. We also welcome their solidarity
with us in begging God for a new springtime of religious and priestly
vocations, for more vigorous family life and for a stronger commitment
to the Gospel of Life. Y
See next issue for part two
in this series.
