{"id":4925,"date":"2014-01-10T06:35:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-10T06:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/2014\/01\/10\/st-dominics-convent-wanganui-22nd-december-2013\/"},"modified":"2023-05-10T02:56:29","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T02:56:29","slug":"st-dominics-convent-wanganui-22nd-december-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/2014\/01\/10\/st-dominics-convent-wanganui-22nd-december-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"St Dominic’s Convent, Wanganui ~ 22nd December 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nProfession Ceremony<\/div>\n
\n<\/o:p><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe Life of a
\nProphet\u201d was the topic announced for the Sisters\u2019 annual retreat this year, and
\nthe retreat fulfilled the promise of such an intriguing title. The prophet
\nchosen was Eliseus, and we heard from Father MacPherson about burning your
\nbridges (no, sorry, your plow) behind you when you answer God\u2019s call, about
\ntaking the honour of God seriously (enough to have disrespectful children eaten
\nby bears), and about not losing faith if at first you don\u2019t succeed (even if
\nwhat you are trying to do is stop a river by smacking it with a cloak).<\/o:p><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
From the lower right of this picture one can learn how to strike a river<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
\nA memorable story \u2013
\nlinked with the theme of charity: bears maul the children who mocked
\nEliseus.<\/div>\n
\nRest assured, we do not have
\nsuch things done to our pupils.<\/o:p><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\nThe retreat lasted from the fifteenth to the twenty-second
\nof December, but we received the final blessing of the retreat one day early,
\nas Father had to go to his mission in Auckland. This was providential as it
\nfell on the feast of St Thomas<\/st1:city> the Apostle, who
\nbrought the Faith to Kerala in India<\/st1:country-region>,
\nthe home of Sister Maria Swarupa, who would be making final profession the next
\nday. And the next day, Sunday, was also the old feast of the Patronage of Our
\nLady over the Dominican Order. So St
\n Thomas<\/st1:city> gave his daughter in the faith a final blessing
\nbefore placing her under the protection of the Queen of Apostles and Lady of
\nthe Friars Preachers.<\/div>\n
\n<\/o:p><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nOn Sunday, at the sung Mass, Sister Marie Dominique renewed
\nher vows and Sister Maria Swarupa transferred her perpetual vows, made
\ntwenty-four years ago, into the Dominican Order. For Sister Marie Dominique,
\nthe ceremony was like answering \u201cyes, of course!\u201d to a fianc\u00e9 who asks halfway
\nthrough the engagement, \u201care you sure<\/i>
\nyou want to marry me?\u201d For Sister Swarupa, it was like giving the same answer
\nwhen your husband has been offered a job in a new country, far from your home
\nand people, and asks if you would go with him there. For both, the Dominican
\nvow of obedience was an act of love and a sign of God\u2019s love for them, so after
\ngiving thanks for the many graces of the day at Mass, we celebrated this great
\noccasion with a small reception at the school, at which we enjoyed seeing and
\nspeaking to many fellow-parishioners and pupils.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sister Marie Dominique makes a renewal of her temporary vows (for another two years) in the hands of Mother General<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The kiss of peace, given by the Superior, after the pronouncing of vows<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sister Maria Swarupa pronounces her perpetual vows<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Father Louis Bochkoltz presides at the ceremony<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Father Bochkoltz pronounces the final blessing of the ceremony as Sister Swarupa prostrates in the sanctuary.  She now wears a gold ring on her right hand, a visible sign of her eternal espousal to our Lord Jesus Christ.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
At the Communion rail<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A photo of the community outside the Church, after the ceremony<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sister Swarupa cuts the cake<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/o:p><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Profession Ceremony  \u201cThe Life of a Prophet\u201d was the topic announced for the Sisters\u2019 annual retreat this year, and the retreat fulfilled the promise of such an intriguing title. The prophet chosen was Eliseus, and we heard from Father MacPherson about burning your bridges (no, sorry, your plow) behind you when you answer God\u2019s call, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-convent-life","infinite-scroll-item","masonry-post","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4925"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5265,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4925\/revisions\/5265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}