La revista REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS la publica la Universidad Saint Louis de los jesuitas en USA

REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 65.4 OCTOBER-DECEMBRE 2006

Articles


Searching Wisdom
On Leaving Office Gracefully
Kathleen Huges RSCJ suggests a three-stage process that any leadership team might use or adapt in order to consider their years of service and come to closure on a privileged and grace-filled time in their lives. She has recently finished her term as provincial of the Society of the Sacred Heart. She now ministers at the Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research in Collegeville, Minnesota.
Excerpts: "Much happens to a community over a term or two in office. ... Leadership experience cannot help but change those who serve. ... Weeks immediately after passing leadership on can be vulnerable times."
Ripeness Is Everything: Wise Discipleship
Thomas G. Casey SJ reflects on the importance of imitating Jesus by cultivating intelligence and nourishing wisdom, and suggest ways to go about it. He is a professor of philosophy at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Italy.
Excerpts: "It is not the strength of our arguments that will win people over, but the quality of out lives, of our relationship with Jesus. ... Jesus did not let his exceptional intellectual gifts lie idle. ...The goal of human intelligence is to know the real, land to know God, the supreme truth."


Appreciating the Word

The Bible and the Lectionary
Andrew Ryder SCJ underlines the valuable Vatican II gift of the lectionary -- the three-year cycle of Sunday readings, the two-year cycle of daily readings from the epistles and the Old Testament, and the one-year cycle of daily gospels -- and its place in the tradition going back to Old Testament times. He writes from Cheshire England.
Excerpts: " By the time of Jesus, the weekly synagogue liturgy, featuring a communal reading and study of the holy texts, had become the universal Jewish practice. ... A true understanding of the biblical texts sees them as God speaking to his people today in the concrete circumstances of their community life, both local and global."
INTERACTIVE ARTICLE
Go to this article to find questions for reflection and discussion.
Coda to the Creed: An Appreciation
Brendan Kneale FSC reflect on the final four doctrines of the Apostles' Creed, developing the consolations that they entail for our deepest human concerns. Hwe writes from the De La Salle Institute in Napa, California.
Excerpts: " The heaviness of guilt can be a force for good as well as evil, but it is still a burden. ... We often shield ourselves from deeper aspirations and real fears by pursuing and possessing material things."
God's Invitation
Armand Nigro SJ has us listen to God's invitation to prayer. He is a retreat director and pastoral minister at Holy Spirit Center in Anchorage, Alaska.
Excerpts: "If we are open to it, God idrectly acs in us, speaks to us in every created experience, especially in the sacred Word in Scripture."

Living Chastely


INTERACTIVE ARTICLE
Go to this article to find questions and a prayer for reflection and discussion.
Sexuality and Celibate Chastity: Friends Not Foes
Sean D. Sammon FMS reviews the growth process in our understandig and appreciation of our sexuality and our celibate chastity in their mutual aim at union with God and others. He writes from the Fratele Maristi delle Scuole in Rome, Italy.
Excerpts: "Foreslosing our identity sets the stage for later problems with intimacy. ... Any inti;mate relationship stretches one's identity. ... For a relationship of mature inti;macy, the masculine and feminine aspect in us must have a certain level of integration."
"Bride of Christ ": Timely Sign in Signless Times
Annette M. Pelletier IHM examines how the signs, symbols, texts, and gestures in the "Rite of Religious Profession for Women" illuminates what it means to be a "bride of Christ." She writes from Immaculate Heart Convent in Arlington, Virginia
Excerpts: "How curious that chastity, maligned and misunderstood in contemporary culture, is a virtue that youth see and wonder about. ... Religious profession annouces the Christian woman's resolve to embrace a way of life that ;makes present the risen Christ in history."
"I Will Espouse You": The Religious Profession Ring
Hildegard Magdalen Pleva OSSR explains the origin, history, and meaning of the religious profession ring. She writ4es from Mother of Perpetual Help Monastery in Esopus, New York.
Excerpts: "The Roman clasped-hands was reappropriated and achieved great popularity during the Renaissance as a betrothal ring. ... To bring this history well linto our present time, one must note the connection of the fede design to the traditional Claddagn ring popular in Ireland and North America."
Departments

Reading the Gospel of Luke
Eugene Hensell OSB continues his Scripture essays, a regular feature of each issue of Review for Religious.

Canonical Counsel: The Q.O.T. Principle

Elizabeth McDonough OP continues her on-going series of canonical information and reflection. She is canonical advisor for numerous religious communities as well as for the Archdiocese of Washington and several other dioceses.



Poetry
Autumn Poppies by Mary Alban Bouchard CSJ



Book Reviews
Paul of Tarsus: A Visionary Life by Edward Staurton
Reviewed by Philip S. Kiley SJ
From Piety to Professionalism -- and Back ?: Transformation of Organized Religious Virtuosityby Patricia Wittberg SC
Reviewed by Regina Siegfried ASC
Book Shelf Life
Mini reviews by Philip Fischer SJ