Little Monastery, Bright Light

"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (John 8:12)

LUMEN CHRISTI Monastery in Kansas City, KS

"LUMEN CHRISTI" (the Light of Christ) Monastery was consecrated by Archbishop Joseph Naumann on September 14, 2013.  The "Little Monastery" is the new home for the Little Sisters of the Lamb in Kansas City, KS.  The monastery is the first of its kind for the Community of the Lamb in North America.  Gathering friends from across the world both on location and through live streaming, the grace of God was called down to dedicate this new home for the community to Jesus Christ, the Light of the World.  Under the patronage of St. Agnes, LUMEN CHRISTI Monastery will serve as a furnace of God's love and mercy.

The Sacred Liturgy and Blessing can be viewed here: Part One, Part Two and Part Three.  Also, be sure to check out the photos of the building process.

In an article for the National Catholic Register, Archbishop Naumann explains the unique charism of the Little Sisters:

The sisters came to Kansas City at the invitation of Archbishop Joseph Naumann who encountered their community in Rome. Archbishop Naumann believes that the effectiveness of their ministry flows from their poverty, which requires them to go out and beg for their daily bread and, in the process, share the Gospel with those they meet.
“By coming in poverty, many people welcome them,” the archbishop said. “Their strong and beautiful prayer life sustains them in living out this radical poverty.”
The sisters travel in threes to beg for their daily bread in the tradition of St. Dominic. They offer to pray with and for the people they meet and share the Gospel with them. Their motto is “Wounded, I will never cease to love.”

It was fitting that the dedication took place on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross considering how close the Community of the Lamb is to the Wounded Lord.  Seeking out the poor and suffering in any given neighborhood, the Little Sisters serve as beautiful instruments of the Holy Spirit for the New Evangelization.

"I have seen the Lord" (John 20:18)

Perpetual Adoration at the Little Monastery

Founded 35 years ago, the Community of the Lamb is still a relatively young and definitely growing community.  The newspaper for the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, The Leaven, explains:

Foundress Little Sister Marie said she had no idea she was starting a community 35 years ago in France. As a young Dominican Sister, she only knew that she had a big question in her heart.
“In our world, evil seems so many times so triumphant,” she explained. “And this question was in my heart. I believe it is in all human beings’ hearts: Tell us, Lord, how are you victorious over all evil?”
The answer came to her during a night in silent adoration.
“In the middle of the night,” she said. “this sentence of St. Paul’s arose in my heart: In his own flesh, Christ destroyed the enmity; in his own person, he killed hatred! (Eph: 2:13-19)
“I understand now, the Community of the Lamb was born in that moment.”
The motto of the community is: “Wounded, I will never cease to love.” Its charism is to live the Gospel and Jesus’ life in community.
“United to Jesus and filled with the love of God, we become the sent ones,” Little Sister Marie explained.
“Through the mercy of God we go, ‘without gold or silver,’ in order to give out the name of Jesus,” she explained. “We go like Jesus went — poor and begging the love of mankind; we beg for our daily bread, announcing the Gospel to all.”
“This is the living water of the charism,” she added. “The living water, because it is always renewed in adoration and in prayer and in our union to Christ.”
Today, the Community of the Lamb includes 130 Little Sisters and about 30 Little Brothers from many countries serving in communities around the world.

At the end of the Mass, the foundress, Little Sister Marie, invited the supporters of the Little Monastery to become adorers.  She noted that 4,000 different donors had made the Little Monastery possible, and it was now time for them to become 4,000 adorers before Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.

 "Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life" (John 6:27)

The simplicity and joy of the Little Sisters is truly attractive and inviting.  Their way of life challenges a culture of excess while at the same time giving hope to the poor who they live among.

The cells for the sisters are extremely modest.  In addition to their own rooms, they now have four rooms for young women who want to visit the community and rooms for priests to have days of prayer away from the noise of the world.

As I toured the newly blessed rooms and saw the sincere interest of the guests and benefactors, my heart was warmed at the possibilities.  If these sisters could become so small so as to get out of Christ's way, others can as well.  Talking to the sisters after Mass and asking for their prayers, I was reminded how truly simple and straightforward their view of evangelization is: first you must live it.  That's it: first you must live it. 

In their view, the New Evangelization occurs through witness before words.  From the beginning, the vision for the Little Monastery kept that call to live the Gospel in mind.  The National Catholic Register article from three years ago highlighted this vision:

Sister Bénédicte described the planned monastery as a simple structure in keeping with their charism. “It reflects in its architecture the message of the Gospel,” she said. “A simple building to be part of the New Evangelization, to go back to the basics. Each aspect of our life reflects the simplicity and beauty of the Gospel.”

The Refectory at the Little Monastery

Such simplicity flows from their encounter with Jesus Christ in prayer.  As Archbishop Naumann was blessing the monastery, the sisters prayed the following prayer, between chanting antiphons of "Behold, the Lamb of God, resplendent of the glory of the Father, of the Glory of his most holy Passion, Light and complete joy of our hearts":

In the last few months one has often heard the complaint that many prayers for peace are still without effect.  What right have we to be heard?  Our desire for peace is undoubtedly genuine and sincere.  But does it come from a completely purified heart? Have we truly prayed "in the name of Jesus," that is, not just with the name of Jesus on our lips, but with the spirit and in the mind of Jesus, for the glory of the Father alone, without any self-seeking?

Might we all be less self-seeking and more fervent to call on the name of the Lord.  St. Agnes, pray for the Community of the Lamb!

If you want to hear more about what the New Evangelization looks like in Kansas, check out a new blog effort from the Office of Evangelization for the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas: EVANGELIZED KANSAS.

The Raising of the Widow's Son, and What it Says About God's Love

Given how important today's Gospel is, it should be much better known.  After all, it involves Jesus raising a man from the dead, something which happens extremely rarely, even in the Gospels.  It's  Luke 7:11-17, the raising of the widow's son:

Soon afterward He journeyed to a city called Nain, and His Disciples and a large crowd accompanied Him. As He drew near to the gate of the city, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the city was with her.


When the Lord saw her, He was moved with pity for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” He stepped forward and touched the coffin; at this the bearers halted, and He said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!”


The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, exclaiming, “A great prophet has arisen in our midst,” and “God has visited his people.” This report about Him spread through the whole of Judea and in all the surrounding region.

The Gospel is important for a number of reasons, not least of which is that Jesus raises the son out of love for the mother.  There's an obvious Marian element to this -- given that Jesus has mercy on all of us for the sake of His (and our) Mother -- but I'll get to that tomorrow.

Today, I wanted to contrast the Gospel with the 2007 Keynote Speech given by Laurie Brink, O.P. to the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. In it, she talked about Genesis 21, the account of Abraham's concubine Hagar and their son Ishmael, and seemed to suggest that God doesn't care about Hagar (or, apparently, women):

Later when Sarah spies Ishmael, the son of Hagar, playing with her son, Isaac, she again intercedes to Abraham. "Drive out that slave and her son! No son of that slave is going to share the inheritance with my son Isaac!" (Gen 21:9). Abraham is distressed — not because of Hagar — but because of his son. Again God promises this child, too, since he is an heir of Abraham, will be a great nation. Abraham sends the two off into the wilderness of Beersheva with only a skin of water and a bit of bread. When the water is gone, she places her son under a shrub and walks a distance away, for she cannot bear to watch him die. As luck would have it, God hears the child’s cry (not the mother’s?) and provides water in the desert. The text continues, “God was with the boy as he grew up” (Gen 21:17). But the story never says that God was with Hagar.

The narrative of Hagar is also a tale of paradox. Hagar may be a member of the household, but she is a slave, an Egyptian slave at that. She is property for the woman in power, Sarah, to abuse and to dispose of. She is sexually exploited by the man of power, Abraham. The God of Israel is not her God, and sees little need to protect or care for her.

The broader context of this statement is even more troubling than the statement itself.  Sister Brink is discussing the possibility that women religious might consider “moving beyond the Church, even beyond Jesus,” to become sojourning congregations which are “no longer ecclesiastical,” whose “search for the Holy may have begun rooted in Jesus as the Christ, but deep reflection, study and prayer have opened it up to the spirit of the Holy in all of creation.”  That's devastating; and thankfully, it's not the option she ends up advocating for.  

No doubt, Sister Brink and many of the liberal nuns she's speaking to feel betrayed by the Church, and by Jesus Christ Himself.  And in the story from Genesis 21, they  imagine that God is betraying Hagar.  But what struck me was what an incredibly shallow reading of Genesis 21 this is, and the way that Sister Brink didn't seem to grasp family or motherhood at all, or what it means to care for the less fortunate.  I don't mean that to be uncharitable.  Just read the passage in its context, and I think you'll see what I mean (Gen. 21:15-18):

When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she began to sob. 

God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”

So the problems with Sister Brink's reading of this aren't just  her willingness to ascribe evil to God, or to suggest that the God of Israel is a parochial God we can move “beyond,” but her seeming inability to grasp that a mother might be more concerned for her dying son than herself.


Hagar isn't complaining about dying.  She just can't bear to watch her little boy die.  So what does God do?  He comforts her by promising to care for her son always.  He lets her know that He heard the boy's cries, just as she did, and that even where she can't save the child, He can.  To a selfless mother like Hagar, this has to be the greatest possible comfort.  And of course, God saves Hagar's life, too.

But Sister Brink is right about one thing: both God and Hagar appear more concerned about Ishmael than Hagar. Is this sexism, as Sister Brink seems to suggest?  Or something far holier?

I think we see an obvious answer in today's Gospel.  Jesus sees the widow mourning the death of her only son, and He has pity on her.  Jesus doesn't raise the man for the man's own sake, but so that he can take care of his mom.

If Genesis 21 had depicted God saving Hagar in order for her to take care of her son, there's no doubt that we'd hear cries of sexism.  But here, Jesus does the exact opposite: saving a man to take care of his mother.  Does that mean that Jesus is now sexist against men?  Of course not.  The common thread between Genesis 21 and Luke 7 is that both involve God taking special care of the vulnerable: old widows and young children.

And in the process, He also takes care of the less vulnerable, as well: both the adult son (who is raised from the dead), and Hagar (who is saved from death).  Far from Sister Brink's conclusion, we should see in this a powerful statement of God's love and concern for all of us.