Joy in the Enclosure: Living the Gospel with St. Clare in Uganda
Sr. Mary Annunciata
It is almost 6 decades ago that the Monastery of Poor Clares in Uganda was re-located not far from my home and on the way to my Parish. The multicolored enclosure hedge of bougainvillea had not fully grown and, it offered some gaps to passers-by to peep through. One could hear familiar sound of hoes at work and get a glimpse of the Sisters (missionaries and the few Africans who had joined them) working together in the gardens. My impression of joyful simplicity which did not need exchange of words was later confirmed in my first interview with some sisters of the Community. People referred to them as “The nuns who spend many hours praying, do manual work and never go home and yet are joyful”.
God in his mercy led me by divine inspiration to knock at the enclosure door and beg to be received into this life. I was met and received with joy into joy. The journey to discover the cause and source of this joy began and I am still “discovering‘”, and will be until all is fully revealed at the eternal banquet. “Happy indeed is she to whom it is given to share in this sacred banquet so that she might cling with all her heart to Him…” cling to Jesus, the only begotten Son of the Father. Can I ever thank God enough for the gift of life and of my vocation which is to share in the Eternal Banquet, source of joy? I am forever grateful that He gave me St Francis and St Clare as teachers and guides in my own journey to discover Him. What a praiseworthy exchange to choose the things of heaven for the goods of the earth”. Our Founders, like all other blessed men and women of all times who discovered this secret, were soaked into the very source of Life and of love, into God himself. It is a great gift to realise that life on earth though it lasts only a brief moment is a part of “the real life” which is eternal, for it was before and will be after our short earthly pilgrimage as it has its fulfillment in Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life. Is not this the fullness of joy already here on earth?
In daily life, helped by the teaching and examples of Francis and Clare who declared that our “Form of life (is): to observe the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus-Christ” I learned to know God as Creator and Saviour and I have discovered that all is joy. Life is a gift to be appreciated in myself, in others, in nature. Why should it not be so? The very life I am daily called to respond to is an invitation to rejoice. “You alone are God and wonderful are your deeds.” and “Blessed are you. My God who created me.”
We live this in our personal prayer but with particular intensity in our liturgical life. To be called “seven times a day” to pray and sing in the name of the Church and the whole world is for me a call to focus my whole attention on “the one thing necessary”. The Psalmist’s invitation: “Come. Ring out our joy to the Lord, hail the Lord who saves us.” or “Cry out to God with joy and serve the Lord with gladness.” break the silence of the night to begin the new day. This unfolds moment by moment in an atmosphere of contemplation as we behold Him who has come that we may “have life and have it to the full”. In Africa we are particularly known to be sensitive to rhythms but also to the joys of togetherness as we celebrate life. This is our monastic privilege when we are so often called to participate in the Mass and Divine Office. Joy is there at each celebration, in “Glory be to God in the heavens”, in each Alleluia.
In our Monastery Scriptural Canticles, Psalms and particularly Mary’s Magnificat has been composed in the local language and often expressed in dance. I am sure that Mary did. With “light feet” and the sound of drums and adungus (local elegant harps), shakers… our joy vibrates in movement and harmony to help “our souls magnify the Lord”.
This joy permeates our relationships. As Daughters of St. Clare, we are called not only to prayer but to share life together in a family setting where one is loved and is offered innumerable occasions to love. Living and sharing the very life of God touching my life through Community members, creating a bond between my Sisters and me through which He reveals Himself to us as Word become flesh, is a source of great joy. In this spirit even the most humble service is a gift of love and so is every work whether gardening, peeling, cooking or painting, sweeping the church or doing the laundry. Through “the grace of working” as our Mother St Clare calls it, we continue like the Son of God, who did not shun manual labor, but showed us how to live responding to Abba’s love.
We sing the Canticle of Creation in admiration for the abundance and beauty of all kinds of life in plants, insects and animals and even in rocks and earth which are there to allow God’s will to be accomplished in them; each one has something to reveal about the Creator and so becomes a tiny or great part of our joy to be and live in communion with all creation.
This however does not mean that there are no storms in our world, no effort, pain or suffering. We all know what Francis called “perfect joy”. The news, whether of global events or what we receive from our relatives and friends, regarding the poverty or distress of our wounded church, nation and world touch us deeply. We experience illness, ageing and failures, hard work or passive suffering of purification, tensions and frustration in Community life. Challenges are necessary for progress in following Christ. In whichever state of life one is, they are an invitation to strengthen our relationship with Jesus to “Gaze upon him, consider, contemplate him, as you desire to imitate him” as Mother St. Clare bids us. From morning to evening the flowers are turning towards the sun. May our life too be always turned towards the Son of God in joy and love! Amen.