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December 13, 2021The utterance of one who hears what God says,
and knows what the Most High knows,
Of one who sees what the Almighty sees,
enraptured, and with eyes unveiled…
Numbers 24:4
I witnessed two missionary sisters from New Orleans joyously serving in a Mexican American parish way across Phoenix from my primarily Anglo Catholic high school. I didn’t realize they were Dominicans. I simply knew I was enraptured. Thanks to my experience in their catechetical program every Sunday morning, I entered the novitiate of the Eucharistic Missionaries of St. Dominic. Sr. Fara Impastato, among the first women in the US to earn a doctorate in theology in the 1950s, blended Thomistic theology, Vatican II breakthroughs, and the arts, in our formation program. Though I was terribly homesick, I stayed because I wanted to know God, and not just about God, as Sr. Fara and the other sisters did. In 2009 my congregation joined with six others to form the Dominican Sisters of Peace. I now live and minister with an even greater frame of reference because our sisters were raised in many states, as well as in Nigeria, Mexico, Vietnam, Peru, China, Ireland, and Hungary.
The chief priests and elders challenged the source of Jesus’ authority. Sensing a trap, Jesus posed a question they refused to answer. (Cf. Matt. 21:23-27.) A few folks have challenged my theological teaching; our starting points were obviously different. Many come to me now as a teacher and spiritual director because they hope I can help them to hear, see and know the living God for themselves.
One of my Dominican sisters founded the Archdiocese of New Orleans Spirituality Center; another is the current director. A Teresian sister and several lay persons serve on the staff. To whom do you look for help in becoming an enraptured oracle like Balaam? There are trained guides in parishes and dioceses everywhere.
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior.
