Threshold Winter 2011

Brazilian Sister Visits Atchison

Sister Eliene Gouvea, superior of the mission in Mineiros, was able to spend the month of June in Atchison getting to know the sisters, the Mount, and a little about American culture. In an interview with Sister Grace Malaney for Threshold, she shared some of her experiences.

Below: Sisters Eliene Batista Gouvea (left) from Brazil and Patricia Henry from Mexico discuss the topics presented at the Federation Chapter from their own unique cultural experiences.


PLEASE TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF AND YOUR VOCATION.
My life is a gift from God. Prayer and work have been my companions since early childhood. The loving presence of monastics helped me to develop an interest in dedicating all of my life toward the continuance of the Christian and monastic mission: To pray, to work, to evangelize, to educate … to serve in any way necessary… to love and be totally available in this time and place that God gave to me.

Love, faith, and hope remind me of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and of our monastic vows: stability, obedience, and fidelity. This is the “motor” for my journey here on earth, going toward heaven. This has been my path in my everyday life since childhood. But now, it has taken on a greater and more profound reality.

From childhood, I knew that I would be a religious consecrated to God. Family devotion to St. Benedict, along with the witness of monastic life (prayer, work, education, lectio) given by the monks and sisters here, enlightened my decision to be a Benedictine. I was, and continue to be, delighted with the monastic life as the School of the Lord’s Service, the workshop and fount of stability, fidelity, and obedience within the monastic community and the Church at large.

COULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR COMMUNITY LIFE?
My monastic ministry for the past ten years as a monastic leader has been to pray, to love, to serve, to administer the community, to delegate and entrust, to discern and to support. In a small community, this is easier, since the small difficulties alert me to conversion at another level. God is calling me to listen, to discern, to respond. Thanks be to God, the sisters have helped me greatly, also my family and friends. But the greatest force has come from God and the tremendous support I have received from the prioresses of Mount St. Scholastica. They have my eternal gratitude and they make real the love of God here in our daily lives.

All time, for me, is a time of blessing. Since I am responsible for our monastic community in Mineiros, this is a time of intense and comprehensive growth in greater knowledge of God, the prioress, my brother and sister monastics, and leaders in the Church. It is also a time of greater openness to the people of God in Mineiros, the diocese of Jatai, and wherever there is need.

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR IMPRESSIONS OF YOUR VISIT TO ATCHISON?
It has been an experience both divine and human. I feel at home. This is our monastery, Mount St. Scholastica, the place of monastic prayer, that strengthens spirituality and the love of God. Hospitality reveals that the sisters welcome each guest as Christ. The thing that has been the easiest is to love and embrace the sisters here with everlasting gratitude for the 46 years of support they have given to our monastic community in Brazil. The greatest difficulty has been to speak in English. I can understand much better through reading.

The greatest surprise was to hear the sisters singing the Lamb of God in Portuguese at the community Mass. My heart was beating with emotion! But really there were many other surprises: the marvelous retreat given by Sister Irene Nowell on “Wisdom: the Good Life.” I will never forget the general chapter of the Federation of St. Scholastica: “Listening Turns the Soul to God.” It was wonderful to be able to participate with more than 20 prioresses, and more than 40 delegates from 33 cities. The Latin and English classes were also a highpoint. Among others were the conversations I had with other sisters, the love and joy present, the gifts, the variety of meals, visitors, and the chanted prayers.

HOW DO YOU THINK THIS EXPERIENCE WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE?
For me, this has been a time of spiritual and physical renewal through prayer and the retreat about Wisdom, the love, the community life and the wisdom of the sisters. Getting to know some of the sisters participating in the Federation Chapter was marvelous. To have the opportunity to study English and to understand it better was a great blessing! This will promote greater communication between the sisters here and the sisters in Brazil, with great appreciation to our prioress Sister Anne Shepard for all her loving, prayerful, and financial encouragement. Also I have received new ideas about how to administrate better and about how to guide the process of initial formation. I have received the best possible orientation to put into practice. It was also a great pleasure to make a presentation about our dear little Brazilian community.

WHAT ARE YOUR HOPES FOR YOUR COMMUNITY?
My hope is that we can be a spiritual, administrative, and educational influence for pastoral activities and ministries, that we can give support through liturgical activities, and with spiritual and holistic orientations. I want us to bring the presence of God into the daily life of the world in which we live, living with creative hope, prayerful faith, and Christian monastic love.
I hope that we will have more sisters to continue our history as Benedictines, through prayer and work, helping to bring God to people and people to God, energizing our monastic, ecclesial, and civic communities. I also hope that we can become an independent monastery united with our home monastery of the Mount and with the Federation, and at the same time maintain strong ties of friendship and participation with other Benedictines in Brazil.

Below: Sisters who have served in Brazil gather around Sister Eliene Batista Gouvea (second from left): Diana Seago, Rita Claire Judge, Grace Malaney, Elaine Gregory, Mary Ellen Auffert, Mary Mel L’Ecuyer, and Noreen Hurter.