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Homily for Sr. Vilma Seelaus, O.C.D.

Mass of Christian Burial

Carmelite Monastery,  Barrington, R.I.

Monday, January 30, 2012

 

 

First Reading Jeremiah 15:16

Second Reading: 1 Thes 5: 36, 16-24

Gospel: Jn 15: 1-17

 

 

Bishop Gelineau, and my dear brothers and sisters in Christ and Carmel,

 

       Some years ago, there was a young woman in Philadelphia who loved music. She was particularly devoted to the violin, which she practiced continually.  One evening the string quartet she played in gave a concert that was so magnificent she thought she had died and gone to heaven.  Yet, despite the ecstasy of that evening, there was still something deeper than music stirring within her, something like the words of Jesus in our Gospel reading: “ . . . abide in me, and I in You . . .. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them, will bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.”  There was something about the divine-human interrelationship that was even more attractive for her than a career in music. And so, on April 23, 1946, over 65 years ago, she entered the community of Carmelite nuns in Newport, Rhode Island, to spend the rest of her life on earth living in Jesus, as a branch lives on a vine, bringing forth much fruit for others. 

 

    That young woman who said “no” to a career in music and “yes” to a life with God, was, of course, Sr. Vilma Seelaus, whose life, and death, and going home to God, we celebrate today.

 

Life in Carmel was full of discoveries for Vilma.  Probably her most important discovery was that  “loving God” and “living in Jesus” means loving your sisters.  “This is my command,” Jesus said at the end of his discourse on the vine and branches, “love one another.” And St. Teresa of Jesus, the foundress of the Discalced Carmelite nuns, left this advice for her daughters about “loving God”: “Be certain that the more advanced you see you are in love for your neighbor the more advanced you will be in the love of God, for the love His Majesty has for us is so great that to repay us for our love of neighbor he will in a thousand ways increase the love we have for him. I cannot doubt this.” (IC.V.3.8) So Vilma’s early life in Carmel was serving her community as a lay sister and striving to be an instrument of the peace which St. Paul says in our second reading today must characterize every Christian community. 

 

As the years went by and the community discovered her many talents, she was called upon to serve her sisters as a director of formation of new members and then as prioress or local superior. Eventually, when Vatican II called for the renewal of religious life, Vilma was asked to serve in leadership beyond her community in Rhode Island on a national level with the Association of Contemplative Sisters and the Carmelite Communities Associated.

 

In Carmel, Vilma also discovered that God is found in God’s word.  And so like the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah in the first reading, when she found God’s words in Sacred Scripture, she devoured them; they became the joy and happiness of her heart. In the Gospel of John, for example, she found Jesus’ continual invitation to enter more deeply with him into the life of God in union with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  Or in the story of Israel she read her own personal story as she lived each day in relationship with God, learning how God deals with those He loves.

But she also found God’s words, not only in the inspired word of Sacred Scripture, but also in theological writing.  As a young nun, she discovered a translation of the 19th century theological masterpiece, The Mysteries of Christianity, by the great German theologian Matthias Joseph Scheeben, and she devoured it, as she did many modern theological writing as well.  Likewise, she found God speaking to her in books of contemporary psychology, especially dynamic psychology.  She reasoned, rightly, the more she could understand persons from a human, psychological perspective, the better prepared she was to understand this mystery of the divine-human interrelationship which was the consuming interest of her life.

 

        Her reading deeply in Sacred Scripture, theology, psychology, and also in the other sciences bore much fruit in the both the depth and balance of the books and articles she wrote, her taped lectures, and other conferences and talks. Her reading especially bore fruit in the wise personal guidance she provided, both for her Carmelite sisters and brothers, and for so many other men and women beyond Carmel. 

 

      As her years in Carmel passed and her love and service of her community and the church grew, so too did her love for God grow, just at St. Teresa had promised. Again, Teresa said: “To repay us for our love of neighbor [God] will in a thousand ways increase the love we have for him. I cannot doubt this.”  In her frequent walks along the shore at nearby Narragansett Bay, Vilma gradually began to see the power and glory of God even in each little grain of sand on the beach — the power of God holding it in existence, the glory of God who made it uniquely different from every other grain of sand on the face of the earth. And if God’s power and glory are in each grain of sand of the beach, how much more, she concluded, must the divine power and glory be present in each human being? In fact, she realized, God is everywhere.  And the fruit of this realization was Vilma’s great reverence for life, for all of creation, for each human being. As one person shared with me after she heard Vilma had died: “She had the great gift of making you feel you were the only person in the world when you were talking with her.” 

 

       The young musician who entered Carmel sixty-five years ago never turned back. Jesus completely fulfilled his promise of intimacy and fruitfulness in Vilma’s life. And now, as we mourn her passing from our midst, we also believe that Jesus is already fulfilling another of his many promises to her: “In my Father’s house, there are any dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself so that where I am you also may be.” (Jn 14:2-3)

 

     I have had the privilege of knowing Sr. Vilma well for over 40 years, as a Carmelite brother, as a colleague in the ministry of Carmelite spirituality, and as a close friend.  I could feel her presence next to me as I prepared this homily, and she kept nudging me to allow her to speak to you today.

 

  There are two things she wants me to say on her behalf: The first is to her community here in Barrington. Tell them how much I have loved them.  She never outgrew you. When it came to planning the details of her life, you always came first. She was fully aware that together you formed, what St. Teresa called a “college of Christ,” where in your life together every day you learn from each other how to practice the virtues, especially the love that Jesus taught us.  She thanks you for your faithful and enduring love, especially in these last months, and wants you to know that she continues to care for you from her heavenly dwelling place.

 

     Vilma also wants me to say something to all of you: Tell them how important the divine-human interrelationship is.   Whether we consciously acknowledge it or not, we are always in relationship with God, whose power and providence sustain us in every moment of our lives.  This is also our most important interpersonal relationship, potentially more intimate even than the relationship of spouses, more faithful than parents for their children, more lasting than the best of friends.  Encourage them to make this relationship the center of their lives, and they will discover the secret of human happiness and fulfillment.  Jesus tells us in the Gospel today:  “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser . . .  Abide in me, and I in you. . . . I am the vine, you are the branches.  Those who remain in me and I in them will bear much fruit, because without me, you can do nothing.” (Jn 15:1-5) Vilma reminds us:  These words were true for me; they can also be true for you.

 

—Kevin Culligan, O.C.D.