St. Barnabus

Today is a pretty well-known Saint - the one who helped the Christian community accept their fierce persecutor. St. Barnabas and St. Paul spread the Gospel together, but unfortunately as the Acts of the Apostles tell us, they split over the cousin of Barnabas, John Mark. Though it is not in the Acts, we are sure that the two of them must have reconciled with each other. After all, Jesus taught that it was necessary to be reconciled before "bringing your gift to the Altar." and St. Paul himself preached reconciliation.

There is a religious order named the Barnabite Fathers founded by St. Anthony Maria Zaccharia. It is interesting that their real official name is Clerks Regular of St. Paul, but they are called Barnabites! So this leads us to believe they were surely reconciled! The Barnabite Fathers have charge of the beautiful shrine of Our Lady of Fatima near Niagara Falls. If you are in the area, do be sure to visit it. Some of our Sisters who are from Upstate New York went there once and have happy memories of the kindness of the Barnabite Fathers.

Well, at last it is available! For the 800 Jubilee Year of the Dominican Nuns, the Nuns in the USA put together a book of vocaiton stories called Vocation in Black and White. (Unfortunately we did not get ourselves together before the deadline in order to have one of ours in it.) Each vocation is unique and God called each of us in a unique way. You can order this book from some of the monasteries or you can order it a Amazon. http://stores.nunsopsummit.org/Detail.bok?no=62

Each person has their own particular vocation, the one that will bring them to holiness. But the religious vocation is a special mystery all its own. Certain vocations have a certain ontological character to them, that is they affect us in our very being. We know about Baptism and Confirmation, how they imprint a special character (sphragis) which becomes a part of who we are. the Sacrament of Orders likewise imprints a character and causes a true change in the person of the man who receives. Marriage does not imprint a character, but the Sacrament does cause an ontological change - the man and woman become so one, that no one can separate them! the vocation to religious life is neither a sacrament nor does it imprint a character, yet the Church, following the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas, believes that the pronouncing of vows does cause an effect in the soul of the one who does it. Even in eternity the effect remains.