Reflection – Perpetual Monastic Profession of Sister Marena Hoogland
July 11, 2025
Father Paul, Father Anthony, Monsignor James Shea, family and friends of both Sister Marena and our community, thank you all for joining us today to witness Sister Marena’s total commitment to God through her monastic profession to the Benedictine Sisters of Annunciation Monastery. Our community and especially Sister Marena, thank all of you for your prayers and support leading up to this day and your presence at today’s celebration.
Sister Marena, today we Sisters of Annunciation Monastery rejoice in your desire and decision to join us as a full member. Since your arrival at the monastery as a live-in volunteer in 2017, we have accompanied you and supported you on your discernment journey. When a newcomer arrives at the monastery, Saint Benedict states that we are to determine whether she truly seeks God. Throughout your religious formation, Sister Marena, you have sought God through prayer, service and the common life as lived within this community. You have embraced our community’s values and guiding principles, made them part of your life, and are an example to us more experienced members. I believe most of these values were instilled in you by your parents and siblings on the family dairy farm. You graciously welcome all who come to our monastery, especially the university students and volunteers who have lived with us. I affirm the way you can see what needs to be and you jump in and do it. As Benedict says, may your heart continue to overflow with the inexpressible delight of love.
Many of you here have likely heard the statement attributed to Saint Irenaeus – “The glory of God is a human being fully alive.” We Sisters have witnessed the glory of God in the “aliveness” we see in you, Marena, as you have entered into your other vocation as a middle school math teacher. You entered the classroom tentatively, not entirely sure if teaching was for you. The first year of teaching is the hardest in my opinion and I believe you would agree with that now as you prepare to start year 4 at the academy. We have witnessed the way you have poured yourself into all of it – teaching, planning, being present to the students and staff. To have your classroom ranked by the students as one of the top five places to hang out after school – it is a testament to what your students see in you – a caring, loving adult they want to spend time with. In our dining room, we Sisters have heard your stories - the struggles, the accomplishments, the sadness and the humor – and these stories demonstrate what “your kids” mean to you and what you mean to these students. The Benedictine values of hospitality, respect, prayer and community are evident in your classroom and will only benefit your students. May your religious vocation and ministry vocation continue to enrich each other.
In a few moments, Sister Marena, you will commit yourself to seeking and finding God through the threefold promise of stability, conversatio morum which we translate as fidelity to the monastic way of life, and obedience. They aren’t really three distinct promises because each one overlaps with the others.
Stability is a promise unique to the Benedictines. We each promise to live as a member of this Benedictine community for life. It is an expression of our willingness to continue to grow where we are, allowing ourselves to be changed in the process. It keeps us from running away when challenges arise. Monastic stability means we accept this community, its place and its people, as our way to God.
We live out our promise of fidelity to the monastic way of life through daily acceptance of our human condition and steadfast dedication to community life. We live the life as it is handed down to us by those who have gone before us. We commit ourselves to facing the demands of growth and change throughout our lifetime. We are constantly becoming the person we are called to be.
The Latin root word of obedience is audire, meaning to listen. By promising obedience, we say we will listen attentively to the Spirit present in God’s word, in the prioress, in one another, in the Church, and in society today. We strive to carry out God’s will. It is about our relationship with God and one another more than it is about simply following commands or orders.
In a few moments, Sister Marena will stand before God and us and make her perpetual monastic profession. I will briefly share with you the profession rite and the meaning of the actions. Sister Marena and I will sign the profession document on the altar and it will remain on the altar for the celebration of the Eucharist as a sign that she has given her entire self to God. At the close of the liturgy I will take the document from the altar and place it permanently at the monastery.
Then, with her arms raised in openness, hope, and faith, Sister Marena will sing the Suscipe, “Receive me O Lord according to your promise and I shall live. Do not disappoint me in my hope.” It is a call for God’s help in living out what she has just promised. She will sing this three times and after each time we Sisters will respond as a sign of unity and support with and for her.
Next she will lie prostrate before the altar, covered by the white pall, as a litany of blessings is sung to give her the strength and courage to live out her perpetual monastic profession. She prostrates as a gesture of humility and as a sign of dependence on God and the community. The use of the pall recalls Sister Marena’s being buried with Christ in baptism and rising to new life with Him.
In the final action of the profession rite, Sister Marena receives our community’s ring, a visible sign of her commitment to God and the Sisters of Annunciation Monastery.
Sister Marena, may the Lord who has called you to be a Benedictine Sister of Annunciation Monastery, bless you and us as we journey forward together. As Saint Benedict says in his Rule, “Let us prefer nothing whatever to Christ and may he bring us all together to everlasting life.”
I now invite you, Sister Marena, to come forward and we will continue with the profession rite.
