This is a scripture that Maura prayed, preached and used as a focal point of her journey with the Lord Jesus. So many times we spoke of this passage and the depths of its meaning. To make Yahweh my joy supposes that He is the one whom I seek, the one who is my first love, that he is Lord of all, that my will is focused solely on Him. This, of course, then leads to the second part of the passage which so many times Maura and I, especially I, would grapple with. Giving us our hearts desire is certainly what we want and so it would seem simple. However, it was not as easy as it would appear. See, the first part presupposes that now my desires are the desires that Jesus has for me, not the ones that I have for myself. So many times Maura would remind me that, “If God doesn’t want it, then I certainly couldn’t want it, because after all He is my joy. I want what he wants for me, not what I want. Surrender to Him, focus on Him and not yourself.”

Maura is a complex person. Those who had the privilege of really knowing her and calling her friend, understand this. To know her and love her meant that you had gotten beyond the façade and the expression of her face to the essence of who she is. The adage, “don’t judge a book by its cover,” aptly applied to her. Often she would bemoan the fact that her stern look or expression did not express what was in her heart. Even to the end she struggled with this and tried to change. In her notebook under Lent she had written: “I will express my joy in the Lord in speech, body language, and giving up my glum expression of misery.”

Maura was single hearted and minded. Regardless of the cost, once she set her hand to the plow she didn’t look back. Her determination to seek the Lord and Him alone could come across as hard or unbending. Yet there was a gentleness and sense of humor that many did not always see.

Maura’s title in religion was “of the Holy Spirit.” Like Mary in today’s feast, Maura did not understand how God was to fulfill his promises in her yet she said: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord” and trusted him to fill her with the Holy Spirit.

Truly she was a Dominican filled with the charism Dominic passed on to his brethren. She is a woman whose life reflected the call to praise, to bless, and to preach. The search for truth was what she sought all through the journey of faith. This search was expressed in her living the pillars of Dominican life, which were deeply planted in her spirit—study, prayer, community and ministry.

Study and the seeking for truth led her as a child to ask neighbors to bring her to Sunday worship with them which was at the local Lutheran Church, then to the Episcopalian Church where she loved the Book of Common Prayer and the rituals, and finally to the Catholic Church in which she found her search to be complete. This thirst for truth led her to the Charismatic renewal and the Baptism in the Spirit, which had a very profound impact on who she is.

Prayer is the pillar in her life that is part and parcel of who she is. Even to the very end, while in the final hours, she cried out in prayer , united her sufferings to His and asked Jesus: “When are you coming for me?”

Community was lived among many of us in so many different ways and circumstances. Often she said that through community we practice sand paper ministry and smooth out our rough edges as we rub against one another. To call someone to change was never to be out of my need for them to be less abrasive toward me but from my love for them. So often through these 28 years she would ask, how do I need to change? How can I be easier to live with? Of what do I need to repent?

Ministry led her along interesting paths. She did so many things that she never thought she would. When she entered she wanted only to be a house sister and care for the physical needs of others. Instead, within days of entering the Dominican Sisters she embarked on a career of teaching, which she did well but never really felt was her thing. She always told me that because I loved teaching so much and it is so much a fabric of who I am that I couldn’t understand fully how she felt. Yet having met former students whose lives she touched while in this ministry, she did it well and with grace. The ministry she did love was to preach. And the larger the crowd the better she felt. Give her an audience and a microphone, and she lighted up in proclaiming the scriptures and sharing her faith and the truth that God would have told.

So many times come to mind but one that somehow sums it all up occurred on the day of her 50th jubilee as a Sister. At school we had Mass and offered it in thanksgiving for her saying yes to God so many years ago. At the end of Mass she asked me if she could say a few words to the children. She got up and spoke from her heart. “How many of you can say that you have a friend who has never hurt you, or disappointed you, or abandoned you? Well I can say that in 50 years Jesus, my friend and spouse, has never hurt me, left me, disappointed me, or abandoned me. If you don’t know Him in this way, know that he is there for you, loves you, and wants to be your friend.”

We are gathered here tonight to honor her and remember her. She touched each of us through different life experiences and ministries. She often said to me that when all was said and done and the end of her days here had arrived, she hoped that what could be said of her and how she wanted to be remembered, was that she was a woman of God, committed to Jesus as her Lord, filled with his Holy Spirit, having served Him and His people with faithfulness.

As she now enjoys the rewards of her labor I can say with assurance that she has made “Yahweh her joy and He has given her the desires of her heart.”

Lucy Povilonis, OP

BACK