The Holy Habit
As I walk through New York City, I pass strangers young and old of all nationalities making the sign of the cross. I hear children shouting to their moms, “It’s Mary!” I’m stopped by the rich and the poor asking for prayers. I’m stopped by the lost looking for directions and for counsel. I’m stopped by the curious who wonder, “Are you a real nun?” I pass young adults shocked that we may be the same age. I pass teenagers who fall silent, and I do pass some with harsh looks and words. I love wearing my religious habit.
Yesterday, another sister and I passed by two young men sitting on the sidewalk. One looked over and said, “Can I ask you a serious question? Do you ever wear anything other than that? My friend and I were just saying yesterday how we never see a nun wearing normal clothes.” We replied that we always wear this, our habit, and then we asked him, “What do you think of when you see us wearing this?” He replied, “I know you’re someone I respect… I think that you’re a nun… and I think of God.” I love my habit and wear it always, because it is a visible sign of my consecration to the Lord and helps others to think of Him. It is evident from my daily interactions that the way I dress clearly indicates to others that I’m religious and associated with the Church. I was recently reading a book by Fr. Thomas Dubay in which he acknowledges this impact of dress in the modern world:
“Modern government and business understand the principle very well, and this is why they require their service personnel to wear a uniform dress as they go about their duties in hospitals, trains, buses, airplanes, restaurants, and banks as well as in the military and security branches of contemporary life. If identifying garb has its value in the secular sphere, it is even more needed in the sacred.” (“And You Are Christ’s”)
Fr. Dubay further highlights that, “The transcendent order of the divine is so widely neglected in our century that we desperately need living signs that God is indeed present among His people.” He wrote this in 1987, and how much more it rings true today! Pope Saint John Paul II wrote in 1996,
“The Church must always seek to make her presence visible in everyday life, especially in contemporary culture, which is often very secularized and yet sensitive to the language of signs. In this regard the Church has a right to expect a significant contribution from consecrated persons, called as they are in every situation to bear clear witness that they belong to Christ.” (Vita Consecrata 25)
God has called me to be His, and to proclaim His love for the world with my whole life. As I walk down the street in a religious habit, though there are varied reactions, all those I pass have some awareness that my life belongs to God. They are presented with the reality that the Church is present in their neighborhood, and it is my privilege to share with them a living sign of God’s presence and His love.
Pope Saint John Paul II continued, “Their lifestyle too must clearly show the ideal which they profess, and thus present itself as a living sign of God and as an eloquent, albeit often silent, proclamation of the Gospel (Vita Consecrata 25)… There is a need for people able to show the fatherly face of God and the motherly face of the Church, people who spend their lives so that others can have life and hope.” (Vita Consecrata 105) The habit is a beautiful witness, but it is a far greater witness when the sister wearing it is expressing love in word and deed. Religious men and women are not perfect by any means. We are human. But we desire to present to those around us a clear reminder of the Father’s love and providence, and of Holy Mother Church’s loving guidance and protection. This is why we so often pray for all those who will see us when we are out and about in the world. May the holy habit indeed be a sign of God’s nearness and personal love for you each time you see it.
Sr. Solanus, CFR
