Book notes: A challenging, hopeful look at religious life today

WHAT DOES IT MEAN for religious to listen to and be guided by the Holy Spirit in this time of utter transformation? Everyone agrees that the Holy Spirit is important, but what does it actually entail to seek the Spirit moving among us? Sister Judith A. Merkle, S.ND.deN., a religious studies professor, tackles these questions and more in Sensing the Spirit: Toward the Future of Religious Life (T&T Clark 2023). Her book offers challenges for both communal and personal reflection. For example, she daringly suggests that the Spirit may be behind this moment of “crisis” in religious life. She also suggests that the Spirit is used to justify a lack of preparation or the absence of transparency in decisions.

Merkle begins by drawing on the biblical image of the mustard seed to set up her exploration of the process of unfolding. She encourages readers to pay attention to seeds already present in religious life and tend them for the future. She challenges us to face hard truths, such as the fact that many plant and animal species are now extinct and that religious often “drift into nostalgia and vague spiritual platitudes.” She further highlights the difficulty of being surrounded by secular spaces that do not help people to know God. These points set up the purpose of religious life: to witness to the reign of God within our lives.

Next, Merkle introduces the evolutionary concept of the niche--a unique relationship between a species and its environment and between it and other species. The niche encompasses everything needed for survival. Disturbing the natural balance of the niche space occupied by religious life could result in extinction or evolution, Merkle notes. She reviews key moments in the evolution of religious life, from the monasticism of Benedict to the mendicant life of Francis of Assisi to the founding of new, service-oriented orders after the Reformation. Ultimately, Merkle suggests that the corporate identities of our past—including the founding cultural flavor of our communities as well as our corporate ministries—must evolve into a new identity in a complex world. She asks important and challenging questions: “Has cultural change so impacted religious life that it cannot survive? Has its niche been so disturbed that, ‘as a species,’ it will become extinct?”

In Chapter 3, “Beyond Survival,” Merkle notes that species do adapt to new environmental challenges, pointing a way forward for religious life. She sees a potential for religious life to bridge the sacred and secular. Religious life, like the church, is “a sacrament of God’s presence in the world,” she contends. The Spirit’s charismatic action in the world can be creative, rational, and transformative. The religious experience involves moving beyond oneself and surrendering to something larger, presumably God. As religious interact with the world, we face its pain and injustice, and we also risk mirroring the world’s injustices within our own communities. Religious are called to serve as a witness to that which truly matters in our world.

Merkle continues with a chapter entitled “The Vows in Secular Culture.” Religious engage the secular when they see the vows as a gift of self and a way to follow the gospel, she says. People seek wholeness. Religious often work with laity who want to offer direct service, do charity, work for justice, and in general do good in the world. Our self-emptying and turning toward God, along with God’s reaching toward us, is transformational. In fact, according to Merkle, conversion happens out of an experience of God’s love and our search for something more than ourselves. She expands traditional reflections on the vows. For example, she notes that poverty, among other things, is about living with the limitations of smaller numbers and not pinning all our hopes on our institutions. She reflects on the expansive nature of voluntary celibacy and sees obedience as collaboration with “real people” in community. While her discussion of the vows is meaningful, more specifics on what it means to live the vows would have deepened this chapter.

Further into the book, Merkle notes that this moment in religious life is characterized by vulnerability, and she offers reflections on the “search for next steps.” She advocates for religious to be involved in dialogue with both the church and secular society. She poses the question: In a world where fragmentation abounds and all we know is uncertainty, what holds us together? Merkle presents thought-provoking points that left me reflecting upon whether religious communities have narratives strong enough to bind them together. Finally, the book’s essays share four main threads of ecological wisdom that can be woven into our Catholic faith.

As she further unpacks the lives of religious, Merkle discusses charism as shaping our response to the pain and evil in the world. She invites communal reflection on meaningful questions: “What time is it for us? Are we just beginning? Is it time to pass our charism to another generation? What do we need to do this … what rituals do we need to help members understand their identity and mission now?”

In her chapter “Adaptations for a New Environment,” Merkle explains that there is no one right way forward. Religious must work to embrace lives of authenticity. The Spirit’s guidance includes the likelihood of surprise because none of us can fully wrap our arms around the Spirit. Religious are called to respond to the issues of the day. Humans can be disappointed if our planned futures do not come to fruition, but remaining grounded in something larger keeps us anchored in hope. Merkle argues that discernment guided by the Spirit is more than decision-making.

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Sensing the Spirit is a worthwhile book for pondering our current moment in religious life. It is well-grounded in the thought of a wide array of theologians, yet remains accessible for a variety of readers. Ultimately, this book is valuable for those learning about religious life and for those reflecting on its future.

Sister Sarah Kohles, O.S.F. is a Sister of St. Francis of Dubuque and an assistant professor of theology at Briar Cliff University.