Magnificat in Ordinary Life
As a child, Sister Ave Clark decided that she wanted to become either a Rockette or a nun. Her mother responded that she should pursue her performing dreams first, then enter the convent. The young Clark mulled it over, ultimately deciding, “I’m not going to be a Rockette. I’m going to be a nun who dances a lot.”
Having recently celebrated her 61st anniversary as a Dominican Sister, Sister Ave still enjoys kicking up her heels—though not quite as high as in her younger days. But her true specialty is helping the spirits of downtrodden people to dance again by showing them grace, mercy, and compassion. She shares some of her wisdom in the recent books “Joy is Blooming” and “Alleluia: A Grace to Hold Life’s Interruptions.”
Sister Ave’s father once told her she was going to “evangelize the world.” That became true when she joined the Dominicans, who are a preaching order. She has served others joyfully for more than six decades. And it’s clear that evangelization comes naturally to Sister Ave. She’s one of those people who connects with everyone she meets: the workers at her bank, the gas station attendant who fills her tank, the handyman, the postman, etc.
“Anybody that comes into my space in life or I into theirs, I hope we’ll remember each other,” Sister Ave told me during a “Christopher Closeup” interview. “I love sharing my joy, my happiness. Have I had tears in life? Yes. And this past week, three of my dear Sisters returned to heaven. You have that moment where you miss them. Then, all of a sudden, I say, ‘I’m glad I had the moment of cherishing what they gave to me: friendship, example, inspiration, simplicity.’”
The way Sister Ave lives was greatly impacted 20 years ago when her car was hit by a runaway train, and she spent one year in intense recovery and rehabilitation. Though she was tempted to dwell in her misery, she chose instead to tell herself that she could make at least one small step towards healing every day. “I started looking at the little moments,” Sister Ave explained, “of being able to use my hand again, to write, to get up and walk. [My] right foot is constantly in pain from that injury, but if I focus only on that, then I’m going to feel more of the pain. I’m not Pollyanna; I’m a realistic person. But I truly believe that joy wraps around us that beautiful grace of saying: you can do this today.”
Sister Ave finds particular inspiration for joy in the words of Mary in her Magnificat, when she proclaims, “My soul magnifies the Lord.” Sister Ave notes that we don’t have to magnify the Lord in large ways. It can happen through the smallest acts of love.
“I look across the street every day,” Sister Ave said, “and I see a man put his special [needs] son, who is nonverbal, on this bus…He’s back out there at 3:15 waiting for his son. When the bus pulls up, the son gets off, gives his father the bag, reaches out his arms, and they hug each other. The father will not change the son’s mental capacities or his emotional life, but what I see is love. That’s what I see through Mary. Each one of us can magnify…Mary’s loving ‘Yes,’ her loving trust, her loving humanity, her loving [in] walking to the cross. That’s where our magnificat happens in our ordinary life.”
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