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Contents © 2000
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

Two Holy Hours A Day

Sister Mary Rose Bratlien, 38, looks and acts as if she walked right out of a post-Vatican II school textbook. She is an active member of the Franciscan Sisters, Third Order Regular, in Toronto, Ohio. From 1967 to 1987, Bratlien, the second youngest of six, lived on Avenida Andorra, one block from All Hallows Church on Mt. Soledad. Her father was a real estate broker. She attended all public schools and graduated from La Jolla High in 1979. "My friends were definitely not churchgoers. They were just my friends from the high school. We were into partying and going to movies. I was never into sports, but some of my guy friends were. I did some dating on and off. I tried the drinking, but never really got into it."

When she was 19, "I sensed a call, an invitation from the Lord to be consecrated." This followed a conversion she had at 17, largely propelled by her parents' divorce. "They married as Catholics but after 15 years left the church." The kids drifted. "I went back to church and got confirmed.... It was really because of my mother and her coming back to the church. She evangelized me.

"It took about seven and a half years. I had periods where I was more actively moving on that discernment and others where I was thinking more in terms of marriage and dating. One year I read the Bible cover to cover."

Bratlien worked for five years at the diocesan charismatic renewal center in La Jolla. "Father Jerry (Bevilacqua) really was a big influence in my life, as were different speakers we got for the charismatic renewal." She worked part time as a teaching assistant at All Hallows Academy.

Bratlien learned about the Franciscan University of Steubenville (Ohio) through a co-worker at the renewal center. While studying elementary education and theology at Steubenville from 1987 to 1990, Bratlien joined the secular Franciscan Third Order. "I realized that Franciscan spirituality was something I was very drawn to. Most of them went on to pursue religious life, although not all of them stayed to take final vows."

"Our order is both traditional and charismatic. There's eucharistic adoration, the charismatic aspect of praise integrated into the traditional aspects of prayer, the liturgy of the hours -- saying that together-- living in community, our fraternity. We're primarily contemplative, although we're not cloistered, so we do a variety of ministries.

"We have two Eucharistic holy hours a day -- one in the morning and one in the evening. We pray the divine office morning and evening together and sometimes the night prayer. We have two work periods -- one in the morning and one in the afternoon. There is some kind of prayer at midday, but it varies. There is daily Mass, of course, and our devotional prayers. There are at least five hours of prayer each day and about five to six hours of work. We have silence in the morning and after night prayer and all day on Wednesdays and Fridays. Each of us has our own room. It's simple and small, but adequate.

"There are 21 in the order now, about half of them from the university. If they didn't attend, they at least had some connection with the university. We have four novices and three postulants.

"We help out with an organized program that distributes food to the poor. We help the sick and are involved in catechetical ministry. We visit shut-ins and bring them Communion in the hospitals and into their homes, and we visit the nursing homes. We've done vacation bible schools for children." Bratlien has also been in charge of the postulants for almost six years. "I do other jobs like sewing -- I'm the coordinator of the sewing room, and there's some music ministry."

Long before becoming a nun, Bratlien played the guitar, sang, and wrote songs. "Our order produced a tape -- it's called 'The Lord Will I Love' -- and that's one of the songs I wrote."

After 12 years, Bratlien sees her biggest change in the depth of her prayer life, but she is surprised by other things. "When I first joined our community, I didn't think I'd be able to fast, but I learned to embrace that. We don't eat sweets very often. The obedience, the penance of giving up your own will constantly -- all those things are part of the penance of the life, but they're a beautiful way to sacrifice one's own will for the Lord's sake."

In her own family, Bratlien has two brothers and three sisters ranging in age from 37 to 49. "My three sisters are practicing Catholics, along with my mom." She returns at Christmas each year to visit her family and a few friends. "I miss San Diego on occasion, but I'm content here."

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