MSBT Be Fire

Religious Liberty, Catholic Institutions and the U.S. Government

2012-02-05T14:30:00.000-05:00

Aftergraduating from Catholic University with my new degree in Social Work in 1990,I went to work at NYC Catholic Charities Family Services office in the lowereast side of Manhattan. There were four to five MSBTs working there. We offeredsome counseling to families and individuals (non therapeutic), advocacy, budgetadvice, direct services, food and much, much more.

People knew we were Catholic and that we served everybody for free. Sometimes a woman would come in and tell me they were pregnant and couldn't handle another child for some reason. I would say to her, you came here to this office. Please tell me the name of this office. They would answer "Catholic Charities". I would then say " what do you think I'm going to say to you about your pregnancy?" Sometimes the woman would smile and say "I know sister" or say "I'm going to need help with getting what I need to have this baby" or "I need you to talk to my husband, boyfriend, mother, father, etc." We would always work with them to get the help they needed to have their baby and get the needed services be they counseling, financial assistance, referrals, etc.

Our clients were smart they knew if they were looking for services regarding birth control and abortion they did not go to Catholic Charities. They knew where to go for what service.

Many such Catholic agencies and Institutions are staffed by lay people now. It seems to me that the days of such Institutions are numbered. I believe the new guidelines about Medical, Educational and Service Institutions having to provide birth control services in employee health plans will mean big changes in Church run services.

Recently in Philadelphia there was an announcement that many schools will be closing next year.

The factor behind these closings is money. Not enough of it. But I wonder how many such Institutions will need to be closed now as Catholic Schools, Hospitals and Agencies will need to choose between disobeying Federal Law or God's Law.

Secretary Sebelius said "This decision was made after very careful consideration, including the important concerns some have raised about religious liberty," she said. "I believe this proposal strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive services."

Well they may think it's an appropriate balance but I disagree. I think the disregard for religious liberty in this matter is unbalanced and will have significant consequences.

I wonder if this means there will be fewer educational, health and service institutions run by religious groups? Maybe this will mean Church resources will have to be removed from such institutions and spent on more explicitly religious services such as religious instruction of children and adults.

Now I know many people think we Catholics are wrong if not crazy about this issue. But don't we have a right to honor what we know to be right? If you work for a religious organization don't you expect the organization to be run according to certain values and beliefs.

I think religious liberty is being severely challenged in the United States today. I know for myself I an not comfortable in either of the main political parties of the U.S. My beliefs about how I treat undocumented people is considered illegal in some states and now this Health Insurance & birth control issue forces institutional behavior which I consider wrong. What's next I wonder?

http://www.usccb.org/about/media-relations/resources/wall-street-journal-op-ed-on-religious-freedom.cfm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/obama-administration-holds-to-birth-control-insurance-rule-but-gives-religious-groups-more-time-to-comply/2012/01/20/gIQAR84nDQ_story.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/20/barack-obama-birth-control_n_1219622.html

http://www.usccb.org/index.html

http://www.hrsa.gov/womensguidelines/

The present of God's presence

2011-12-18T17:17:00.003-05:00

Here's a link to Sacred Space: http://www.sacredspace.ie/ where I found this lovely quote:

We are entering the last week of Advent, a week commonly filled with frantic plans to be attended to before Christmas Day. St. Columcille can help us to find a quiet space amid all our busyness and to listen for God’s annunciation to us. ‘Sometimes in a lonely cell, in the presence of my God, I stand and listen. In the silence of my heart, I can hear God’s will when I listen. For I am but a servant, guided by my king when I listen.

Let's give ourselves this most precious gift of being present to God.

Be Good to Yourself

2011-11-09T11:40:00.001-05:00

I'm home in my Cenacle (that's what we call our houses or apartments) today because I'm taking a couple of sick days to recuperate from oral surgery. I feel okay but I have to do the ice pack routine of 20 minutes on & 10 minutes off. So I had plans to be totally self indulgent and watch some daytime TV like "The View", "Dr. Oz" a little VH1 music video (boy! have videos changed from the 80's!).

But - we just received the gift of the DVD series Catholicism. This is a series created and hosted by Fr. Robert Barron. He is an author, speaker, a theologian and a Professor at Mundelein Seminary near Chicago.
I'm familiar with his website, Word On Fire (www.WordOnFire.org). I often listen to his homilies Sunday morning as he's a very good preacher.

Anyhow I watched one of the episodes called the "Mystery of God" In the dying words of Steve Jobs, "Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow." For once I wish I had a bunch of money cause I'd go buy everyone of my family and friends this DVD series. Well I can't so I'm sending out a link to the TV schedule.
http://www.catholicismseries.com/watch/tv-schedule

If you are Catholic or Christian be good to yourself and watch this series. Or at least part 3 on the Mystery of God. I know you probably have not received good adult ed on your faith.
Watch Catholicism! It's really captivating as well as educational.
I just watched the 52 minute episode 3 and forgot for that time span that I have a lot of pain and swelling from having oral surgery. Now I'm going to go ice my mouth and take 800 mg of Ibuprofen.

If you're not much of a believer watch this anyhow. It's wicked entertaining. If you don't believe at all watch it. Really know what it is you that you don't believe.

If I should somehow win or be gifted with a lot of cash I will buy lots of copies and give them out to my family, friends, acquaintances and whoever I can.

Many people ask what Catholic Sisters do and the truth is we do a lot of different things but the underlying purpose is always about the love of God. Glorifying God and acting in ways that say God is love! And this is why I'm advertising this video.
God bless you!

Politics and Faith

2011-09-17T09:11:00.001-05:00

Recently theNY Times' Bill Keller wrote an article

"AskingCandidates Tougher Questions About Faith"

Havingread the article and his blog with the questions I find nothing objectionableabout the questions nor the concept of asking candidates how

their faith would effect their actions as a president. I do feelbad that Mr. Keller has lost his faith.

I too am concerned about someof the views of the candidates in question.

Looking at Presidents up tothe present I really don't know that their faith has impacted theirpresidential actions all that much, with the possible exception of JimmyCarter. Some would say that's a good thing because of separation of Church andState. Now I'm a Catholic sister so that's where I'm coming from but if yourreligious faith does not effect how you live every day. If it does not affecthow you see the world and the choices you make then you're just playinggames.

Ilisten to some of the current crop of candidates and they pray, invoke God andtalk about their faith but they seem to be cafeteria Christians and Mormons.Picking what they like and leaving out what is politically risky.

Through the years Christian presidentsand other politicians have been able to ignore lots of the more inconvenientdemands of Christianity. I think particularly of the Sermon on the MountMatthew 5 or Luke6: 20 - 26 "Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God isyours". Check out this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9TBRPDcMOk

Or how about this quote fromLeviticus 19: 34?
"You shall treat the alien who resides with you no differently than thenatives born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself; for you too wereonce aliens in the land of Egypt.^y I, the LORD, am your God."

The 10 Commandments are prettyclear and we all struggle with them but with politicians it appears that number8 is often ignored,

"Youshall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Exodus 20:16

Just wondering are all thecommandments suspended when you're running for office? Is it okay to let PACsmake up stuff about your opponents that aren't true?
During the last campaign I recall John McCain softly correcting a women who

repeated one of the many slursabout Barack Obama. I thought wow! Integrity!

I knowall of us are hypocrites to some degree. I too have a plank in my eye when itcomes to certain demands, but the point is you keep trying to grow and changeand be more aware. So I'm praying for all our candidates that they may live up to the demands of both their faith and our constitution.

It would help if they read their books of faith, Bible or Book of Mormon and the Constitution thoroughly and don't skip the hard parts.

Family Blanket Time

2011-07-18T14:56:00.000-05:00

Years ago I entered the Missionary Servants of the Blessed Trinity (MSBT) because I believed that God was calling me to be a sister and the MSBTs worked a lot with families and I wanted to do that in some way. Members of my family had really developed my faith and trust in God so I wanted to pass that on to other families. In the Trinita Family program we get to do just that and have fun in the process.
Everyday volunteers (and this week I'm a volunteer) get to meet with their family for the week in a daily hour long session called blanket time. A committee of parents and the sisters and staff of Trinita meet in the months before the summer family program and work out the theme and activities. So all we volunteers have to do is read the directions get the materials and the blanket and be ready when the bell rings. The point of this is to give the family a chance to talk to each other on a littler deeper level than usual.

Many of the families with whom I've worked don't seem to be able to fit in time as a family. Schedules today are tight what with work, after school activities, sports and commuting time.

I saw this statistic and I have to say it's scary. The number of minutes per week that parents spend in meaningful conversation with their children: is 3.5 minutes. Minutes!!! Kids spend an average of 4 hours in front of the TV. So who is having more influence?

If I could give kids one thing I'd give them the attention of their parents and caregivers.
In my work with school children I was surprised at how willing the kids were to meet with me. I worked in a school K through 8, junior high and high school as a social worker and all ages were very willing to leave class and go talk with me.
Now sometimes it may have been getting out of class, but I believe mostly it was to have the attention of an adult. So that's always my free advice to any parent. Don't worry so much about giving your kids the material stuff, Give them your time, give them you.

The Holy Spirit Drives Out Our Fear

2011-06-11T09:02:00.004-05:00

This weekend as we celebrate Pentecost we see how the great love of God in the Holy Spirit drives out the great fear the Apostles and disciples - they were staying behind locked doors out of fear.
Then the Holy Spirit pours out upon them tongues of fire and great gifts for mission.

I think the greatest gift was the part about driving out the fear. Fear for our lives, fear of the unknown, fear of making a fool of ourselves, fear of doing things in a way that's not up to our standard of perfection, fear of ____________? Whatever your favorite fear is.

I know the Holy Spirit has helped me so many times to shed my fear and do what I needed to do, to say what needed to be said, yes even to make myself understood in a second language, maybe not well but good enough.
With the Spirit help I have been able to do things like speak in front of large groups of people, travel on planes (which I hate to do cause I'm not in control!), get through graduate school, keep my mouth shut when I need to listen, hold my temper when everything in me wants to be violent, work in countless meetings, committees and groups to grapple with how to work together in mission.

The point is the mission, the mission which is God's mission to spread His love and Truth as made so very evident in Jesus Christ to all people.

So we pray for the gifts of the Spirit: wisdom,understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord - which enable us to show forth in our lives the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control.

In 1913 our religious family, the Missionary Cenacle Family, began a perpetual novena to the Holy Spirit. To this day there are always two or three groups of our sisters, our lay groups, or brothers and priests praying the Novena. During the nine days before Pentacost Sunday we all pray the Novena.

We offer the Novena for the following intentions:

for the spread of devotion to the Most Blessed Trinity, in a particular way to the Holy Spirit
for the spread of the knowledge of and devotion to the mystery of the Incarnation and all the mysteries of our Lord Jesus
to exalt in the holy name of Jesus
to console the heart of Jesus
for priests
for the success of the Ecumenical movement and for the coming of the reign of God among all God's people.

Here's a link to the Novena prayers: Holy Spirit Novenas Y en espaňol:

Novenas al Espíritu Santo

Living Easter Every Day

2011-04-27T12:03:00.000-05:00

Easter - the central most important Event in the Christian calendar. Why? Its only because of the the death and Resurrection of Jesus that we are followers of Jesus the Christ. Without this event, life as a Christian would not be possible.

As I go to Mass daily I get to experience a lot of homilies and I must say most are very good. Unfortunately the sermon I heard during the Easter Vigil this year was uncommonly poor. As I wondered why the priest could not just talk simply on the beautiful mystery that we were celebrating my mind moved back to a passage in Ronald Rohlheiser's book "The Holy Longing" on the Paschal Mystery.

“a process of transformation within which we are given both new life and new spirit. It begins with suffering and death, moves on to the reception of new life, spends some time grieving the old and adjusting to the new, and finally, only after the old life has been truly let go of, is a new spirit given for the life we are already living”.

Fr. Rohlheiser outlines Jesus' paschal journey in stages:
1. Real death (Good Friday)
2. Receiving new life (Easter)
3. A time to grieve the old and readjust to the new life (the 50 days)
4. A time to let go and let the old bless you (ascension)
5. Receiving the new Spirit to go with the new life (Pentecost)

He then gives examples of people who have lived the paschal mystery in their lives. The idea is they go through a kind of death in their lives; an experience of loss of some kind that causes great pain. Within the grieving of the loss they receive a new life and eventually the spirit to live that new life.

This makes clear the living presence of the Spirit as we go through the ups and downs of life. Our faith in the Risen Christ does not protect us from the painful things of life. It does not make us rich, handsome or smart.
The gift of the presence of the Living Christ in our lives is all about presence and relationship. Through our relationship with Our Lord we have what we need to go through the many transitions of life, both the joyful and the sorrowful. And yes to get through the ordinary not so exciting times too.

Dear Lord, please give us the grace to continue to live the Easter celebrations in our everyday lives. May we go through life open to recognize your Presence and ready to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Self Sacrifice

2011-04-01T08:44:00.000-05:00

For Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly.
Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die.
But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Romans 5: 6 - 8

We’ve been hearing about the self sacrificing workers in Japan like the Fukushima 50 (although there's lots more than 50; they work in shifts of 50) who for the sake of others have stayed at the dangerous Nuclear power plant in order to do what they can to avert a worse tragedy.

It's so hard to let go of self interest and put the interests of others first. Some would scoff at that notion I know but for a follower of Jesus that's what it's about.

Lenten sacrifice means just that - not so much the giving up of food, candy, drink although that has its place too- but the giving up of self. For that much prayer is needed.

Decisions

2010-12-19T09:02:00.002-05:00

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,
which means “God is with us.”
When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home.

Looking at Joseph 2000 plus years later, we might think well of course he'd do the right thing by Mary and when he was guided by his dream follow up by trusting the angel's words to him about her. But he didn't know the ending that we know. His decision was made based on his relation with God and most likely with Mary. This is the thing about making decisions we don't always know the outcome.

Joseph could have done the easy thing; the morally acceptable and legally approved thing. Let Mary be shamed, probably stoned for adultery and get on with his life. But no, his intention was to act righteously with generosity and mercy. And after being visited by the angel in his dream his response was to do as the angel of the Lord told him.
He thought only to do the right thing. We don't know what this meant to Joseph. Yet his decisions, his actions and his treatment of Mary and Jesus have impacted believers throughout the ages.

Joseph would probably not have been invited to the talk shows of his day, or wherever famous people of his age
were extolled. He was just a regular guy with a regular job trying to do the right thing and trying to be just and merciful. Not famous just essential.

Art by Sr. Richard Mehren, CSJ

These are the people we don't often hear about. Hopefully everyone has someone like this in their life.
These men, women, youth and children who through grace and training act with integrity, justice and mercy.
Like Joseph they don't talk a whole lot but their actions say it all.

Life is a Gift of God

2010-11-09T11:29:00.009-05:00

I've come to know that following Christ is all about how you are, how you act every day. That's the thing about Jesus. His teachings attract people for sure but when I think of why I love Jesus the first thing that comes to me is the way he is with people in the scriptures.

I've been thinking of one of Jesus' followers who recently died. Sr. Ann Miriam Gallagher, MSBT was well loved by many. Here's some of the comments people have made in the wake of her death:

Her smile and spirit could light up a room.
Sr Ann was a gift to everyone she touched. I am honored to have known her and worked with her.
Sr Ann came into my life when I truly needed spiritual guidance and a friend I could trust.
Sr Ann was a gift. She made my faith real to me.
Simple gifts are what you teach. And you place them right in reach. Within each of us. And we will never be the same.
I feel privleged to have known her.
She was the kindest person I have ever known.

She lived her life as a person who believed in God and in the resurrection of Jesus. Armed with this faith she added own gifts of person and disposition and shared her joy in God's goodness with others
in the most ordinary yet uplifting ways. She was ever about lifting people up of pointing out the good, the holy and what was of God.The thing is, she did it in such a down to earth way. She was life giving in a way that inspired you to be your best self. Always, she sought to try & understand people.

We do miss you Ann. It helps me to remember that our life is a gift from God. The people in our lives are gifts freely given to us, yet not to be possessed. So I try to let go and rejoice in your being home. Perhaps in your new mode of life you can help us who knew you to be life-givers in our daily life.

What would you be doing that's so important anyway?

2010-10-09T12:15:00.002-05:00

"it is love alone that gives worth to all things" Teresa of Avila

The other day a few of us were discussing some of the events going on in the life of our families. All of us have parents, siblings, in-laws, nephews, uncles, aunts etc. in all the stages of life with all the challenges of those stages.
We were focused on the topic of raising children and some recent hair raising stories our family members had mentioned to us, requesting prayers for their child. At the end of this sharing someone said "we're spoiled we don't have to deal with that."
It's true, one of the benefits of being a vowed religious is we don't get married, have children and suffer the difficulties that vocation can entail. Well, nor do we enjoy the great benefits and joys of the married vocation either. Later I thought about how we were glad that we didn't have to deal with the pains of parenting. I wonder if when people look at our life from the perspective of married life?
Do they think, Thank God I don't have to deal with that! One thing I know from years of experience working with families and with sisters, priests and brothers; life is composed of both joy and sorrow and mostly the ordinary.

Living out one's vocation is mostly about the ordinary I think. I see my nieces and nephews with their kids and it's a pleasure to see how they cherish the daily stuff of their lives. It's also a witness and reminder to me to cherish the daily stuff of mine.

Many years ago one of my siblings, no names here, was complaining to my mother about life as a spouse and parent. My mother,
Vera was her name and she was a truth teller for sure, said," what would you be doing that's so important anyway"?

Phew, it seemed a bit harsh at the time, but it's true, life is not like the movies or TV where everyday is a big drama.
This day that I have, this is my important thing I have to do, even if it involves the ordinary tasks of life, like doing the laundry, which for me is imperative, or I won't look presentable for the rest.
So I pray to have the grace of being present to the people, the tasks and the thoughts God gives me today. May I cherish them and give thanks to God for them.

The Blessed Mother

2010-09-09T09:52:00.001-05:00

Our Lady of Grace

Yesterday was September 8th the day Catholics celebrate the birth of Mary. Now we don't know if it's her 'real' birthday but we celebrate the fact that such a faith-filled follower of Christ was born.

Recently a distant relative who is an evangelical christian decided to play the "let's go pepper the family nun with irritating questions about a cherished belief" game.

I say this because I often get stuck at family and other gatherings having to listen to people challenge the beliefs of the Catholic Church. Usually I don't mind and take it as part of the territory.
This recent one kind of got to me because it was at the lunch after the funeral of my oldest brother John. I was a bit numb and having to listen to a someone telling me that we shouldn't pay so much attention to Mary
and why do we anyhow was to say the least trying.

Well I know some people are so incredibly self centered and lacking in social development they just can't help themselves. Sigh!

Anyhow I offered up a prayer asking for the Blessed Mother's intercession once again and listened.
After a while I gave my simple little summation about her

She believed and trusted in God
She gave her life over to God
She gave up her son to God
She believed in Jesus call as the Son of God
Jesus on the Cross gave her to us as our Mother

He paused about one second, then clearly not having listened, shook his head and started telling me how all these people here we're clueless about the evil in their lives and surely damned, etc. etc. etc.
My response was this was I was putting my money on Jesus the Son of the Living God having overcome all evil. These so-called evil people had been generous enough to come to the Funeral Mass and burial of my brother so I figured they had some link to the goodness of God. At that I excused myself as I could feel my impatience winning out over my numbness. Thanks Blessed Mother for your help once again.
I'm sure glad you're around.

The center and sun of the spiritual life

2010-09-09T08:57:00.001-05:00

Today's Saint is St. Pius X. Pope from1903 - 1914 he is known for his advocacy of frequent reception of communion for adults and sacramental preparation for children. The founder of my community Fr. Thomas A. Judge was greatly influenced by the writing of Pius X and taught his followers of the important of frequent reception of Holy Communion and of instructing children regarding the faith.

Being able to go to Mass and receive Communion was a big deal in my family and I can well remember when I was old enough to do so. My Mother told us stories of her Father who was brought up at a time when receiving the Sacrament was reserved to once a year. As an adult he would go to Saturday confession during the Easter Season, then for the rest of the day his kids were forbidden to talk to him or make much noise so they would not cause him to sin before he went to Mass and Communion on Sunday. He regarded his children's practice of confession and communion every two weeks as nearly scandalous.
She always felt that he would have been a happier man if his beliefs had not been so rigid and guilt ridden.

I can't even imagine receiving Communion only once a year. For me trying to live as a follower of Jesus is possible because of the gift of the Eucharist. The real presence of the Christ is at the center of my life.

Here's a link to what some others say about what the Holy Eucharist means to them:
http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Oct2005/Feature1.asp

The Blessed Sacrament is the center and sun of the spiritual life. It is the food of our starved and
parched souls. Fr. Thomas A. Judge, CM

http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/SaintofDay/

Seek good and not evil, that you may live

2010-07-07T18:55:00.002-05:00

Seek good and not evil,that you may live;

Then truly will the LORD, the God of hosts,

be with you as you claim!

Hate evil and love good,

and let justice prevail at the gate;

We were challenged at Mass today as the priest suggested that we are kind of lackadaisical about evil.

Everybody seemed calm at hearing him and I thought, "wow all these women who are regular prayers, have done so much good for others; are doing so much for others all in the name of God, Father, Son and Spirit. Could it be we are accepting of evil?"

It's true there is so much going on in our world that is touched by evil for example:

abortions

child abuse

trafficking of human beings

corruption in business and government

greed

drugs and all that goes with them

gang activity with all that goes with that

greed

lack of food, shelter, health care for so many, while some are super rich.

I'm not going to belabor this list although there's lots more.

It can seem so overwhelming that it's hard to know where to start.

I can only think that I start right in my own daily life and with my own daily choices.

Evil is not a huge foreign thing out there taking over people's wills and forcing them to do wrong.

"They" are not evil but their actions are.

Hating evil and loving good means being conscious of all the many choices

to do good, to speak what is good, to hold up the idea of the good.

The temptation to choose the evil action, to say the evil words, to not do the good can be so very strong. We cannot choose the good without God's grace.

Any triumph of good over evil is possible because of Jesus Christ., who gave His life for us on the cross. Jesus by His death on the cross and His resurrection overcame sin.

The Cross is our constant reminder. In the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ there is victory over sin and evil, but at great sacrifice. The Cross is our constant reminder that it costs us to make the choice for good.

The Cross is a sign that provokes us to love, to worship, to gratitude, to thanksgiving, to service. But for the mysteries of that Cross our destiny would be too hideous to think about. The Cross is our hope, our joy, our peace and consolation. It is a blessed pledge of a happy future, a happy eternity. We cannot look upon that Cross without knowing that thereupon was paid the price of our soul's salvation. Fr. Thomas A. Judge, CM

Mystery of the Trinity

2010-05-25T16:21:00.002-05:00

As Missionary Servants of the Most Blessed Trinity we, of course, are attuned to all mention of the Trinity. According to our rule of life the first thing we seek to do with our lives is to glorify the Triune God.

So Trinity Sunday is a big deal for us.

I came across the following quote while on retreat at our beautiful retreat house in Alabama, aptly named Blessed Trinity Shrine Retreat.

By mystery we do not mean something that is so beyond our knowledge and understanding that we might as well not bother to even think about it.

Rather it a mystery is a truth so profound, so full that it continually must be unfolded,revealed, made known and even with all that reflection and prayer and study for all the ages, the fullness of what the mystery of the Trinity contains can never be exhausted! - working on finding the source for this-

We cannot reach the end of God. There is always newness, always another lesson of love to be experienced. We experience the love of those close to us through their presence and through their actions. So too with the Trinity. When I think of the actions of the Trinity right away three stand out, creation, my existence and the Eucharist. During the Eucharistic prayer there's a beautiful prayer said by the priest, an invocation of the Holy Spirit called the epiclesis.

In the epiclesis, the Church asks the Father to send his Holy Spirit or the power of his blessingon the bread and wine, so that by his power they may become the body and blood of Jesus Christ and so that those who take part in the Eucharist may be one body and one spirit

Catechism of the Catholic Church.

To me that's a great example of the Trinity in action. The Triune God is amazing, so awesome and beyond my understanding in some ways, but in many ways quite clear.

Christ is Risen!

2010-04-26T19:46:00.001-05:00

It is all about Easter. The Resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the reason for all the fuss.
" Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing choirs of angels! Exult, all creation around God's throne! Jesus Christ, our King is risen! Sound the trumpet of salvation!
Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor, radiant in the brightness of your King! Christ has conquered! Glory fills you! Darkness vanishes for ever!
Rejoice, O Mother Church! Exult in glory! The risen Savior shines upon you! Let this place resound with joy, echoing the mighty song of all God's people!
For Christ has ransomed us with his blood, and paid for us the price of Adam's sin to our eternal Father!
This is night, when Christians everywhere, washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement, are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.
This is the night, when Jesus broke the chains of death and rose triumphant from the grave.
What good would life have been to us, had Christ not come as our Redeemer?
Father, how wonderful your care for us! How boundless your merciful love! To ransom a slave you gave away your Son.
The power of this holy night dispels all evil, washes guilt away, restores lost innocence, brings mourners joy; it casts out hatred, brings us peace, and humbles earthly pride."
From the Easter vigil exultet, one of my all time favorites!

Devotional Knowledge and the Incarnation

2010-03-27T10:37:00.004-05:00

This past Thursday was the Feast of the Annunciation. It’s always a big day for us as our founder Fr. Thomas A. Judge, CM cherished the day in which the “Word was made flesh and dwelt among us”.
This is the big salvation event when God gives the gift and grace of himself to Mary and to us. Knowledge of the mystery of the Incarnation; to know that God is with us and loves us so much that He became a part of us in the Lord Jesus was central to Fr. Judge. He urged that our knowledge of that mystery be a devotional knowledge. Devotional knowledge of the Incarnation means you know and understand the Incarnation (as much is as humanly possible). But it doesn't end there; that knowledge animates, inspires and bears fruit. You try to regularly pray about the Incarnation and put its meaning into practice. There is an end product that shows up in your behavior and actions.

Fr. Judge said, “The answer must be individual and personal. It may work around our
practice, it may bring us out of bed more promptly in the morning. It may make us more zealous in our morning prayer and meditation, it may make us more alert and Eucharistic in the chapel and at the altar... It may increase fraternal charity in our relations with one another. It may show us more zealous and urge us to strive for a better knowledge of the value of the human soul and make us
forget ourselves that we may think more of God and do more for His honor and glory. In other words, its expression may be a greater piety and zeal or fraternal charity or self-sacrifice.”

Our Blessed Mother Mary, as a young, poor but faithful woman was able to place her trust in God’s gracious gift of love and accept this amazing gift of being the mother of the son of the Most High. She is certainly our model in how to respond wholeheartedly to our Lord.

For the Missionary Servants of the Most Blessed Trinity, the Annunciation is the day we make perpetual profession of vows or final vows. We also renew our vows every year on March 25th. This year the Feast was particularly joyful as our Sr. Christine Ma made Perpetual Profession of Vows and Sr. Janet Santibanez renewed her vows for one year.

Such a day reminds me of the “inexhaustible reservoir of God’s love for us”. It underscores the great graces God showers upon us.

For more on the Annunciation try Creighton University's Catholic Comments podcast at: http://cct.creighton.edu/?cat=16

Open to Transcendance

2010-02-25T10:49:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I read the article "Open to Transcendance" on the St. Louis University Liturgy site: http: //liturgy.slu.edu/5OrdC020710/theword_engaged.html It's been on my mind ever since.

The other day while flying I sat next to a woman who had lost all her material possessions in Katrina. Her home and her business were destroyed. I had the great grace to hear her journey from anger and sadness in the wake of her loss to joy and trust in God. She credits her change to the time she spent in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Over a few weeks the presence of the Lord gave her peace.

Her then temporary home in the city where she moved for refuge after Katrina happened to be very near a Church with 24 hour adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. She knows this to have been no accident. She recognizes that she is not the one in control and that she is powerless. And that is okay with her as she knows that she can trust in God to lead her everyday.

I hope to continue to keep both the article and "the lady on the plane" in mind during Lent and beyond. I hope to keep their knowledge that it is only by God's great love and grace that I have life.
As Paul said: "But by the grace of God I am what I am.." 1 Corinthians 15:10.

...every economic decision has a moral consequence.

2010-01-24T10:33:00.000-05:00

We had an electrical problem Sunday morning which caused two of our three buildings on Solly Ave. Philadelphia to be closed. So those of us who live in the two closed buildings moved to the spare rooms at our Motherhouse building. This is where our retired sisters live and where the main chapel and dining room are. We had all we needed and more.

It was inconvenient, but how fortunate we are to have a place to go. In light of the situation in Haiti the inconvenience becomes a mere trifle.

I know life is unfair but it seems to me that we need to do much better at making our earthly existence more equitable. The plight of the Haitian people, who had bare subsistence before the earthquake and have had that destroyed, cries out to us.

I've been gradually reading Caritas In Veritate, the most recent encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI. It's not exactly an 'easy read' but well worth the effort. I am reading it a section at a time as its’ density takes some time to digest.

In Chapter 3 Fraternity, Economic and Civil Society, Pope Benedict reminds us that God is our source, our creator, the reason we exist. We cannot divorce any human activity from that basic truth. Everything we do needs to connect to that truth. He says "every economic decision has a moral consequence."

Economic activity seems to be carried out by many without that connection. Applying this connection to our own lives means we must be much more conscious about so many of the seemingly small economic choices we make every day. It means being generous with our wealth, attending to the source of the goods we buy and being mindful of the impact of our economic choices.

Does the soft cotton shirt I have come from child labor in India? What’s it mean to that child if I don’t buy it? Finding out the answer to that question means some research and I want to just ignore it as I’m busy. But now I think I can’t ignore it.

The inequalities of this world which we see so evident in the earthquake in Haiti surely cry out to heaven of our self-centered greed and selfishness. Haiti's people and land have been raped over the centuries leaving the country with little to withstand natural disasters.

All those little decisions made by many people over the centuries have so negatively impacted the people of Haiti.

With this awareness that every economic decision has a moral consequence I know I don’t want my little choices to be part of anything of that nature.This is going to mean some changes.

Thanksgiving

2009-12-12T20:16:00.001-05:00

Okay I started this at the time of Thanksgivining week and never did post it. It's never too late to say thanks.

Thanks be to Thee, O God, that I have risen today,To the rising of this life itself;May it be to Thine own glory, O God of every gift and to the glory of my soul likewise.

Celtic prayer

When I give thanks to God it's usually for the good people, events and things of my life. I know I have a superabundance in my life. My list for thanksgiving is a mile long.

The truth is that I have likely profited as much or more from the events and things in my life that I may have viewed as negative or at least not what I would have chosen.

The tough things; times of grief, loneliness, pain and ill health have opened me up to God's love and helped me to be more compassionate towards others.

I don't know that I can greet every circumstance with faith, trust and acceptance like Job.

"The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the LORD."
But I do know my life is not mine but a gift from God. I hope for the grace to always know this.

Missionary Zeal

2009-10-14T10:30:00.004-05:00

I'm really happy at the news of Fr. Damien now St. Damien. As a little girl I read biographies about anyone and everyone and I remember being so impressed by the life of sacrifice and zeal led by Fr. Damien. I had little knowledge of what leprosy or Hansen's disease was about but it was not something I would want to mess with and I thought he was a true follower of Jesus.

In preparing prayers for some meetings later this month I've came across this writing of Fr. Judge,

What are we going to do this coming year... to show a good and thankful heart to Him whence every good gift comes? The answer must be individual and personal. It may work around our practice, it may bring us out of bed more promptly in the morning. It may make us more zealous in our morning prayer and meditation, it may make us more alert and Eucharistic in the chapel and at the altar... It may increase fraternal charity in our relations with one another. It may show us more zealous and urge us to strive for a better knowledge of the value of the human soul and make us forget ourselves that we may think more of God and do more for His honor and glory.

I was thinking about St. Damien and the North American martyrs, Jesuits who flung their lives into the mission to the Native Americans & Canadians. Their lives were full of missionary zeal and it it makes me wonder about following Christ as a missionary today, am I flinging my life gladly into the service of God and the Church?

In visiting our Sisters I see ample evidence of the virtue of missionary zeal. I'm visiting one of our Cenacles now where four sisters live a life which may not seem as romantic and cool as going off to wild, dangerous place but in fact they steadily follow a pattern of daily service and prayer in order to build up the faith of the people they serve. Each one serves in a different ministry from adult faith formation to social service ministry to the Latino population but in each I see a spending of self in the service of God.

Their generous service and joyful attitude gives glory to the Triune God and surely is a spur to my living of our life as a Missionary Servant of the Most Blessed Trinity.

A good missionary = a good listener.

2009-09-05T08:49:00.006-05:00

“The Missionary is one who goes out-“Go into the whole world “ That going out, that gathering, is the work of the missionary and that is the difficult part. It is not difficult to get teachers, but it is difficult to get missionaries. Why? Because there is the exhaust of self, because there must be more sacrifice of self. Our spirit demands a spirit of charity, and you understand what charity is-love of God and your neighbor.” Thomas A. Judge, CM

A missionary died this past week. Sr. Andrea Marie Stim of the Incarnation went home to God after a life spent for others.

I love our MSBT wakes as one hears a much fuller story of the person's life. At her wake I heard some of the following about Andrea:
Her father was a Byzantine priest
She met our Community when she, a Marywood college student, volunteered on the MSBT North Alabama missions during the summers.
She felt so called to become a missionary sister that she went through the rough process of transfering from the Byzantine Catholic rite to the Latin rite.
She was a good listener.
She loved her family and they loved her.
She was a social worker that through most of her life taught religion and did home visiting after hours.
She was a generous listener.
She had several bouts with serious illness and a near terminal accident in which she had her legs crushed between two trucks in NYC. She recovered from them all until the last bout with cancer.
She studied Spanish while at Catholic Charities in NYC and had a special love for the mostly Puerto Rican families she served.
She was a good listener who would not so much give you advice as to affirm your better thoughts and ideas, thus gently leading you in the better direction.
She always missed the ritual of the Byzantine rite and when she could often attended Mass in Byzantine Catholic Churches like St. Mary Catholic Church of the Byzantine Rite in NYC.

Hers was a life of going out for God to others. At one point someone made the comment "she was a good missionary but she was also a good listener too."
I wanted to get up and say, Hey! a good missionary = a good listener. Being able to be present to people and really, really listen to them in a way that lets them know they count, that they are children of God to whom its a privilege to listen, that is the key ingredient. In my humble opinion.
So Andrea, thanks for your patient, gentle listening and keep praying for us now that you're with the One who made you and loved you into being.

A wise Latina

2009-08-06T19:09:00.003-05:00

I'm really glad that the Senate has confirmed Sonia Sotomayor as a Supreme Court Justice. God bless her and may she be guided by the Holy Spirit as she uses her knowledge, education and experience to make decisions, write opinions and carry out all the other tasks of a Supreme Court Justice.

I don't know the new Justice Sotomayor except through the media, so I can't say if she is wise or not, but I have known quite a few "wise" Latinas. The phrase brings to mind my old friend Doña Juana. This wise woman lived in lower east side Manhattan. She survived on under $450.00 a month of Social Security. After years of poor factory pay this was her retirement fund. She considered herself blessed to have faith in God, family and friends and a project apartment.

She was a client of Catholic Charities mainly because she could not read or write much and needed a little help with forms from time to time. Compassionate and caring, She sent many people to Catholic Charities who needed our services. But for lack of education, Doña Juana would have made a fine Supreme Court Justice.
A few times I had the pleasure of accompanying her to appointments. As we walked through the streets Doña Juana would stop to greet many along the way. She seemed to be friends with people of a variety of backgrounds, colors and languages. At the same time she knew the parts of the neighborhood where one did not linger and knew the individuals who were violent of into dealing drugs. She was pretty shrewd.

Doña Juana is in heaven now. I'm sure she is proud that a Latina from NYC is a Supreme Court Justice. I'm just as proud of Doña Juana who despite her lack of advantage was a wise, caring
woman, rooted in her faith in God and love for her neighbor. Perhaps you can keep Justice Sotomayor in your prayers Doña Juana.

Michael Jackson, self acceptance and God's forgiving love

2009-07-04T09:47:00.003-05:00

Last night at supper at our Motherhouse dining room I sat with a group of sisters who were wondering about all the Michael Jackson hype. It is a little much but his music did accompany us for four decades. I recall all the kids with whom I worked in the 80's moonwalking and wearing those red Michael Jackson jackets and skinny black pants.

I admit I watched one of the many programs about his life and all I can think of is the poor thing! He was proof that all the money, talent and fame in the world does not make one happy.
The semi-news program I watched detailed the number of plastic surgeries the guy had and I couldn't help thinking, what a waste of money, time and energy! To be so focused on yourself, your looks, your needs and wants makes you a prisoner of yourself. Too bad.

Well all that is over for him and now he is in the hands of our God who fills all our needs.
Now he knows that true beauty has nothing to do with looks, money, fame etc.
I hope he's at peace. Thanks for the music.

Blessed Trinity

2009-06-09T10:07:00.003-05:00

When I entered the Missionary Servants of the Most Blessed Trinity I was most interested in the part of our Community name that spoke of being a Missionary and a Servant. The Most Blessed Trinity ... not so much.
In 12 years of Catholic school I learned the basics and more, so of course I knew about the Trinity. Catholics begin and end prayers with the sign of the Cross and the words,"In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
I also had to memorize the Baltimore Catechism which had this to say about the Trinity:
"In God there are three Divine Persons, really distinct, and equal in all things-the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The Father is God and the first Person of the Blessed Trinity. The Son is God and the second Person of the Blessed Trinity. The Holy Ghost is God and the third Person of the Blessed Trinity.
The Blessed Trinity is one God in three Divine Persons. The three Divine Persons are one and the same God, having one and the same Divine nature.
All very true today and always but what difference does it make?

For me the Trinity is at the center of all good actions of all that is good in humans today.
Pope Benedict XVI sums it up:
Thus we see the "God of relation", thus in the final instance we see "creative Love. Everything comes from love, tends towards love and moves impelled by love, though naturally with differing degrees of awareness and

"The strongest proof that we are made in the image and likeness of the Trinity is this: only love can make us happy, because we live in relation to others, we live to love and to be loved. Using an analogy taken from biology
we could say that the human beings carry in heir 'genomes' the profound traces of the Trinity, of God-Love", the Holy Father concluded.

Come Holy Spirit

2009-05-26T12:15:00.002-05:00

In 1913 our religious family, the Missionary Cenacle Family, began a perpetual novena to the Holy Spirit. To this day there are always two or three groups of our sisters, our lay groups, or brothers and priests praying the Novena. During the nine days before Pentacost Sunday we all pray the Novena.

We offer the Novena for the following intentions:

for the spread of devotion to the Most Blessed Trinity, in a particular way to the Holy Spirit
for the spread of the knowledge of and devotion to the mystery of the Incarnation and all the mysteries of our Lord Jesus
to exalt in the holy name of Jesus
to console the heart of Jesus
for priests
for the success of the Ecumenical movement and for the coming of the reign of God among all God's people.

Here's a link to the Novena prayers:
http://mcenacle.org/mcfnovenas.htm

Risen

2009-04-13T15:26:00.000-05:00

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went away quickly from the tomb,
fearful yet overjoyed,
and ran to announce the news to his disciples.
And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them.
They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage.
Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid.
Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee,
and there they will see me."

While they were going, some of the guard went into the city
and told the chief priests all that had happened.
The chief priests assembled with the elders and took counsel;
then they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers,
telling them, "You are to say,
'His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.'
And if this gets to the ears of the governor,
we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble."
The soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed.
And this story has circulated among the Jews to the present day. Mt 28:8-15

If you were not risen,
Lord Christ, to whom would we go
to discover a radiance
of the face of God?

If you were not risen,
we would not be together
seeking your communion.
We would not find in your presence
forgiveness,
wellspring of a new beginning.

If you were not risen,
where would we draw the energy
for following you
right to the end of our existence,
for choosing you again and anew?

Brother Roger of Taize

Lent, fasting and my neighbor

2009-02-27T08:09:00.004-05:00

Here it is Lent; a time to deepen in our relationship with God.

I'm thinking more prayer, more quiet time to read scripture and meditate on it. Great!
Of course when you meditate on a passage like that of today's reading from Isaiah
it kind of ruins the concept of a nice, peaceful, meditative Lent that in which I can focus on me and God. Once again God pulls me out of myself.

Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits, and drive all your laborers.
Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting, striking with wicked claw.
Would that today you might fast so as to make your voice heard on high!
Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance:
That a man bow his head like a reed and lie in sackcloth and ashes?

Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking every yoke;
Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;
Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed;
Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am! Isaiah 58

Self sufficient in Christ

2008-11-30T13:16:00.005-05:00

But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. 1 Timothy 6:9

How 'wicked' sad I am to hear and read of the Wal-mart worker, Jdimytai "Jimmy" Damour, being trampled to death by a mob of folks pushing to get into the store to buy stuff.

In my checkered Catholic sister career as a teacher, parish and youth minister and social worker, etc. I've seen people in great need for food, clothes and shelter and those who have enough but have this great deep want for? What? More of whatever it is that other folks have. They are not content with their life.
I don't call them savages as some have. I don't believe that any of those folks wanted to kill Mr. Damour for a Wal-mart special. In fact they were probably pushed forward by the great crowd behind them. I wonder about the many motives of the individuals in that crowd. Why did they go out at that 'unGodly' hour to stand out in the cold and wait to get in to buy some thing?

I know I want stuff too. I have the use of things. As a Catholic Sister I don't own things, but I have the use of them for my ministry. So the Community buys me a car, clothes, books, a laptop and printer, etc. Guess what? I want the latest, most powerful laptop going, but I don't get it because we tend to go practical, not the best but something good and hopefully durable.
Some of us are using Windows 95 machines.
If someone were to give me the machine of my dreams I'd be thrilled for the moment. It's enjoyable to have the latest thing, the coolest Ipod or smartphone or widescreen TV.

Does it make me or anyone happier, better, more cool? No.
I think the wants people are trying to fill have nothing to do with possessing things, with being able to give cool gifts. I believe we are trying to fill up a hole within us that no material object will fill. For me I know the One who fills my wants and needs is Jesus Christ, the Lord.
How I wish more people could know this. I am praying this Advent be more than just a season of shopping but a season of hope for the coming of Christ within us EVERYDAY.
I pray we can be like St. Paul who said:

Not that I say this because of need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I find myself, to be self-sufficient.
: I know indeed how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need.
: I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me. Philippians, 4,11

The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church

2008-11-26T13:38:00.004-05:00

The Catholic Church just had a synod of Bishops on the topic of Scripture. The Synod sent out a letter on Oct. 24th which can be accessed here: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/synod/documents/rc_synod_doc_20081024_message-synod_en.html
There will be a letter called an Apostolic Exhortation from Pope Benedict sometime soon.

While I always try to read and pay attention to letters, exhortations, encyclicals and the like from Rome (it's part of what I'm committed to as a vowed religious) I'm especially interested in this topic. Reading the Bible as a young women of 22, rekindled my faith in God and changed me from a "Sunday Mass Catholic" to a practicing Catholic every day.

Four central points concerning the Word of God were highlighted:

1. The divine Voice. in Creation, in history
2. The Face: Jesus Christ
3. The Home of the divine word, that is to say the Church, which, as Saint Luke suggested
(Acts 2:42), is supported by four ideal columns.
teaching
the breaking of the bread
prayer
brotherly communion
4. The road the Word of God walks upon
The Word of God must run through the world’s streets which today are also those of computer, television and virtual communication.

Here's a piece of what the Synod had to say in their Oct. 24th letter:

Dear brothers and sisters, guard the Bible in your houses, fully read, study and understand its pages, transform them into prayer and witness of life, listen to it with love and faith in the liturgy. Create the silence to effectively hear the Word of the Lord and hold a silence after the listening, because it will continue to dwell, live and speak to you. Make it resound at the beginning of your day so that God will have the first word and let it echo in you in the evenings so that the last word will be God’s.

Peace

2008-09-11T19:26:00.003-05:00

September 11th makes me think about peace. It's amazing that some people affected by violence can be "missionaries" for peace like the September 11th families for a peaceful tomorrow, www.peacefultomorrows.org.

Why do they hate us Americans so? We're a peaceful people.
Someone said that today and I remember hearing that said so often after September 11, 2001. To the folks that attacked the World Trade Towers, the Pentagon and crashed into a field in PA, we Americans are akin to the devil. They hate us because they've been taught to hate us by ingnorant teachers who happen to be Muslims who belive a version of Islam which is as far removed from the real thing as a brand of Christianity that would condone killing another for the sake of Jesus.

Also compared to the majority of the world we're rich. Most of us are not rich but compared to the standards of most folks we have money, homes, healthcare, education and stuff, in abundance.

Our government has power and has used it around the world to protect our economic and military interests. The people affected by our government's use and abuse of power don't feel very happy about being pushed around. We wouldn't like it either.
For a good article on why they hate us see:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/20/AR2007072001806.html

Many Americans are ignorant about our government's powerful role in other countries' affairs. Most of us, included many in Congress, swallowed the lies told that led us into attacking Iraq.
We have to pay more attention. For me as a follower of Jesus, I have to do more than be peaceful and be non violent in my daily arena. That's a start but not enough. I have to be responsible for my country as much as I am able. To me it means taking a more active role in contacting legislators and government officials and letting them know my views.

It's troubling that it so difficult to find politicians who values somewhat reflect mine. I might agree with one on my belief opposing abortion, but find that his/her value for human life is only for the unborn. If the rest of his or her values and voting record indicate little value for the lives of the poor, the foriegn, the criminal and the one whose country opposed our government's policy can I support that politician?

This is an ongoing struggle for me and I think needs to be a struggle. It would be easier if it were back and white. Simple. Struggling to do the right thing, the peaceful action isn't easy.

So I pray for peace and to be able to act in ways that lead to a more peace filled world.

World Peace Prayer
Lead me from death to life,
from falsehood to truth;
lead me from despair to hope,
from fear to trust;
lead me from hate to love,
from war to peace.
Let peace fill our heart,
our world, our universe. world.
Amen

Following Jesus: Fr. Damien

2008-07-05T07:45:00.004-05:00

Today I've read that one of my childhood heroes Fr. Damien De Veuster has been approved for the final step of sainthood by the Church. I had the habit as a girl of reading biographies of historical characters, saints and the like and Fr. Damien was one whose story left a deep impression. A missionary to a leper colony on the island of Molaki, he did all the works you might expect a missionary priest to do, but more than that he treated the people, despised by the rest of the world as lepers,with respect and love. He and others who followed to work there helped to give the people hope and got them involved in improving their lives. Fr. Damien's life can be read at
www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/DAMIEN.htm

I know realize that his life like each person's involved struggle, temptations and times of great sorrow, pain and discouragement, involved the cross. Love always comes to the cross the points where it's necessary to know we can't do it without the help of God and that the great plans we made for our life and the lives of others in our lives may likely be changed in ways never anticipated.

This past month I had great plans for a month of retreat, attending a great workshop, visiting some sisters at some of our missions and visiting family. Instead, I spent it having a serious infection from a failed root canal that put me in the hospital and necessitating two oral surgeries . Not my plan.

Who knows why? Only God. For me it taught me some little measure of what its like to be so weak, you can barely get out of bed. So I let go and know what really matters is the relationships with Jesus, with the people in my daily path and those He puts in my life. Doesn't matter what gifts of health, wealth and fortune I've got, but that I use whatever I have to love. Like Fr. Damien, he served God and his people in good health and sickness, dying a leper at age 49.

How to forgive

2008-05-13T18:54:00.003-05:00

Over my 25+ years of ministry I've had the great privilege of accompanying many people who have suffered great hurt at the hands of others. Forgiveness is so difficult. I believe for some it takes lots of God's grace and lots of time.
Below is a link to a great article on how to forgive.

Forgive - wikiHow

Joy

2008-04-25T15:34:00.003-05:00

Jesus said to his disciples:“As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love.
If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.
“I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete.” John 15: 9-11

In reflecting on this Gospel, it seems to me that Jesus lays out our path in so clear and simple a fashion, it's a wonder to me that I or anyone else have trouble following that path.
All we have to do is follow the commandments and for us that means the Ten Commandments and the great Commandment (Matthew 22: 39 -42). Then are joy will be complete.

No problem! Well of course it's a daily struggle and requires daily choices.
I read the other day that Blessed Frederic Ozanam at age 20 was quite a defender of the faith in law school when someone challenged him by asking,

"What do you do besides talk to prove the faith that is in you?"

Frederic went on to establish the St. Vincent de Paul society which has been and is ample evidence of Frederic's faith as well as many others.
So if I want the joy of Jesus to be complete in me I've got to do something besides talk to prove my faith. In my experience I'm presented every day with opportunities to do just that. The Holy Spirit is like that. Here are a few words on joy as a fruit of the Holy Spirit from Fr. Thomas Keating, OCSO.

The second Fruit of the Spirit is Joy. Joy is an abiding sense of well-being based on the experience of a conscious relationship with God. It is the sign of liberation from the false self and the growing awareness of the true self. Flowing from joy comes the freedom to accept the present moment and its content without trying to change it. Bliss might be described as the fullness of joy. It is the abiding sense of being loved by God and of being permanently established in his presence. It is the experience of the living water that flows from the divine Source in our inmost being, which Jesus spoke about in John's Gospel: "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Out of that person's inmost being: will flow rivers of living water." John the Evangelist adds: "This he spoke of the Spirit who would be given to those who believe in him" (John 7:37-39).

The Paschal Mystery

2008-03-19T11:34:00.003-05:00

One of the practices of the MSBTs is to receive a mystery when you enter the Novitiate.
Back in the day, the sisters were given their mystery by Fr. Judge. Then there was a time when they would suggest a couple of mysteries that meant something to you and the folks in charge would pick one for you. Your mystery went with your religious name. So You might be Sr. Mary Christine of the Sacred Heart or John Marie of the Good Shepherd or Margaret Mary of the Sorrowful Mother.
Anyhow I entered at a time when we got to pick ours. So when I wrote my letter requesting to be accepted as a novice, I also asked for my name Barbara ( we were encouraged to go with our baptismal names) and I asked for the Paschal Mystery. One of the Sisters said to me after the ceremony accepting us as novices, "Hey, the Paschal Mystery, that means death!" I think I replied "yeah well it means resurrection to new life too!"

This is what the catechism says about the paschal mystery:
1067

571 The Paschal mystery of Christ's cross and Resurrection stands at the center of the Good News that the apostles, and the Church following them, are to proclaim to the world. God's saving plan was accomplished "once for all"³¹³ by the redemptive death of his Son Jesus Christ.

I asked for the Paschal Mystery because I was an alumnae of a retreat program known as TEC Teens Encounter Christ. It was heavy on the Sacraments and God's saving love for us as demonstrated in the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Today's scripture from Matthew 26:14 really shows what the Paschal Mystery involves. There we have Judas and Jesus. One makes a choice for others and the other makes a choice for himself.
I find it's a constant struggle to live this mystery. That;'s what we're supposed to do with our mysteries; somehow live them our in our daily life. Sometimes we joke about what would be a better mystery to pick so as to make life easy, something like the "Peace, Love and Joy of God" or the "Happy and Easy face of the Trinity" No such mysteries exist for there is no life without sacrifice and sorrow. That's just the way it is.

Apart from the cross there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven St. Rose of Lima

Sr. Anna Charles

2008-02-20T19:51:00.004-05:00

Today one of our oldest sisters was buried. Sr. Anna Charles was 99. At her wake last night, like all our wakes we told stories about her life. She entered the Missionary Servants of the most Blessed Trinity in the 1930's because she felt the community was about service. Service to God and to his people. So she served. She taught kids about God, she assisted poor families to get help, she visited homes, helped people get married and just about anything you could do to connect people to the love of God and the Church.
Then she started falling asleep suddenly.

She had narcolepsy. She couldn't stay awake to teach, to visit, to help or to listen. And she could not drive.
She came to our Motherhouse in 1959 and she worked in the kitchen peeling vegatables all day. The sister telling this story said Sr. Anna Charles was always smiling as she worked. She also made rosaries. Perhaps hundreds of thousands of rosaries over her lifetime. We figured her rosaries have gone at least to Europe, the Middle East, South America and of course the U.S. They've been in homes, cars, jails, nursing homes,barracks, garages and churches.

Another gift she gave freely was music. She could play the piano. She needed no sheet music, she just played song after song. She loved hearing and making music.

Sisters talked of Sr. Anna Charles life with God. During her many years at the Motherhouse she spent a great deal of time in the Chapel praying for all the people who sent in prayer requests.
In her last few years of life she was mostly bedridden , dependent on others for everything.
She always was always thrilled when it was time to receive the Blessed Sacrament. Day after day when the Sister bringing the Eucharist to the sick came to her room to ask if she was ready to receive, she would answer oh yes oh my Jesus and try to sit up straight in her bed as she received the Sacrament.

I'm sure she never expected her life as a missionary to be what it turned out to be. But with all she had I think she lived out our call.
By our lives as Missionary Servants we seek first to glorify the Triune God. We
follow in the footsteps of the apostles who, filled with the Holy Spirit, went forth from
the Cenacle to spread everywhere the knowledge and love of Jesus. We live and work
that God's name may be hallowed, that his kingdom come, that his holy will be done
(Mt 6:9-10). Rule of Life #3.
I hope you pray for me Sr. Anna Charles.

Christmas Season

2008-01-09T20:46:00.000-05:00

It's still the Christmas season! Everybody in our neighborhood here in Northeast Philadelphia has taken their lights down and thrown out their tree, but not us. We're keeping our lights, tree and nativity sets up till Sunday, the official end of the Christmas season for Catholics. Most folks go along with the stores, and more on towards Valentine's day, but why rush? It's such a wonderful time of year and such a wonderful theme to dwell upon. Emmanuel: God is with us. God loves us so much he sent his only son. Now God can be so subtle. We don't get hit over the head with the all powerful magnificence of God in all his splendor and glory, no, God decides to slip in as one of us, as one of the most vulnerable and unthreatening forms one could assume, a baby.

Actually in our Missionary Cenacle spirituality, we have the tradition of beginning to prepare for the next Christmas the 26th of December. Our founder Fr. Thomas Judge said,
"The Cenacle has been preparing for this holy festival since last Christmas, for this is our custom, that we begin on Christmas day to prepare for the next Christmas.
The whole year, indeed, should be a preparation."

So we need to continue to get ready not only to celebrate Christmas but to continually welcome Jesus into our heart and into our life, everyday of the year. Merry Christmas!

Advent

2007-12-16T08:04:00.000-05:00

Advent is a busy time of year. Stressful for many because of the many expectations around Christmas and other holidays celebrated around this time of year, it is still for me a time of peace. Well at least interiorly. I hear from many of our sisters of their activities. Those in ministry with Latinos have just finished the celebrations of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Dec 12th ) and are now engaged in the Posadas. See: http://www.mexconnect.com/MEX/austin/posadas.html
Others are involved in the many, many activities of this time of year no matter if they minister in parishes, agencies or retreat houses. Life is full.

Traditionally Advent has been a time of preparation to welcome Jesus into the world, your life, your heart. One of the sisters told me that Pope Benedict said Jesus isn't coming he's already here. That's 3rd hand info what I know he said is this, "We could say that Advent is the time when Christians should awaken in their hearts the hope that they can change the world, with the help of God,"

It is a time of waking up to the fact that God is with us. Here among all the messes we have made are making and will make, God is present. We just need to be aware of that presence.

This Advent was so very different for me because I went on my yearly retreat and had lots of time for prayer, silence, reading scripture and reflection. So very different from most of my past Advents when I was involved in counseling and direct service at Catholic Charities.

Besides using scripture I had the daily podcast from the English Jesuits, www.prayasyougo.org
For Advent they are using quotes and scripture from Pope B16,s 2005 Encyclical on love, Deus Caritas Est. Wow, are they beautiful! Anyhow all this has helped a lot with my awareness of the presence of Jesus. I know of Jesus' bringing to us, to me, the great compassionate and merciful love of the Trinity.

I do pray that the awareness of God's love would spread all over the world and impact the way we live. Not just at this time of year, but throughout the year. I know my responsibility is to make that awareness present in my actions and in my treatment of others, to the folks in my daily providence. I am impatient though, I wonder why the fulfillment of God's plan can't be NOW! Why aren't we all living together in peace, harmony, justice and love. Why are so many people suffering violence , hatred, hunger? Why don't we all get off our butt stop focusing on the trivial, the greedy and the me, me, me attitude towards life. Well too bad I have to be patient and let life unfold as God would have it. It is after all God's world, God's plan, God's mission and I am a just a little spec in the great overall workings of God's effective love in life.

Which reminds me of another thing, letting go. That was another theme of my retreat; that letting go of the illusion of control. It's a great secure illusion for sure. We all like to think we're in control of ourselves, other and events. The reality is the only control possible is over myself and even that is at times tenuous. Anyhow let me pay attention to you Lord in the ways you give me in my daily life and let me respond to other with your love and compassion. Amen.

Thanksgiving to God

2007-11-22T13:56:00.000-05:00

In 1621 the Pilgrims decided to celebrate a day of gratitude to God. Why? Because they believed that they had survived their first hard winter and reaped their first harvest in their new home thanks to the grace of God. The 56 survivors gave God the glory for their surviving the dangerous journey, the rough winter, the goodness of the indigenous people and the food they had been able to grow and harvest for the winter ahead. They considered themselves blessed by their creator God.
Today most of us in the U.S. don't have to worry about survival the way the Pilgrims did. I for one take for granted the food, shelter, clothing and good health I have. Perhaps my blessings are not so concrete as the Pilgrims were, but they are there just the same. My list of blessings looks like this: faith in the Triune God, people; the ones I live with now, my family living and dead, my friends, my community, the capacity to enjoy other people, nature, colors, music, books, computers, etc. sleep!, energy, health, humor and laughter and I could go on.
One more big gift is a good attitude, maybe I'm an optimist but from what I see of pessimists being an optimist is more fun.
A good sight for focus on blessings: www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Nov2006/Family.asp#F1
Thanks be to our good and loving God!

2007-10-26T15:37:00.000-05:00

Franz Jaegerstaetter

"I can say from my own experience how painful life often is when one lives as a halfway Christian; it is more like vegetating than living." Franz Jaegerstaetter

Almost 100 years ago a humble and just man was born.
He is on the road to being declared a saint because he resisted being a Nazi soldier because of his faith.
A devout and defiant Austrian farmer he was beheaded by the Nazis in 1943 for his resistance.

He was charged with treason after his request to be excused from regular army service for religious reasons was denied. The married father of four was posthumously exonerated in 1997 by a Berlin court.

"Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”
Matthew 5: 8 -12

S-Chip

2007-10-22T14:34:00.000-05:00

There's 9 Million children is the U.S.A. without health insurance and I will bet that not one of them is a child of a senator or congress person. It seems that the reasons legislators voted against it had to do with it being an imperfect bill. They quibble over a 35 million dollar bill for health care for children cause it's not perfect but vote billions for a war based on lies which we're now stuck in due to the incompetent management of the the same folks who oppose increased health care for kids. I am angry about this. Some times its embarrassing to be an American!
Catholic Charities has a good page on the policies to reduce poverty. Their take on S-Chip is at
http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=617&srcid=329

Humility and Charity

2007-09-26T20:40:00.000-05:00

"It is not enough to give soup and bread; this the rich can do. It is only for your love alone that the poor will forgive you the bread that you give them."
—St. Vincent De Paul

I have too much. Too much access to info, too much to do, too much choice about the course of my days and too much stuff.
I have to wonder why I have so much while so many people lack what they need to survive?

Vincent De Paul was big on charity and humility, which makes sense because without humility, without really accepting oneself as a creation of God, dependent on God for all, its just too easy to get caught in the trap of thinking I am the center of the universe and I am responsible for all the good things I have and all the good gifts with which I've been blessed.
It's too easy to have an attitude of - I am better than the next one because I have ... fill in the blank ______ health, friends, brains, virtue, energy, education, money, good looks, access to power and choice and so on... With such an attitude it's impossible to act with charity.

Of course all these things could be taken away in an instant! When that happens and I believe it does happen in some way to each person, I hope to have the grace of forgiveness for those who will give to me.

In thinking about Vincent De Paul and these two favorite virtues of his. Three people in my life came to mind, Fr. Vincent Fitzpatrick, Dona Juana Rivera and Sr. Cass Kohler. These three people are, I'm sure, in heaven. They vary greatly in their talents, backgrounds and gifts but are alike in possessing great charity and humility.
Dona (the n ought to have a squiggling line above it) had little education, was very poor and had nine children and many grandchildren. She gave away freely what she had, shared her project apartment with strangers in need and was friends with an amazing variety of people.
Sr. Cass Kohler was a down to earth person. She admitted she wasn't the brightest person as she struggled to get through nursing school, but her sense of humor and her awareness of others needs should have been noted summa cum laude. It was a joy to live with her. Her death at 41 due to breast cancer was a great loss to many.

Fr. Vincent was 90 when he died in 2006. Revered by many, well educated in the classics, he taught Greek and Latin to seminarians, was Novice Director for many years and held high positions in his community, yet he seemed equally at doing home repair projects at our camp like retreat center in CT. Fr. Vincent had many gifts but he had a special gift for relationships. He was warm and accepting of people, yet you always wanted to be and do your best around Fr. Vincent.
Three people of humility and charity! May their example and their prayers help us to be like them in the practice of these virtues.

The Pool

2007-08-06T17:43:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I wrote anything between a week with my family in MA. and a week at our Family Life Program. It was not on my agenda to go online very much. Now I'm back and I'm reflecting on my recent experiences.

I have spent from a week to seven weeks each summer at the Trinita Family Life Program for the past 18 years. The Trinita Retreat Center is in New Hartford, CT. (45 minutes NW of Hartford) in the summer the Trinita Family Life Development Program, which is primarily for families from inner-city neighborhoods happens. The summer program is a combination of camp fun, communication-building activities and a chance to deepen spiritually. "Blanket time" is a daily hour of family sharing, and in peer group discussions mothers & fathers are able to support one another in their struggles to raise a family in the inner city. There's lots of opportunities for fun, for doing silly things you wouldn't do at home in the neighborhood and for enjoying the open space of gentle green hills. Plus there's a pool!

The pool is open two hours a day and everyone seems to enjoy it.
A fond memory I have is of one day at the pool when it started to lightly rain. The parents and kids asked me in my capacity as MSBT at the pool (there's always one of us present) if the pool was to be close. It was quite warm and this rain was the kind of light shower not accompanied by thunder and lightning. I said no, the pool's not closing, no lightning no closing. Everyone cheered and jumped in the pool. Spontaneously every child adult and volunteer present starting bobbing up and down in the pool, shouting Trinita rules, Trinita rules! It was pure joy!
City pools tend to be crowded and at times dangerous. At Trinita it's clean, roomy enough and safe, so everyone can enjoy. Thanks be to God for the pool!

Be good do good be a power for good!

2007-07-07T16:18:00.001-05:00

The Design Team

Today one of the Sisters came up to me and thanked me for the mural that we did during the Summer Mission Institute. She really liked the idea of illustrating a favorite motto, a quote from our founder Fr. Thomas Judge, CM,

Be good, do good, be a power for good!

I've been involved in more mundane matters this past week, mainly paperwork, so that doing the banner with the young adults of the Summer Mission Institute seems more than a week ago. I think it turned out well. The best part was the doing; everyone, no matter their talent or perceived lack of talent, felt able to pitch in and paint. It's amazing how enjoyable it is to work in an atmosphere of acceptance and encouragement.
Not to be corny but the atmosphere was an illustration of the motto as much as the mural. The group of people were from different places and backgrounds yet worked together like they'd done it for years.
I've been blessed in the people with whom I've worked. Sometimes you hear horror tales of bosses and coworkers who are complainers, critics, screamers or just plain mean.
The other day our Sisters were describing some of the experiences they've had with Pastors some excellent, some awful. I guess it seems so much worse when a person is supposedly a man (or woman) of Good, yet their behavior is far from what you would expect.

Thanks be to God for the folks who are good, who do good and are a power for good. The sister who thanked me for the mural is a perfect example of that kind of person. Sr. Paul Miriam tries in everyday ways to be that good person who does good and is a power for good. She would be amazed and perhaps embarrassed that I was testifying to her goodness in a blog, but there is good reason to brag about her. I think people who are good and kind ought to get more recognition. So here's to the folks who are good may they multiply!

Never boring!

2007-06-22T11:21:00.000-05:00

I can't ever remember being bored. I've always had the ability to find life in all its variety interesting if not always pleasant. I can enjoy being alone doing nothing or being alone with God or with my own thoughts. In my years as a sister, there seems to have been no lack of something to do, something to pray about , some one to attend to, something, somebody to think about or be present to. I of ten find myself surprised when I hear a person say "I'm bored" or "that's boring." It like they're speaking a language with concepts beyond my comprehension.

This week too is full of variety and interesting people and events.
My Community is part of a Religious Family. We grew out of a Lay Group called the Missionary Cenacle Apostolate. A group of brothers and priests called the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity or Trinity Missions also came out of that group as did a small group of women in private vows, the Blessed Trinity Missionary Institute.

Anyhow, the four groups sponsor a program for Young Adults called the Trinity Mission Center. They do education and and discernemnt programs. This week is the annual Summer Mission Institute. The theme is Baptism and we are doing a mural using a saying from our founder Thomas Judge, " Be good, Do good, Be a power for good." There's about 15 young adults participating plus five more on the Team. There's lots of paint, brushes and wall space so we'll see where we go with our mural. Another opportunity for not being bored!

A Way of Being

2007-06-11T14:17:00.000-05:00

My current ministry is serving on the General Council or Leadership Team of my Religious Congregation, the Missionary Servants of the Most Blessed Trinity, aka Trinitarians. I get to do a lot of different things,; travel a lot and visit our sisters in various places including Mexico, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and many other places. I get to go to lots of meetings, do lots of listening to people and do lots of paperwork. Once in a while I have an opportunity for something different.

Last week I was at a workshop on Law and Religious Life. We 100 or so sisters from different congregations and one priest, have three lawyers, Canon, Civil and Civil/Canon talking to us on various issues. All the issues are focused on Living the Evangelical Councils or Vows; Poverty, Chastity and Obedience.

Some of my Sisters made faces when I told them where I was going, as if I was going to something distasteful. It's not distasteful, it's like a retreat, very centered on Jesus and on Religious Life as a way of following Jesus through the way we live our lives. Quite beautiful, moving and challenging! It's not some much about what we all do, although we do a lot of good things, but more about a way of being.

Come Holy Spirit!

2007-05-23T16:05:00.000-05:00

One of the Sisters told me she heard there was a web site sponsored by a group of atheists where you could click a link to deny the Holy Spirit. Right off I said, "why would atheists bother to deny the Holy Spirit?" If you don't believe, I would think indifference would be evident. It takes some energy and caring to actively go to a website and so on. My secondary reaction was something akin to horror. I just don't know why you would mess with the Holy Spirit. Of course I realize people do things to shock and in my years of ministry I've seen and heard a lot of sad and shocking things. But, fooling with The Holy Spirit seems like biting the hand that feeds you.

Of course I'm coming from a very Catholic background and perspective. I believe in God, I believe the Holy Spirit is one of the three persons of God, God active in the world today, God active in my life today . In my experience the Holy Spirit has been a constant presence always there to lead and guide me. When things we're tough I've found myself praying to the Holy Spirit.

How does this work in actual practice?
First of all I pray everyday that the Holy Spirit guide me and that I pay attention to that guidance. Then whatever the situation, event or interaction, I try to respond from that part of myself most in touch with God. This can mean anything from a simple smile or a listening ear to engaging in serious dialogue with others. There are some days, for sure when I do a poor job of being in tune with God the Holy Spirit! Some days I very consciously ask the Holy Spirit to be with me especially when I need to meet with someone and discuss something important to them or us. In the various ministries in which I've been involved, teacher, youth minister, social worker, formation director and now General Councilor for my community, while I depend on my background, education and training I trust that what I say and do is shaped and refined by the Holy Spirit.

I haven't done any empirical testing of the efficacy of the Holy Spirit's acting in my life. For one thing I'm not willing to try life without the Holy Spirit in order to do a comparison study!

This is St. Paul's take on measuring the effectiveness of the Spirit's presence.

the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Galatians 5:22,23

Here's what the founder of my community, Fr. Thomas A. Judge, CM
had to say about the Holy Spirit,

Whatever we see of calm, of loveliness,
whatever beauty there is,
it is all of the Holy Spirit.
O, we want beauty of soul,
we want harmony of mind, we want peace of spirit;
that must come from the Holy Spirit.

Actually he said a lot more about the Holy Spirit but that's one of my favorites. Another favorite is this prayer of Augustine

Breath into me Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy.
Move in me, Holy Spirit, that my work too, may be holy.
Attract my heart, Holy Spirit, that I may love only what is holy.
Strengthen me, Holy Spirit, that I may defend all that is holy.
Protect me, Holy Spirit, that I always may be holy.

Happy Pentecost!

Being a witness!

2007-05-17T16:03:00.000-05:00

Today is the feast if the Ascension of the Lord. In today's Gospel we hear the incredible trust Jesus placed upon his disciples and upon us too!

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day
and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name
to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
You are witnesses of these things. Lk 24:46-53

Being a witness of these things in my daily life may be some what different than the first disciples at first glance. They went joyfully into Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising God. When the Holy Spirit came they really let loose.

Some one did tell me I was a joyful sister today and I do spend quite a bit of time praising God in Church and out. Coming from my part of the world, a rather Catholic ghetto in Boston, MA, we're not too comfortable with going around preaching and praising God. Exposure to other cultures has opened me up some to be more outward in expression. But I can talk all I want, yell in the streets that Jesus is Lord (unlikely) write in a blog of my belief in Jesus and in His teachings, it means nothing if I treat the four sisters I live with poorly. It's an every day commitment to be that witness of the things of the Lord Jesus in all the small ways and in the big ways.
In the face of all the violence and sorrow in our world, the deceit in high places and the disappointments in our lives it's tempting at times to think why bother? Well certainly because God bothered and the disciples and saints of the past bothered. And the disciples and the saints of today still bother. I came across a quote of Dorothy Day,
"people say, 'What good can one person do? What is the sense of our small effort?' They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time; we can be responsible only for the one action of the present moment. but we can beg for an increase of love in our hearts that will vitalize and transform all our individual actions, and know that God will take them and multiply them, as Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes."
So I hope to take my steps, do my actions trusting in God's taking them and doing with them what He will.

Be Fire!

2007-05-10T14:25:00.000-05:00

Be Fire! was the theme of a general asssembly of our community. The theme speaks to me of the Love of God. Love of God as in Jesus giving his life on the Cross for us, the love of God found in the gifts of the Holy Spirit that push you to be more and to do more than you would ever do of your own power. I set up this blog as a way of sharing follow up from our assembly. But -- Getting into it was a bit of a challenge for some of our sisters so now it's mine all mine!
Barbara Mc