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.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
How to forgive
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
Below is a link to a great article on how to forgive.
Forgive - wikiHow
Friday, April 25, 2008
Joy
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).
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).
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
The Paschal Mystery
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:
1067571 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
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:
1067571 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
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Sr. Anna Charles
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Christmas Season
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!
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!
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Advent
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.
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.
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