What I do

Well it's 4:30 AM and I'm awake because I started to think about the events of yesterday. Which actually was pretty typical of what my days are like. So then why am I awake now? Maybe to just put it all in God's hands.

Mornings I usually start with a walk. I have some prayer podcasts that I regularly download so as I walk I pray the rosary with www.churchofstmary.org/and listen to a reading and reflection from the daiIy Mass that the British Jesuits do, called "pray as you go" Next is Mass, breakfast prayers and work. So that's how I started off yesterday. The opening song for prayasyougo.org was "You Lord Are in this Place" by Keith Duke, a kind of harmonic chant about the presence of God filling all aspects of life.
In our offices, known as the Generalate, there's five of us in a wing of our Mother Boniface Center. It's named for our first General Custodian, Mother Boniface Keasey, a beautiful, holy and courageous woman.

Sometimes our Sisters wonder what we do. Well yesterday was Tuesday. First I answered some phone messages. A couple from our sisters about how to fill out an online survey we sent them and some financial questions. That took an hour or so. Then it's on to e-mails. A couple of Sisters are coming to Philadelphia after many, many, many years of ministry. They're anxious about packing and how to close their Cenacle. So I answered some questions about that. They're also worried because some Parishioners asked them about the LCWR investigation by the Bishops. One of the Sisters hoped we would remain part of the Church. I assured her we would! I feel bad that this Sister after over 60 years of a life of dedication to God, the Church and God's people should have to worry about this. We are cursed with living in interesting times.

Then I call another Sister to make a date to talk. Her position was eliminated by the recent layoffs from the Archdiocese. Alternate sources of income are hard to come by but the priests and other folks with whom she works are looking into it. It's getting harder for us to serve the people we want to. The parishes of the poor just don't have the money to pay us and unfortunately we can't afford to work for nothing. Maybe we'll hit the lottery. Oh yeah you have to buy a ticket.

After lunch I worked on to photo formatting, a project started in June! Maybe it will get done before August. More calls to our sisters, an e-mail or two then some filing of papers. It's an exciting job which I usually leave till the piles get to me.

The last couple of hours are spent in more individual meetings with sisters.
One is going off to school so we discussed the details of that upcoming adventure for her. Then I visit with another sister who is recovering from back surgery.

Usually we on the General Council meet together for 3 -5 days to report on our activities, updates on various sisters who are in some kind of transition and plan together for the future of our community. July however is one of the two months we don't meet as its a month for retreat and vacation.

We often eat at our Motherhouse. We have a great food service so it makes sense to eat there and enjoy the company of our sisters. The five of us have evening prayer together at 7 PM. We five live in the oldest building on our grounds. A big, old mansion type building which is regarded as beautiful by many. Our chapel on the first floor has beautiful old windows. In July its a bit warm as we're in Philadelphia. The rest of the evening is spent with a little TV, then some reading and bed. Not too thrilling except that I get to support the sisters who are trying to
carrying out their small part of building up the Kingdom of God.

From our beginnings as a group the Missionary Cenacle Family has had a devotion to God the Holy Spirit. Our founder Fr. Judge imbued the earliest members with the necessity of constant prayer especially to the Holy Spirit. This would help us to be more under the influence of the Holy Spirit and to make sure our actions were under the impulse of the Holy Spirit and not our own desires or blind judgement.


Recently I came across this quote which sums up my  belief in the Holy Spirit,

The Spirit of God is like our breath.  God's spirit is more intimate to us than we are to ourselves.  We might not often be aware of it, but without it we cannot live a "spiritual life."   It is the Holy Spirit of God who prays in us, who offers us the gifts of love, forgiveness, kindness, goodness, gentleness, peace, and joy.  It is the Holy Spirit who offers us the life that death cannot destroy.  Let us always pray:  "Come, Holy Spirit, come."

Henry Nouwen

Although I knew about the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost as we said pre-Vatican II from my earliest memories, it was my sister Terry who first taught me that the Holy Spirit would offer guidance and oh so many other gifts to stir our daily living in God's direction.
Asking for the Spirit's guidance and power in daily decisions and actions has become a habit. I know it's given me the power and drive to do so many things that I would never dare do on my own, from quitting smoking 30 years ago, daring to speak Spanish, however badly accented, to being able to make decisions about my life and those of others as a member of our General Council. For me the important thing is the daily prayer and listening to the Holy Spirit. So many times a thought or idea has come to me that I know did not exist in my mind beforehand. When those thoughts and ideas prove to be part of  a plan or project with good fruits it is plain that the Spirit is at work.


Last year one of our sister shared a reflection on the Holy Spirit which included this annotated prayer:

When the Holy Spirit comes to live within a person, she cannot cease to pray because the Holy Spirit prays within her without ceasing. Whether she sleeps or is awake, the work of prayer is always in her heart. 

While she is resting or sharing or working, the incense of prayer rises spontaneously from her heart. 

This prayer of the Spirit is not limited by a determined time or place.It cannot be interrupted. Even the silence within a person becoming free is itself already prayer.

Her thoughts are gently inspired by God.  The slightest movement

of her heart becomes a voice which silently and secretly sings and

chants in the presence of the faithful, loving Trinity!

taken form St. Issac the Syrian – 7th Century


May the knowledge and love of the Holy Spirit spread to every human being.

For ‘In him we live and move and have our being,’Acts 17:28

Obedient Unto Death

Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality 
with God something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

CrucIfix Blessed Trinity Shrine Retreat
Photo by Sr. Nancy Walsh MSBT

Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name
which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Phil. 2: 6 - 11



Sometimes I wonder what kind of God is this that comes among us with such vulnerability? All the values of our society: to have things, to be important and powerful, to be in control, even to be well regarded by others seem unimportant in the life of Jesus. 


The usual response to violence is to seek justice, even revenge. We want the one who hurt us to be hurt. 
Jesus asks for forgiveness for his tormentors. 

This rejection of power, this putting oneself in the hands of others is disturbing. For me it means I need to look at my motives everyday in order to follow this Jesus who gave himself over to us for love.

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

After graduating 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 lower east side of Manhattan. There were four to five MSBTs working there. We offered some counseling to families and individuals (non therapeutic), advocacy, budget advice, 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

 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

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

Recently the NY Times' Bill Keller wrote an article

"Asking Candidates Tougher Questions About Faith"

Having read the article and his blog with the questions I find nothing objectionable about the questions nor the concept of asking candidates how 

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

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

Looking at Presidents up to the present I really don't know that their faith has impacted their presidential actions all that much, with the possible exception of Jimmy Carter. Some would say that's a good thing because of separation of Church and State. Now I'm a Catholic sister so that's where I'm coming from but if your religious faith does not effect how you live every day. If it does not affect how you see the world and the choices you make then you're just playing games. 

I listen to some of the current crop of candidates and they pray, invoke God and talk 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 presidents and other politicians have been able to ignore lots of the more inconvenient demands of Christianity. I think particularly of the Sermon on the Mount Matthew 5 or Luke 6: 20 - 26 "Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours". Check out this video:

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

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

The 10 Commandments are pretty clear and we all struggle with them but with politicians it appears that number 8 is often ignored,

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

Just wondering are all the commandments suspended when you're running for office? Is it okay to let PACs make 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 slurs about Barack Obama. I thought wow! Integrity! 

I know all of us are hypocrites to some degree. I too have a plank in my eye when it comes to certain demands, but the point is you keep trying to grow and change and 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.