And The Days Go By ...

Be Praised My Lord .... for everything!
...the busyness of life; snowy days; sunny, winter days, quiet moments, meetings upon meetings, connecting with new people, praying for concerns ~ oh so much!

Paula D'Arcy is known for a wonderful quote that I often remember ... "God comes to us disguised as our life.”

The days since I last posted about a month and a half ago have been filled with so many things I wouldn't even know where to begin, but God HAS been present in it all.

I am grateful that I am able to notice God's whisperings to me in the midst of all my comings and goings. I am very fortunate to come to work each day at "The Franciscan Place" (www.sjfconline.org) where I am surrounded by the beauty of God's creation. Sometimes that is part of my prayer for the day - to stand in awe at the beautiful world that is being revealed to me.
Maybe through these pictures you also can share a bit in the contemplative side of life and begin to notice God coming to you too, disguised as your life ....

The "Good" in this Friday leads to Easter!

The Lenten days are over and now we are caught up in the middle of the beautiful, holy day of the Triduum. I taught elementary school for many years and Good Friday was always a day I loved being in the classroom. Usually we only went a half day... For many years we made it a "whisper day" in the school to set the day apart and help the students to understand the significance of the day. It gave me the chance to plan quiet activities that helped my class know better what the day was about. Of course the students would often wonder why today is called "Good" Friday when it is the day that Jesus died on the cross. Part of my simple explanation was/is that we have to remember that THAT was not the end of the story ~ we only need to look to Easter to know more.
Today on my walk I was reflecting on that myself and had a few other thoughts. The events of Jesus' passion and death were horrific, but ... Jesus taught us about love and preseverance in his suffering and dying ~that is good. There were people who were faithful to him and stood with him to the bitter end~that is good. Jesus did not think of himself when he comforted the women of Jerusalem; a lesson for us~that is good. Jesus showed us how to forgive and also to befriend the one next to him~that is good. And greatest of all, Jesus gave us an example of total trust and letting go into God ..."Abba, into your hands ..."~ and that is good.
Hopefully today...tomorrow (and other tomorrows too) you have and/or can spend some time in quiet and prayer pondering the mystery of this holy time. The words of St. Clare of Assisi come to my mind. "Place your mind before the mirror of eternity! Place your soul in the brilliance of glory! And transform your entire being into the image of the Godhead Itself through contemplation." and "Gaze upon Christ, consider Christ, contemplate Christ, as you desire to imitate Him."
Gaze ...Consider...Contemplate...Imitate
I suggest that we might need to do just that over these holy days ... gaze, consider, contemplate so that we can imitate Jesus ...Imitate ~ live bold, live with passion as Jesus did so that we may turn the world upside down and others will know that Jesus is Alive ~ Alleluia! Happy Easter!

Grabbing God Moments When We Can

God is Good!

Greetings from the east coast! I am sending this post from the Motherhouse of my Community in Aston, PA. I flew back here yesterday on a two week trip away (whew!) for meetings and a National Conference for vocation directors in Ohio. It is getting quite late and I hope I can get out a few coherent lines .... It is election night and I am trying to keep myself awake so I can check in on some early election results from Oregon before I go to bed since they are three hours behind in time than the east coast. Last night I stayed up later than I planned to see if the San Francisco Giants were going to win the World Series and now tonight, the election. The night before that I was up late packing. My track record for rest isn't very good lately - oh my!

As I come to the end of this day/night and think of all the busy-ness of the past couple days and the past couple of weeks, I realize how important it is to step back and step into God's loving presence ... to take time to rest in God! Yes, I know I need more physical rest than I have had lately, but I sure better fill up my tank in the prayer department too. Some times we don't have hours to spend in prayer like on retreat, but I am grateful for the the many God moments I do have like the gift of a beautiful day like today ... the graced solitude of time on the airplane yesterday where the "direct flight" trip went smoothly with nobody in the middle seat which gave me some extra time and space. God is good and is present with us ~ to us if only we open ourselves up to each moment! Peace and All Good!

Peace ... Let it grow!

I had hoped to write a quick post on Monday or Tuesday, but it didn't happen ...ohhh, those good intentions of mine!
So here I am at Friday! This morning when I went for my walk I saw a sticker in the back window of a parked car similar to the picture I recreated here (isn't technology with the Internet and clip art great!). I know I have seen the sticker on this car before, but this morning I read the words that were next to the PEACE symbol ..."Let it grow". It is funny how things get missed and then all of a sudden, something strikes you. That struck me this morning! It started me thinking, in a prayerful sort of way, that when we have peace in our hearts, peace in our neighborhoods, peace in our world, it can be like beautiful flowers growing - they bring refreshment, hope and delight to the weary spirit, and ... how we need to nourish the soil of our own hearts and that of each other to bring about those blossoms of peace. Prayer, scripture and a life in God is the living water that helps to do that. Really, wasn't that part of the mission of St. Francis' life?!? Think of the peace prayer we so often pray and sing! St. Francis probably didn't write those exact words, but they definitely embody his thought and belief.

With all that in mind, I also want to mention two great people our Church honors this week. Monday, October 11th was the Memorial feast of Pope John XXIII. It was on that day in 1962 that he convened the Second Vatican Council. Since he is a man I really admire for many reasons, it was a delight for me to be reminded on Monday at prayer time that he belonged to the Secular Franciscan Order. In his "Journal of a Soul", John XXIII wrote: "My Soul is open before you. Like a blank sheet of paper. Write on it what you will. O Lord: I am yours." After reading a biography of his life a couple of years ago it is very clear that he lived those words! God surely used this kind, wise and compassionate man to make a difference in our world and in the Church.
And, today, is the Feast of Teresa of Avila (1550-1582) - a Carmelite Nun, saint and doctor of the Church. She was indeed a woman of prayer as well as insight and wisdom whose spirit still inspires people today.

Another significant event I want to mention before I sign off is a wonderful gathering I was a part of last weekend. About 25 of our Sisters gathered here in the Portland area (one of many such gatherings being held throughout the country) at our Franciscan Spiritual Center for an all day meeting with members of our Leadership who were in town. It was great day of prayer, sharing and dialogue about our life together as Sisters of St. Francis. Our day concluded with a beautiful prayer ritual in which we each received our new Constitution - the way of life that we follow. After much work to revise the Constitutions we had for over 25 years, it was exciting to receive this finished and beautiful document! Some of the concluding words of the Constitution are: "Inspired by thespirit of Francis and Clare of Assisi and our foundress Mother Francis Bachmann, we seek to follow Jesus Christ, who chose to be poor, and Mary, his Mother, by faithfully living the principles and practices set forth in our constitutions." Words for me that are both blessing and challenge as I strive to live my vocation daily.

So, for me and for you, may Jesus, the Prince of Peace be at the core of all of our lives!

Honoring the Angels ...and, no, not the baseball team!

...Today is the Feast of the Archangels ~ Michael, Gabriel and Raphael ~ and I just can't let the day go without a short post ....

"Let us join the angels of the Lord in their unending praise!
...Michael is honored by the Church as its special protector. Gabriel is best known as the angel of the annunciation to Mary and Zechariah. Raphael healed the blindness of Tobit... ~ from the Franciscan Morning and Evening Praise book - September 29
I get amused sometimes at our society in today's world - over the past couple of years, I've noticed that book stores and 'new age' people have made this big fuss over the "new" concept of angels. I just have to chuckle over all this because in our Catholic tradition, as well as the ancient tradition of our Jewish brothers and sisters, angels have always been so much a part of our belief! And this week, we celebrate two great Angel feast days - the Archangels today and on Saturday, the feast of the Guardian Angels. Angels also have a warm place in the Franciscan tradition stemming from Francis' tender affection and honor to these heavenly beings who have helped us to know God's great care and love for us. Pope Benedict in his writing of these two "angel" days said: "...these two celebrations move us to think of the provident care with which God looks after each human person ..."
So, noting that and with the Franciscan family today and on OCT. 2 nd we remember and pray ...
Francis had a great devotion to the messengers of God; open our ears to hear them and our eyes to see them in our everyday lives.
... And hopefully we are not tiring out our Guardian Angels as in the picture of a statue I tumbled upon a few years ago:)...my angel saying, "Oh no, not in trouble again!?!"

...So Great a Love ...

Happy Feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis!

Today is the feast of the great Jesuit, St. Robert Bellarmine, but as a true blue Franciscan ~ follower of St. Francis, I also want to highlight this day as the Stigmata of St. Francis of Assisi!

In my Franciscan Morning and Evening Praise prayer book (published by The Franciscan Federation, Third Order Regular of the Sisters and Brothers of the United States), the office of the day is introduced with this explanation of the day ...
"Francis had a burning love for the Crucified and never ceased to preach this devotion. In 1224, two years before his death, as he was lost in deep contemplation on Mount La Verna, the marks of Christ's passion were imprinted on his body."
I just couldn't let the day go by without a brief entry, especially since I have this beautiful water colored image to share. A young woman that has become my friend drew and painted this picture and gave me the framed artwork. I love it! (... and technology is so great that I was able to scan it to share.)
Anyway ... in many ways it can be hard for me to comprehend the deep prayer and contemplation that was so very much a part of St.Francis that this awesome gift of the stigmata became his... whew ... So great a love Francis had for Jesus, the crucified Christ!
I don't know what more I can write at this point, so I close with a prayer used in this morning's office.
"O God, in your servant Francis you have given the world a true disciple of Jesus. Help us (help me) who follow Francis to witness faithfully to the living Gospel and bring to the world compassion and joy."
Blessings on your weekend! I am off to Spokane, WA next week for a gathering and meetings with others who minister in vocation and formation work in various Congregations ~ should be good to get together and share!
Pace E Bene!

Criss-Crossing Through God's Country

I am aware that I am long overdue for a new post... Where do the days - hmmm, the weeks, go!?! Many beginnings have been written in my head over the past two weeks, so today I must get to it! It is a good day to write as it is the Feast of the Triumph of the Holy Cross ~ one of my favorite feast days! The picture of the cross I am including here was taken on my recent vacation (more about that later) to the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming, to be with two of our Sisters that minister at St. Stephens Indian Mission. The cross is painted on the ceiling of the main mission church. So, today being this feast, I share with you a Franciscan prayer that is almost always said at the beginning of Lauds and Vespers in my local community. I am sure other Franciscans pray it often as well.

We adore You, Lord Jesus Christ, here and in all churches throughout the whole world and we bless You because by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world. (from the Testament [5] of St. Francis)

So, as I mentioned, I was on vacation ... from August 27th - Sept. 3. Plans for this trip happened kind of fast. On August 31st there was a special ceremony at the Indian Mission that I was asked to come for. For 118 years our Sisters have ministered at St. Stephens Indian Mission along side the Jesuit priests. After 126 years of ministry on the Reservation the Jesuits had to make the decision to leave because of other community demands, and to turn the Mission over to the Diocese of Cheyenne.

Although it wasn't the vacation I had planned on, I am certainly glad I was able to go ... to be present to/with our Sisters who live there ... and to the Jesuits, to meet the new priests of the Society of Our Lady of the Trinity, and to share in this ceremony and transition time with the Shoshone and Arapaho people. The OSFs had a nice showing of Sisters with 4 of us able to travel in for the event, so there was some enjoyable community time too! St. Stephens was my first "mission experience" when I went there as a Candidate my first year in Community. It is a wonderful place with beautiful people! You can read more about the event as the Bishop of Wyoming, Bishop Etienne, writes in his blog about St. Stephen Indian Mission The Bishop has also included quite a number of great pictures, so just click on the link above :) I was glad to meet the Bishop and enjoyed reading his account of Aug.31st ...
It was a fun trip, although a LOT of driving was involved, traveling from Oregon to Washington State, into Idaho and Montana and finally into Wyoming. We did travel though some beautiful country as well as some wide open spaces! God truly speaks to my heart in all the diverse beauty of the landscape! Also, I had a fun traveling companion who joined me - Sr. Dolores Herbeck, a Sister living in Tacoma who is from Wyoming and lived many years on the Mission as she worked in Riverton as the Catholic grade school Principal. We definitely had some adventures and lots of good talks about life, community, the countryside and the spiritual-side.... However, even though we spent a day in Yellowstone National Park with several other Sisters, I still did not see a moose! Oh, that elusive moose ...
Thought you might enjoy a few more pictures ...


Including a pose of the Franciscans after a few busy days!

Reflections From the Hermitage

Last week I was away on my yearly, week long retreat! Ahh, what a very good and blessed week it was as I spent some solitude days in my own little hermitage in eastern Washington thanks to the gracious hospitality of the Carmelite Sisters of Mary. My great aunt was a Carmelite Sister so it was wonderful to connect a bit with the Carmelite charism and to celebrate their great Feast Day of Our Lady of Mt Carmel on July 16th. I think my aunt, Sr. Joseph, was watching over me from heaven and blessing my time during my retreat days ... I actually began retreat on a very appropriate Franciscan day, July 15th, the Feast of St. Bonaventure! The invocation for Morning Praise in my Franciscan prayer book that day was, "The Spirit of Wisdom is given to us in abundance. Let us rejoice in the goodness poured forth into our hearts and minds."
That message was confirmed over and over again for me while I was on retreat... so many graced, wisdom moments! At one point I was listening to a CD on John's Gospel and some words the Dominican Sister, Sr. Mary Margaret Pazdan said caught my ears and really describes what retreat is about in so many ways - "...to nestle into the heart of God and say yes..." In the tradition of the Carmelite Sisters with whom I shared some time, I tried to allow the Holy Spirit to guide my days and my prayer. I had 80 acres of forested land to wander around in. The homily at Sunday's Mass included the thought that "All of creation is God's hospitality to us ... how do we receive it and take care of it?" In my roaming around each day - which I was able to do, and went for a good walk/hike every day - I found so much beauty and could really enter into the moment - that moment of God's abundant love and hospitality. I don't know about you, but I often tend to get caught up in things to do, worries and anxieties
about things that need to be done, that I forget to be fully present to the preciousness of every moment. Retreat was a good reminder! ... And now I hope that I can carry the spirit of that time, "Hush now ... be still", with me into the days and months ahead! I hope that you can take a moment here and there in your day to "nestle into the heart of God".
In a little book written in the 1970s that I picked up in the hermitage - Jesus, Set Me Free: Inner Freedom Through Contemplation, Fr. George Maloney, SJ wrote ...
"In prayer, the Spirit comes to our spirit and bears witness that we are truly loved as the Father loves His eternal Son (Rm. 8:15). God's very own dynamic current of love, between Father and Son, catches us up and regenerates us into new creatures, ever more consciously aware of our inner dignity of being so privileged as to be loved infinitely by God." WOW! I thank God that I was able to have this retreat time. It was good for my heart, my soul and my mental state... and probably for the Sisters I live with too!
*A few more photos I took ... I was refreshed by the beauty that I encountered every day, and also want to share a picture of my hiking buddy, Strider :)
"Come forth into the light of things; let nature be your teacher." ~ William Wordsworth 1770-1850

Continuing on in Patience ~ The Lenten Journey 2

The Eighth Station of the Cross:
Jesus meets /comforts the women of Jerusalem ...

I can hardly believe we are in the 5th week of Lent already! It seems that I am finally into the rhythm of this blessed season and now it is almost Holy Week. I can get down on myself sometimes when I acknowledge to myself that I haven't quite lived up to my expectations of how this Lenten season should have gone for myself ... sigh! Each day is a new start though in God's eyes and so I need to try to make today better than yesterday!

At Mass this morning the first reading was from the Book of Numbers (Numbers 21:4-9). The words that really struck me were, "...with their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses ..."
I travel a lot and I can thoroughly identify with this attitude - journeys can make us weary! The journey of our faith life or spiritual life is not much different. I don't know about you, but I can get pretty impatient with myself and with God sometimes in my prayer, especially when I think nothing is happening, or don't feel like it is making a difference in my life or a situation.
I guess that is why I have included a picture of one of the station of the cross - a devotion by the way, that has Franciscan roots! Jesus' journey to Calvary was not easy (which is an understatement) and yet he continued on! He has patient trust in God and in what he needs to endure. In the midst of it all, Jesus stops to give comfort to the women -He was not thinking of himself ... He tells them instead to take care of others, especially their children. I think one can only have this posture if they are deeply rooted and centered in God.

St. Francis wrote in The Rule of the Third Order Regular (TOR Rule 8):
Within themselves, let them always make a dwelling place and home for the one who is Lord God almighty, Father, and Son and Holy Spirit, so that, with undivided hearts, they may increase in universal love by continually turning to God and to neighbor (Jn 14:23).
It is the faithfulness to the journey that is important, and always striving to allow God to be God in my life ... To look to Jesus and draw my strength ... and patience from Him ! Blessings to you in these last days of Lenten journeying!

Holding Haiti In Prayer

We ourselves feel that what we are doing
is just a drop in the ocean.
But the ocean would be less because of
that missing drop.
~ Mother Teresa

The above picture is of a sunset looking out towards the ocean over the city of Port-Au-Prince, the capitol city of Haiti that has just been devastated by the 7.0 earthquake. I have been very distracted the past day by this horrible event and feel such great sorrow and concern for all the people there. Haiti holds a special place in my heart ... I have been there twice on "eye glass mission trips" with some of my Franciscan Sisters.
At times like this is when I really feel a "poverty of spirit" ~ seeing so much destruction and such pain and not really being able to do anything about it- physically! A multitude of prayers sigh from my heart during this time and I guess right now, that is my "drop in the ocean" ... that is what I can offer ...and to share briefly a glimpse of the country that I know.

The Haitian people are beautiful people! These pictures were taken on one of my trips, either in 1999 or 2000. The little boy above on the left is/was an orphan finding shelter at Lafanmi Selavi. He had nothing, but had made himself a little toy car out of a plastic bottle, sticks and cans. May the spirit of this boy give hope to all of those whose lives have been so disrupted and to a country that has so little to begin with! Please join me in prayer that our loving God is especially present to all those in Haiti right now and that the people find hope despite the adversity! W. Paul Jones once said: "Hope is the simple trust that God has not forgotten the recipe for manna."

January of New Beginnings & Insights

Greetings for a Happy New Year ~ 2010! Let me begin with
"A Prayer for the New Year" ...

The old year is gone with its joys and its sorrows;

Before us are stretching the New Year's tomorrows.
Forgive what was thoughtless and wrong in the past,
And grant to our virtues the power to last;

That we may go forward with gladness, not fear,

To a joyful and worthy and blessed New Year.

Last week, as I was trying to be good at the beginning of the new year with a vigorous morning walk, I discovered I had locked myself out of my house! So, the dilemma - what do I do now?!? Thank goodness for community and a dry, somewhat warmer garage to go into! As I waited an hour and a half for one of the other Sisters to come home, I opened a box of "stuff" stored in the garage that I had been meaning to go through from my Mom's house. The above prayer was one thing I found in the box along with many old pictures of my growing up years, including baby pictures that had seemed lost.

...Oh happy fault to have the chance to find these "treasures" and to spend some nostalgic time reviewing my life. God does work in strange and mysterious ways sometimes! As I begin a new year, it was gift to be able look back over my life (I even found school papers from my grade school years), to affirm who I am, where I have come from and to ponder in a new way my hopes and dreams!

I'm not one for making big New Year's Resolutions, but there are a few things I need to work on. Yesterday, on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, one of the readings from our evening prayer was from the writings of St. Bonaventure taken from "The Soul's Journey into God". His words are a good reminder to me as I strive to journey into this new year. I pass Bonaventure's words on to you ....

"We cannot rise above ourselves unless a higher power lift us up. No matter how much our interior progress is ordered, nothing will come of it unless accompanied by divine aid. Divine aid is available to those who seek it from their hearts, humbly and devoutly; and this means to sigh for it through fervent prayer ..."