Humility

A quote from Catherine:


Humility does not consist in words but in acts; to be real it must be practical.


This morning during our morning prayer, in our time of reflection, we were to name a person who has influenced us to grow deeper in our spirituality. Today happens to be a birthday/feast day of one of our sisters in leadership. When she was in the Juniorate and I but a a lowly novice, she made a journal book for me to record my poetry. It was a simple book with a number of pages bound with yarn through the punch holes and a cover that was of sturdier brown card stock. For me it was the beginning of a great adventure in recording my inmost thoughts.

What a simple, humble gift, real and practical. That may not be what Catherine McAuley was thinking, but for me it is an example of how humility brings as about great gifts. I will never be a famous poet or spiritual writer, but i do have a practical way of expressing it. Today, I have begun volume 22 of some great expressions of my experience of life. They are not masterpieces for the world, but they are pieces for the Master.

What have you received in your life, simple, humble that have brought to life the gifts you have?


www.sistersofmercy.org

The Holy Cross

A quote from Catherine:


"..May I never be free from His Holy Cross!


That sound quite dire for our day. We want to get away from the Cross, make life easier and not feel pain. Somehow we can go through life anethesized, not really living. To feel, to really feel, is to feel pain as well as joy. It's a concept one learns as one progresses in the spiritual life.

Does that we become morbid and enjoy being a martyr, seeking pain? No, of course not. It means we begin to live without having to be free from all of our pains and aches. it means not complaining for the simple things. It means offering up those inconveniences each day. is this an "old spirituality"?

Actually it is a new spirituality. It is a timeless spirituality. We have a pill for everything. The new way is to live through it, to honor that which comes our way and to bring it into our consciousness and still pray in the midst of it. May today, the feast of Christ the King, remind us that the way to glory is through the Cross!




www.sistersofmercy.org

Some Ramblings

No quote for today... just some ramblings...

Today a busload of students, sisters, our justice team and others will be going to Ft. Benning, GA to do the yearly protest for the closing of the SOA. Now today that has another name, as if creating a new name makes the school "better" or more acceptable.

The journey will take about 18 hours on the bus overnight, long times for standing in sun, wind or rain, one night in a hotel, another day of standing and listening and participating in the ritual and then the 18 hours back.

I look at what this closing would mean to the people of Central and South America if their militia were not trained by the U.S. in detention "tactics". You can only imagine what that could be. And no, you really can't imaging...Listening to the stories of those tortured is so wrenching. Their survival, the desire to leave their country of birth and family to be safe and away from the danger is so great. Ironically, they want to come to the US, the trainer of their torturers!

This may be a hard trip for me. I like my comfort to a certain extent. It's nothing compared to the people we are trying to support with this protest. My discomfort this weekend will be offered up for all those who have lost their lives, those who have to live with the loss and those who have survived the torture.

May you have something to do this weekend that is uncomfortable, so that you can offer it up for those less fortunate.

www.sistersofmercy.org

Our Actions of Love

Today's quote comes from Sister M. Francis Warde, our American Foundress.


We should find our hearts so penetrated with the love of God...that our actions are
less performed by ourselves than by the love within us.

Have you ever just done something just for the love of it? Have you ever done a service project that was dull, dirty,or not something you would ordinarily do and found that at the end you were satisfied in a way you usually aren't? Have you ever done a job you didn't like, thought about doing it half way and then did it as if someone was looking over your shoulder at what you did? Each of these might be ways in which we perform an action thinking less about ourselves and more about the other. From this love flows.

For me I do not like emptying the dishwasher. I do it for the love of my community, but I could easily walk away from it and let someone else do it. Another chore for me is taking out the garbage. I don't mind the taking out; it's the collecting I don't care to do. Again, I could skip a room, but I don't. There is more here than my own desires.

How are your actions penetrated with love...that you own comfort is forgotten? What do you dislike to do? How can you renew your commitment to do it with love?

www.sistersofmercy.org

Your Happiness

A quote from Catherine:


It comforts me exceedingly to hear you are happy.


Catherine was one who wanted her sisters to work and be their best. So many times the sisters would be doing more than they really could, but they had a wonderful model and leader who did not shirk the work. To be happy in the work and ministry a sister was doing meant that the sister would be animated and would animate those around her.

Today we look at the work we do, whether it is washing dishes, doing laundry, sweeping the floor, preparing for class, or writing a report, or creating a project, giving assignments or caring for the sick. Are we happy? Do we like what we do? Do we see value in it?

There is a song we often used with elementary child that has the line, "If you're happy and you know, then your face will surely show it.." Are you animated and do you animate all those around you? If not, start today!

www.sistersofmercy.org

My Legacy

A quote from Catherine:

My legacy to the Institute is charity.

This quote is often used as we reflect on the anniversary of Catherine's death, which we commemorated yesterday. A group of sisters gathered to pray and share a meal. It was something that Catherine would have enjoyed, especially the part where we told stories and shared our favorite quotes from her. She would have liked hearing what people remembered of her teaching.

What is your legacy? How do you want to be remembered? If there were an epitaph on you gravestone what would it say? This month, the month of the poor souls, this month of the ending of a church year, this season of death and dying, is time to think about what will be the memories of you. If you haven't thought about it, perhaps this week, think about what would be the memory you would like people to remember. Then go about starting to create it.


www.sistersofmercy.org

A Comfotable Cup of Tea

A quote from Catherine:


The Sisters will be tired; see that they have a comfortable cup of tea
when I'm gone.

This week we had two funerals at our Motherhouse, one a beloved sister, 94 who was active in many things at the time of her death. Another was the mother of three adult children, some grandchildren and a friend of the sisters in that she often came to our Motherhouse for Mass. She found it so peaceful that as she was near her dying she arranged to have the funeral in our chapel.

In each case there was a dinner for the family and the sisters. the family was invited to stay as long as they needed. That sense of hospitality at the time of death is not new to us. Catherine had a sense of what that means even in her own dying and death. We just continue the tradition in our own way, serving coffee, if tea is not needed, using our best "Mercy dishes and silverware" and having the Sisters serve the family.

For so many the vigil surrounding the death of these two wonderful people caused many to be very weary; family members stying around the clock, Sisters keeping vigil. To offer hospitality at the time of great weariness , even in our own weariness is part of what it means to be Mercy.

As we approach the anniversary (Nov. 11)of Catherine's death, we recall as if it were yesterday, "see that the sisters have a comfortable cup of tea." Today, this weekend, to whom can you give a "comfortable cup of tea", either literally or figuratively?


www.sistersofmercy.org

My Cross

A quote by Catherine:

Endeavor to make my cross like His in some way-by silence.

We have all heard the story of the person who was tired of carrying his cross and asked the Lord to allow him to pick out one that would fit better. The Lord took him to a room of crosses and he had to choose. Some were too long, too short, too heavy, etc. Finally he found one that fit just right and he chose that one. Lo and behold, it was the same one he complained about in the first place!

We have also heard of the phrase, "There, but by the grace of God, go I." Each of us is given our cross to bear. For some it may seen very heavy and for others it seems they sail through life. What is your cross like today? Is it one of too much to do? Is it loneliness? Is it stress at work? Is it a failed relationship? Money problems? School work?

Whatever your cross, endeavor to carry it in the manner of Jesus, in silence, fully cognizant of its weight and the implications it has on who you are, and what you are doing. Let silence, instead of complaining, be your motto today.

www.sistersofmercy.org

Will of God

A quote from Catherine:


The will of God be done in all things.

One of the ways I sometimes use to pray is to take a quote word for word and reflect or repeat the words one at a time backwards and forwards until I have looked at it or worried it from all sides. it's like a stream of conscious prayer. Let me try this today as an example.

"The will...." The will. Whose will? My will? Thy will? What is a will? Where there is a will there is a way...

The will of... Of who? The will of me? The community? The spirit who wills, will of God?

The will of God... What is God's will? How do I know it? Who speak the will of God? How do I speak the will of God? How do I know? Does anyone know? Where do I see it? Where do I need it? Whose will is it anyway?

The will of God be... Be/ am/ Is / Are being... How do I be? Who am I? How can the will of God be/ Does God be? I am who Am/ God be love/ Being perfected/ The will of God be..
Just be... God's will... Who? What?

Be done... How do I do? Is it done? Do I finish? God's will? Is it done in my life? Let it be done...
Done...It is finished.. The will of God is the finish of my being...Be done.. Let it be done..God's will in my life...

Be done in all... All in all.. be done.. All is done...It is finished.. God's will is done...Only God's will be done .. In all.. All my day.. All the people.. All the day.. all the night... all is enough...

All things... What things? Do I have too many things? things.. instruments for God's will.. Do I use things and love people? Things, too many.. be done in all things...Let me reverence all things as part of God's will....

The will of God be done in all things... May my day be a reminder that all of life is of God and God is in all of life so let go and let God....



www.sistersofmercy.org

Dough-Bread

A quote about Catherine:


Catherine's letters sough to knead the spirit of union and charity through the
dough of the expanding institute.
Joanna Regan

I keep reflecting on the words "union and charity" of which that Catherine so often spoke. As we continue in the midst of what we Mercys call 'reconfiguring and reimagining" this is so much needed. There has to be growth as the dough rises, there has to be kneading, to get the "air bubbles' out as well as softening of the hard parts and work them together for the whole.

Even the thought of Catherine's writing of letters that connected everyone, we too need to connect with others, especially those who are lost in the flour dust of life. We need to brush them off with care and gentleness and bring them back to the whole.

The long rising of waiting until the new community is formed still needs care, just as the dough needs time to rise. We need to keep it out of cold draft so it rises consistently, we need to be sure it is not too warm lest it rise too quickly and fall. There may need to be another "punching down and rekneading" as we shape and form the loaves that will be the future.

Then there is the placing it in the pan, to rise more. Once we have the assembly out of the way, the new leadership elected, there still needs to be more rising and shaping before placing it in the oven that magical day, July 1 and letting it bake into the loaf it is to become.

Where am I in all of this? Am I still covered with flour dust? Am I being kneaded? Am I waiting to raise? Am I ready for the next 'punching down" and reshaping? Am I ready, really ready, for the final shaping and placing in the pan? Will I be ready for the oven? These are the days to wait and raise.

Today I remember that on this day that the foundation to Guam was begun in 1946. What was it like then, the first year after a world war? What were the Sisters thinking and doing ? I remember that today we have two sisters from the West Midwest who have truly raised and are with Catherine - Sr. Alice Marie and Sr. Mary Raye.

Union and charity...good words to ponder these days!

Being Happy

A quote from Catherine:



You cannot fail to be happy while the spirit of your vocation
animates all of your actions.

I have been reading a book by Joan Chittester entitled Wisdom Distilled from the Daily.
One of the chapters is on community and how rubbing shoulders day in and day out helps us in the ordinariness of life to find who we are. We can realize that things, prestige, honors and power do not make us happy. It is the deep and abiding experience of a community seeking to find God that helps us, in the long run to be happy. This works in families as well. We cannot come to know ourselves unless we do the work within and allow the sharp angles and corners be softened with respect and wisdom distilled from those around us.

If our calling is to search more fully to find God, then our very seeking will be that of a child animated in the amazing discoveries of life. May we continue to have that childlike animation all our days as we continue to search for the loving and loving God of our lives.

A quote form Catherine;

A quote form Catherine;