Preparing for Advent

Today is the day my parents celebrated their wedding anniversary. As the oldest child, I was the one to remember it. My parents were always in love with each other and, I think, my mother told me that they were never separated for even a night except when she was giving birth to one of us and kept in the hospital, and then, when my brothers were old enough for Scout Camp and my Dad went with them as he had been one of the first Eagle Scouts in St. Louis.

As we are going to begin Advent, let us think of Mary who was at first troubled by the Angels message, but then accepted to be the Mother of God. I am sure she did not understand, but she was open to whatever God wanted. May we, too, be fully surrendered to whatever is the will of God for us.
Let us ask Mary to prepare our hearts during this Advent to again receive her Divine Son, Jesus. May she purify our hearts and help us to discern day by day what pleases Jesus. We want to be very attentive to the Holy Spirit. 

Advent is coming

Advent begins this Sunday and I will be flying to Miami. We begin the Busy Persons' Retreat for the faculty and staff at Carrollton on Monday; the six of us on the Team will meet over lunch on Monday and prepare the opening prayer. It is the first time we have had the retreat in Advent and so I am steeping myself in some of the beautiful Scripture passages. I may not be using them with my retreatants, but I love Advent and will hope to spend this one with great desire for the coming of the Lord.

The spirit of Advent is one of joy. The angel came to Mary and greeted her joyfully. "Rejoice and be glad" is also the name of the Pope's Exhortation on holiness for all Christians. God is at work in our world and we must believe He is all powerful and can write straight with crooked lines. I do not know where that expression came from, but I feel that we are called to trust the Heart of God who loves each of us infinitely and knows what is best for us.

Peace

This picture makes me think of peace. I think it is the silence of the landscape, the quietness of the entire scene. I really do not miss living where there is snow, but I miss the beauty of seeing all transformed and there is a hush of peace that envelopes one after a snowfall. 

To go back to images, I am having several come when I just think of snow. First are the lovely white hockey skates with the red plaid lining that I found under the Christmas tree when I was in Seventh Grade. We lived within walking distance of Forest Park in St. Louis. At the foot of the Art Museum there was a lagoon. One part would be cleared of snow so we could skate. We were a large group from school and would go over to skate until cold and tired we were given hot chocolate near a bonfire on the shore. I seem to remember roasting marshmallows, too. Now I wonder who supplied us with such treats, but I guess it was just part of the joy we had at that age.

We finally had some rain last week. It made the whole house quiet. Perhaps all had gone to take naps. I sat and watched the rain and let the quiet seep into me. It was the gentle rain we had been praying for as it would then be able to soak into the earth and water our thirsty trees. It was also an answer to prayer to help control the wildfires!

Letting images come into our imagination

I have always believed in the power of the imagination. As one steeped in the tradition of Ignatian prayer, I have cultivated the ability to enter into a scene and hear Jesus speaking, etc. As a young nun, I had an artist who was superior and she wanted me to see every detail of a scene and imagine the colors of the clothes, etc. I am not so sure I captured all of that, but I think I do have the ability to enter into Gospel scenes with little effort.

Sometimes one must sit with an idea and just let the image appear. I keep having an image of a boat - sometimes it seems to be a small motor boat, other times it is a sailboat. What does not change is that I am in this boat with Jesus and he is the Captain and I am the crew. Usually, the water is peaceful and we are just sitting together in silence and I am content.

What images come to you in prayer? Let them appear and they will begin to influence you in some new way.

Another way to meditate

This is really from Elizabeth Lesser and I thought it worth passing on as it has a slightly different approach:

"Disengage from the ego.
Develop a simple meditation practice. Every day, spend some time sitting in silence. . . . Sit with a straight back and relaxed body. Feel the nobility, patience, and strength of the posture. Allow your identification to broaden out beyond the ego with its constant thoughts and its shifting likes and dislikes. Just observe everything. . . . This is the practice of meditation."

I think it good once in while to "just observe everything" even if you are used to doing Centering Prayer which lets go of thoughts during prayer. Sometimes we need to sit in silence and observe where our mind goes. Just a suggestion for today.

Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

The Feast of Christ the King is celebrated on the last Sunday of the Liturgical Year. The next Sunday will be the first Sunday of Advent and the start of a new Liturgical Year. As always, I like to emphasize the Collect of the Mass so here it is:

"Almighty ever-living God, whose will is to restore all things in your beloved Son, the King of the Universe, grant, we pray, that the whole creation, set free from slavery, may render your majesty service and ceaselessly proclaim your praise."

That makes me wonder how I am ceaselessly praising Christ, my King. I suppose that gratitude is one way to praise and I am grateful for all. We live in a world full of beauty and wonder.

I have always loved the quote at the end of the second reading from the Book of Revelation: "I am the Alpha and the Omega", says the Lord God, "the one who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty."

The important thing to remember is that Jesus told us that his kingship was not of this world; he washed the feet of his friends, did not seek power or riches but lived a simple life at the service of all.

Firemen have a real vocation

When I was about five, my great Uncle Jim took me to the firehouse near where we lived. I was not only introduced to all the firemen and their beautiful trucks and equipment, but one of them took me up to where they slept and then slid down the brass pole with me to show me how quick they could be in the fire engine when their was a night alarm. It made a tremendous impression on me, especially because I was the only one who could tell all this to my playmates who had never even met a fireman. Now that I write this I wonder if that memorable visit to the firehouse was not a way of putting any fear out of my mind because we had had a fire in the apartment next to us just a few months before; our maid had grabbed me while my mother took my infant sister to get out. Fortunately, I think we mostly suffered smoke damage but quickly moved to a home across from the Visitation where I was in kindergarten.

I did not intend to write any of this, but only to ask prayers for all the firefighters. I think to be a fireman is a real vocation. In Chile, at least when I was there, it was mostly a group of volunteers who would respond to a fire. Here we have real stations with firemen on duty at all times. Let us thank for the gift of generosity showed by so many who have been coming to California to aid in trying to control the huge fires. Actually, we have many prisoners out there fighting the fires now for $1 an hour.

We give thanks, and we pray...

The fires in California have left many mourning the loss of family, friends, homes, and even their whole town. I imagine what it is like to lose everything at once. After the hurricanes in Florida I would have students try to tell me what they were going through; they had not only lost their homes and all their clothes, books, pictures, money, but important papers like insurance cards, credit cards, birth certificates, etc. We were always told to keep a fireproof box with important papers to grab in an emergency, but when frightened, one thinks only of escaping to a safer place. Imagine what it has been for so many that were taken by surprise and had to flee the flames without thought of anything except to escape.

Yet, those who made it out without being burned are just grateful. So many others were trapped even if they had made it to their cars. Fire can be so deadly and California has had so much land destroyed by fire and now we have so many new homeless people. Let us thank for the help that is being given to the victims and hope that people will be generous. Getting shelter for all before Christmas is a priority, I hope, for the nights are cold here and some have had to live in tents. Do pray. Pray for those who have lost their lives, for those who mourn them, for the brave firefighters who are risking their lives to contain the fires, etc. 
We are collecting here and have sent clothes, shoes, nightwear, etc. to the shelters near the wildfires for these people have lost everything.

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

Let us give thanks to the Lord...

Dear God, I have so much to thank You for
But I would ask for one thing more:
Peace in the hearts of all men living,
Peace in the whole world this Thanksgiving!

This is a day to celebrate with family and friends the gratitude we have in our hearts and so often do not take time to express!

The power of an encouraging word, a single glance, or a loving smile can never be underestimated. Just two simple words: Thank you! That is all it takes to be grateful for all we receive from God, from others. 

Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple

This feast of the Presentation of Mary in the temple does not have its origin in the canon of Scripture and so may just be a legend. However, this is a feast dear to the Society of the Sacred Heart as it is the day we celebrate our foundation on November 21, 1800 with the first vows of Sophie and her companions. In 1805, it will again be on November 21 when Philippine and five companions pronounced their vows in the second convent of the Society of the Sacred Heart, the former Visitation convent in Grenoble.

Today is also the eve of Thanksgiving. Let us take time to thank for all the wonderful people God has put into our lives and to thank Him for all the graces we have received. I think we so often forget to thank God for His tender, loving care of each of us.

Preparing for Thanksgiving

Only two days to Thanksgiving Day - but, of course, we are giving thanks every day. We do celebrate this national holiday with a focus on gratitude, but perhaps we are also centered on the feast. We look forward to a turkey dinner enjoyed with family and often friends, too.
"True gratitude is a natural response to the miracle of life as we experience it moment to moment, a sense of abundance from the heart that is independent of  our desires for the future."
The above quote is from that little book, Attitudes of Gratitude: How to Give and Receive Joy Every Day of Your Life by M. J. Ryan. 
Gratitude may be a natural response to the miracle of life, but it is something to cultivate, too. I need to consciously stop and thank for the many gifts of each day. Preparing for this holiday helps me to remember to do this.

One last prayer to Philippine

St. Louis Cathedral image of Philippine Duchesne

"The whole universe story has come into being because God is a hidden treasure who longs to be known. And the way—the only way—this knowing can be released is in the dance of unity-in-differentiation which is the native language of love. If it takes a whole village to raise a child, it takes a whole cosmos to bear forth the depths of divine love."

The above quote was taken from Richard Rohr's meditations and I wanted to use it as it broadens our view to the whole cosmos.
Now, I have in front of me one last prayer to St. Philippine from the Soboba Indian Reservation where two RSCJs are still working:

"O holy woman, who prays always, we honor you
You are like the Eagle, soaring high to Creator
Your prayer is like sweet-smelling smoke of sage and cedar
Your presence with us is acorn meal, feeding our spirits and drawing us to Grandfather

O holy woman, who prays always, we thank you
You brought your Society to us long years ago
Your sister are with us even now, in your name
Your love and prayer help us walk the Red Road

O holy woman, who prays always, we ask your blessing
Bless us, your Indian children, and stay with us always
Bless our land, Mother Earth, given by Creator
Bless all people who walk on Mother Earth. May we live together in peace. Amen. Aho!
Marianna Torrano, RSCJ

Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

This Sunday' Collect:

Grant us, we pray, O Lord our God,

the constant gladness of being devoted to you,

for it is full and lasting happiness

to serve with constancy

the author of all that is good.

Jesus tells us in Mark's Gospel (13:24-32), that we will see "the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory, and then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky."   Later Jesus says that " Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

But of the day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."

I think the lesson from this Sundays reading is that we are to be ready! We know not the day or the hour - so many here in California have had to flee in front of the wildfires; some have lost lives, many have lost their homes. Let us pray for them and for all those who are hoping to find a home in our country.

My friendship with Philippine

My Friendship with Philippine

Rose Philippine Duchesne was beatified in 1940. Four years later, at age thirteen, I began high school as a weekly boarder at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in St. Charles, Missouri. The school was first opened by Philippine in 1818. Each night, I was one of the students who went to close up the shrine where Philippine was buried. Sometimes we would be wrapped up in the nuns’ black shawls to go out and say goodnight to our “Mother Duchesne.” I think I learned to pray as we knelt around the marble tomb with only flickering light from the amber and green vigil lights that decorated it. For me, Mother Duchesne was a real mother: tender, loving, interested in all that I did each day and ready to help me. Those nightly conversations began a real friendship with Philippine that continues even today.

Sent straight from Rome to Chile after my final profession, Philippine Duchesne accompanied me in a special way. It was her courage and fortitude that carried me through the first year when I struggled to control 157 middle school children without knowing the language. Philippine had managed to start schools without a command of the language and so I turned to her for strength and to keep my sense of humor. Then, an earthquake destroyed our convent and school. Living without running water or electricity, the thought of what Philippine had suffered made it easy to stay cheerful. Philippine faced so many great hardships and stayed serene. Our friendship deepened as she helped me to find more time for prayer. My twenty years as a missionary in Chile owe much to the example of our Saint.

I wrote this reflection some time ago and then it was used for the Bicentennial Year of Prayer. It had a picture of the shrine, but too late tonight to try to look for it.

Remembering Philippine

Philippine left all to come to America and bring the Society of the Sacred Heart to the new world. She arrived in 1818 and founded the first Sacred Heart school in St. Charles. I will not go into her life here, but want to share a few quotes for you to reflect on today. These quotes today are from the wonderful calendar that can be bought at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Omaha. The store is online, if you wish to order one; it can be used year after year as in has the date but no day and their is a page for each day of the year.

This is from a letter to her sister in 1829:

"You want news of me. Well, I consider myself still young because I do what I did in my younger days, but I often receive the compliment, "My but you are old!" I trust I shall not survive you, as I have already survived two sisters who were younger than I," ( This was dated two days before Philippine's 60th birthday.)

Here is a quote from Philippine: "Profit by little trials that come to you, for through them we make real progress."

Old Woman Saint

Sister Judy Brown was a novice with me; she wrote the following that I want to share with you today about our St. Philippine Duchesne when she finally was able to go to be with the Indians at Sugar Creek and then had to return to spend her last ten years at St. Charles:

Old Woman Saint

And creased face went to Sugar Creel,
Your eyes speaking hope,
Your ears compassion.
Others preached,
You prayed.
Others taught wise truths,
You played with children,
Smiled at them and held a small
Bird in your lap,
Hid a frightened child in your skirtfolds,
Wound your ancient time-piece once
Again before child's-gaze,
Amazed.
You blessed the prairie Church
with your true presence.
Then with your old body
And beads smooth-worn
Went home to die,
You, with your old hands.

Sailing with Jesus

I have had this image of sailing with Jesus. There is no one else in the boat, just Jesus and me. I know I am headed to my final destination, but I am very calm and peaceful as Jesus is doing all the work. The sea is calm, the wind gentle, and I feel full for joy. I am content just to be there with Jesus. We are not even talking but just are happy to be out in this boat together. I am sharing this today as it has been so powerful and brought me such deep peace.

I am still thinking of all I have to be grateful for each day as I prepare for Thanksgiving. I am also spending time with our Saint Philippine Duchesne as we will end our bicentennial celebrations on November 18. Here is the quote I drew at our prayer service at the end of the Busy Persons' Retreat:
"Do not look back to the past nor forward to the future. Claim only the present, for it holds God's will."

lLet us be concerned and pray...

Today is the feast of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini. I was looking at the Mass and the opening prayer, the Collect, seems so apt for us to pray with today that I am copying it here:

"God, our Father, who called St. Frances Xavier Cabrini from Italy to serve the immigrants of America, by her example, teach us to have concern for the stranger, the sick, and all those in need, and by her prayer help us to see Christ in all the men and women we meet. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, 
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

I wish all of our congressmen and women would pray this, too.
Let us pray for our country and for all those who are suffering , especially the immigrants, and those who have lost all their possessions in the wildfires here in California, those who have suffered from the hurricanes, etc. It is also important to pray for the meeting of the Bishops this week. They need to listen to the Holy Spirit and make many changes in their own lives to have credibility with so many today.

Where do I abide?

This struck me when reading Richard Rohr's meditation a couple of days ago and so I am sharing it here.

Self-hatred is also the hatred of God, because God and ourselves are united. —Thomas Keating [1]

There is only one thing you must definitely answer for yourself: “Who am I?” Or, restated, “Where do I abide?” If you can get that right, the rest largely takes care of itself. Paul answers the questions directly: “You are hidden with Christ in God, and Christ is your life” (Colossians 3:3-4). Every time you start hating yourself, ask, “Who am I?” The answer will come: “I am hidden with Christ in God” in every part of my life. I am bearing both the mystery of suffering humanity and the mystery of God’s glory, which is precisely the mystery of Christ. (Allow yourself to be shocked by the universality of Scriptures like 1 Corinthians 3:21-23, 15:22-28 or Colossians 1:15-20.)

God looks at us and always sees Christ, and God thus finds us always and entirely lovable. God fixes God’s gaze intently where we refuse to look, on our shared, divine nature as God’s children (1 John 3:2). And one day our gaze will match God’s gaze. We will find God entirely lovable and ourselves fully lovable 

This is something to thank for today. 

Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Both the first reading from the Book of Kings and the Gospel (Mark 12:38-44), have widows. Jesus points out the poor widow who came to the temple and put in two small coins in the treasury. Jesus calls his disciples and said to them, "Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. tor they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood." 

The other widow in the Book of Kings was also generous as Elijah asked her for a drink and then for a bit of bread. She tells him that she has nothing baked. There is only a little flour in her jar and a little oil in her jug and she was collecting some sticks to be able to prepare something for herself and her son and when they have eaten it, she says they will die as there is no food to be had. Elijah said to her, "Do not be afraid. Go and do as you propose. But first make me a little cake and bring it to me. Then you can prepare something for yourself and your son. For the Lord, the God of Israel, says, 'The jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the earth.'" And so it came to pass; she and her son and Elijah were able to eat for a year.

I think I like this story as I saw something like it happen in Chile over and over again. We had a soup kitchen in our yard where we fed about thirty or more preschoolers each day. I was superior of the community in Coquimbo and would go over to see the children. Whenever the school was closed, the older brothers and sisters would come with the preschoolers hoping to be given something. Somehow, a miracle happened each time and we were able to provide some soup for all - the women who prepared the soup (the priest sometimes brought us the head of a cow as the base for the soup), had great faith and would tell me that they had prepared the same amount as usual but it just multiplied to serve all the children who arrived with their little brothers and sisters. Often, the bread also seemed to multiply so that all received a piece. It certainly increased my faith to see what was happening.

Attitudes of Gratitude

Have you begun to think of what you are most grateful for today? I have a little book that I sometimes pick up as I love the title: Attitudes of gratitude: How to Give and Receive Joy Every Day of Your Life. The author is M.J. Ryan, the editor of A Grateful Heart. 

M.J. Ryan says in her introduction: "Happiness, the sheer joy of being alive, is within our reach. All we need is an attitude of gratitude. Gratitude creates happiness beacause it makes us feel full, complete; gratitude is the realization that we have everything we need, at least in this moment ….It's a magic key-all you need to do is use it, and the world is suddenly transformed into a beautiful wonderland, in which you are invited to play...."

We finished the Busy Persons' Retreat Friday afternoon and I am grateful for the beautiful women who made it and who also inspired me to reflect more on my own life. I have so much to thank for and I am going around hearing God saying to me:
"I love you, Helen" and I reply "I love You, too." God speaks as I breathe in and I answer as I breathe out. It really can be a powerful prayer as you walk, drive, wash dishes, etc.

Nearing the end of our Bicentennial Celebrations

Using the daily calendar that has a quote from Philippine for each day of the year, has helped me to stay with her in a new way. She cares for our holiness and will give us her gift of prayer and fortitude, if we persevere in asking her. She only wanted and I suspect still wants to spread the love of the Heart of Jesus to every part of our world. I know she must be trying to help all immigrants now and must find what we are doing to keep refugees from entering our country inhuman. 

I really wanted to begin thinking of a special practice for Thanksgiving. Would it not be helpful to gather each evening, maybe over dinner, and each would share what she or he is most grateful for that day. It would make us all reflect on so much that happens each day to be grateful for and how often we forget to thank! I suggest we all try to do this. We only have a dozen days to prepare for Thanksgiving! 

What silence armors us against

Again I am sharing thoughts from Wendy Beckett's "Meditations on Silence. She says that what "silence principally armors us against is Babel; the endless foolish chatter, words used to confound thought, words misused to ward off friendship or attachments, words as occupation. The biblical Babel was a metaphor for the loss of human ability to communicate as a consequence of the rise of different languages; but the foreignness of other tongues is a smoke screen. To express what on means, and to hear what another means, this is a rare thing....We have an absolute need for quiet, for the heart's wordless resting on God."

Living with fifty other women is a joy, but it also makes me appreciate silence!

Desiring Silence

Desiring Silence is one of Sister Wendy Beckett's "Meditations on Silence" which I really love. I suspect that when I was using her little book last June, I may have shared some of this one, but it is worth repeating. She begins by saying, " Profound silence is not something we fall into casually. This may indeed happen, and a blessed happening it is, but normally we choose to set aside a time and a place to enter into spiritual quietness. (Those who never do this, or who shrink from it, run a very grave risk of remaining only half fulfilled as humans.) Craigie Aitchison's view of Holy Island pares this choice down to its fundamental simplicities. Brown earth, blue sea and red sky; Holy Island a stony gray lit by glory. There is a small ship to take us across, if we choose to ride in it. There are no fudging elements here; all is clear cut. This is not silence itself but rather the desire for silence. Silence, being greater than the human psyche, cannot be compressed within our intellectual categories; it will always elude us. But the desire to be silent, the understanding of the absolute need for it; this is expressed in Aitchinson's wonderful diagram of life within sight of the holy."

Deepening our love relationship

I read the other day that it is good to deepen our love relationship with Jesus by forming the habit of thinking every time I breathe in that God is saying, "I love you"; every time I breathe out, I am saying to God, "I love You, too." I think I added the "too" and also I hear God saying my name as well as I love you. I have been trying this and find it very helpful. It centers one, makes me feel peaceful and so I hope to continue this practice as I walk around or make my bed, etc. 
We had our usual first Sunday of the month as a silent day. This was so welcome after our busy last two weeks of October. Since I am seeing four for the Busy Persons' Retreat this week, I suspect I will only get around to answering letters, etc. next week. Retirement out here keeps one very busy!
Let us pray much for the elections - that those who are elected will work for the common good; let us also pray much for the Church and for the Bishops' meetings next week.

God's joy sustains me...

Tomorrow I am giving a 45 minute talk on St. Philippine Duchesne for the Children of Mary in San Francisco. I love Philippine and want others to know her, too. We leave here at 12:30 and there is Mass before my talk with a favorite Jesuit who comes to us on three Sundays a month.

My head is rather full of Philippine tonight so I am just going to repeat one of her favorite prayers: 

"I am where God wills me to be, and so I have found rest and security. God's wisdom governs me, God's power defends me,
God's mercy encompasses me, God's joy sustains me, and all will go well with me."

Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today's Collect asks that "we may hasten without stumbling to receive the things you have promised."

God has promised us eternal life but, as the readings remind us we need to remember that the "Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength."

This is repeated in the Gospel (Mark 12: 28-34) alone with the second commandment to love your neighbor as yourself." 

I think that we keep trying to keep these two commandments, but it is not always easy. Let us ask for the grace to do so.

We are in the Presence of God!

Today I want to share something from Richard Rohr's daily meditation from October 29:

We cannot attain the presence of God because we’re already in the presence of God. What’s absent is awareness. Little do we realize that God’s love is maintaining us in existence with every breath we take. As we take another, it means that God is choosing us now and now and now and now. We have nothing to attain or even learn. We do, however, need to unlearn some things.

To become aware of God’s loving presence in our lives, we must accept that human culture is in a mass hypnotic trance. We’re sleepwalkers. All great religious teachers have recognized that we human beings do not naturally see; we have to be taught how to see. Jesus says further, “If your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light” (Luke 11:34). Religion is meant to teach us how to see and be present to reality. That’s why the Buddha and Jesus say with one voice, “Be awake.” Jesus talks about “staying watchful” (Matthew 25:13; Luke 12:37; Mark 13: 33-37), and “Buddha” means “I am awake” in Sanskrit.

Maybe my prayer must just be: "Lord, I want to see!"

All Souls' Day

Feast of All Saints

Let us honor all the saints today. I am sure that all my friends, family members, and my sisters here who have died are now numbered among the saints. The Communion of Saints means that they are still loving us and interceding for us.