Happy New Year!

This is just to say Happy New Year! I think the best way to spend it is in gratitude for all the graces of the past year! I would love to do what was suggested in today's paper by one who actually did it: Write a thank you note to someone every day"!!

Some videos are a call to prayer

Here is something to watch and listen to that is really great as we are still at the beginning of a New Year! It is a real meditation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vC8Hffm9BE&feature=player_embedded

I hope you watched this video. I do not usually put videos on my blog, but I am thinking that I should be listing on the right side some of my favorite videos as they do call one to pray and fill our minds with gorgeous images. People are always sending me these wonderful videos; I am talking about very short videos that are a pleasure to watch and listen to and then keep in mind during the day.

Last night we watched the coverage of the memorial service in Tuscon, Arizona. In Miami in some neighborhoods people get shot in what they call "drive-by" shootings; bullets are fired and sometimes hit innocent children. I guess I do not understand how easy it is to have a gun. My students told me that there are many places where they can walk in and buy a gun, pay cash and leave without a background check.
Today I have my faculty faith-sharing group at the University and then home to make soup for the Reflection Group that meets tonight. I started this group at least 15 years ago but I am the only one left now of the original group; some have been with us for close to eleven years now but we have also welcomed new members. We begin with supper, then prayer, and then discussion on one of the chapters of the selected book. The discussion part is often a sharing of our personal experience and the way we relate to God.

No Bridges Today but images that speak to me...

I am at the University and only now able to think about today's blog. I guess the pictures are my reflection for today as I thought about the stillness of going deep down into the water and the desire I have for God that is definitely stronger than the desire a deer has for water. I seek living water.
We are having a special meeting about Haiti today for all the students. I will go for part of it but also hope to begin the faculty faith-sharing group that meets from 3:00 to 4:00 on Thursdays; we pray over the Sunday liturgy together and this is always so helpful. I guess this is one of the best support groups I have that meets weekly. I feel very blessed to have this group as I feel blessed to live in a community, to have two different monthly groups to pray, reflect with, and share my life. I guess I have so much to be grateful for and now I am trying to establish an online Round Table with Religious of the Sacred Heart to share and deepen our charism.
I would like to say that all my readers, known and unknown, are in my prayer. Thanks to each of you, I continue to reflect in this blog and hope the Spirit tells me what to say. A big thank you to each who has taken the time to give some feedback; that means a great deal to me.

People are bridges to God

Yesterday I met with a group that began about twenty-three years ago; four of us began to meet as a supervision group as we were all spiritual directors. After many years of following guidelines for our supervision group, we realized that we just needed to meet more for our own sharing. We had group spiritual direction then for a while and began to add to the original four. Now we are a wonderful support for one another and the monthly meeting is always life-giving. We are bridges to God for each other and bridges to both the Church and the world. I do not know how to describe the feeling I have of both being connected to each and connected to the entire world when we meet. It is a gift to be grateful for and I do thank God for this "bridge" that connects me to so many others through our bridge to God and one another.
In my life, there are many people who are bridges for me.

A road through water

Now that is a thought to reflect on today: the road is the bridge that connects the land. When I drive to Key West I love the seven mile bridge where there is nothing but the road with water on both sides. It is almost as if you were driving/walking on water. There is a sense of immensity; you are out there with the vastness of the ocean and the vastness of the sky and God is very near.
I guess I am going to stay with this image again today and feel that it is more than an image; to be a bridge is a call and is closely connected to my vocation to discover and reveal God's love.

Images

I have been reflecting on how powerful images and symbols are in our lives and how an image says more than a thousand words. When we were in Houston, one of my community was on a panel for our Constitutions on Apostolic Community; she recalled two of her favorite images. One was her mother standing at the door to see her off to school each morning and also tucking her in at night and saying "To your own self be true." The other was the image of "staying at the table" - both have stayed with me and made me think of images that are influencing me at this moment. I am still reflecting on this, but a bridge is certainly one. I feel that I am called to be a bridge for others, to build bridges that connect others, to cross the bridge that leads me to the Heart of Christ... and then there are all sorts of bridges that come to mind - small wooden ones, rock bridges, the kind that are rather temporary and sway when you walk on them, the strong, permanent ones that are functional but not beautiful unless seen against a background of water at sunset. I like the old covered bridges, too, and wonder why we did not continue to build them?
I hope this reflection triggers some images in your own life that may be calling to you, if you give them a chance to surface.

The prayer below was sent to me today. It says what I have been feeling:

Lord, I just want to say THANK YOU, because this morning I woke up and
knew where my children were. Because this morning my home was still
standing, because this morning I am not crying because my husband, my
child, my brother or sister needs to be buried out from underneath a
pile of concrete, because this morning I was able to drink a glass of
water, because this morning I was able to turn on the light, because
this morning I was able to take a shower, because this morning I was not
planning a funeral, but most of all I thank you this morning because I
still have life and a voice to cry out for the people of Haiti . Lord I
cry out to you, the one that makes the impossible, possible, the one
that turns darkness in to light, I cry out that you give those mothers
strength, that you give them peace that surpasses all understanding,
that you may open the streets so that help can come, that you may
provide doctors, nurses, food, water, and all that they need in a blink
of an eye. For all those that have lost family members, give them peace,
give them hope, give them courage to continue to go on! Protect the
children and shield them with your power.

I pray all this in the name of Jesus!!!

To all my friends please continue to forward this so that we can pray
together for the people in Haiti .

We here are truly blessed!!!!!

Jesus is still out there among the most needy

This is taken from one of my students in the International Online Certificate Program as they are reading Dorothy Day. He also sent a picture of Christ in a bread line that really was impressive:
"Dorothy Day is often compared favorably with Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and I was reminded while reading The Long Loneliness of this adaptation of the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi associated with the latter:

Lord,
When I am hungry, send me someone to feed;
When I am thirsty, send me someone who needs a drink;
When I am cold, send me someone to warm;
When I am sad, send me someone to cheer;
When I need understanding, send me someone who needs mine;
When I need to be looked after, send me someone to care for;
When I think only of myself, draw my thoughts to another.
So let us pray as though everything depends on God, and work as though God depends on us for everything. Amen.

Water that gives life

We take water for granted in most of the United States although, now that we are more conscious of our environmental responsibilities, we have learned more of its value and the fact that many states face a shortage of water at times. Right now, the storms in California and Arizona have brought them too much water; at the same time, we are trying to save lives by shipping water to Haiti. Thousands there are without water and we cannot live without water. This picture always makes me think of the Living Water that flows from the Heart of Christ. We cannot live without this water and so we ask that the entire world be allowed to drink from these living waters.

Books are such a comfort...

Today I am giving into the cold I have been fighting all week and going to go back to bed to take a nap. My head cold is just one of those colds that is probably "a week coming and a week going" as a practical nurse at Clifton used to tell me. You can feel miserable, but there is really nothing to do except try to rest and drink lots of fluids. I am grateful that I can take it easy and just enjoy some light reading. Kim King taught me to call this "comfort reading" and that name says it all. It is good to always have a few old favorites that are really "comfort reading" stashed away for a lazy Friday afternoon.
I was startled to find out that this day has been designated by the U.S.Bishops as a "day of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion, and prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life."

Feast of St. Agnes

Today is the feast of St. Agnes. She has always been popular, although we know little about her. I was struck by the psalm in the Liturgy that is all about trust. I think that we are called to have complete trust in God no matter what happens. We please God by trusting as a child trusts her mother and father. I suppose that some parents do not merit complete trust, but God does. He loves us unconditionally so of course we should trust God absolutely. I suspect that there are times when this is hard to do, but we are still called to trust. I love to say, "Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in You." I hope I live in complete trust without fear for the future.

"Hope in an Age of Despair"

Hope in an Age of Despair is the title of a book by Albert Nolan. He also wrote Jesus Today which I loved. I must confess that I have not yet read this latest book by Nolan, a South African Dominican priest, but the title has caught my attention and the talks and writings that make up the contents have drawn me to want to sit down and read it. It was published in 2009 by Orbis Books, Maryknoll. Here are a few of the headings under Part I: Background: Hope in an Age of Despair; The Art of Teaching Theology; Preaching and Contemplation; and then Part 2 is Acting Hopefully: Siding with the Cause of Justice; Part 3 is Putting God into the Picture; Part 4 is Hoping for a Better World with many interesting titles such as Gospel Values, Who is My Neighbor?, Justice in the Bible, Personal Liberation,etc.
Nolan always challenges me to live the values that Jesus came to reveal to us by his example. I look forward to reading this book.
I guess we all need hope at this time when the destruction of Haiti is before us; it is so overwhelming to know that these poor people have lost the little they had. They are still finding bodies; the hospitals are full and without what is needed still to treat the injured; people are without water, without food, without shelter. The hope comes from the response of so many in this world of ours who are doing what they can to alleviate the sufferings of those still living. One of our nuns will be going through on her way to help this week; we have not yet heard about our house in Ferrete; the one Religious who was in Haiti at the time cannot get there to check. Let us hope in this time that Nolan calls "an age of despair"!

Martin Luther King Day - a national holiday

The earthquake in Haiti is what the media is occupied with and, indeed, all of us are watching and feeling the pain of those who have lost family members or who are in anguish because they are here and can get no news of their families. So many are without water, food, shelter and the death toll keeps mounting. I cannot even imagine trying to bury 70,000! And now the government needs to move them out of the ruins of the city and how hard it must be for those who have nothing and need to leave the very place they have known all their lives. My heart is full of their sufferings and I know from my own experience with earthquakes in Chile that this will take years to get over but the next months are hard without homes, water, light...
The meeting of RSCJS from our Quad Area and some of our Associates in Houston was inspiring and very life-giving for me. We all share our lives and the important events of the past year and often these events have affected our inner lives deeply and we trust one another enough to share what the Lord has been doing in each of us. We also had time for two panels on our Constitutions; this was followed by personal reflection and sharing. We had a beautiful liturgy and five of us renewed our vows made fifty years ago in our final profession ceremony in Rome (I was one of these) and another renewed her vows from the time of her first vows fifty years ago. One of ours gave a very moving homily. We need to encourage one another as we all have gifts and the gifts the Spirit gives us today are what we need for our times. It was just a wonderful week end and I am filled with gratitude and joy to be a Religious of the Sacred Heart.

Away Again!

I leave today for the Quad Area Meeting of RSCJs and Associates in Houston; I will not write until I return so please wait until Monday and I will share this trip with you then. It is always good to be with other Religious of the Sacred Heart and the time will fly by. I think the destruction and loss of life in Haiti will impact our meeting as we are all suffering with the victims. This tragedy has touched us deeply and we have so many Haitians here in Miami and at the University who are without news and fearing the loss of family and friends. We heard at once that our Religious was safe; only one was there at the time as the other was on a plane going to a meeting in Mexico and one was in New Orleans on sabbatical. The Religious there was at a meeting with other religious and they were able to get out and lie on the ground and were not injured. Since then, we have only heard what the news is telling us and that the Archbishop was dead and maybe as many as 100 priests and seminarians were among the 100,000 suspected dead from the quake. The pictures are heartbreaking.
Let us pray for Haiti and I will be back writing on Monday.

Miscellaneous

We are all concerned with those who are suffering from the earthquake in Haiti. It is such a tragedy and I do hope we not only help with the emergency, but then stay to fix homes, roads, water pipes, etc. It made me relive the earthquakes I lived through in Chile and that sent me back to the autobiography I wrote in 2002 - I guess I should update it now, but it was fun going back over it tonight as I had also included some pictures. My community wanted me to write more about the twenty years I spent in Chile; I need to add that to my projects for next year.
I cannot get the pictures of the earthquake out of my mind tonight, but need to post this for tomorrow as I have a busy morning and may not have time to write.

Back Home and enjoying Miami

I had a great time in Naples and it was so good to see my sister, my brother-in-law, and my friend. The entire building (Joan owns the condo on the 19th floor) was without heat for the three days I was there, but it had been fixed by the time I left. It was fun though and we did drive over to see the new little town of Ave Maria and the new University. It is amazing how well planned it is and how lovely the architecture, but it is in the middle of nowhere. We drove on an almost empty road for miles (it is only an hour and maybe twenty minutes from Naples) and there was no place to ask if we were getting near, but finally we saw a sign and went another three miles to find this beautiful place. The church was impressive.

I am home but only until Friday when we go to Houston for a Quad Area meeting. We enjoy getting together every January and missed doing this last year because of the Assembly last summer.

Some have told me just to keep writing whatever comes to mind in this blog. I hope I can give something to reflect on each time from my own reflections.
Here is a quote from Janet Stuart:
"It seems to me that the simple life is the property of those who are advancing in age, rather than the quality of the young; and this is a consideration not discouraging to the young, but encouraging both to young and old; for we can all become old, but we cannot become young."

Naples for three days of record cold

We do not have snow but everyone in Florida seems to be freezing! We get so used to warm weather that as soon as we have what they call here a "cold spell" we panic. I do feel sorry for the homeless and it is wonderful to know that shelters are opening and staying open for them even during the day. We are setting a record for the length of cold days as usually we only have two days and sweaters come out and then get put away. This time is longer and I am going to Naples today and will stay until Tuesday. I will not be writing my blog while I am away. I look forward to seeing my oldest and one of my best friends as well as my sister and her husband. I do not mind the cold as we will no doubt stay in and talk. I am taking over a bag of books for all and we will, I am sure, eat out. It is the end of vacation and a good way to end it- classes begin on Monday but my students are all online anyway so I am prolonging vacation.
Scotland and England seem to be really suffering from an excess of snow that has even knocked out power. We have rain this morning so I need to get on the road soon. I wrote a long blog yesterday and lost it; maybe it will show up somewhere!

"The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See"

Richard Rohr's latest book, "The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See" is a book to read slowly. It is also a difficult book to tell you about. Rohr is stressing nondual thinking which is really contemplative living in the present moment. He stresses how difficult this is for us but it is what we are called to do. Jesus was a nondual thinker - actually, I need to reread this book and mark it up, but I did want to share one thing with you today and that is what Richard says about "A Joyful Mind".
"Joy and mind. Those are not words that you would normally put together, but they inspired the eleventh-century Richard of St. Victor, a Scottish canon teaching in Paris, and became the themes of his two books on the contemplative mind, Benjamin Major and Benjamin Minor. The titles were taken from one obscure passage from Psalm 68:27, where "Benjamin" is described as leading a procession into the temple on mentis excessu, which was translated as "with a joyful mind or with an ecstatic minds. This made me ask:
What might a joyful mind be?
When your mind does not need to be right.
When you no longer need to compare yourself with others...."

He has two pages on the Joyful Mind but I will let you think of other things a joyful mind is for yourself; it is good for us to think this out for ourselves.

"Wrestling with our Inner Angels"

"Wrestling with our Inner Angels" is a new book by Nancy Kehoe who is a Religious of the Sacred Heart and was here for dinner last night. I had gone to hear her speak about her book the night before and it was great to have her here as she is a Harvard psychologist who believes that asking clients about their religious beliefs should be included among all the other questions that psychologists ask their clients. Her work with mental health patients has been a real breakthrough. I read most of the book yesterday and will try to finish it today. I must confess that I spent time with the "Religious History Questionnaire" at the end of the book as I think those questions help anyone. I am going to review this book for Amazon.com so you can read more there. Nancy shares so much of herself in the book and how much she has learned from her mental health groups.
It continues to be cold in Miami; this is setting records as we seldom have more than one or two cool days in a row. I am going to Naples to see a friend and my sister and brother-in-law on Saturday and will take a poncho instead of a swimsuit!
I really love having the cold tap water (ours is usually lukewarm) and we have the heat on so the house is a comfortable yet one feels a bit more energetic. We have reflection group tonight so I will need to think of something hot instead of a huge friendship salad. I feel badly for the many homeless who are suffering during this cold spell and for the farmers who are working all night to keep the crops from frost. This is strawberry season here.

Miscellaneous

This picture is my reflection today - my head is full of many things and so I will write later. Blame some of this on the Bowl games as the Orange Bowl is a big one for Miami. I must confess that I do try to follow college football.
I am trying to live in the present moment and finding it difficult but worthwhile. I am reading Richard Rohr's "The Naked Now" and will write more about this book later.