Feast of the Visitation

Mary went with haste to visit Elizabeth. She could not have been on the road alone. Did Joseph go with her and leave her there? Or did she travel with others? She was, of course, the first missionary to carry Christ to others. Elizabeth also has had the Holy Spirit enlighten her so she greets Mary with the words we say in the Hail Mary: "Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb...." And the child in Elizabeth's womb jumped for joy. Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months, helping her and both must have contemplated the mysterious ways of God. I think Mary pondered all in her heart and trusted God.
It is a feast that I love. I was born on this day 82 years ago; I never thought I would live to be 82! The truth is that I do not feel any older today than yesterday. Let us spend the day with Mary.

On Prayer

I am now reading my third book about Pope Francis and this is the best one as it is really the source that the other books seem to have used and this is the one I kept looking for : "Pope Francis: His Life in His Own Words: Conversations with Jorge Bergoglio" by Francesca Ambrogetti and Sergio Rubin. Here is what the then Cardinal said in interviews in 2010 on prayer. The question asked him was "In your opinion, what should the experience of prayer be like?" (I love the question and wish more of my sisters would want to answer this question - not an easy one but so important.)

"In my view, prayer should somehow be an experience of giving way, of surrendering, where our entire being enters into the presence of God. It is there where a dialogue happens, the listening, the transformation. Look to God, but above all feel looked at by God. Sometimes the religious experience in prayer occurs to me when I pray aloud with the rosary or the psalms. Or when I joyfully celebrate the Eucharist. But the moment when I most savor the religious experience, however long it may be, is when I am before the tabernacle. At times, I allow myself to fall asleep while sitting there, looking at it. I feel as if I were in someone else's hands, as if God were taking me by the hand. I think you have to reach the transcendental otherness of the Lord, that the Lord is everything, but He always respects our freedom."

I hope each of you will reflect on your experience of prayer today. I know that I go to prayer to allow God to love me and so I especially like the sentence: "Look to God, but above all feel looked at by God."

My mother once asked me if I thought she was praying correctly for "I just go to Church and begin to thank for my woderful husband and my four children and then I just sit there in gratitude." I remember telling her that her prayer was just right and God was pleased to see her gratitude. I now try to remember to do the same, at least some days!

Today, in some places such as the Vatican, the Feast of Corpus Christi is celebrated; we will celebrate it on Sunday.

Reaching Out to Others

Our vocation calls for a going down deep into the Heart of Jesus and then going out to others with His Love.
Our present Holy Father is certainly stressing the fact that we must be like Jesus and go out and find those in need. I am thinking of the many ways we have to do this just by sitting at a computer. I will be 82 this Friday and do not have the same amount of energy I used to have, but I can still be present to others in so many ways. I have friends who live alone; some have no immediate family. They appreciate a handwritten note and it is easy for me to write to them as I want to stay in touch. Others can be reached by e-mail. I am sure all of us have friends who love to hear from us so we need to make time to pick up the pen or phone and just let others know that they are loved.

The Heart of God

A dear friend came for lunch on Tuesday last week and not only brought lunch with her, but gave me a small book that I love and have been carrying around. The title is "The Heart of God" and it is the prayers of Rabindranath Tagore selected and edited by Herbert F. Vetter. It is published by Tuttle and is, of course, copyrighted but I am going to share the first poem with you. It is called "Accept Me".

Accept me, dear God, accept me for this while.

Let those orphaned days that passed without You be forgotten.

Only spread this little moment wide across your lap, holding it under Your light.

I have wandered in pursuit of voices that drew me, yet led me nowhere.

Now let me sit in peace and listen to Your words in the soul of my silence.

Do not turn away Your face from my heart's dark secrets, but burn them till they are alight with Your fire.

I love the line "Now let me sit in peace and listen to Your words in the soul of my silence."

Some sayings of St. Madeleine Sophie - Memorial Day

My favorite quotation of St. Madeleine Sophie is "Be simple, be humble, and bring joy to others." I have that one framed on my desk!

Here are a few more as she had a real love for the Holy Spirit: "Holy Spirit, in giving us knowledge of the Father and the Son, make us also aware of your divine presence; then all will be easy in the service of God."

"We all need great fidelity and much courage to carry out the demands of the Holy Spirit. Train yourself in this fidelity and dependence on the Spirit of God. This is the way of holiness."

"Only try to be generous and faithful; the Holy Spirit will do her work in you."

"Remain in peace, and remember the words of the Holy Spirit: 'To those who love God, all things work together for their good.'"

I think I will stop here and reflect on how true it is that all things work together for good - sometimes we need just to stop and thank the Holy Spirit for being present to us at all times.

The first picture above was taken when St. Madeleine Sophie was being moved from Jette to Paris.

Happy Memorial Day - Let us pray for all those who have given their lives for our country and for all those who are suffering from the experience today: those returning wounded, those who are now depressed and unable to return to normal life with their families... it is a holiday but one that is to be a remembrance for all of us and urges us to pray for peace for our world.

Trinity Sunday

One of my community sent me the prayer to the Holy Spirit that I could not remember or find last week so I shall add it to this blog. I love having a Feast of the Holy Trinity! Because God is love and has this great relationship where the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are One - a mystery that we can not grasp with our finite minds - we are also in relationship with each of the Three Divine Persons in the Trinity.

Here is the prayer: 
Come, Holy Spirit

Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray

O God, who has taught the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant that by the gift of the same Spirit we may be always truly wise and ever rejoice in his consolation, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

It is a great prayer as we are asking for wonderful things:
- to have our hearts filled by the Holy Spirit 
- to have our hearts on fire with His love
- to renew the face of the earth
- to be always wise
- to always rejoice in his consolation

I need to remember to go back and pray this prayer again daily!

Feast of St. Madeleine Sophie

Every foundress becomes a mother to her many daughters and watches over each with love. I firmly believe that. I have had at least two exceptional experiences of St. Madeleine Sophie that I am willing to share today. When I first was sent to Chile, without knowing any Spanish, I had a dream and Sophie came to me and we talked. I felt that she gave me spiritual direction in the dream and left me with great peace and joy even if I do not remember what she said to me. I felt her love, her interest, her closeness and this has stayed with me all these years.
The next experience was at Jette where I sat next to the body of our Saintly Mother and had a dialogue with her. She was so present and looked so calm and alive as she spoke with me. It was a real grace and I am sure she arranged it; the day I went to visit, no one else was in the Chapel. I just pulled up a little chair and sat next to Sophie and we talked. I had often had "Little Words", as we used to call it, with her, but this was very special. Then I went to Rome and read all of her letters in chronological order while doing my dissertation research on her spirituality. I have much to thank her for in my life.
Here is a quote to reflect on today:

“The Holy Spirit looks for a heart totally free of selfishness in order to take possession of it.

When the Spirit finds such openness, she pours herself out plentifully and rewards the person with boundless love.”

Mission

The picture is from beautiful Canada, but invokes a sense of mission for me.
The third section of the Pope's homily on Pentecost is about "Mission." He has been telling us since he first became Pope that we need to go out to others. Here is an excerpt from the Pentecost homily:

The Holy Spirit draws us into the mystery of the living God and saves us from the threat of a Church which is gnostic and self-referential, closed in on herself; he impels us to open the doors and go forth to proclaim and bear witness to the good news of the Gospel, to communicate the joy of faith, the encounter with Christ. The Holy Spirit is the soul of mission. The events that took place in Jerusalem almost two thousand years ago are not something far removed from us; they are events which affect us and become a lived experience in each of us. The Pentecost of the Upper Room in Jerusalem is the beginning, a beginning which endures. The Holy Spirit is the supreme gift of the risen Christ to his apostles, yet he wants that gift to reach everyone. As we heard in the Gospel, Jesus says: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to remain with you forever” (Jn 14:16). It is the Paraclete Spirit, the “Comforter”, who grants us the courage to take to the streets of the world, bringing the Gospel! The Holy Spirit makes us look to the horizon and drive us to the very outskirts of existence in order to proclaim life in Jesus Christ. Let us ask ourselves: do we tend to stay closed in on ourselves, on our group, or do we let the Holy Spirit open us to mission?

Please try to read the Pope's talk to the Bishops of Italy yesterday evening as it is excellent as, indeed, I am finding joy in all he says. You can find it on the blog link on the right to Whispers in the Loggia.

Harmony

In his homily on Pentecost, the Holy Father asked us to reflect on three words: Newness, Harmony, and
Mission.
He says, after having spoken of the harmony that only the Holy Spirit can bring to diversity, " So let us ask ourselves: Am I open to the harmony of the Holy Spirit, overcoming every form of exclusivity? Do I let myself be guided by him, living in the Church and with the Church?"

We live in a world that seeks unity. We have need of the Holy Spirit.

"Only the Spirit can awaken diversity, plurality and multiplicity, while at the same time building unity. Here too, when we are the ones who try to create diversity and close ourselves up in what makes us different and other, we bring division. When we are the ones who want to build unity in accordance with our human plans, we end up creating uniformity, standardization. But if instead we let ourselve be guided by the Spirit, richness, variety and diversity never become a source of conflict, because he impels us to experience variety within the communion of the Church. "

 How do I bring help the Holy Spirit by bringing harmony into all the details of my life? Am I letting the Holy Spirit bring diversity into my life? 
Remember, everything I do or do not do is helping the evolution of the world and the unity of the Cosmic Christ! 

Wednesday after Pentecost

Come, Holy Spirit. We and our world have such need of you. "Come Spirit of Goodness, and convert us to the project of the kingdom of God begun by Jesus. Without your power to renew, no one will change our tired hearts; we will not have the courage to build a more humane world ..." The quote is again from Jose Pagola's "Following in the Footsteps of Jesus" and I think that we need the Holy Spirit to come each day into our hearts and lives to teach us to love as Jesus loves. We need to love "with the love Jesus loved" to continue to quote from Pagola. He says that without the living presence of the Holy Spirit among us, "the communion of the church will collapse, the hierarchy and the people will go on distancing themselves from one another; divisions will increase, dialogue will die out and intolerance will increase." So, he prays for the Holy Spirit to come and "reignite in our hearts and our hands the fraternal love that makes us like Jesus." The bold is mine as I think it so important!

Tuesday after Pentecost

This link got stuck - go to  Reflection of an RSCJ - reflectionsofanrscj.blogspot.com to not miss daily posts until this is corrected on RSJC website
The Holy Father in a homily last week asked those present if they prayed to the Holy Spirit every day.  It made me think of how we always prayed to the Holy Spirit before class at the Academy of the Sacred Heart. I suspect we said the prayer with greater fervor on the mornings we had a test. My problem is that I cannot remember all of that prayer now. (I am not good at remembering vocal prayers except for the Memorare which I love and recite often, especially in the car).
To continue today with some thoughts from the meditation in "Following in the Footsteps of Jesus" by Jose Pagola, he prayes "Come Spirit of Truth, and make us walk in the truth of Jesus."
That might be enough to reflect on today. What does that mean for me?

There are so many feast coming up that we may have spiritual indigestion trying to contemplate the riches of each. For the Society of the Sacred Heart,  we have the feast of our Mother Foundress, St. Madeleine Sophie, on May 25,  followed by Trinity Sunday where we celebrate all three Persons in one God. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to help us to enter into the meaning and celebration of these feasts. Saint. Madeleine Sophie wanted to live her whole life under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit! The next week brings us the Feast of Corpus Christi when we celebrate the great gift of the Eucharist and then, on June 7, we have the Feast of the Sacred Heart.
Pope Francis asks us in his homily on Pentecose to reflect on three words: newness, harmony, and mission.
The Pope also said, speaking of 'newness" and trusting the Holy Spirit:
"The newness which God brings into our life is something that actually brings fulfillment, that gives true joy, true serenity, because God loves us and desires only our good. Let us ask ourselves: Are we open to “God’s surprises”? Or are we closed and fearful before the newness of the Holy Spirit? Do we have the courage to strike out along the new paths which God’s newness sets before us, or do we resist, ....?"

Pentecost Monday

"Following in the Footsteps of Jesus" by Jose Pagola has meditations for the Sunday Gospels and I love the one for Pentecost and will probably be sharing bits of it with you this week. He begins with "Come Holy Spirit,.." and asks the Spirit to infuse in us the inspiration and power of Jesus. He tells the Holy Spirit that "without your promptings and grace we will not succeed in believing in Jesus; we will not have the courage to follow his footsteps; the church will not be renewed; our hope will die out. So come and create in us the life-giving spirit of Jesus."
I am reading Pagola's "Jesus: An Historical Approximation:" for the second time and still urging all my friends to read it. We chose it for our Reflection Group to read next year. I find it is a book that leads me into a deeper relationship with Jesus and I need to stop and pray when reading this book. I think Pagola, a Spanish priest, has a real passion for Jesus. He also asks in the meditation for Pentecost for the Holy Spirit to come and remind us of the inspiring message Jesus gave us and to teach us to listen only to Jesus.
It is only with the Holy Spirit that we can proclaim the good news of the Gospel!
Pope Francis gives us three words to reflect upon this week: (from his homily for Pentecost found)

"I would like to reflect on three words linked to the working of the Holy Spirit: newness, harmony and mission." 

Pentecost Sunday

Today we ask the Holy Spirit to come to us again with all the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit. He knows what we need and wants to give us his light, fortitude, wisdom, and joy and everything else we need to allow God to love us and to respond to God's love.
I was praying about the role of the Holy Spirit in my own life. I think the Spirit really does pray in us. We do not know how to pray; actually, it is the Spirit who leads me into a deep stillness where I find God and allow God to love me. This is possible because of the Spirit; I am so easily distracted and have so many thoughts flying through my head. However, I really believe the Spirit comes and takes my heart and puts it into the Heart of Jesus. Alas, this does not always describe my prayer, but I am grateful for the times I am able to sink deep into the Heart of Christ and there find all I need.
I hope that was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as I did not mean to write that at all! I guess it is because I woke up thinking about my own relationship with the Holy Spirit and how my own prayer has developed over the years. The great grace of consciously developing a relationship with each of the three Divine Persons in the Trinity during those months at the Trinita dei Monti in Rome has certainly marked me and has stayed with me now for over 54 years!
I suggest that you reflect with the Spirit today how you are being led in prayer and beg the Spirit for the gifts and fruits you need especially this year. We usually draw the gifts and fruits in community - it is part of our way of celebrating Pentecost.

Reflection on Ministry

This is a prayer asked for again as it is very helpful for this time of year when we are over-scheduled and feel overwhelmed! It is by Ken Untener although it has been called the "Archbishop Romero Prayer."

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.

The Kingdom of God is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
 that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about: 
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they
     hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything,
and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are the workers, not master builders; ministers not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.

I always find that it helps me to read this and then confide all to the Heart of Jesus! I am also praying much to the Holy Spirit these days. My youngest grand nephew, Michael, is making his First Communion tomorrow on the Feast of Pentecost. Please pray for him and for his paternal grandfather who has a fast- spreading cancer.

Preparing for Pentecost

Those timid, mixed up Apostles were totally transformed by the coming of the Holy Spirit. They not only received the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, they went right out and put them into practice. They lost their fear and boldly began to preach to the Jews and were able to convert many who were baptized. We need to pray for the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit so that our lives may also be transformed and we will go out and "preach" by example.
I love the story of St. Francis who told one of his brothers that he was going out to preach. The brother went with him and they walked into the village and around the village square and then returned home. The brother said, "I thought we were going out to preach" and Francis smiled and said, "That is what we just did."
May our very presence give Jesus to others.

Preparing for Pentecost

We often associate flames of fire with the Holy Spirit who descended in tongues of fire according to the Scriptures. I have my own association because of a thirty-day retreat I made at the Jesuit Retreat House at Eastern Point. During the novena before Pentecost, another retreat (I was making a private directed retreat) was scheduled and one of the Jesuits making that retreat built a fire in the huge fireplace each night. I was one who always stayed to pray there just gazing at the flames and letting the Holy Spirit pray in me. It was a special time and so full of grace that I can recall it now with joy and gratitude.
In Miami, we have no need for a fireplace and therefore no fire. I do have very fond memories of our fireplace at home as my mother loved a fire and the entire family would gather around; if my grandfather was there, we would have some Irish songs. Sometimes we would roast marshmallows right there in our living room! Then, I remember the wonderful campfires when I was a counselor at camp; the sharing of stories around a fire, and somehow I know the Holy Spirit was always with us kindling the fire of love in our hearts.

“In these days of waiting for the feast of the Holy Spirit, we ask: Come, Holy Spirit, come and give me this big heart, this heart capable of loving with humility, with meekness, an open heart that is capable of loving. And let's ask this grace of the Holy Spirit. And may He free us always from the other path, the path of selfishness, which eventually ends badly. Let us ask for this grace.”

–Pope Francis
Homily at Morning Mass
Chapel of the Holy Spirit
Vatican City
14 May 2013

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S

Leaning to trust

We need not be afraid to love and trust Jesus. We are afraid to be vulnerable, but God ask us to trust Him.
I found this quote from Ruth Burrows helpful and pass it on because we need to know it is safe to love - to love God and others:

It is safe to love. Yes, it is safe to be vulnerable because we are in loving hands. It is safe to surrender because we fall into light, not darkness. It is safe to be weak because the strength we need is found when we give up on our own power. It is safe give up the hurts we cling to because these lose their force when we are in love. It is safe to trust, to let our loved ones be free, because a power beyond us loves them more than we do and ultimately takes care of their safety. It is safe to give ourselves over without fear because, as faith teaches, in the end, all will be well. And it is safe to live our lives with daring because God, as Julian Norwich assures us, sits in heaven, smiling, completely relaxed, his face looking like a marvelous symphony. The world is ultimately safe. It is safe to love.

But it's not easy to believe that. Perhaps if we had all been loved perfectly, had perfect confidence, and had never been wounded, disappointed, betrayed, or made to cry tears of regret, we would find it easier to believe that it is safe, that we can trust, that we have no need to protect ourselves, ....

First Fridays

Earlier this year I think I shared how I struggled to explain in a few words to my gym companions what the "First Friday" meant and why I had to hurry or there would be no parking left around the Church for the noon Liturgy. It is amazing how many people in Miami have such a strong devotion to the Sacred Heart who asked St. Margaret Mary to have Catholics receive Holy Communion on the First Friday of the month and who promised wonderful things for those who did this. Now, the Church never tells us that we need to believe private revelations, but this devotion became so popular that churches all over began to have the Mass of the Sacred Heart on First Fridays.
When my mother, wanting me to have the experience of a parochial school during 7th and 8th grade so I would have friends in the neighborhood, took me out of the Visitation, I found joy in joining the choir and learning to sing the Mass of the Sacred Heart, "Cogitationes" - all in Latin! What I probably loved most about First Friday at that aage was the breakfast with cinnamon rolls in the church basement every First Friday. Then, I went to the Academy of the Sacred Heart for high school as a boarder and learned to love Jesus more deeply and to be aware of His constant, unconditional love. He wanted my heart and gave me His Heart. 

Mother's Day

Dawn on Mother's Day has me remembering the many ways my mother expressed her love for us. Now she is celebrating this day with Jesus in Heaven. My mother had a faith that really did have the power to move mountains. She loved Our Lady and I rejoice that she is with her, too, to celebrate Mother's Day. My Dad and one brother are there, too. I guess a mother is one of God's greatest gifts to most of us. I think my Mom was special and she loved us unconditionally; she showed me what God's love is like by her love.Today is a day to thank her again for all she taught me. She always said, "Love others and they will love you." You could not help loving my mother who was always so welcoming, thoughtful, generous, and kind. I suspect I could keep on rather indefinitely as I think she also had all the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit!
I pray for all mothers today.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart

I have been reflecting on my own personal devotion to the Sacred Heart and how it developed. What triggered this was a request for us to send in favorite prayers or short reflections for all the First Fridays. I was thinking it might have been for every day of the month of June when we have the Feast of the Sacred Heart and it would then attract people daily to the new website for our Province. It is up and running as I write this and you can find my blog under "Spirituality" and also the other three RSCJ blogs I have listed on the side of my blog. I am the only one who manages to write a daily blog though and, as I have often said, I usually just sit down and depend on the Holy Spirit.
Today, however, I am sharing some memories that seem to me to explain how devotion to the Heart of Christ developed in my own life. It began when I was in the First Grade at the Visitation Academy and preparing for First Communion. I knew that Jesus loved me even before that, of course, but now I learned that He longed for my love. There was an oratory off the long corridor that lead to the cafeteria and I often managed to slip in there and kneel before the statue of the Sacred Heart. I began to think about all the people who never thought about Jesus, who never thanked Him, and I wanted to make up for their indifference. I think it was at this time I began using the ejaculatory prayer: "Sacred Heart of Jesus, I implore that I may ever love Thee more and more."
I seem to have always known that when we spoke of the Heart of Jesus we meant the person of Jesus. It was the language of St. Margaret Mary that I learned at the Visitation. This is a first installment of the development of my spirituality at least with regard to my reflections on how I grew in love for the Sacred Heart.