Another Feast of Our Lady

Names are important. Today, we celebrate the naming of the Blessed Virgin Mary who is now not only the Mother of Jesus and therefore the Mother of God, but she is our mother, too.

I have been so busy all week but intend to have a slow week end; maybe I will be able to really get some work done. I do not know why this week seemed so busy. I did get both gas and a flu shot on my way to the University yesterday morning. I made a huge salad for the reflection group last night. It is always a joy to have them come and share their lives so simply.

Today I am having four for lunch and look forward to that.

Am I open to formation?

Our parish has asked for a day of prayer and fasting today for growth in holiness... the Pastor always writes a page in the bulletin and this time he is offering four concrete characteristics that can help us remain open to formation.
1. Humility. It is said that there are many who want to learn, but few who want to be taught....We must recognize our need to grow to learn, to be formed - and be open.

2. Docility. In its oldest form, "docility" means "teachableness; readiness or aptness to learn." Clay must be soft if it is to be formed by the hands of the artist...

3. Availability. I must make myself available to the opportunities to be formed; go, risk the experience.

4. Dedication. Once available, I must strive for growth in holiness. The most important person responsible for my formation is "me"!

I guess desire is what leads to all four of these characteristics - do I truly desire to be formed by God, by others, by circumstances? We are never too old to be formed and even transformed!

Let us look upon our continual formation as a great adventure and may we become more like Jesus who came to serve the lowly, to spread good news, to welcome all and told us over and over not to be afraid!
We have our first Reflection Group of the year tonight!

An Encounter with Christ

For me, the Sacrament of Reconciliation is a real encounter with Christ. Just as I feel that Jesus waits for me in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, I also feel that He waits for me in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It is a joyful encounter with Jesus as He loves to forgive me and embraces me with His love. He wants to help me and so has arranged the opportunity to confess my sins, failings, weaknesses and start over to try to live with and like Him - it is the grace of the Sacrament.

It makes me more sensitive to what pleases Jesus; it helps me to be accountable; it makes me reflect on how I am living my consecrated life; it is a tremendous help to see how I am to grow in union and conformity with the Heart of Jesus.

Since now the penitent may begin by using a Scripture passage, I will suggest a couple that are helpful for me. These first two are from the Book of Sirach:

"My child, if you have sinned, do so no more, and for your past sins pray to be forgiven." (Sirach 21:1)

"For the Lord is compassionate and merciful; forgives sins and saves in time of trouble. (Sirach 21:11)

"The Lord's acts of mercy are not exhausted, his compassion is not spent;
They are renewed each morning--great is your faithfulness!
                       (Lamentations: 3:22-23)

"Let us search and examine our ways and return to the Lord."
                                  (Lamentations 3:40)

The Sacrament of Reconciliation

Today I want to share with you a quote from Walter Kasper's book on Mercy as I find it helpful:

"The Sacrament of Reconciliation is a true refuge for sinners, which all of us are. Here the burdens that we carry around with us, are taken from us. Nowhere else do we encounter the mercy of God so immediately, so directly, and so concretely as when we are told in the name of Jesus: "Your sins are forgiven!" Certainly no one finds it easy to humbly confess his or her sins and, often enough, to confess the same sins over and over again. But everyone who does that and then is told, "I absolve you", not generally and anonymously, but concretely and personally, knows of the inner freedom, inner peace, and joy that this sacrament bestows."

I am talking about this Sacrament today and tomorrow as so many have found it almost absent from their lives. I reflected on my own reception of the Sacrament and I usually try for once a month and end up with about six or seven times a year, but each time I feel a deep peace and joy after receiving the Sacrament. When sharing some of my retreat reflection, I was asked to put it in my blog so that is why I am writing again tomorrow about this Sacrament. Remember that a Sacrament is an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace. Why not try to receive the grace of this Sacrament?

Celebrating Mary's birthday

I have always loved thinking of Mary as a small child and wondering how they celebrated birthdays then. Now, the Church gives us a special feast day to honor Mary who is such a wonderful Mother for all of us.

I am sure we all want to give her a birthday gift today. She likes it when I tell her that I want to do all that pleases Jesus. She also is glad when I turn to her for help. I need Mary in my life and she leads me to Jesus.
I just saw that this was published on the 6th instead of the 8th!

Our community day was very good and we even did most of our budget for the coming year in the afternoon.

Sunday Thoughts

Today we are having a community planning day; yesterday we said good-bye to one who has lived with us in Miami for many years; since one of our community is in Rome forming our young Religious preparing for final profession, there are going to be only three of us living in our community until February. It will be a new community and we are beginning with prayer, looking at what has been good and we want to continue and also looking at what we would like to change.
After the more contemplative part of the morning, we work out a plan for the year, coordinate calendars, and agree about the many household tasks, cooking schedules, celebrations of birthdays, feasts, and holidays.
We will do the budget another day as we all like to have time in the pool and will go out for dinner to celebrate our beginning of this new community.
I was struck in retreat when reading our formation booklet that says that God has called us to live in community as sisters... I stayed with that thought that I am called by God to live in community. I am looking forward to our new year together and hope and think that one of our goals will be hospitality.

Are the leaves changing color where you are?

Although I love Miami, I miss the change of seasons. I loved the first crisp, cool days when the trees suddenly are so beautiful with all the colors of Fall. I think that our interior life can also have seasons and we should be attentive to the changes that happen inside of us through the year. I said in an earlier blog that our interior life is much more interesting than our exterior and I have been reflecting on that and wonder if others feel the same. We are so often unaware of the changes that are taking place deep in our souls; the leaves are changing colors and we must marvel at the beauty before they begin to fall. Let us take a slow walk in our own soul today and see what God is doing and thank Him for His gentle ways of transforming us.

God's love just keeps flowing...

During my retreat I was fascinated by the waves. Sometimes they were huge to the delight of the surfers; at other times they broke gently and just lapped the shore, wetting the sand and sending the toddlers scurrying back to safety. What struck me was that, although the waves were different in intensity, height, and depth, they were relentless. They just kept coming.

For me, the sound of the waves had a prayerful tone: I heard Jesus saying to me over and over: "Remain in my love; I love you; you are mine; love me..." The sound of the surf became prayer and I find the ocean such a wonderful image of God and God's Love. The ocean is always ocean but never the same; it is calling us to see how infinite God's Love is and to listen to Him. God's love just keeps flowing into us!

Be guided by the Holy Spirit

In an audience given last May, the Holy Father asked? "So how does the Holy Spirit act in our lives and in the life of the Church in order to guide us to the Truth? First of all. he recalls and inspires in the hearts of believers the words Jesus spoke...." Then, the Holy Spirit guides us to encounter Jesus, the fullness of the Truth; he also guides us "into" the Truth--that is, he makes us enter into an ever deeper communion with Jesus, giving us knowledge of all the things of God. And we cannot achieve this by our own efforts."

If I keep quoting Pope Francis, it is because his spirituality is for all of us now and what he says needs some reflection. Do I pray to the Holy Spirit? We must pray every day, says the Pope: "Holy Spirit , make my heart open to the word of God, make my heart open to goodness, make my heart open to the beauty of God every day."

The bold is mine for emphasis.

"Julian's Gospel"

When I was in Berkeley last month, I met Veronica Rolf, the author of a tremendous book: Julian's Gospel: Illuminating the Life and Revelations of Julian of Norwich, Orbis, 2014. Veronica worked for six years to give us this book; she has researched so much of the background of the time of Julian as well as giving us new insights into the Revelations of Julian. I have just received the book, but feel that it is going to be my spiritual reading for months.

In the meantime, here is again something from Pope Francis taken from his General Audience , October 16, 2013:
"An apostle is a person who has been given a mandate, sent to do something, and the apostles were chosen, called and sent our by Jesus to continue his work, that is, to pray--which is the primary job of an apostle--and, second, to proclaim the Gospel."

So, the more important task of the apostle is to pray! And the Pope says that if we want to be apostles, "we must ask ourselves: Do I pray for the salvation of the world? Do I proclaim the Gospel?

Peace and Joy

What gives you peace? I think a right conscience gives peace, but sometimes we see or hear something that upsets our peace. Maybe we have even found ourselves in a confrontation and have felt anger...so, what gives you peace when you may have lost it, felt disturbed, worried, afraid? I was reflecting on this and think I recover peace by just sitting with Jesus. I feel a great calm and a stillness comes that brings peace. Other times, I can recall a peaceful scene that seems to inspire peace. When I have peace, I usually also feel joy. These are just thoughts that come while I sit here, but I think it has been my experience to live in peace and joy and, if something upsets me, turn to Jesus to see what happened to make me lose my peace. That seems to me to be the first step to recovering it! And, often I realize that it is my own fault.
Peace is a gift of the Holy Spirit and so is Joy; let us thank the Spirit for these two great gifts!

Go with Him...

 

 

To continue with what Pope Francis told the Catechists, the third element flows from the second for, as Paul told us: "the love of Christ impels us" - the Pope says that this can be translated as "the love of Christ possesses us. And so it is: love attracts us and sends us; it draws us in and gives us to others. This tension marks the beating of the heart of the Christian...The third element is along these lines, starting anew with Christ means not being afraid to go with him to the outskirts."

 

 

The Pope uses the story of Jonah to show how the Lord calls him to go and preach to Nineveh and Jonah does not want to do this and tries to run away. The Pope says that this short parable teaches us not to be afraid to pass beyond our comfort zone and to follow God, because God is always pushing, pressing forward...God is not afraid!...God is creative; he is not closed, and so he is never inflexible. God is not rigid1 He welcomes us, he meets us, he understands us."

 

We need to be able to change, to adapt to situations in which we need to proclaim the Gospel. But again, the Pope assures us that we go with Jesus who has said to us, 'Go, for I am with you!' He walks with us, he goes ahead of us, and he gets there first....God is always ahead of us! ..."Jesus is waiting for us in the hearts of our brothers and sister, in their wounded bodies, in their hardships, in their lack of faith."

 

"Let us remain with Christ-abiding in Christ - and let us always try to be one with him. Let us follow him; let us imitate him in his movement of love, in his going forth to meet humanity. Let us go forth and open doors. Let us have the audacity to mark out new paths for proclaiming the Gospel."

 

 

Have a happy Labor Day!