Fourth Sunday of Lent

The Gospel of Luke so often called that of the Prodigal Son really is the story of the merciful father and both of his sons. Jesus told this parable to the Pharisees and scribes. The younger son tells his father to give him his share of the estate and then he leaves, wastes all, ends up in a miserable condition and finally resolves to return to his father and admit that he has sinned and is no longer worthy to be called his son. The father has been watching for his son and sees him while he is still a long way off. The father is filled with compassion and runs to his son, embraces him, and kisses him. He orders the servants to bring him the finest robe and a ring and sandals and he will celebrate with a feast "because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found." The celebration begins but the older son, coming back from the fields, asks a servant what this means. When told that his brother has returned, he gets angry and refuses to enter the house. His father comes out and pleads with him. Well, we all know the story. The father tells him that he is with him always and all that he has is his, but now is the time to celebrate and rejoice because the younger brother has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.
I love this Gospel and it shows just how merciful the Lord is with each of us. I hope I am not the older son!

Psalm 100 expresses my mood

Of course, I must admit that Psalm 23 is my favorite but right now I am saying Psalm 100 and am copying it from the New American Bible for you to say also as it is uplifting in the midst of all the bad news we read about in all parts of our world.

"Shout joyfully to the Lord, all you lands,

serve the Lord with gladness,

come before him with joyful song.

Know that the Lord is God,

he made us, we belong to him,

we are his people, the flock he shepherds.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,

his courts with praise.

Give thanks to him, bless his name;

Good indeed is the Lord,

His mercy endures forever,

his faithfulness lasts through every generation."

I think I can say this Psalm from memory, but usually find myself inventing a few of the lines. It is worth reflecting on today.

Wonderful surprise gift of 2-day retreat

On Tuesday morning I had to move back into my newly painted room; then, at of the blue came a surprise. Our 101 year old had arranged to go to Villa Maria del Mar for a two-day retreat with two other Religious. She could not go as she is now back on oxygen so I was asked to go in her place as I am so at home there and the other two going had only been once years ago. We left at 12:30 on Tuesday and returned on Thursday around 2:30. It was such a gift for me and I really heard God say when I got there and was contemplating the ocean just one word: "Listen" so I had a delightful two days of listening to God. I did not worry about a thing. I had managed to change my senior student's visit to today, Friday, and asked someone to replace me for other duties such as the Third Grade readers, giving Communion at Mass to some who cannot walk up, setting tables, etc. Now I am home, in a room with clean white walls and it is so much lighter. I have a new TV on a shelf above my desk so perhaps I shall begin to watch some things on television. I am so grateful for everything. I am sorry that I could not write my blog ahead, but I did not have any idea that I would be given this great gift of a two-day retreat in my favorite place.

Random Thoughts

The blue of the water beckons me. I love the smell of the sea and wish I could recall it now that the wet paint in the hall is making me feel that I need to leave.

I was struck when preparing for the Sacrament of Reconciliation by this line from Psalm 31: "I will rejoice and be glad in your mercy, once you have seen my misery..." When I was still a novice I had the realization that my misery attracts God's mercy and I think that was a grace that has helped me now for almost seventy years!
I always feel such a deep peace after receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation even when I find it hard to remember sins as we have our sins forgiven each day at Mass before receiving Holy Communion. However, some saints, including St. Madeleine Sophie could go to confession daily. 

I do not know how I got started on that, but I am thinking of how often we neglect the Sacraments. We could have the Sacrament of Healing more often here. I will suggest this.

Feast of the Annunciation

We ask in the Collect for today's feast: "O God, who willed that your Word should take on the reality of human flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary, grant, we pray, that we, who confess our Redeemer to be God and man, may merit to become partakers even in his divine nature. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

When the angel came to Mary, she was troubled, but she also was open to what God was asking of her. She could not understand how this would come about, but she was willing to conceive a son and the angel told her to not be afraid for she had found favor with God. I think that is what we all want to here from our angels: that we have found favor with God. May we be able to say with Mary, "Be it done unto me according to your word." We give ourselves again to God today and let God decide how He wants to use us.

I heard yesterday of the death of a dear friend, June McNally. Please pray for her and the family.

Third Sunday of Lent

Jesus tells us a parable about a fig tree. This fig tree had been planted in an orchard but when the owner came to look for fruit on the tree, he found none. This was the third year that the tree had not born fruit so he told the gardener to cut it down. However, the gardener replied, "Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it. It may bear fruit in the future. If you do not cut it down."

Now, we can draw many lessons from this parable. What is Jesus trying to tell us? First, that he is willing to wait and give us still another chance to bear fruit. Or is he the gardener who wants to cultivate the ground and fertilize it? Jesus has told us that we are to bear fruit and our fruit will remain. Let us pray not to be like the barren fig tree.

The first year that I was superior of the community in Coquimbo, Chile, we were very poor and living in the poorest region so we barely had enough to eat as we were five living on the salary of one workman which is what the parish paid us for taking care of the church, making the hosts for all the churches, and even cleaning the church. Well, we had a fig tree in the back of our house and it had never given fruit. The year I arrived it was laden with fruit and the community had enough to fruit to eat for the first time. They all thought it was a miracle. I think the goodness of the Lord made that fig tree bear abundant fruit.

Slow me down, Lord

I took this off of our bulletin board as it seems worth sharing, especially as I have been hearing from others ever since I had pneumonia that I had to slow down.

Slow Me Down, Lord

Amidst the confusion of my day,
give me the calmness of the everlasting hills. Teach me the art of taking minute vacations, of slowing down to look at a flower, to chat with a friend, to pat a dog, to read from a good book. Remind me to look upward at the towering oak, and know that it grew tall and strong because it grew slowly and well. Slow me down, Lord.

Now, I hope I am taking time to contemplate the flowers as I have begun walking each day. I also had the inspiration in prayer to use my I-pad only in the evening as I am spending too much time on it playing games. I love playing Words with Friends, Scrabble, and even doing the jigsaw puzzles, but I am going to cut back and use my Bible instead of my Bible app until the end of Lent - at least I am going to try to do this; I think I am attached to the I-pad!

God is never in a hurry

This is a picture of Iceland. Sometimes a picture captures me. I begin to use my imagination and get carried away. Actually, I am now trying to concentrate on the Lenten readings. I am using as I mentioned before, Judy Cannato's Quantum Grace: Lenten Reflections on Creation and Connectedness. Here is what she says for the Third Sunday of Lent in the first paragraph:

"God is never in a hurry. Even when the need is urgent, the Holy One doesn't rush, but manifests as a divine Patience that allows us freedom to learn hard lessons and discover the truth through the mistakes we have made."

I guess that made me stop and think of the many times I have wanted to hurry God. He will not be hurried and teaches me to have patience. Really, patience is one virtue that is hard for me to practice. I am mostly impatient with myself. God works slowly and keeps showing me His desire for me to slow down, too. I do not need to do today what can easily be put off for tomorrow. That sounds like heresy to me, but a wonderful Religious once told us that she found time for prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament just by reminding herself that she could postpone many things until the next day. I sometime think I am a procrastinator, yet God is telling me to slow down and enjoy the present moment.

In the boat

I continue to see myself in a boat with Jesus. Sometimes, it is a small boat just for the two of us. Sometimes, it is one of those large ships that is carrying the entire Province; at other times, I see a fleet of ships with a flag ship setting the direction and moving the fleet forward. All of these images came with the personal reflection asked for by our "dream catchers", but they have stayed with me.

I am at the age where I just want to be in the boat with Jesus. I am finding this Lent too full of things to be done and I need to slow down and, hopefully, clear out as one has the distressing habit of collecting things that are not essential. My room is too small for non-essentials. I guess I will tackle the bottom shelf in my bookcase today. It seems to be the place where I am putting things I do not know what to do with and I suspect much could be given away without my even missing it.

Sometimes I find putting order exteriorly helps me to clear out the clutter that may be accumulating in my interior life. If I would keep remembering that I am on a journey, I would leave behind what is not necessary to take. 

What would allow our life to be agile and dynamic for mission?

Today, we are finally going to be treating the questions asked by our creative "dream catchers" in preparation for a special Chapter to be held in 2021 on how to organize ourselves and how to share our resources.

What would allow for life to be agile and dynamic for mission?

I think the Pope has been telling us to go out and be with those who are needy in any way: here we have some who are needy, some who are dependent on others, some who have memory loss, others who cannot walk, etc. I think we need to start with the reality around us as each of us is called to further the mission by prayer and our love and concern for others. Sometimes it is by writing notes or e-mailing others; sometimes it may mean still giving spiritual direction and being a welcoming person.

How can our Province be more agile and dynamic?
I think we need to continue to strengthen our ties to our associates, even to having some mixed communities of religious and lay people, continue to have our houses open to others and, as a Province decide how we can contribute more to receiving and helping immigrants and refugees.

With regard to the Philippine Region, I think we are going to need to unite Provinces and have more exchange of persons, but this needs to be gradual and we all need to learn how to converse in Spanish. Perhaps I should say that all who are not yet 75 should be studying Spanish. We are so sure that other countries will know English that we sit back and do not take language study seriously. Fortunately our young religious are learning and having some months living in another country. I really think this is important for our future.

I do not think I am capable of saying how I think the International Society can be more agile and dynamic for mission, but feel that the International Communications team has a big part to play in helping us see how we can collaborate more. And I love the idea of international volunteers. I guess, after twenty years in Chile, internationality is something I cherish as part of our Society's charism and mission.

These thoughts are off the top of my head and I look forward to hearing from others here on Wednesday, but I really want all of our associates, colleagues, friends and readers if this blog to pray now for this special chapter that will see many organizational changes to lead us into the future.

Feast of St. Joseph

St. Joseph is a quiet man, but most have been a great model for Jesus to learn about an earthly father. Joseph must have taught Jesus all he knew about carpentry; he would have taken him to the synagogue, taught him the psalms, and certainly would have been the one to explain so many of the Jewish customs to Jesus. Males were separated not only in the synagogue, but even walking.  I think Jesus turned often to Joseph when he did not understand or wanted to learn about something. Remember that Jesus was just like us except for sin; he had to learn to speak, to walk, to talk, and then to learn all that a Jewish boy needed to learn as he grew up. I suspect Joseph took great pride in forming Jesus to be a skilled carpenter. I wonder if God spoke at other times to Joseph in a dream. We know how obedient he was when God told him not to fear to take Mary as his wife and then when he was asked to flee to Egypt with Mary and their infant son. He was a man of great faith and trusted God. These are qualities that Jesus showed he valued in all his followers later.

We are celebrating again today

It seems that the Archbishop of San Francisco postponed the celebration of St. Patrick's Day until today in order to give preference to the Second Sunday of Lent. We did have a lovely Mass and Irish food, but our happy hour will be tonight.
I thought I would just give you St. Patrick's Breastplate as a prayer for today.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.