Watching for Everyday Miracles

Advent has begun, and we are on the watch. In her preaching for the First Sunday of Advent, Cathy asked, “What are you hoping to see this Advent as you keep watch?” For me, the novitiate year sometimes feels like an extended Advent season, as I wait for signs that this time of formation is bearing fruit in personal growth and deeper communion with God, myself, and others. Remembering that even small gestures can offer confirmation, I attend to the day’s events, routine yet full of potential significance. I hope for greater freedom to love the world as God does. Watching for small signs of transformation requires patience, certainly, as well as hope.

Advent wreath before the altar in our House Chapel

 

Keeping watch reminds me of my morning runs along the Lakefront Trail. At mile 3, the path wraps around Promontory Point, a park that juts out from the shoreline. Every morning, people arrive there before dawn and sit along the rocky perimeter. Surrounded on three sides by water, they look out over Lake Michigan facing east. Some set up cameras. Quietly, they wait for sunrise. As the golden-red solar disk peeps over the horizon, I visualize the rounded surface of our Earth spinning toward its star. How is it that this daily event can be at once so ordinary and yet unfailingly marvelous? Every day the sun rises, and every day people wake to see its splendor. This consistency touched my heart in a special way the morning after Election Day in the U.S. As the nation waited restlessly for final ballot counts, the sun climbed up into the sky, an eye-dazzling miracle. All of us gathered there at the lake savored the moment together, thirsting for beauty and yearning for “a future full of hope” for our deeply divided society. The sun’s rising that day seemed to me a miraculous sign of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness.

 

I cherish these awesome yet ordinary sacraments of God’s presence. In the midst of our broken world, it can be challenging to see God’s hand at work, or even know where to look. Currently I volunteer at Kolbe House Jail Ministry, the Archdiocese of Chicago’s ministry to persons affected by incarceration. Ordinarily, Kolbe House focuses on caring for persons incarcerated in Cook County Jail; however, when COVID restrictions curtailed entry to the jail, the Kolbe House staff shifted their attention to accompanying people on early release. These clients must re-enter a society caught in the grips of pandemic. Upon their release from jail, they have the clothes they are wearing, ten dollars and a bus pass. They are assigned to a transitional housing unit that does not provide meals or bed linens. They have sixty days to obtain a government ID, find a job, and secure permanent housing. On top of these astounding obstacles, many of our clients need support for mental health or substance abuse. Enter Kolbe House. We meet clients’ immediate material need for clothing, food, and transportation and help connect them with resources for healthcare and housing. Above all, Kolbe House is committed to a ministry of presence, accompanying clients as they navigate this extremely challenging transition.

 

The stark need of clients suffering from compound trauma can be overwhelming. In a staff meeting some time ago, one of the directors described a set of particularly complicated situations concerning two clients: one in an untenable living situation, on the verge of homelessness and tempted to end it all; another with no official record or identifying documents, terrified of being returned to prison after having suffered violence inside. In both cases, the odds sounded nigh insurmountable. The staff hardly knew where to begin. Nevertheless, the director asserted that our team would give all we had to bring these individuals through their crises. “We care about every one of our clients, but these two have come to us completely broken human beings. We have to do everything we can to put them back together.” I listened in awe. Here was a true disciple of Jesus, proclaiming to two persons “with their backs against the wall” that they are beloved children of God. The director had total confidence that, even in these direst of circumstances, God would give these clients the strength to choose life. I felt profoundly aware that this is how God acts: making a preferential option for the most vulnerable sisters and brothers among us. As the Kolbe House staff regularly reminds me, we are called to do the same. The grace God provides to accomplish it is nothing short of miraculous.

 

I keep watch this Advent for God’s action here and now in our world. I look to the words and deeds of others around me who “make God’s love visible” – an everyday miracle.

Advent Waiting: What are you hoping to see this Advent?

Photo Ops Take 3

Thanksgiving brought one of many celebrations which have happened this fall.  Here are some pictures of what we've been up to.  Have a blessed Advent!

Lorraine's Birthday

Halloween Visits

Cathy's Birthday

Thanksgiving

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Each Sunday, one member of our community preaches during our evening prayer together.  By the grace of the Holy Spirit, this is what I preached about for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary time, Cycle A.  The readings at Mass were: 

1st Reading: Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31
Psalm: Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5 
2nd Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6
Gospel: Matthew 25:14-30 

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-Amanda

In today’s first reading, we heard: “Her husband, entrusting his heart to her, has an unfailing prize (Prov. 31:11).”  In today’s Gospel, we heard, “‘A man going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them (Matt. 25:14).”

When you think about it, trust really is a strange thing.  People say it needs to be earned, yet we often trust people we have never met, based on a piece of paper, to cut our hair; fix our house; and take care of our physical, mental, and spiritual needs.  With trust, there is always some type of unknown.  You wouldn’t need to trust the person cutting your hair if you knew what the final product was going to be before it was done, and you wouldn’t need to trust someone to keep their word if you could look to the future to see if they actually did.  When you think about it, the same is true with God.  If God showed us all of the ways He was going to take care of us and lead us to Heaven, we wouldn’t need to place our trust in Him.  The funny thing about God is He does see the whole picture, including every mistake we’re going to make, yet God trusts us with the unique tasks He has created each of us to carry out.

A Sunday readings podcast called The Lanky Guys, run by a theology professor and priest in Denver, CO, dives deeper into the ways today’s Gospel teaches us about the radical trust we are called to have in God.  In their discussion, they point out how the two servants who were rewarded were not praised for how much they produced, but for their faithfulness to the task entrusted to them.  On the flip side, they talk about how fear is what motivates the servant who is rebuked for burying the talent given to him.  One of my favorite parts of their discussion is when they talked about how a life lived in unhealthy fear is a life half lived, but a life lived in trust of God is a life full of reverence of God and striving to make God proud out of the healthy fear of not wanting to let God down.  People often experience this type of healthy fear if they don’t want to let down a parent, friend, teacher, or mentor.  The two men go on to talk about how, when we live out of the healthy fear of God, everything just falls into place.

Now, as we all know from discernment, trying to figure out what God is inviting us to trust Him with often involves patiently waiting and letting God come to us.  This can feel like a serious dying to self in our modern world full of Google, microwaves, and two-day shipping; we, or at least I, want everything to fall into place NOW!  As we near the end of the liturgical year and approach Advent, what talents, what pieces of your heart, is God inviting you to give to Him?  Or, just as the master entrusted his talents to his servants, what is God asking you to receive so He can entrust it to you? The answer to both of these questions may be hard to hear, but each answer can also be an important step in growing in our understanding of who God is and who He created us to be.  And, as the Gospel today shows us, if we receive what the Lord is inviting us to, we will get to share in our Master’s joy!

The Trees Call Out

“Who is God for you? Who are you in relationship to this God?” Pondering these questions recently, I savored an image of God that has often stirred my heart in prayer. The image now holds new meaning for me in light of our Dominican charism. 

Trees speak to me of who I am in relationship with God. Trees declare God’s glory by simply being. There they stand, majestic and elegant, rooted in the earth, dancing in the breeze. Their growing upright seems to me a miracle: against the universal force of gravity, they sprout upward and extend their branches toward the sky. Soaking in sunlight, they convert that energy into oxygen, which makes life on this planet possible. Birds rest in their branches, and squirrels nest in their trunks. Millions of micro-organisms spawn among their roots. Trees even communicate and share resources with each other through complex social networks. We humans have only begun to learn about their secret processes of growth and regeneration. 

 

I marvel at the beauty of trees. Like the late poet Mary Oliver, “I would almost say that they save me, and daily.” Her poem “When I am Among the Trees” captures their message: 

 

                        Around me the trees stir in their leaves

                        and call out, “Stay awhile.”

                        The light flows from their branches.

 

                        And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,

                        “and you too have come

                        into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled

                        with light, and to shine.”

 

Trees remind me to be still and know that I am loved by God, just as I am. They call me to slow down and contemplate beauty. I want to share God’s delight in the goodness of such creation. Trees tell me to reach out for God, the Source of Life, with all my strength and trust that God will provide. I learn from trees how to nurture others: make sure they have food and shelter and clean air to breathe. Trees teach me about the interdependence of all creatures, including humans; only together can we survive and flourish. 

Leaves Aflame: The gorgeous Japanese maple

 that graces our front yard, filling the chapel window

 

The image of a tree from Scripture provided significant affirmation in my discernment journey. I attended a mission immersion at my congregation’s motherhouse, named St. Mary of the Springs for a freshwater spring on the property. One afternoon, while practicing yoga in my room, I balanced in tree pose: one leg rooting into the earth, the other bent and resting on my standing leg to form a triangle, arms extending upward. As I held the pose, joy and gratitude filled my heart. I sensed that, in this place, I would be blessed “like a tree planted near streams of water, that yields its fruits in season; its leaves never wither” (Ps. 1:3). Planting myself among the Sisters of this community would, I knew, be a life-giving choice.

Holding Tree Pose: This magazine image “chose me” for an exercise 

we did during a day of reflection on art & spirituality

 

Trees also spoke to Catherine of Siena about who we humans are in relationship with God. Catherine introduces the image of the “tree of charity” to explain that a life of virtue and discernment must be grounded in humility and self-knowledge. In the Dialogue, God instructs Catherine:

 

Imagine a circle traced on the ground, and in its center a tree sprouting with a shoot grafted into its side. The tree finds its nourishment in the soil within the expanse of the circle, but uprooted from the soil it would die fruitless. So think of the soul as a tree made for love and living only by love. Indeed, without this divine love, which is true and perfect charity, death would be her fruit instead of life. The circle in which this tree’s root, the soul’s love, must grow is true knowledge of herself, knowledge that is joined to me [God], who like the circle have neither beginning nor end… This knowledge of yourself, and of me within yourself, is grounded in the soil of true humility.[1]

 

Catherine understands that each of us is created by Love and made for love. God encircles me so completely that I cannot come to know myself apart from knowing myself in God and God in me. This is true self-knowledge for Catherine: God is in the soul and the soul is united with God. So planted, the soul-tree blossoms with virtue, bears fruit in grace and blessing, and yields praise to God. God reveals to Catherine, “And so it does what I created it for and comes at last to its goal, to me, everlasting Life.” Catherine sees the Truth of who God is: the Gentle Lover, always already united with us, who draws forth our desire for life.

Preacher of Truth, Female Doctor of the Church: 

A statue in St Catherine’s Casa, Siena (Photo courtesy of Cathy Hilkert, O.P.)

 

Catherine’s beautiful image of the “tree of charity” helps me connect the Dominican charism of Truth with my own experience of who God is for me on this discernment journey.

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[1] Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue, trans. Suzanne Noffke. The Classics of Western Spirituality (New York: Paulist Press, 1980), 41-42.

THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY REFLECTION

 As the USA prepares for the coming presidential election, we listen to Donald Trump and Joe Biden share their manifesto with us. What they will do for the people of this nation to improve the economy among many other promises. Could we also go ahead and say today Jesus is sharing with us His manifesto, or perhaps his vision statement?

This vision statement, by name Beatitudes, are statements of grace. To us women and men religious, they are pillars of our vocation.

Moses in the Old Testament received the commands at Mount Sinai and brought them down to the Israelites, they were to be a guide for the Israelites to help them reach the Promised Land. Moses' Law had a negative statement, they were negatively phrased, and they were not affirmative. They started with …."Thou shall not" 

Today we see Jesus as our new Moses who goes to the mountain and speaks to us about the beatitudes/pillars of our vocation. Jesus’ beatitudes are positively phrased. They are declarations of God’s grace. They talk of the present, this kingdom of God is happening now.

These pillars are calling us to be witnesses and hold in prayers those who live in poverty, the innocent victims of shooting and war; the many people mourning lives cut short by the Covid19; those persecuted for their beliefs; those who are facing death penalties; those suffering at the border, etc. We note in today’s Gospel that none of those Jesus names as “blessed” or “happy” are expected or seen as so in the eyes of the world. The poor in spirit, the meek, the persecuted. Jesus' blueprint for happiness reflects little of what the world might call happiness. What the world sees as tragic or empty, Jesus sees as blessed.

Jesus is inviting us to live these pillars as he lived them, for they are the source of true joy, and a vision of where true happiness lies. If we just take a minute to honestly reflect and think about what we term as happiness to us? What gives us fulfillment? What gives us satisfaction?

Jesus, in words and action, lived these virtues of humility, mourning, gentleness, peacefulness name them, and He is encouraging us to live in this spirit of beatitude since it is a life of integrity and honesty, and it is indeed a blessed life.  All who live according to his way of life are – and will be – richly blessed. As we live with difficulties, let us think of the affirmation that Jesus gives to what is fragile, weak, and overlooked in the eyes of the world. May we hear him say, 'We are blessed' to us, because of how we live and respond in His spirit.

These beatitudes are also the “how-to” of sainthood. I believe the Feast Day of All Saints, is intended by the church to honor not only those the church has declared as saints but also to honor the memory of countless unknown and uncanonized Saints who have no feast days. These are our brothers and sisters, our parents, our neighbors and Sisters in our communities that the higher church hierarchy didn’t recognize.

As we celebrate All Saints Day, the church reminds us that the Saints are our role models. They teach us by their lives that Christ’s holy life of love, mercy, and unconditional forgiveness can, with the grace of God and prayer, be lived by ordinary people of all walks of life and at all times.

St. Teresa of Avila says to us, “Recharge your spiritual batteries every day by prayer, namely, listening to God and talking to Him”

May we strive to align ourselves with the pillars of our vocation/beatitudes and whenever we find them difficult, just remember what Matthew says to us today, “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.” In other words, it’s all worth it in the end.

Photo Ops Take 2

In this months photo ops, we have pictures from when we carved pumpkins and of the "modifications" the squirrels decided to make for us.  Enjoy!

The Before Photos

And after......

Caught in the act!

 What has been cooking in the CDN?   

The last few weeks have seen us celebrate and keep some of the Maryknoll sisters’ festivities. We celebrated Mother Mary Joseph’s anniversary on the 9th of October.

Mother Mary Joseph, the foundress of Maryknoll Sisters was born on October 27, 1882, in Roxbury, Massachusetts as the fourth child in a family of eight siblings. She founded the congregation in1912. As Sister Camilla Kennedy, MM writes in her book, "They were the first American community of women religious devoted exclusively to the worldwide mission of the Catholic Church." 

Mother Mary Joseph died on October 9, 1955, at the age of 73. Her anniversary is celebrated by her sisters wherever they are, thanking God for the woman who shaped them…. It’s because of her that we are! These celebrations were extended to the CDN community this year. Annie Killian did a lovely dessert and I read my favorite stories of Mary Joseph as told by sisters who lived with her. The stories were compiled by Sister Jennie Natividad, MM.

 

                     Community warming up for dessert                        sharing Mother Mary Joseph story

On the feast of St Teresa, we kept the famous tradition of having Ice-Cream Sodas. We at the CDN celebrated with Coke or Gingerale with either chocolate or mint ice-creams. This tradition was first introduced by Mollie when the sisters moved from Hawthorne to Ossining Maryknoll. 

Theresa Baldini, MM, and Madeline McHugh MM write in their book, Mollie's Legacy of Love’, "On October 15, 1915, Mother Mary Joseph started a Maryknoll tradition by celebrating St. Teresa’s Feast Day with ice cream sodas. She secretly set up a soda fountain and booths in the garden, but Margaret Shea, unaccustomed to handling such a large bottle of soda, managed to spray it all over the kitchen before the party started, and another had to be purchased. The soda fountain offered such tempting concoctions as Ningpo Sundae and Chop Suey, with Mary Joseph (a.k.a Mollie by then) and Margaret serving as soda jerks. In what also became a Maryknoll custom, the party was followed by three-legged sack races and dancing. There were birthday parties, plays, picnics, and outings to Rye Beach, where the women went swimming in the tank suits of the time!" 

What a perfect example of service and love for others from Mother Mary Joseph! She reminds me that Joy is found in serving others in the ordinary. It is not how much I give, but how much love I put into giving.