Mary MacKillop

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Australia, Josephites, religious life, saints, St. Mary MacKillop, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Having lived what I sometimes call “a charmed life,” I am often amazed at the zeal and the difficulties of those that we Roman Catholics (and others) call saints. I wonder if I wouldn’t have given up by now if I had come up against betrayal and poor treatment (including excommunication for a time!) from colleagues and church officials encountered by St. Mary MacKillop – the first named saint of Australia and the “Saint of the Day” on the Franciscan Media website for today.

Mary’s desire was simply to teach children and care for the poor, especially in rural areas throughout her native Australia. She was drawn to religious life but unable to find a religious community that met her needs, so she founded – with her spiritual director, Fr. Julian Woods, – the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart (the Josephites). Born in 1842, she was steadfast in her vision and by the end of her life in 1909 saw her congregation thriving. Her path to sainthood is well-documented on http://www.franciscanmedia.org and is worth a read as a good example of the adage: Never give up!

 

 

 

 

 

Fully Human

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call, generosity, human, Meg Wheatley, open-hearted, Paulo Freire, purpose, purpose-filled, receive, religious life, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Turning To One Another, vocation

The word “vocation” is sitting under many of my thoughts these days as I walk through this 50th year of religious life. It surfaces each time a gathering comes along where I am called to answer the question, “How are you?” asked by people who haven’t seen me in awhile. It comes from the Latin verb meaning to call and as a noun is used to define our work in life. Meg Wheatley quotes Paulo Freire, a Brazilian and world educator who often said that we have a “vocation to be fully human.” She goes on from there to give some thoughts worthy of pondering. See what you think.

We don’t decide what our vocation is, she says, we receive it. It always originates from outside us. Therefore, we can’t talk about vocation or a calling without acknowledging that there is something going on beyond our narrow sense of self. It helps remind us that there’s more than just me, that we’re part of a larger and purpose-filled place.

Even if we don’t use the word vocation, most of us want to experience a sense of purpose to our lives…I believe we become more fully human with any gesture of generosity, any time we reach out to another rather than withdraw into our individual suffering. To become fully human we need to keep opening our hearts, no matter what. At this time when suffering and anxiety continue to increase, when there is always reason to weep for some unbearable tragedy inflicted by one human on another, I try to remember to keep my heart open.

In my own experience, I notice I like myself better when I am generous and open-hearted. I don’t like myself when I’m afraid of others or angry at them…At those times, I don’t feel more human but less. I become more fully human only when I extend myself. This is how I define for myself what it means to have a vocation to be fully human. (Turning To One Another, pp. 58, 59)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wine Tasting

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Christianity, church practice, community, congregation, Jesus, Luke, religious life, reverence, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, universal understanding, wine

A recent conversation came to mind when I read this morning’s gospel (LK 5:33-39). It concerned my gratitude at having entered the convent in the tumultuous days of the 1960s. It was difficult because of the rate at which things were changing in the world and in our Church but was early enough for me to catch the spirit of the “old ways” so that I understood what had grounded the lives of the older members of our religious community. At the same time, I was able to see the value of what was emerging as a new way of being in the Church that was necessary for us to embrace if we were to survive as a Congregation. My experience stood me in good stead when I was part of the team charged with the formation of new members to our community in the 1980s. I was able to help those of the “new era” who had little understanding of the by-gone culture of religious life that was still clinging to us when they got frustrated with some of the customs and the slow pace of change. Reverence was the order of the day, I felt, on both sides of the equation.

I think that’s what Jesus was talking about today when he spoke of trying to sew new cloth on old garments or pouring new wine into old wineskins. It doesn’t work. The end of the reading, however, is a caution to anyone who just throws out all the old. Jesus says, “The old is good.” Even though we don’t live the same way that the Sisters of St. Joseph who came from France in 1836 (or even in 1966!) lived, we stand on the shoulders of those women whose vision and insight allowed them to cast off what was no longer useful while continuing to reverence what was at the core of the tradition.

It’s the same with Christianity, I think. Sometimes we get so sidetracked in church practice and rubrics that we forget the things that Jesus said and did to keep us on the right path toward God. If we can hold on to reverence – of people and traditions – we can usually overcome differences in our devotional lives and move forward by taking the long view back to Jesus. Perhaps today is a good day to have a glass of that “good wine” and be grateful, while at the same time looking forward to the incredible spiritual insights that are moving us toward universal understanding in our day.