Blessed Joseph

Tags

faith, intercessor, Patris Corde, patron, Pope Francis, Sisters of St. Joseph, St. Joseph, support, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

If you noticed that I am speaking late today, there is good reason. Today is the feast of St. Joseph, husband of Mary and Mother of Jesus. I am a Sister of St. Joseph, one of the thousands of women whose religious community gathers with pride on this date each year to celebrate this quiet, loving, faithful and holy man who was willing to take on the protection and parenting of “the boy Jesus.” We who live under the patronage of St. Joseph trust the guidance we find in the Scriptures, the stories of Joseph, full of silence and listening to God and the messages of God. You will not find conversations of Joseph with God’s messengers. Rather, he is busy being silent deep in the heart of God, his love and reverence for his young wife and then his son, Jesus, of primary concern to him.

This evening, as the celebrations of this day ended we again had reason to pause and join our Sisters across our province who joined from far and near to pray in thanksgiving for Joseph—through the miracle of “Zoom”. We listened to a part of the Apostolic Letter of Pope Francis, Patris Corde which was a fitting conclusion to our day. Here is what we heard:

Each of us can discover in Joseph—the man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet and hidden presence—an intercessor, a support and guide in times of trouble. Saint Joseph reminds us that those who appear hidden or in the shadows can play an incomparable role in the history of salvation…Even though Joseph’s fears, God’s will, his history and his plan were at work, Joseph, then, teaches us that faith in God includes believing that he can work even through our fears, our frailties and our weaknesses.

May we go to Joseph in any hour of need, for he is the patron of the universal Church and a great model of who we are to be in the world!

Sisters on a Mission

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God's grace, Sharing of the heart and order of the house, Sisters of St. Joseph, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, to do list

Up at 6:30 because I was awake and already had a “to-do list” growing in my brain…I have been up now for over an hour watching the wind push the clouds out of the way in promise of a very blue, sunny sky. It’s like a race to the east where some grey clouds are still holding the lead in the south but a very energetic tree keeps urging on the blue and white to what is predicted as a win for today….Armchair quarterbacking was about all I could muster for my first hour so I made a list that became 20 tasks for today. There is no possibility that all will be accomplished but just making the list is a start and tomorrow, as we all know, is another day!

Last night I was on a zoom call with 186 Sisters of St. Joseph. It was an introduction to a Lenten process of assessing our “Sharing of the Heart and Order of the House,” a practice that our first Sisters in 17th century France created to assure a weekly assessment of their lives together. It helps a group—living together or not at this moment in time—to talk about what it means to “move always toward profound love of God and love of neighbor”—assuming that talking about it will become a means for achieving the goal, if even “one step at a time.” It’s a bit more daunting for us than it was for those six Sisters who sat to do the practice in a kitchen in LePuy, France in the mid-1600s. Not only do we have more people to deal with but we live from Japan to New York and Peru to Minnesota…Chile to Hawaii and many points in between. It’s a monumental task that we will hope to achieve, meeting weekly in groups of six—native speakers of our languages serving as translators as necessary—all to bring us closer in service to a world in need.

Just the thought of this process gives me a motivation to achieve today. Certainly every item on my list will not be checked off by nightfall but the clouds are racing faster across the sky, the tree is waving them on and the sun has just arrived in my bedroom full-force! And with all of that motivation, my first item on the list is completed. This blog post is ready to go. May your day hold the deep peace of God’s grace for you.

God’s Gifts

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charism, contemplation, Dominicans, Franciscan Sisters, ministry, Sisters of St. Joseph, st. dominic, the great love of God, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

When I was young and feeling called to the religious life, it was a rather simple choice of where I would find a home. I had been educated since kindergarten by the Sisters of St. Joseph, having made only a slight detour in junior high to the Franciscan Sisters. In those days, many of us chose the familiar unless drawn to missionary work or some specific ministry like nursing. Even in the founding stories that I heard about the Sisters of St. Joseph, there was never much talk about the charism, the particular gift of God to the community. Later I learned and am now confident that the focus of my life is that of the charism expressed as “the great love of God.” One might think that is the goal of all religious communities and that is true, of course, but how that is lived out from day to day is what adds specificity to the life path.

Today is the feast of St. Dominic, founder of the Dominicans, known the world over as the “Order of Preachers.” The power of Dominican preaching flows from their life. As franciscanmedia.org explains, it “organically links life with God, study, and prayer in all forms with a ministry of salvation to people by the word of God.” In other words, “to pass on the fruits of contemplation or to speak only of God or with God.” As someone who loves words and the power they hold in how they are spoken, I am always happy to listen to Dominican priests and nuns in liturgy or a retreat where they embody the words that they are speaking for the benefit of their listeners. Clearly, it is the constant reflection on the Scriptures in the silence where God speaks that resounds in the life of these preachers. Then, as a result, they themselves become that gift of God to the world.

A Day To Remember

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blessings, covenant, Isaiah, love of God, Matthew, Psalm 145, Romans, Sisters of St. Joseph, Thanksgiving, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today is a significant one for us – the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, Albany Province. It is the day on which we are filled with gratitude for the Sisters who have served us in the ministry of leadership over the past seven years and when we look forward in hope to those who pledge themselves now to lead us for the next five years. This is a monumental time of transition and challenge, not only for us but for religious communities of all kinds. I need not enumerate the challenges but we know that wisdom has been and will be the essential element in their ministry. We are confident that we have been well-served and trust that we will not be disappointed as we go forward. In other words, we are very blessed.

In that spirit we would do well to pay attention to the messages of today’s Scripture passages. It’s one of those days when each of the readings has a “stand-out” line or two, in my opinion (of course!). Please join me in a reflection that will be a blessing prayer for our community for today.

1. “Come to me heedfully, listen that you may have life. I will renew with you the everlasting covenant, the benefits assured to David.” (IS 55: 3)
2. The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs. (PS 145)
3. “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (ROM 8: 37-39)
4. Jesus said to them, ” There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.”…They all ate and were satisfied , and they picked up the fragments left over — twelve baskets full. (MT 14: 13 ->)

Won’t you pray, rejoicing with us, in thanksgiving for all our blessings?

Love Expands Us

Tags

generosity, jealousy, love, Meg Wheatley, perseverance, Sisters of St. Joseph, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Because I lingered in the kitchen with my coffee this morning, it’s already 9:30 and the day is in full swing. Lots of activities await. How to go about everything is the question. I will likely need to make a list! On days like this I just try to breathe—especially if everyone else is about their own tasks and seeming focused. It is a luxury to sit looking out my window at a gloriously fresh morning, hearing the birds all across the expanse of our property and beyond. They are perhaps the busiest of all, if not the loudest!

Needing help, I turn to Meg Wheatley and am stopped on the quote that introduces a page entitled “Jealousy.” Scientist Humberto Maturana says:

Love is the only emotion that expands intelligence.

I was about to leave it at that and let you fend for yourself but then I thought about our weekend and the wonderful experience of our leadership selections. The generosity of the Sisters who offered themselves to us in service for the next five years was extraordinary. Most universal and important in their presentations were their expressions of love for our Congregation. It gave me pause to consider Meg Wheatley’s reflection on jealousy and generosity that expanded on the Maturana quote.

She says: When something good happens to someone else – another organization wins a grant, a friend gets a promotion, someone else gets the opportunity we wanted – we can activate either emotion. We can question whether there’s enough to go around. We can wonder whose need is greater, or just assume that we needed it more. We can be happy for their good fortune, or bemoan the loss of ours.

As closely as jealousy and generosity are, they create very different consequences. If jealousy dominates, we turn inward, shrivel our hearts, and lose strength. If generosity grows, we grow also. Our world expands. We realize there’s enough to go around. We realize we don’t need everything we thought we did. The world in general feels more reliable, more trustworthy, more enjoyable.

The world expands from the inside out – it’s our hearts that have enlarged. We not only feel more loving, we’re also more open and aware. We see more, we take in more, we let in more.

Jealousy is such a waste of a good human heart. (Perseverance, p. 74-5)

So on we go, Sisters of St, Joseph, founded to be “the Congregation of the Great Love of God.”

Clear Seeing

Tags

George Floyd, Holy Spirit, pandemic, protests, seeing clearly, Sisters of St. Joseph, St. Anthony of Padua, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I just cleaned my glasses so I would see clearly what to write – or, eventually, what I have written. As I was doing that, I looked out my newly cleaned bedroom window and noticed that I missed a rather large smudge on the bottom left area of the glass pane. I wonder how many days it will be before I clear that distraction. And then I wonder what unplanned-for things will happen today. It is an important day for the Sisters of St. Joseph, Albany Province. Today we choose those five Sisters who will comprise our leadership team for the next five years.

It is a monumental moment for two reasons. Because of the COVID-19 strictures, we cannot have our election as usual so we will be gathering “virtually” on our computers, iPads or cell phones to cast the first electronic vote that, just like votes for our civil leaders, must be “secret”—something that could not have been thought of earlier in our lives. Secondly, we do this in a tumultuous moment in our country’s history. We are diminishing in numbers (although not in spirit!), we are in the middle of a pandemic, and the country is in upheaval and still seeing daily protests (on day 19 today) in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the issues of police brutality.

Seeing clearly will be imperative today for all of us – those who select and those who are selected. I can feel the stirrings of the Holy Spirit already as I prepare for the privilege that is ours today. We may be surprised by the Spirit in the selections but I never worry as we have always had what we need to persevere. We will listen to each of the nominees this morning and then, in the midst of prayer, we will vote this afternoon. I am pleased to recall that today is the feast of St. Anthony of Padua whose life was changed at an ordination ceremony where no one was prepared to speak. Franciscanmedia.org says that the humble and obedient Anthony hesitantly accepted the task. The years of searching for Jesus in prayer, of reading of sacred Scripture and of serving him in poverty, chastity and obedience had prepared Anthony to allow the Spirit to use his talents. Anthony’s sermon was astounding to those who expected an unprepared speech and knew not the Spirit’s power to give people words.

How could I fail to trust the process that has been prepared for us and the women who offer themselves to the service of God and our Congregation? The Spirit is moving. Now it’s time to be sure that my technology is operating as well! God’s blessing on us all!

Quotable Quotes

Tags

poverty, prayer, seek, silence, Sisters of St. Joseph, solitude, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton

There are a lot of people who have chosen a specific quote that expresses something important to them, something that they want to say to all the people with whom they share e-mail. I’m always interested to read these brief messages that conclude their e-mails to see if I think they fit the person behind the quote. Last week one of my Sisters of St. Joseph treated me to a quote of Thomas Merton that was characteristic of him but one I had never heard before. I might have claimed it for myself if I were called to choose it from the many great lines that run through my brain on any given day. I don’t know if I could ever settle on one choice to the exclusion of all others but this one is certainly a contender.

Do you have a favorite? This one came from Sister Linda Neil, CSJ, and I could say I value its message more and more each day. Thanks to Lin!

Let me seek, then, the gift of silence, and poverty, and solitude, where everything I touch is turned into prayer, where the sky is my prayer, the birds are my prayer, the wind in the trees is my prayer, for God is all in all.

Blessed Joseph

Tags

Blessed Mother, Mary, mother, Sisters of St. Joseph, St. Joseph, St. Joseph the Worker, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

There are so many reasons to celebrate St. Joseph today on this feast of St. Joseph the Worker. Most obvious for me is that I live as a Sister of St. Joseph whose heritage is dedicated to and modeled on the person of Joseph, husband of Mary. We believe him to be a quiet man who worked as a carpenter – simple yet noble work – in service to God and his family and as a teacher to his son. Somehow that image remains although he is also named as Patron of the Universal Church for Catholics and has come to the attention of workers the world over since the Papacy of Pope Leo XIII as the champion of the social teachings of the Church. The promulgation in 1891 of his encyclical, Rerum Novarum, which addressed the condition of the working classes, gave a platform for workers that still directs the actions of justice workers throughout the world.

Closer to home and heart, however, is the devotion of my mother, Mary, whose birthday is today and who celebrated each year by placing flowers in church at the feet of St. Joseph’s statue. I continued this tradition in her honor after her passing from this world. This year it would be impossible because our church participation is necessarily virtual, but I plan to go outside later and walk to the border of our land where my siblings and I had forsythia bushes (30 of them!) planted in memory of our lovely mother after her death. She loved those “golden bells” and it does not surprise me that this year they are so prolific and beautiful that they always make me smile.

So I welcome this beautiful month and give thanks to God for the models of steadfast love so present in Joseph and Mary, and my own holy mother.

Coming Around Again

Tags

consciousness, cycles, journey, journey of life, life, Sisters of St. Joseph, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, understanding

While searching this morning for a bill I need to pay within the next few days, I came across something I wrote in 1986 to welcome three new members to the novitiate of our Congregation of Sisters of St. Joseph. I didn’t remember the content and was somewhat surprised when I read the talk because I found it all together pertinent to the present moment. Truth be told, it would probably be relevant to most of our days. Here is the second paragraph of the document.

One comforting thing about the journey of life is that it is a cyclic one: we have more than just one chance at things. We praise from the rising to the setting of the sun and the next day we rise to praise again. There are days on which the sun seems slow to come up, and those on which we fear the sunset will never come, but if we have awakened to the meaning of life, we begin to see the journey not as a monotonous cycle but rather as a spiral wherein each day is a new opportunity to achieve new heights of consciousness of what the journey is all about.

We have great opportunities during this hiatus from our normal activities. Perhaps we might spend some time today spiraling up to a new and deeper understanding (or at least an inkling) of the meaning of our life journey.

Love for the Little Ones

Tags

children, exclusion, love, poor, Pope Francis, refugees, Sisters of St. Joseph, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

As we turn the page of our calendars to February, we find in the middle the feast of St. Valentine. I will probably have more to say about this saint then; (his feast has become more of a “Hallmark holiday”). Today, however, there is a striking reminder from Pope Francis about how our love can be shown throughout this month and beyond. I found it in the monthly e-news from our province of the Sisters of St. Joseph and will make it a “hallmark” of my spiritual practices for February. Won’t you join me?

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my Heavenly Father” (MT 18:10). It is not just about migrants: it is a question about seeing that no one is excluded. Today’s world is increasingly becoming more elitist and cruel toward the excluded. Developing countries continue to be drained of their best natural and human resources for the benefit of a few privileged markets. Wars only affect some regions of the world, yet weapons of war are produced and sold in other regions which are then unwilling to take in the refugees produced by these conflicts. Those who pay the price are always the little ones, the poor, the most vulnerable, who are prevented from sitting at the table and are left with the “crumbs” of the banquet. (cf. LK 16: 19-21)”