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fear, immigrants, Mother Cabrini, perseverance, St. Francis Xavier Cabrini, stamina, teacher, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, vision
Note: This post was created for November 13, 2018.
Today is the feast of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, a woman born in Italy who became the first United States citizen to be canonized in the Catholic Church. Her life sounds to me today like that of “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” whose motto was “I ain’t down yet!” Here are a few of the reasons that I found at www.franciscanmedia.org why such a designation seems to fit her for sainthood.
1. When she was refused entrance to the religious community that had educated her to be a teacher, she began charitable work at an orphanage in Cadogno, Italy and subsequently made religious vows there.
2. When the bishop closed the orphanage, she became prioress of The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, joined by seven young women who became her community.
3. When her childhood dream of being a missionary to China was put aside at the urging of Pope Leo XIII, she obediently went to the United States to care for the Italian immigrants in New York City, having been promised an orphanage in which to serve.
4. Upon her arrival, she found the house was not available and the archbishop advising her to return to Italy. Undeterred, she spent the next 35 years founding 67 institutions dedicated to caring for the poor, the abandoned, the uneducated and the sick as well as establishing schools and adult education classes for Italian immigrants.
5. Since childhood, she was frightened of water and feared drowning, yet she traveled by ship from New York to Italy over 30 times in her life to do God’s work.
Thanks be to God for the vision, the stamina and the perseverance of this woman we honor today as Mother Cabrini.
In his small book, Praying with the Earth: A Prayerbook for Peace, John Philip Newell writes each morning and evening of the week a prayer for the life of the world. Brief as they are, they are compelling in their depth and intensity, calling out to God with vision and yearning, always capturing quickly and quietly a trust of the God that will never disappoint. Here is what he offers on this – and every – Saturday morning.
St. Clare of Assisi, whom we celebrate today, was a great example of the adage “Behind every good man, there is a good woman.” While he did not see her often, St. Francis counted on her holiness and wisdom to shore up his determination in times of doubt and difficulty. Clare was a clear mirror of the presence of God for Francis and for those women who followed her to the convent of San Damiano, and he was the same for her. She was a woman of great strength and perseverance who believed that she was the one who knew best what should be written in a rule for women in a religious order. Although she easily accepted the rule that Francis has written in the early days, after the death of Francis she continued for 27 years to submit a revised rule to bishops and popes until she finally received and signed a constitutional document of her own two days before her death on August 11, 1253.
We all come to God in our own time and in our own way. Whether we are born into a religious tradition that nurtures our faith in an organic way for the duration of our life or have a moment of recognition brought on by an extraordinary event, our life journey is as unique as our thumbprint and just as special.
Psalm 119, the longest in the book of 150 psalms, has 176 verses and can be the study of a lifetime. In a commentary this morning I read that the subject of these prayers is the hard learning one gains in light of a multitude of hardships and circumstances encountered on the spiritual path…Experiences are often repeated again and again. As we go over the same territory learning it in new ways, truth becomes grounded. Insights are gained from each spiral of ascending experience.
Last Sunday, as I listened to a dramatic reading of the entire gospel of Mark, I was struck by the number of exorcisms Jesus performed. In the different ways that “evil spirits” manifested in people, Jesus commanded those “spirits” to “come out!” and the people were healed. I’m wondering this morning if all the synoptics were similarly engaged in reporting such events. My attention was a caught because today’s gospel from Luke (11:14-23) begins with Jesus “driving out a demon that was mute, and when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke and the crowds were amazed.”
The gospel this morning tells Luke’s version of the encounter Jesus had with a blind man. I am always struck in the healing stories when Jesus asks the desire of the person he meets who is in need. I never doubt that he can see that condition in the person, so either he is looking for a statement of faith or he wants to be sure of the depth of the person’s intention or desire to be healed. Although life might be easier for the man if he gets his sight, there may be new responsibilities attached to the healing as well. Maybe he will have to find a job, rather than sitting by the side of the road begging. Certainly he will need to become attentive to people who are in need of help with certain life tasks because of infirmities. Who better since he has been there himself?
I have a conference call today, the third (or maybe fourth?) in a month, as my colleagues and I do our best to prepare for the event we are offering at the end of this month. It is the first of its kind for us – similar in a way but not matching all the “Wisdom Schools” we have presented over the past five years. This one is called “Wisdom Group Leadership Training” and is defined as practical training in skillful “post-holding,” including ’embodying the wealth of wisdom’s vision’ and developing group skills for greater integration. 
One of the extraordinary events in the life of Jesus, chronicled in all three of the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), is known as the Transfiguration. That word when broken apart speaks to a process of changing form, which is what happened to Jesus and was witnessed by the apostles Peter, James and John one day on a high mountain where they had gone to pray. It is a familiar story. For those interested in detail, it is a great chance to question and muse about the what and why of the incident as each of the three versions in the gospels has small, distinctive differences, none of which changes the substance of the event.
While I’m not certain that the adage “Seeing is believing” came as a conclusion from the story of Thomas, the Apostle who was missing when Jesus appeared in the Upper Room on Easter evening, it certainly applies in that case. It’s difficult to believe what we have not seen with our own eyes (our physical selves) and thereby experienced as true. How is it that we come to believe what we cannot comprehend with our “ordinary minds?” Moreover, what is it that so stirs a person to envision the possibility of something that has never been done – and then to carry the process forward until that possibility becomes a reality? It seems that great inventors must not only be gifted with vision but with steadfast perseverance. And then there is the willingness of those who come after that visionary soul to continue the work. I think here of scientists and medical advancement and immediately my favorite example in a different but related sphere comes to mind. I’m fond of saying, “Kitty Hawk to the moon in 66 years” as the miracle of flight astounds me each time I feel the take-off moment from inside a plane.