tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26035920995467902442024-03-13T23:21:43.205-05:00Franciscan Thin PlacesFranciscan Sisters of Little Fallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05585792493147758030noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2603592099546790244.post-33985520034472515512012-02-17T12:42:00.000-06:002012-02-17T12:42:06.429-06:00What's the gift?<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I have been inspired by persons who, in the face of difficulty, ask the question, “What’s the gift?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe that the ability to see the positive growing, edging forward energy within those difficult times is at the center of our Christian Faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Jesus announced that He would go through suffering and death and on the third day be raised, Peter tried to deny that this terrible thing would ever happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus told Peter that he was not thinking the way God thinks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, God does not will suffering and death in itself, but gives gifts of love in new life in and through suffering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want to find what’s the gift in every untoward event as it happens. Maybe I can end up being very gifted!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And my friends, too!</span>Franciscan Sisters of Little Fallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05585792493147758030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2603592099546790244.post-79102415768968007972011-10-11T12:39:00.000-05:002011-10-11T12:39:23.406-05:00Many Facets<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Greetings and blessings from Beautiful Minnesota!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fall colors these beginning October days are simply spectacular!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, I feel called <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">not</b> to be sitting at the computer!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do want to stay in touch with you, however, in spite of my weeks of absence, so here I am.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What do you call this:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the tension of inside/outside, of breathing out and taking in?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of life seems characterized by this, as Fr. Timothy Radcliffe recently described – even love itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Love’s dimensions need to be both intimacy and allowing the beloved his/her own space.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Life is never one-dimensional.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I struggle with blogging.</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This brings me to my heart’s desire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>St. Paul says it:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want to know the height and the depth of Christ, the Word of God – and the length and width of Christ’s Presence and Meaning in life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is something of which I have no control, and so I pray for it, this experience of the multi-dimensional richness of relationship in Christ.</span></div>Franciscan Sisters of Little Fallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05585792493147758030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2603592099546790244.post-82268551434835605212011-09-06T08:53:00.000-05:002011-09-06T08:53:30.170-05:00SUFFERING AND LOVE<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">One of our Sisters lost her cell phone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She would be set back terribly in her professional work if she did not find it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Besides, where would she find the money to buy a new one?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She had calls to make and could not do it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lots of stress and distress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last time she had touched the phone was in a church two hours away, to turn it off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My mind went to the suspicious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a family with small boys behind us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did one of them sneak an entry into her purse?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Unexpectedly Sister had met a friend at the church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the discovery of the loss, Sister called her friend to ask her to look for it in and around the pew where we had sat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A telephone call came this morning:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>would the friend say she couldn’t find it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(If someone else had found it, it could be gone forever.)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">The cell phone was found in the sacristy of the church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whoever had found it at the pew had placed it in a safe place where the owner could find it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">The loss of a cell phone is an every-day kind of grief that takes place for all of us sooner or later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s just a tiny example of the many sufferings of life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In her book, The Emergent Christ,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ilia Delio makes a big point that suffering is connected with love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God is love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How can one embrace the suffering from having lost one’s cell phone?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On hind sight, at least, one can see points of love in the story above.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The friend was there for Sister.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The one who found it respected that the owner would be delighted to have the phone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
Franciscan Sisters of Little Fallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05585792493147758030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2603592099546790244.post-22694084268874704272011-08-29T09:08:00.000-05:002011-08-29T09:08:26.794-05:00Relationship<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Have you noticed how often the word “love” is appearing in advertisements?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The word “love” must have an attraction to draw the attention of people more than it used to have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wonder about that, because it seems we are being called more and more to be a loving people. This love is being <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>expressed<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>through relationships in a diversity of cultures, in and through the social media, in a growing volunteerism, etc.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Are we growing from a culture focused primarily on being rational, having “the facts”, judging, counting, and categorizing everything as things to a more relational mode of living?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the book The Social Animal, David Brooks tells of the difference between how North Americans and Chinese respond to a test to categorize the subjects in a picture of a cow, a chicken, and grass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The North Americans point out that the cow and the chicken are animals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Chinese<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>put <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the cow and the grass together because they are related.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>Franciscan Sisters of Little Fallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05585792493147758030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2603592099546790244.post-66043560555343522402011-07-21T08:25:00.000-05:002011-07-21T08:25:58.142-05:00We Measure Everything<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">WE MEASURE EVERYTHING</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Picture this:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>lunch together at the motherhouse:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>one missionary Sister with her guest-- a citizen of Tanzania, Africa--, myself and my brother<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>from the Black Hills of South Dakota.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My brother asks of the Tanzanian, “How much rainfall do you get?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Tanzanian laughs and says:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You Americans, you measure everything!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We just know when we have enough rain for the crops, or not enough.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">These days of this dome of heat together with an amount of humidity surpassing any record for 28 states so far, I wonder how we would do if we just relied on experience and said, “It’s hot out there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Grandma should stay inside for now.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, the meteorologists would be out of a job, which would not be good.. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>Franciscan Sisters of Little Fallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05585792493147758030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2603592099546790244.post-86594011581803572802011-07-11T09:21:00.000-05:002011-07-11T09:21:09.645-05:00Time Out<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I am up and running!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have heard it said not to wait until you are sick or dying to improve your relationship with God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is not easy to pray when one is sick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nor is it easy to blog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>About a month ago I had emergency surgery to remove a perforated appendix, and I am just coming back from that.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">How are you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I pray that you are noticing more and more how God our Father tenderly cares for you in the little things as well as in the big, as I have been learning during this “time out” from the usual.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>May God bless you!</span></div>Franciscan Sisters of Little Fallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05585792493147758030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2603592099546790244.post-17529208769865190922011-05-05T14:32:00.000-05:002011-05-05T14:32:38.345-05:00The Way of Jesus<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Sometimes we do the “non-reign of God” thing because we do not know what else to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We killed Osama bin Laden to make the world safer and yet we know from Jesus’ teaching that the way to go is to love our enemies and do good to those who hate us.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I would rather do the type of action that promotes the Reign of God. All I can do is take care that my own thoughts and actions do that, with God’s help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I catch myself putting others into categories that “put them down”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lord, help me to see Your love and Your goodness in every other person. </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Help me to see clearly how Your Way of respect and littleness is truly victorious.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I have begun reading a book about Islam so that with the next Muslim I meet, I will be able to dialog and affirm the Spirit in that person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lord, may your kingdom come!</span></div>Franciscan Sisters of Little Fallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05585792493147758030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2603592099546790244.post-27696268539403995562011-04-25T15:00:00.000-05:002011-04-25T15:00:44.325-05:00NEW LIFE<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">HAPPY EASTER!!!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the first Easter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wow!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the Bible does not say that Jesus was resuscitated and therefore brought back to life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus’ new life is different from that of Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead, so that Lazarus could go on living with his sisters, Martha and Mary, as before his death, in Bethany.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lazarus would have to die again some day.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What is this business of Jesus being raised from the dead?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus apparently had the same body as before, because the disciples recognized Him when He appeared to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the Resurrection, Jesus was definitely alive; He even ate some breakfast with His own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He did not seem to be confined within space.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He could go through walls when He wanted to be with someone.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Death no longer has dominion in this world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Am I ever glad about that!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It sure is a mystery as to what exactly lies beyond our dying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I do know is that Jesus, the Son of God -- this wonderful, loving Savior -- will be there to receive me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alleluia!! </span></div>Franciscan Sisters of Little Fallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05585792493147758030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2603592099546790244.post-46623521420548175342011-04-04T15:15:00.000-05:002011-04-04T15:15:30.551-05:00WHO GETS TO BE A SAINT<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Hello, on this bright, blustery day!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I think I know why religious communities of Catholic Sisters and Brothers are not receiving many new members these days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Forty-some years ago it was clarified by church authorities in a world-wide Council that THE CALL TO HOLINESS IS UNIVERSAL.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Before that time I had had a big argument with my brother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He told me that “You Sisters can be Saints, but we lay people can’t.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember telling him, no, that we are equal in that matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he wouldn’t listen to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For whatever reason, he was convinced that his way of life could never bring him to that intimate relationship with God.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Nowadays many know better:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God is in reach of all of us and we can all be Saints – no matter our calling in life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hey!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t have to be a Sister or a Brother to reach that noble goal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I am eagerly anticipating meeting my brother on the other side of the pearly gates where he has gone fully living in God’s love.</span></div>Franciscan Sisters of Little Fallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05585792493147758030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2603592099546790244.post-63166352337036720492011-03-29T10:57:00.000-05:002011-03-29T10:57:41.740-05:00Suffering<span style="font-size: 14pt;">How can God allow such terrible suffering as we see in <place w:st="on"><country-region w:st="on">Japan</country-region></place> or which may hit us in the future?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe that, as far as suffering caused by nature is concerned, God created the universe to evolve, and allows this evolution to take its course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When it’s time for the continental plates to move, they move, and the consequences may be grave for those people who have built their homes there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In general, we cannot fault people for mistakes made as to where they live, because many times it is not known when nature will strike destruction for humans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are part of nature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the same time, we live with the special light God has given us in Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our response to the tragedies brought on by nature is to alleviate the suffering by the self-giving love of Christ in and through us. Our call is to do all we can as God’s instruments for God’s presence of love in the world.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"></i></span>Franciscan Sisters of Little Fallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05585792493147758030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2603592099546790244.post-73815602435509174622011-03-18T10:34:00.000-05:002011-03-18T10:34:46.453-05:00BEAUTY AND PROBLEMS<span style="font-size: 14pt;">I wrote my last blog on the morning of the earthquake in <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Japan</place></country-region>, before I knew that it had happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mentioned my impatience with the length of the winter here in <state w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Minnesota</place></state> and the frequent appearance of snow, how beauty and problems come in pairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After seeing the images of the ravages of the earthquake and the tsunami, I said to myself, “Rose Mae, how insipid you must appear in your blog – talking about the inconveniences of winter and the beauty of a snowflake when hundreds of thousands of people are suffering terribly and many people have died in <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Japan</place></country-region>!”</span> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Yet I see it again:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the terrible ravages of nature on one hand, and the beauty of the Japanese people on the other hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Beauty and suffering, together in one glimpse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>May God grant healing, relief and blessings for our suffering, beautiful sisters and brothers!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am very sorry I cannot be there.</span></div>Franciscan Sisters of Little Fallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05585792493147758030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2603592099546790244.post-55795868407014695782011-03-11T09:09:00.001-06:002011-03-11T09:11:35.333-06:00God Bless Us<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The snow is melting!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How can something be so beautiful and yet be so troublesome?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When more and more of that white stuff appeared, I definitely felt impatient and I had to do very little of the shoveling!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A lot of other people did some back-breaking work all winter – and then, of course, there were those who did the snow plowing through the night or during the early morning hours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It does seem that beauty and problems come in pairs with each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>May God bless all of us as we face each new day (or night!).</span></div>Franciscan Sisters of Little Fallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05585792493147758030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2603592099546790244.post-39219370714043241202011-03-04T09:45:00.000-06:002011-03-04T09:48:25.561-06:00Spoon or Soup<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Hello, out there!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Have you ever had the experience of being in a room or other space and, not seeing anything nor hearing anything, were able to sense that someone else was present?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is how it is with God for me:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>can’t see God, can’t hear God, but there is a great Personal Presence everywhere that I know is there.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Recently I listened to a talk by Edward Hays in which he gave the analogy of the use of a spoon used to carry soup to the mouth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which would you rather be – the spoon, or the soup?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Edward said that many of us “religious” people are like the spoon, able to feed the nutritious stuff about God, and forgetting that it is the soup itself in which people are interested.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hey! It’s difficult to be the soup.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">To know God’s active presence and to live accordingly takes the gift of Faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know that I had nothing to do with the fact that I have this gift.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do know that a personal response of love on my part helps in the relationship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It helps to sense that great Personal Presence that is everywhere.</span></div>Franciscan Sisters of Little Fallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05585792493147758030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2603592099546790244.post-80259799701889942432011-02-23T11:08:00.000-06:002011-02-23T11:08:34.264-06:00Death<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Death is most likely the most important moment of our life, outside of the fact that we were born.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Moments in nature can be prepared for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Giving birth is a natural process and we have discovered ways that a woman and her husband can prepare for the giving of birth, to make it easier. . . .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am discovering that death, too, can be prepared for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People who have had a “near-death experience” can tell us some of the first things to expect when dying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am a neophyte in this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have not thought about the natural process of dying, so I am embarking on a research venture, asking God to lead me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you know anything about this?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Sisters Marguerite Barbein and Leonette Bursch have just died.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will pray to them to help me in this venture.</span></div>Franciscan Sisters of Little Fallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05585792493147758030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2603592099546790244.post-88268943250768288812011-02-15T09:57:00.001-06:002011-02-15T09:57:54.897-06:00Desire<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">I feel like I’m swimming in an ocean of desire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">The huge upheaval in <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Egypt</place></country-region> swept up out of an aching desire on the part of the Egyptian people for their freedom from a corrupt regime.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Desire, freedom, want, longing for, seeking, are words that attempt to describe the human heart.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">The 33 miners who had been trapped for over two months and then were rescued still seek healing from their horrible experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many returning veterans long for their former life of innocence from the horrors of war.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Wherever I look, there is desire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today is Valentine’s Day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Love is desire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The translation of “I love you” in Spanish is: “te quiero”, or “I want you”. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Someone recently reminded me that a vacuum always seeks to be filled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Desire is like a vacuum which attracts the loved one and the union with God and with others for which we were created.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">The choice to live in poverty “without anything of one’s own” by Saint Francis was indeed the desire to be open for love in God, who is love.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Happy Valentine’s Day!</span></div>Franciscan Sisters of Little Fallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05585792493147758030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2603592099546790244.post-52455937516096330252011-02-07T14:17:00.000-06:002011-02-08T11:29:05.329-06:00Caged<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Did you ever watch a bee that’s caught between a screen and a window?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a pitiful sight as it desperately searches for a way to freedom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nowadays we try not to crush a honey bee because it is so precious and we will help it to find its way out.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">On Monday of this week I visited a prisoner in jail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was jailed because he was caught a second time driving without a license.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, he can’t get a license to drive because he is from a different country and can’t get documentation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He told me that he has worked in our area for seven years, and that the owner depends on him if he has to leave for awhile. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This prisoner has a wife and three-month old baby.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I wondered how this man feels there in jail.</span></div>Franciscan Sisters of Little Fallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05585792493147758030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2603592099546790244.post-29925761965493234052011-01-28T08:45:00.000-06:002011-01-28T08:45:53.158-06:00Little Kids<span style="font-size: 14pt;">Saint Francis just “blows me away” sometimes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yesterday I read one of his admonitions in which he wrote:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“There is no one who does good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not even one.”</span> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">My take on that spontaneously is:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but I do good sometimes, and I even compliment others when they do good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, Rose Mae, how far you are from full faith!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Francis had preceded the above statement with a reference to something <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Saint Paul</place></city> had said:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is this mystery that only God is good and that any good we see in creation comes from God?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Is it like a little kid who is learning for the first time to hit a ball with a bat?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The little kid’s father holds the bat with the little kid and when the ball comes near, the father (with the little kid holding on) swings the bat and hits the ball.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I dare say that the little kid thinks that he was the one who made the ball go!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">It seems that God tolerates our misconceptions that we are the ones doing good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would guess that God would prefer an openness on our part to give credit where credit is due.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our union with God is there but we are still like little kids.</span></div>Franciscan Sisters of Little Fallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05585792493147758030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2603592099546790244.post-22317295408428835002011-01-24T11:32:00.000-06:002011-02-23T11:20:16.690-06:00Splendid DifferencesI used to wear a uniform. I wore it for about twenty years. It is called a habit. Now I dress with a variety of clothing and colors that show what mood I'm in.<br />
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As I looked around in Chapel this morning at the endless variety with which the Sisters dress, I praised God for the delightful differences among us Sisters, the splendor of God's glory shining through.<br />
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I have noticed that the snowflakes also carry this fullness of the richness and the generosity of our Creator. Each snowflake is different! Have you checked this out? I shall carry in my memory the image of one snowflake I got to see the other day sitting so prettily in its purity on my green winter coat sleeve: the crystal perfectly made, and unique in its tiny splendor. The trillions of all the other snowflakes lift my spirit into the wonder of God.Franciscan Sisters of Little Fallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05585792493147758030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2603592099546790244.post-56299641057909111792011-01-04T12:33:00.000-06:002011-01-04T12:33:19.104-06:00RED<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">I love the color red.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It changes everything to glorious!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What a gift:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to be able to see red!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So much for Christmas is presented in red:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the poinsettias, the gift wrap and tissue paper, sweaters and shirts, the St. Nick outfit, lights.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Not much of that original stable and manger was presented in red.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But “the Word was made flesh” and lo!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>behold!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>life-giving red blood nourishing that wonderful Person Who became one-with-us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I shall try to be gently aware. </div>Franciscan Sisters of Little Fallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05585792493147758030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2603592099546790244.post-1826124772981275252010-12-28T09:40:00.001-06:002010-12-28T09:40:47.701-06:00The Sky’s a Changing<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">On this December 24, 2010, the Earth continues in its orbit around the sun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’re just coming out of the longest night of the year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What a great plan the Creator has, to distribute the light and the warmth of the sun for all parts of this globe as it spins and orbits!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’m reminded that even as we welcome the birthday of God-in-our-midst, we are dirtying the blanket of air that has been just right for our lungs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How to cut down on carbon dioxide emissions?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want to honor the gift of clean air, this wonderful Christmas gift, and make sure that generations to come will have a Merry Christmas.</span></div>Franciscan Sisters of Little Fallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05585792493147758030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2603592099546790244.post-34849806035784730022010-12-17T08:30:00.000-06:002010-12-17T08:30:05.246-06:00Sister; Brother<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Hello!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would like to be a mystic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A mystic sees every creature as brother/sister.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That would be cool!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead of a dead landscape out there, a mystic sees (and feels?) the relationship between him/her and the squirrel, the trees which have their sap in the ground , the bird, that stranger who no longer is stranger, etc.</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Saint Francis even called death his sister:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Sister Death from whom no one can escape. . ..”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would be content right now if sleep were my sister and came to me all during the night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe if I were a mystic, she would relate with me better.</span></div>Franciscan Sisters of Little Fallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05585792493147758030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2603592099546790244.post-53677959368694179472010-12-10T09:49:00.001-06:002010-12-10T09:49:55.002-06:00CAN THAT BABY BE GOD INCARNATE?<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sometimes people say, “I don’t believe in a personal God”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I understand them to say is that they don’t believe there is a God who can love or think or enjoy. . . .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They may be imagining that God is some HUGE POWER and that’s it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My question is:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“If I can love and think and enjoy, why couldn’t<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do believe that God is a very personal entity – more “personal” than I can imagine.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">People are now setting up their Christmas cribs to bring attention to the Baby most of all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My faith tells me that at one point in history God (the Word of God) was made flesh, starting as a baby – receiving love and responding lovingly, learning and beginning to think, enjoying his environment, and even crying to let his needs be known.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The wonder of Christmas!</span></div>Franciscan Sisters of Little Fallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05585792493147758030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2603592099546790244.post-40607092897263725042010-12-03T09:03:00.000-06:002010-12-03T09:03:00.891-06:00The Great Network<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Hello; Blessings to you from central <place w:st="on"><state w:st="on">Minnesota</state></place>!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Yesterday I took my brother who is blind to the doctor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sidewalks were layered with ice and snow, so he could not use his white cane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He hung on to me, grabbing my elbow the best he could.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At one time he “lost” me; his thick gloves impeded him from holding on tight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I looked back I could see that he was really lost, in total darkness, not knowing which way to go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His blindness is so total that I have found myself acknowledging the reality:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>he is blind all the time, not just for this or for that!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(What must that be like!!)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">A debility like blindness opens up to me the great world of our interdependence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I chose a picture of a spider web for my blog because it expresses so well how one part depends on/sustains the other parts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also like the fact that no part of the web is more or less important than any other part!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I am in darkness for not knowing or for not being able, I thank God for my sisters and brothers who can help me out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Actually, our great and wonderful Creator-Sustainer arranges this great network.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>May God be praised!</div>Franciscan Sisters of Little Fallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05585792493147758030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2603592099546790244.post-85460033301150864542010-11-19T12:58:00.000-06:002010-11-19T12:59:26.970-06:00Love offering of the Mass<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today is Friday and in our little town we get to have the Mass (Eucharist). There is nothing that I enjoy more than to assist at the Mass. That’s the truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know that for many people that’s not so.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I do have one complaint about the Mass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I get distracted just when the dynamic of the Mass hits its high point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Mass is not only a sacred banquet; it is a sacrifice of love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus poured out his love on the cross and he continues to love; he never takes his love back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is always self-emptying for the other.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, the object of Jesus’ love is our Creator and all of us creatures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the Mass the great self-giving of Jesus is prepared sacramentally (through ritual that holds the reality) at the time of the consecration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wow!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What creativity Jesus had to think of how best to give us himself in an act of love! Joachim Jeremias, the great scholar of Jesus’ language, Aramaic, says that when Jesus said “Do this in remembrance of me”, Jesus really meant:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>remember me to God the Father. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Having before us on the altar the Body that is given for us and the Blood that is poured out for us, the dynamic of the Mass invites us all to unite our lives with the on-going love of Jesus in the GREAT OFFERING :<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>through Christ, with Him, and in Him is to You God almighty Father, in the unity of the the Holy Spirit, all honor and all glory for ever and ever.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I like that chance to say to God with Jesus:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I (and we) return all our love to our Creator.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The dynamic is terrific.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My complaint is that there are so many distracting prayers just before this GREAT OFFERING that I have to make such an effort to realize it is happening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also it would help a lot if all the people at the Mass, and not only the priest, could say the words:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“through Christ, . . . “.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The “great Amen” is not enough for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While at Mass this morning I will try to “be with it” and not allow my “monkey mind” to stray me from the great dynamic of love offering.</span></div>Franciscan Sisters of Little Fallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05585792493147758030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2603592099546790244.post-28282314812556186872010-11-12T14:16:00.000-06:002010-11-17T10:36:17.916-06:00Who is God? And Who Am I?<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Good Morning!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I notice that many times we like to bring God down to our size.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was recently in a church where the Blessed Trinity is depicted as a father of about the age sixty, seated with a young man of about the age of thirty, and a dove hovering over both of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were dressed in regal robes and wore kingly crowns. This certainly does not appeal when In our times we have learned that what exists are hundreds of billions of stars, and we are still counting, measuring space in terms of light years, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who/what is this God whom I credit with having originated our evolving universe?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, our little minds cannot fathom the bigness of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One thing I think would be helpful, is not to start with ourselves, for example:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“This person is kind and good; God is like that, kind and good.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather, start with God:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“God is love; my ability to love is minuscule compared with the ability of the One who is the Source of all love in the world.”</span></div>Franciscan Sisters of Little Fallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05585792493147758030noreply@blogger.com0