NOVEMBER ~ All Souls and High School Reunions

What do All Souls and high school reunions have to do with each other?

Well, having recently gone to my 50^th at Holy Trinity Diocesan High School on Long Island, I found it a wonderful experience.  Being a Nun was an oddity among the 150 or so souls who attended the reunion.    While we were in school the Dominicans and Mercy teachers, many of whom have gone to heaven, commented among themselves that our class had the most spirit!  By the turn out, it appears to be still today.

I spoke with and embraced people I haven’t seen in 50 years, or had never had the occasion to speak to while in high school, so large was our class.

At the reunion Mass each classmate who had died was remembered by name, all 51 of them. Soul- friends in heaven.

We laughed and cried remembering our young lives.  My, how we’ve changed. My, how we stayed the same.  It was so heartening to meet and                                                        meet again so many good people.

Now about those Souls: 
Enraptured, our foundress Blessed Maria Celeste Crostarosa, once exclaimed: “How lovable and precious you are, my Jesus.   This view (of You) is so full of love it keeps me in a purgatory at once of love and of pain, because in the true light of faith the difference separating Your Most Pure Being from my being becomes clear.”   

Someone at the reunion remarked that in Freshman year both the boys and girls were scared of each other.  But after 4 years lifelong friendships had developed.  Oh, the loves and pains of growing up.

It is the same with Jesus.  At first, we are scared of a relationship with God, but during our lifetime we mature and grow in our relationship with the God of unconditional love and mercy and become who we really are meant to be:  images of God to one another.

Jesus spoke to the heart of Celeste: “Embrace in my heart all my creatures; and that through my kiss of love to you, you might give to those souls the kiss of love in my heart to them.”

It pleases the Lord when on All Souls Day we offer the Prayers of Petition for the souls of our dearly departed loved ones.  Celeste’s words console us: “Death is a dream of peace for just souls because they live in love and it is this love which brings them rest in their dying and they die of this love in a peaceful, sweet and gentle death.”    When we die, our union is not quite complete yet. Our loves and pains have still to be purified.   

First Corinthians reassures us about this purification: “Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed: in an instant, in the blink of an eye…and we shall be changed.  For that which is corruptible must clothe itself with incorruptibility, and that which is mortal must clothe itself with immortality.”

                Then all our SOULS will have quite a REUNION in heaven!

LIKE SUNFLOWERS

 A joyful noise was raised to the heavens when four women renewed the commitment as Redemptoristine Associates on September 10, 2023.   This happened at the celebration of the Eucharist presided over by Fr. Provincial John Collins, C.Ss.R.

The chapel in the Beacon Carmelite Monastery of the Incarnation, where the ‘Red Nuns’ reside, was festooned with sunflowers. Prioress, Sr. Moira Quinn, gave a welcome before Mass started and said, “Just as sunflowers turn their faces to follow the sun throughout the day, so our Associates follow the Beloved Son. 

At this Mass Jeannie, Marguerite, Carole and Angela will renew their commitment to follow the Redeemer, faithfully and generously as they strive, like sunflowers, to follow Christ in their daily lives, who is the light of their faith, the strength of their charity and the source of their hope.  May God bless them and the other Associates who were unable to attend today’s Mass.  May God bless you all.”    And the assembly responded, “Amen.”

During the Mass, each Associate participated in either proclaiming a reading, singing the Responsorial Psalm or leading the Prayer of the Faithful.  After Fr. John’s right-on-point homily about forgiveness and talking through our concerns with one another, the Associates renewed their commitment for another year. 

After Mass, we went to the community room for refreshments and chatted with Fr. John and the ladies over coffee and cakes.   Before they left, each Associate received a sunflower as a remembrance of the day.

We thank our Associates for their faithfulness, friendship and the inspiration they are to us, their families, their local communities and the church.  May they always be like sunflowers following, adoringly, the Beloved Son.

A PROFESSION IN IRELAND

 A long journey for Sr. Louisa has come to a new beginning!  Hearing the Father’s call to be a clear and radiant witness of God’s plan of love for the salvation of the world, Sr. Louisa entered the Monastery of St. Alphonsus in Liguori, MO where made her formation.  As time evolved and the numbers in community lessened, Sr. Louisa Olmo made the bold decision to join the Redemptoristine community in Dublin, Ireland, accompanied by Sr. Ann Marie Gool, OSsR. 

On August 19, 2023, Sr. Maria Paz Suarez and Sr. Moira Quinn from the Redemptoristine community in Beacon, NY, were privileged to witness Sr. Louisa’s Solemn Profession along with her new community, family and friends.   To perfect in herself this union with Christ her Redeemer, begun in Baptism, she made her vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience for the redemption of humanity, trusting in the mercy
of God and the maternal help of Mary, the Mother of Jesus.

The rejoicing continued after Mass with a delicious, festive, five-course meal (potatoes three ways – it’s Ireland!) with all the guests.  Sr. Louisa and Prioress,
were all smiles as they cut the cake. 

  

Afterwards, the Americans: Sister M. Paz, Moira, Deirdre (who began her formation also in Liguori and now resides in Dublin), and Ann Marie posed for a photo with the Sr. Louisa.

It was a joy to celebrate this new beginning with Sr. Louisa.  May she remain faithful to her covenant all the days of her life and may her light ever shine.

 A reading of the Gospel according to Matthew 14:22-33  

After Jesus had fed the five thousand, he made the disciples get into the boat and precede him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.  After doing so, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When it was evening, he was there alone.  

Meanwhile, the boat was far out to sea when the wind came up against them, and they were battered by the waves. At about four o’clock in the morning, Jesus came toward them walking on the water. The disciples were scared to death. They cried out in terror. “A ghost!”

At once Jesus spoke to them, “Courage, it is I. Do not be afraid.” 

Peter spoke up and said, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”  

“Come!” Jesus said.  

Jumping out of the boat, Peter walked on the water to Jesus. But when he felt the strong the wind and looked down at the waves churning beneath his feet, he lost his nerve and started to sink.  He cried out, “Lord, save me!” 

Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him, and said to Peter,
“O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 

The two of them, then, climbed into the boat, and the wind died down. The disciples in the boat, having watched the whole thing, worshiped Jesus, saying, “Truly, you are the Son of God."       The Gospel of the Lord.

You gotta love Peter; time and again he says the first thing that enters his mind without thinking of the consequences. He is so big-hearted, impulsive, brave and scared all at the same time, so human - like one of us.  

When Jesus first met Peter after the big catch of fish, Peter said, “Leave me, I am a sinner.” And Jesus replied, No, I caught you.  “Do not be afraid.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus says the same thing to the disciples when they think he is a ghost.  I imagine Jesus sighing, “Oy vey,” exasperated that the disciples did not know him after all they had witness in following him, and shouting through
the wind, “It’s ME, do not be afraid.”

When the storms of life threaten to overwhelm us, how is our faith?  Can we be calm, trusting that Jesus will catch us?  Do we believe Jesus has already saved us? 

Peter’s sinking in the water can be thought of as a type of baptism.  Peter needed this dunking so he would stopped floundering around and be calm in the storm; to not be afraid. 
A dunking can be jolting, or refreshing; renewing the mind, body and soul. 
Every time I take a shower it’s like a mini-baptism as I sing to myself the refrain from the blessing of the Baptismal Water at the Easter Vigil, “Water of life, cleanse and refresh us. Raise us to life in Christ Jesus.”

In baptism, we were caught by Jesus.  Yet, we all still need a little dunking now and then to wash away our doubts, water our faith and help us learn to trust God saves us.  

God never promised that life would be like a day at the beach.  On the contrary, Jesus assured his followers a life full of hardship, but Jesus did promise to be with us always.

God lures us in when we remember God’s marvelous love.   In times of troubled waters, have faith.  Look – We are floating in Love and God will always throw us a line. 

Have you ever had the opportunity to save a drowning person? 
I did.  We were at the public pool.  I was about 11 when this toddler waddled over from the baby pool and just plopped in the deep end right in front of me.  I was sitting on the side and reached down and caught her.  When I brought her back to her mother, she thanked me effusively.  I didn’t think much about it.   It didn’t call for any great heroics on my part, it was a simple thing to do. 

I think God is like that:  God is simply there for us, saving us, loving us and will simply not let us go through life alone. 

God showed the depth of God’s love when Jesus humbly became a human like one of us.  We see Jesus’ heroics in the Gospels:  Jesus patiently endured temptation, hunger and thirst; rejection of his miraculous deeds and words of truth about God’s love; betrayal, abandonment by his disciples, torture… and when Jesus was sinking into death on the cross he experienced the feeling of abandonment by God.   Yet, God was holding Jesus, offering Jesus, “For God so loved the world that he gave His only Son…  God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”      God simply has no other way of being than to simply love us and hold us when we are sinking.

Maybe Peter had it right.  Maybe when we are brave and scared at the same time, we need to overcome our doubts when we are sinking in the troubled waters and have the faith and audacity to not be afraid to cry out, “Lord, save me!”    And Love will always catch us.

FREEDOM

 In 1733, forty-three years before the passage of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain, Blessed M. Celeste Crostarosa, founder of the Redemptoristine Nuns, declared her own independence by following her liberty of conscience in NOT accepting ultimatums made by her superiors at the time.  She paid the price for it by being expelled from the monastery in Scala, outside of Naples.   Five years later, she was able to implement the Rule of the new Order based on the humble Incarnate life of Jesus which He had revealed to her 13 years earlier.   

At the beginning of WWII, FDR proposed the Four Freedoms:  Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear.  Have these come to pass?    Everything takes time.   Freedom takes time.   

Recently, American Magazine said that about 50-60% of Catholics are dissatisfied with the preaching and music in the parishes.  In this Year of Eucharistic revival people are hungering for more. 

Women want the freedom to be heard in the Church and been seen as equal proclaimers of the Word of God.  Our brother Redemptorist, Rev. Maurice Nutt, just published an excellent book on African-American Catholic Theology of Preaching, DOWN DEEP IN MY SOUL.   All Pastors should buy a copy.

Catholic churches, Protestant churches, Synagogues and Moslem and Hindu temples have all been targets of hate crimes in recent years. Innocent people have died worshipping.   Sadly, people now come to church packing guns, just in case.  Pray God that all people may have the freedom to worship.

Many parishes have outreach to the poor and suffering.  What can we do together to free more people of the family of God from want in our own neighborhoods? 

LBGT+ Catholics want to worship and be welcomed to celebrate Eucharist without fear and judgement.  These, too, are the children of God. 

The time has come.  Let us make Freedom a reality:
Freedom for all in the sight of God.
And may the Prince of Peace reign in our hearts
now and always.

CONSECRATION TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

 

On this Solemnity, our community renews its Consecration to the Sacred Heart. 

Our Order of the Most Holy Redeemer has always worn an image if Jesus over their hearts.    Before Vatican II, these images were hand-painted and attached to the scapular.  

After Evening Prayer we pray:

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, behold us here today to proclaim your absolute dominion over our Community.   We desire to love your life of love, so that among us may flourish those virtues for which you promised peace on earth.

Reign over our understanding by the integrity of our faith; reign over our hearts by our love for you.  May this love be ever nourished be fervent prayer and the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist.

Be pleased, O Divine Heart, to preside over our meetings, to bless our undertakings, to banish all care, to be present in our joys and sorrows.   If any of us should ever grieve your Sacred Heart, remind us of your goodness and mercy towards the repentant sinner.  

And when death enters our family circle, help us to bow humbly before the mystery of life, remembering that the day will come when our entire Community, once more united in heaven, will sing with joy of your mercy and goodness forever.   Amen

PENTECOST WATERFALL

 

It is our custom to select cards with the fruits and gifts of the Spirit on Pentecost to serve as a reminder of what we already possess as baptized individuals into the one body of Christ. 

Just as this watercolor of the outpouring graces of the 

Holy Spirit washes across this one piece of paper, so, too, is our community awash with graces.  Yet, when the one piece of paper is divided into many cards, each individual card, though unique with its flowing design, is still of one piece.  We are like that: all connected yet having our own special gifts and talents to offer in service to our community and to our world.  

When I was painting this watercolor, I was humming a song I heard from a cassette tape made by the St. Alphonsus ‘Rock’ Church in St. Louis, ‘Spirit, Fall On Me,’ imagining the graces falling down upon us all like a waterfall - imagine Niagara Falls - with plentiful water, refreshing water. That is God’s way with graces – showering on us all with plentiful Redemption. 

At the bottom of the waterfall are ripples pushing out further and further, ever expanding from the base of the waterfall to affect everything around it.  We are those ripples when
we use those graces that have fallen on us for the benefit of all.

As we receive the fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit may we be refreshed by the plentiful graces falling all around us by the powerful, joyful out-pouring of the Spirit upon us individually, as a community and ripple-out those graces to the entire world.