PEACE AND JOY
In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Scrooge says, “I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present and the Future!”
The Liturgical Year
begins with Advent: as we light the Advent wreath we remember it is a time of
preparation, of quiet reflection opening of the heart to welcome anew the Son
of God.
But there are many days within Advent to celebrate: On December 6th, St. Nicholas Day, Sr. Moira always paints a giant spice cookie to celebrate the day and makes a St. Lucy’s bread for the morning of December13th.
On the Feast of our Lady of Guadalupe, we held our
Sunday Associate meeting via ZOOM. Many
of the Sisters and Associates shared their love of Our Lady under this
title. We
learned that Juan Diego’s indigenous name means ‘Talking Eagle,’ which brought
to mind Blessed Celeste’s description of those who have a clean heart like Our
Lady of Guadalupe and Juan Diego, who, “Fix their gaze with affection and love
on the eternal Sun of Justice; as an eagle gazes on the sun.” During Advent, we too are called to clear
away all the triviality that blinds us from the true meaning of the season and God’s
plan of love, and with the help of Our Lady, fly to Jesus and announce His presence
among us.
When we put up our little Forest of Christmas Trees in Celeste Hall, our Red Nun’s community room, we ended with a special Night Prayer with the Blessing of the Christmas Trees and Creche, hymns and sampling of Christmas cookies and eggnog.
Even though we were all ‘boosted’ in December, we did
not have Mass Christmas Eve night. We
did have a joyful Mass Christmas day with our faithful pastor from the parish,
Fr. Richard Smith. We felt like the
Holy Family in Bethlehem with just us quietly celebrating the birth of the
Christ Child.
We joined the Carmelites
for their tradition of three days of quiet before the New Year. On December 31, we Red Nuns, held a solemn
Evening Prayer for Our Mother of God in Celeste Hall which ended
with each Sister selecting for the New Year a patron Saint, a Title of Our
Lady, a Petition and a Practice (a saying) to contemplate from our
Constitutions.
On the final celebration of the
Christmas cycle Candlemas or the Presentation of the Lord, February 2, we took
down our Christmas Forest.
Our community has the tradition of renewing our vows every 25th of the month. Every ‘Little Christmas’ we honor the Incarnation by placing the Baby Jesus in Celeste Hall and gather to renew of vows and pray. The shrine is always decorated to reflect the
as we honor Jesus who wished to save us by his example of love. In June, John the Baptist visited the Christ Child in the manger. We were are mindful in September of the teachers who, like Jesus, open the minds and hearts of their students with their love and care. Around Thanksgiving we praised the abundance of God’s mercy and love in giving us Jesus.
We also wish to share
with you other highlights of the past year:
Sr. Moira’s beloved mother, Mary,
92, died February 26. For the Easter
Triduum, Rev. James Hess, O. Carm. celebrated the service and Vigil Mass. On June 12, Sisters Paula and Paz joined
other Jubilarians at St Patrick Cathedral for Mass and luncheon with Cardinal
Timothy Dolan. It was a blessed day to
rejoice with all the sisters and brothers of various congregations for their
witness and dedication to the Lord. Sr.
Paula celebrated 70 years and Sr. M. Paz celebrated 60 years. Sr
Paula’s brother, Tom, 88, died on June 29, 2022.
We thank God for the miracle of him coming back to the Sacraments on his last day.
Because of distance
(Puerto Rico, Chicago) and the remnants of covid, Sr. Linda measured
Redemptorist for habits via Zoom. Sr.
Mary Jane, who keeps our computers humming, is enjoying learning to play a
Recorder in the Key of F.
The Red Nuns joined the Brown Nuns (Carmelites) in their 10-day Pre-Pentecost silent retreat. On Pentecost morning we drew cards with the Gifts and Fruits of the Spirit. Throughout the year we rejoice
For the Solemnity of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, Redemptorist Fr. Karl Esker was our celebrant at Mass. On the Feast of Holy Redeemer (Third Sunday of July) Fr. Richard Smith was our celebrant at Mass. He is becoming an honorary Redemptorist because he also celebrated St Alphonsus (August 1) and St Gerard (October 16) with us.
We met a couple of newly
ordained priests, Fr. Andrew Chu, who told us about his dream to go on mission
to China, and O. Carm. Michael Joyce. We
pray for these young men who are so full of the Spirit. We had other priest visitors who shared their
stories with the Carmelites and us: Fr
Jozef Krajnak from Slovakia and Fr. Xavier Doss, OCD, from India.
And we are always blessed to have our own Fr. Provincial Paul Borowski, CSsR
celebrate Mass for us and share the
news of the province.
For our joint 10-day community retreat in October we were pleased to have Redemptorists Jim Wallace and Phil Dabney come to give us reflections on Aging in Christ, Living in Christ, Dying in Christ and Rising in Christ. But before they were half way through the retreat, two Carmelite Sisters tested positive for covid! We informed
Frs. Phil and Jim and advised them to leave. We continued the retreat as ‘hermits’ – masked and social distancing within the monastery. Thank God, both Sisters recovered and we have arranged for the Redemptorists to return in the Spring to finish their presentations.
Our Novena Prayers before Christmas for all your
intentions begins December 16.
We gather in Celeste Hall around the flickering Advent candles and pray:
“Adore, oh my soul, in the heart of Mary,
the only begotten Son of God who was made man for love of you.”
As we wish you every blessing this Christmas and New
Year,
let us be grateful for the Past, peaceful in the Present and hopeful for the
Future,
and honor Christmas in our hearts and keep it all the year!
REDEMPTORISTINE
NUNS
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