HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY

We praise you, Lord, for Patrick who on the Emerald Isle
did plant the faith in Jesus
with gentle voice and smile.
And with a little shamrock
proclaimed the Trinity
that all the world may worship
in Christian unity.
                         Text: Moira Quinn, O.Ss.R.

THE PROMISES OF CHRIST

When we pray "Make us worthy of the promises of Christ," what are we asking for?   What are the promises of Christ?  Peace, rest in this life and eternal life in the life to come. 

Oh yes, and crosses too.  They come in all sizes: small and large, simple and complex.

Do we rejoice in all these promises?

Listen to the words Jesus says to his followers:  “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  The peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. Jn 14:27

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke (cross) upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  Mt 11:28-29

Jesus told Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life.  Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live.” Jn 11:25  

Do we believe these promises of Jesus?   What do they entail from us?  An open heart, willingness to change, growth in our relationship with God and others, an acceptance of crosses and self-emptying that leads to new life and resurrection.

How can we achieve these promises of Christ? 

One of the practices of Lent is making more time for God in our lives.  That is where we can begin to find the peace and rest we need in our hectic lives. Jesus once said to Ven. M. Celeste, “You are for me alone and I am for you alone; I am your Solitude and Repose; I am your sweet Company, your profound Centre of Peace where I will accomplish that which I promised.”  Florilegium 50

Then Jesus Christ made to Celeste a present of his divine Heart and gave her at the same time…unbreakable promises of uniting her to Himself eternally in faith, hope and love.  It seemed to her, from that moment, she was raised to a new life.  Florilegium 69

At another time Jesus said to Celeste, “All the crosses and troubles of life which the Father might be pleased to send you are not only to obtain your eternal crown, but also that you might be living images of my Humanity.”   Florilegium 118 

I am sure you are like me and don’t enjoy ‘crosses and troubles.’   But they are a part of being human.  If we are called to be ‘living images of Christ’s humanity’ then we are called to accept the crosses in our lives and see how they change us, how we can grow from them and experience new life in Christ.   

Coincidently, when thinking on this theme, I read an excerpt of James Martin’s new book, Jesus: A Pilgrim in AMERICA magazine about taking up our crosses.  Some of the things he said were: We don’t have to look for crosses, they come.  We are invited by God to accept our crosses, God’s gift is usually not what we expect and wait for new life in the resurrection, it will come.    http://americamagazine.org/issue/take-your-cross

One way to see if we are changing and growing in our relationship to God and others is to review our day.  1 Corinthians 13:3-4 has a simple formula to gauge how we are doing.  It says:   Love is patient; love is kind, love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way;
it is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrong but rejoices in the right.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends.

While reflecting on our day we can paraphrase this by asking ourselves:  Am I patient?  Am I kind?  Am I jealous, boastful, arrogant or rude, and so on…? 

Reflecting on our day is not meant to get us down on ourselves – we are human, after all; things happen.   It is meant to be an eye opener so we can see where change and growth are needed. 

If you continue to read 1 Corinthians 13: 12-13 the last line says, “Now I know only in part; then (in heaven) I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. For now, faith, hope and love abide, and the greatest of these is love.”  That is another promise of Christ.   Love abides.  So, do not be afraid.   Love never ends.   This is what Jesus promised Celeste that she/we will be united to Him eternally in faith, hope and love.  Now that is cause to rejoice in the promises of Christ!    

What promises has Jesus promised you?

CHANGING TIMES

The last phrase of our Redemptoristine Mission Statement is: ‘...in our changing times.’   That is one thing we can all count on – changing times.  How do we live life in our changing times?   The only answer is trust in God.

When Celeste was 17, the Lord said to her, “I wish to be your Guide.  Love me alone.  I am totally yours and have chosen you to be my spouse.”  Young and old, we have heard the call to have Jesus as our Guide, our confidant, our love, our spouse.  Through thick and thin, whether we were aware of it at the time or not, God is always there with us; loving us in our changing times.  

Dew of Grace                                          Moira '13

At Christmas time I came across a quote from the Father to Celeste:  “At the hour of my Incarnation there burst upon the world the dawn of the Divine Sun upon the earth; the Dew of Grace of the Holy Spirit upon all my creatures.”  That phrase ‘Dew of Grace’ bespeaks the gentlest quality of God’s tender love toward being with us; the Dew of Grace is an all-encompassing outpouring of blessings upon each and every one of us.

How do we live life in our changing times? The present often seems to be a struggle.  But because we know in our hearts the gentle tender love of God toward all God’s creatures, we follow Jesus’ example and in turn are gentle and loving towards others AND ourselves during times of tribulation and turmoil.  In the last phrase of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says, “Remember, I am with you always.” 28:20   That gives us cause to trust in God. 

The past is a jumble of change.   And we’ve lived through it!  Only by hindsight do we remember the unexpected graces that were given us for which we are now grateful.   

The future is yet to be. We can only imagine what change is next.   Let us walk together remembering the past with Jesus’ tender loving presence among us and move into the future with trust and imagination knowing that God is always with us in our changing times.

THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT

Christmas was just a month ago.  All the lights and decorations have been boxed and put away in storage, but remnants of the holiday’s goodies can still be found in the refectory. 
 

What remnants can still be found of the Christmas spirit in our lives?  Should they be just remnants?
 

In the classic movie A Christmas Carol, the Spirit of Christmas Present says, ‘We Spirits of Christmas do not live only one day of our year. We live the whole three-hundred and sixty-five. So is it true of the Child born in Bethlehem.  He does not live in hearts one day of the year, but in all days of the year.’
 

The Three Spirits of Christmas held up to Scrooge, as it were, mirrors of his life and he came to believe there was a better way to live his life.   By the end of the classic story, Scrooge is overflowing with Christmas joy and gave his word to be ‘…as good a man as the good old city knew…’
 

What keeps us from living that Christmas spirit three-hundred and sixty-five days a year?
 

Today, as our tradition, we celebrate the Incarnation.   Why is that central to our charism?  We turn to our foundress to hold up the mirror to give us the answer.
 

When Celeste was a novice the Design of the Father was revealed to her.   She wrote down the Father’s words, “Stamp on your spirit the features of his life and the resemblance of him that comes from imitation.   Be on earth living and inspired portraits of my beloved Son.  Carry him about as the life of your heart and as the goal of your existence and as the Master of your spirit.”   
 

In her Autobiography she wrote,  “This instruction was for her soul like a polished mirror into which she remained gazing continually as at the dazzling light of the sun (the Son) and found herself at once drawn into the divine splendor of her Well-Beloved.”   Celeste was called from the beginning  to be for the world  a Mirror of God’s Love. 
 

That is our call also. We are to fix our gaze on the Son and, as if gazing in a mirror, see not only the splendor of His Being, but in our own being a living reflection of God’s eternal love.   “It is in this that the Redeemer is able today to accomplish His work of salvation in us and through us.” Const. 5    For, “The more we strive to live the love of Christ, the more the thoughts and feelings of Christ will fill our spirit and our heart, the more we will become His faithful images.” Const.6
 

Celeste describes Jesus, the only Begotten Son of the Father as the mirror of the Father.   She invites us to look into this mirror of the Son saying, “Those who are pure of heart know My Father because they look upon Him fixedly with a gaze of love.” and adds: “They are children of the light because with the vision of right intention, they gaze into the mirror of the divine perfections of their God.”   ‘The Mystic Who Remembered’ by Joseph Opptiz, CSsR
 

Jesus continued to instruct Celeste with these words, “In my wisdom, goodness, and infinity I call you, dear soul, because I want you to be clothed with all the virtues that make me beautiful, thus you will be the image of me and I shall live a life of love in the world by dwelling in your heart.”   Florilegium 4. Colloquies, III, 18 (28)
 

Celeste responded, “I no longer saw myself, but I saw You in my very self and myself transformed into You, my Most Pure Love.”
 

Like a double exposure of a photograph, one superimposed on the other, we endeavor to be Christ to one another:  “To be a living copy and faithful portrait of Jesus so that he might find himself in you, and you recognize yourself in him, your God through faith.”  Florilegium 6. Spiritual Exercises for December, med. 3 paraphrased
 

This is our call to transformation:  the call to be mirrors of God’s love and to live the Spirit of Christmas the whole three-hundred and sixty-five days of the year being as good a nun / associate as the good old monastery knew!                                                       

 

 

 

ALL GOOD GIFTS

All Good Gifts around us
Are sent from Heaven above
Thank the Lord,
O Thank the Lord,
For all Your Love.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

GOD'S MASTERPIECE - A WORK IN PROCESS

Though in the form of God, Jesus did not claim equality with God but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, human like one of us.

Flesh and blood, he humbled himself, obeying to the death, death on a cross. 
For this very reason God lifted him high and gave him the name above all names.

So at the name of Jesus every knee will bend in heaven, on earth, and in the world below, and every tongue exclaim to the glory of God the Father, “Jesus Christ is Lord.”   
Phil. 2:6-11




Follow the light.org  Jesus Reads Hearts

Yesterday we celebrated ‘Christ the King.’   The gospel was the story of the good thief; a snapshot of one of God’s masterpieces.    Jesus, God made man, is dying on the cross and he extends to the good thief love, mercy, Paradise.  Obviously, Jesus saw in the thief’s heart a masterpiece in the making: the good thief was a work in process even until his last breath. 

That is good news for us as we stumble and mumble our way through life.  We are a work in process on our way to being God’s masterpiece.   We do the best we can with all our gifts and gaffes, talents and tendencies. And then God puts on the finishing touches and we become a work of art. 
In less than a week from today, the liturgical year begins with the First Sunday of Advent:  a time of beautiful symbolism and readings as we light a candle and await the comings of our God.    Ironically, the gospel reading for the First Sunday of Advent is from Matthew and talks about staying awake so a thief may not break into your house. 

How would it be if we stayed awake so we could be ready for the Thief of Hearts, Jesus, when he breaks into our hearts!  Instead of stealing from us Jesus, the Thief of Hearts would bestow on us love, mercy.  And we would become God’s masterpiece – a shining example of God’s salvific love for all humankind! 

It could happen now; it could happen, like the good thief, on our last breath.  Whenever, or however, it happens, we can take comfort in the fact that we are a work in process; a work of art not to be hidden away but seen and experienced by all around us.   Even the masterpieces Celeste and Alphonsus, who seemed to have been blessed from an early age as manifesting the work of art that they were during their lifetime, were works in process.   As Redemptoristines, living in our own time and place, we are called to radiate the spirit of love and mercy by giving witness to the Risen Christ.  

Your Face

The finishing touch to Jesus life was his resurrection.   The finishing touch on the good thief’s life was encountering Jesus’ love and mercy, and entering Paradise.  What will our finishing touches be?   What will be our future?   God knows.  So, let us stay awake as we await the Thief of Hearts and see what finishing touches God has in store for us as a masterpiece in process on our way to Paradise.  

                                                                                                                   

INCARNATION TOGETHER

On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Jesus and his disciples had likewise been invited to the celebration.  At a certain point the wine ran out, and Jesus’ mother told him, “They have no more wine.”

Jesus replied, “Woman, how does this concern of yours involve me?  My hour has not yet come.”

His mother instructed those waiting on table, “Do whatever he tells you.”

As prescribed for Jewish ceremonial washing, there were at hand six stone water jars, each one holding fifteen to twenty-five gallons.

Jesus ordered, “Fill those jars with water,” And they were filled to the brim.

“Now, draw some out and take it to the waiter in charge.”

The waiter in charge tasted the water made wine, without knowing where it came from; only the waiters knew, since they had drawn the water.     Then the waiter in charge called the groom over and remarked to him, “People usually serve the choice wine first; then when the guests have been drinking awhile, a lesser vintage.   What you have done is keep the choice wine until now!”

Thus did Jesus reveal his glory, and his disciples believed in him.          John 2:1-11

 

Today, we celebrate Jesus who became incarnate by uniting his divinity to our flesh.  The Intent of the Father says, “From all eternity, by virtue of a plan born of His mysterious and utterly gratuitous love for us, God wishes to call us to live in communion with Him, to give us His Spirit of love so that He might constantly live with us and in us...  called together to become the Body of Christ.” 

Tomorrow, Carmelite Sr. Mary Theresa celebrates her 50^th anniversary of profession.  A couple of weeks ago Sr. Hildegard's son Matthew and Heidi we married.  Four months ago we came to share this Monastery of the Incarnation when we were at the point we feeling our ‘wine had run out.’ But we have been filled to the brim with new wine, new life as we have seen Jesus’ glory revealed in the warm welcome of our Carmelite sisters. 

In each case Jesus is revealed and the loving dynamic of the Incarnation is manifested:  Sr. Theresa vowed to live in communion with Him.  Matthew and Heidi silently exchanged rings when no words could express their mysterious and gratuitous love for each other.  And we are called to live in communion with Him and become the Body of Christ.  And now together with the Carmelites, the Incarnation is broadened through divine charity filling our beings with overflowing wine: grace.

 

Celeste spoke of the union of our souls with the Incarnate Jesus in Eucharistic fashion.  Once, she began speaking of bread then switched to wine in her metaphor.  It made me think of our two communities coming together.   I paraphrase, “From all the wheat grains, as it were, of faithful souls you knead together a single Bread baked by the fire of your divine charity into your Humanity. You make us the bread of God and we, through union of love, live the life of God.  In this instance, these souls are brought by the Lord into the cellar of this excellent wine of union and grace and, carried away by this most exhilarating drink, live in the strength of the love of the Holy Spirit, and so together we cry out, ‘Eat, drink and be inebriated:  be transformed into the living God.’”  Flor. 32, 76

Who knows what our future holds.  “We are called to…transformation in a more radical way in our life as Redemptoristines in order to become, both personally and as a community, a living Memorial of the Paschal Mystery of Christ the Redeemer.”  C&S 14  as we seek together the Father’s intent for the whole community.   C&S 65    

Mary, Jesus’ Mother and our Mother, was a wise woman attentive to the Spirit.  In the Cana story we heard how she nudged Jesus to transform his way of thinking and trusted something radical would happen when she told those waiting on table to “Do whatever he tells you.”   In the end the waiter remarked about the ‘choice wine.’  I wonder what ‘choice wine’ awaits us as we strive to remain open to the movements of the Spirit.   What glory will be revealed as we believe in him who “is the light of our faith, the strength of our charity and the source of our hope.”  And be “Like Mary… attentive to the action of the Spirit whose aim is to realize in us the very works of the Redeemer.”  C&S16