communitas et caritas

So, officially today, I've been in the Society of the Sacred Heart for three months!

It has been beautiful, challenging, amazing...a great time of growth.  I'm adjusting still to the new environment--both the new city and the life in community.

Many things have been great graces:

• Living with other people!  Sharing meals, lives, hopes, sorrows...
• Communal prayer.
  
• God is good to me--and I am spending more time in personal prayer, too. 
• My students are (mostly) fun and generally well-behaved. They at least feign interest in theology.
  
• And I love teaching--it's good to be in the classroom.

More than anything else, my sisters are amazing, so welcoming, loving and compassionate.  I am grateful for their support, and for their companionship on this strange journey.  I have been welcomed into their lives in ways that I never expected.

There are challenges, too.  Moving is always a challenge, and this move was big--a move to a "new" city (I have lived here before, but things have changed in my absence), a new job,  and a completely new way of living.  I'm glad to report that I rarely get lost, I can find the grocery store and the gas station without difficulty, the mysteries of the kitchen and where it keeps things are being revealed, and I'm getting used to the commute.

Perhaps this is the beginning of what Jesus tells us in today's gospel, that "everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple." Many of my material possessions are gone, but I have gained a whole beautiful world.

In my mind all day has been one line from the end of today's first reading, Romans 12:  "Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep."

Paul is talking to all of us here, giving us advice about what it means to be Christian.  From the beginning, the passage tells us about the Body of Christ--our connection to each other. We are so united to each other, that each of us suffers when one person is suffering, and all of us rejoice together in the triumphs of one.

The more people I deal with on a daily basis, the more deeply I understand how intimately connected we are.  Most of us grow up thinking that we can become completely independent of each other, but what kind of life would that be?  I would much rather know that others need me as much as I need them.

So, let's choose to listen to St. Paul:
"Let love be sincere ... love one another with mutual affection ... Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer."

AMEN!

[I]n all these things we conquer overwhelmingly
through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities,
nor present things, nor future things,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature will be able to separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(From today's first reading, Romans 8.37-39)

The last few weeks have been filled with sad stories -- students with tragic experiences, friends who are sick (some very sick), and friends who've lost close friends or family.

I'm saddened by all these things, especially this week, but the reading this morning gives me great hope, and comfort that God's love is always with each one of us.  None of these sorrowful events can separate us from the love of Jesus.  I hold onto that knowledge in my own sorrow.  I hope that all who are touched by sadness can know and be comforted by Christ's love for each of them.

We just had a lovely evening of community -- all 7 of us together for prayer, then a leisurely dinner, and then games!  We celebrated a birthday, and it was so lovely to spend time together without having to rush off to other responsibilities.

I'm very grateful for this time in community.  I loved living alone, but it's wonderful to come home to people, generous people who care about how my day was and what's on my mind.  And I care about them, too!

On another note, one of my students asked me today, out of the blue, "So, can you ever leave the convent and get married?"  I could help laughing (it was really random), but then it sparked a brief discussion about what this life is about, and what this commitment means.  I think it's easiest to compare to a marriage: I am committed to it, but sometimes people do walk away.  (As one of my friends responded, it's not like the pope has a gun to my back demanding that I stay!)  And then I also was able to explain that I'm in the "engagement" stage--that I haven't yet made those vows, but that I am committed to the relationship nonetheless.

If only I had thought to mention that I'm marrying Jesus.....I wonder how that non-Catholic student would have reacted....

Good Night to all!

I finally figured out what was wrong with the comment function....so I think it works now!

This morning at mass, I found myself relating a little too much to the music--it felt as if it was picked just for me!  Such a strange experience....

First: 
"Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?
Will you go where you don't know and never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown?
Will you let my name be known?
Will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?"

Yikes.  I love this song, and it really expresses for me a lot about the call to religious life--that I am trying to follow Jesus as he calls my name, but that I don't have a clue what is in store.  I do know that my life will never be the same.  And that's good--I've grown and learned so much, even at this early stage.

And the recessional:
"I have decided to follow Jesus, No turning back, no turning back."
"Though no one join me, still I will follow, No turning back, no turning back."
"The world behind me, the cross before me, No turning back, no turning back."

Yep.  That says it all.  The second line is really speaking to me--knowing that so few understand what religious life is about, and yet some of us are called to it anyway.  I can't imagine not following this call at this point.

I'm too tired for any more.  Blessings to all this week!

I love the previous template for this blog, but comments were not functioning...so we'll try this for a bit, and then I might try a nicer one later!  I hope it works!