communitas et caritas

Well, I should start by saying that it's not literally my birthday (that's in February, in case you needed to know).  But--yesterday was the anniversary of my entrance into the novitiate!  I'm officially a second-year novice! (The pics are what my novitiate community sent me--the Elmo card cracked me up!!) So, our formation program includes two years of the novitiate (sometimes called the noviceship, which I tend to make jokes about...falling overboard...needing a "captain"...).  The first year is bound by a number of rules, based on the law of the Catholic Church.  Basically, it's a time when the novice focuses on her relationship with God.  She does not do any sort of paid ministry (but she should do some voluntary ministry that does not carry too much responsibility, and that brings her in touch with God's people), and she spends more time in prayer than she otherwise has the freedom for.  Other things are included, like study of the religious order, ...

I finally saw the film Of Gods and Men this morning, and I think it will stick with me for a while.  If you haven't seen it, you should!  It is incredibly beautiful.  (And with that warning, I'm going to reveal a bit of the ending--though it's something I was glad I knew before I watched it.) The film tells the true story of a Trappist monastery in the 1990s in Algeria.  The small group of French Trappists, who had been in this little village for over a century, was targeted by a group of terrorists during the civil war, and eventually killed.  The story is not about their death, but about their life with God, their love, and their commitment to each other and the surrounding community. Several touching scenes show how the monks respect and care for each other, though I don't really want to give away too many details here for those who haven't seen it.  There is, however, a sense of the deep compassion they possess for one another, and the acknowledg...

To all my faithful readers, a great apology is in order.  I am so sorry to have left the blog behind! But it was a necessary thing. The last month and a half has been filled with good things.  I had a three-week-long retreat, a service project, and a meeting with younger women religious.  For now, I'd like to pass on a link to the Giving Voice blog, which chronicles my adventures of the past few days.  We had a weekend with 150 sisters ranging in age from 24 to 88, and guided in conversation in part by Sandra Schneiders, IHM. So, take a look!  The blog is here.

I've just been reading Ruth Burrows, The Essence of Prayer , and I've been thinking about this quote (p. 169):   "To expose ourselves generously to the demands of community life; to refuse to shirk them in any way is to expose ourselves to God, allowing Him to purify us through others, shatter our illusions with humbling self-knowledge, divest us of everything selfish and enable us to love others with a pure, mature, disinterested love.  Surely this is true for whoever would follow Our Lord closely, whatever their form of life." How true is that?!  I've been struggling with community living a bit lately--in part because I'm spending a lot more time at home, recovering (still!) from surgery.  So I think I need to make this quote my mantra for a while. Burrows writes in the context of a Carmelite monastery, where most enter expecting solitude, but where there is also structured and required community time.  Time with others that cannot be missed. ...

I really don't like goodbyes.  Really.  I say them, and tears fly, and the world looks rather bleak for a while. One thing I'm learning about religious life is that it's about availability to do whatever you are called to do in the interest of the Kingdom of God--and that this availability necessarily demands many hard goodbyes.  It means being able to go wherever God calls you.  At the same time, it means building relationships with those with whom you live and minister.  So...build a relationship, and then say goodbye to the one you love. What I still am working to grasp is that the one you love is still with you--in your heart, but also available through phone, skype, email, whatever!  That the goodbye is not forever and not a complete separation.  The bond of love in the Heart of Jesus is still strong. Today we say goodbye to one of our community members who's been here on sabbatical from the Korean Province.  She has been so much fun, so...

Today we celebrate the feast of our foundress--Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat!  Happy Feast! I'm stuck on the first rite of the mass (the introductory verse that we usually skip): "Set me like a seal on your heart, like a seal on your arm, for love is strong as death ."   (Cant. 8:6) Love is strong as death.  Over the past several months, I've been pondering how love can conquer our fears, that my fears are eased when I remember the love of Jesus.  What do I have to be afraid of when I am filled with God's love--a love that is far stronger than all else! And yet, I do have fears. We all do.  Fears of failure, of disappointment, of loss, and of death, to name a few.  One of the most beautiful things about the Society of the Sacred Heart for me is the element of love.  Sophie founded a community of women who are devoted to sharing God's love with all they meet.  Women who help every person they encounter to know that they are loved.  I...

The last two weeks have been challenging to say the least.  About two weeks ago, I had to have emergency surgery to remove my appendix.  Pretty common, I know, but still, surgery is scary!  I'm never really sick, and I'd never been to surgery or even admitted to the hospital before. I was scared, to say the least.  But I was also in pain and sick, and so I could ignore the fear in order to just let the surgeon do his work. Somehow the hospital didn't get a record that I was Roman Catholic, and so no chaplains visited me, until a few days later when they visited the other person in my room. Fr. Jim brought her communion, then asked me who I was and offered me the Sacrament of the Sick and Eucharist. He anointed me, said the words, and I burst into tears, my first since the surgery.  I was so immediately relieved, and also suddenly aware of how frightened I had been for days.  I felt God's presence with me, the warmth and love flooding over me with the ...