communitas et caritas

Merry Christmas! I've been here in Madrid a week as of yesterday, and I'm celebrating the feast today (and yesterday) with the community here. I'm staying with the elder sisters in a house named Rosales, which is on the same property as a school. Of course, school's out for the holiday. Across the street is a park (also named Rosales, for an artist), and within walking distance is a shopping district and access to all sorts of public transit. I am hoping to walk to the Cathedral later today to see the Christmas decorations. There are nativity scenes EVERYWHERE! In churches, on street corners, in department stores and corner drugstores. In the plazas at the center of tiny towns and big cities. There are four in this house in public areas, and I suspect many of the sisters have their own in their rooms! Here, at least, they definitely remember that Jesus is the center of this celebration. No Christmas celebration here would be complete without the kissin...

I wasn't sure why I kept this blog alive -- other than not seeing a reason to delete it. And now, the reason to keep it is here. A new adventure starts this week! A blog re-boot begins now, to tell the stories and share the pictures. I hope you enjoy. This adventure is the next stage of my formation as a Religious of the Sacred Heart. You can flip through the older blog posts to read the chronicles of my first years in formation, through my first vows and into my years as "professed of temporary vows." Now that six and a half years have passed since my vows ceremony, I am beginning to prepare for perpetual profession. Adventure time! The first stage of preparation is called an international experience. I am leaving on Sunday, December 16, to spend the next six months in southern Spain. Our Spanish sisters have had a ministry there for decades to assist migrants with their adjustment into Europe. Migrants come from all over Africa to work in acres of greenhouses in Alme...

I preached this morning for a midday prayer service, and here it is! Gospel reading:  Mark 2:1-12 When Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days, it became known that he was at home. Many gathered together so that there was no longer room for them, not even around the door, and he preached the word to them. They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd, they opened up the roof above him. After they had broken through, they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to him, “Child, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there asking themselves, “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming. Who but God alone can forgive sins?” Jesus immediately knew in his mind what they were thinking to themselves, so he said, “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins ...

  Today, once again, I am preaching for mid-day prayer... so here it is: Reading:  Ephesians   3:2-12 Responsorial Psalm:  You shall draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation. (Isaiah 12) As you might know,   I have been utterly captivated by the words of Pope Francis.   Today’s Psalm and the reading from Paul share two of the main themes Pope Francis has focused on:   to preach the gospel to everyone, and to show our joy as Christians.   For Francis, we preach in everything we do, not just by explicitly offering words of the salvation of Christ to those who do not yet know him.   We preach through the care we offer others, whether physical or emotional, through our actions of kindness to our families, communities, and to strangers, and through our open attitudes of joy and hope. We also preach in the more conventional sense, too, by sharing our insights with one another and teaching and learning in the classroom. ...

We had a big meeting of nuns a week ago, and we were asked to bring a small symbol of Jesus' heart with us.  I brought this red heart: (Actually, to be truthful, I brought both it and the cross because I changed my mind while packing.) The heart fits in my palm, and it has a lovely tinkly bell inside.  It makes a happy noise! But I didn't bring it because it sings, or because it's heart-shaped and pretty.  I brought it because of who gave it to me.  The heart was a gift from my very best friend, and it symbolizes Jesus' heart for me because she's the one person in my life who always knows how I feel by the sound of my voice.  We live far apart, so most of our communication is by cell phone.  And yet she always seems to know whether I'm really happy or just pretending to be. It makes me think of the appearance of Jesus to Mary Magdalene after the resurrection in the Gospel of John.  She goes to the empty tomb and sits weeping in sorrow for ...

I'm teaching a course tonight on the Trinity--that great mystery that is at the heart of Christianity and Christian life.  I'm a little nervous because it's hard to talk about something so big and so bound up in the unknown.  But Pseudo-Dionysius helps, with his hymn at the beginning of "The Mystical Theology." Trinity!!  Higher than any being, any divinity, any goodness! Guide of Christians  in the wisdom of heaven! Lead us up beyond unknowing and light, up to the farthest, highest peak of mystic scripture, where the mysteries of God's Word lie simple, absolute and unchangeable in the brilliant darkness of a hidden silence. Amid the deepest shadow they pour overwhelming light on what is most manifest. Amid the wholly unsensed and unseen they completely fill our sightless minds with treasures beyond all beauty. (This translation is from Colm Luibheid, published by Paulist Press in 1987.) The indentations of the translation I am looking at h...

I'm leading and preaching for mid-day prayer today, and I've chosen to use the first reading for the Feast of St. Robert Bellarmine, rather than tackle either of the mass readings today.  But really, I'm just talking about the saint himself.  Enjoy. Reading: Wisdom 7:7-10, 15-16             The passage from Wisdom an appropriate introduction to the life of St. Robert Bellarmine, whom the church celebrates today.   Bellarmine was a Jesuit and Cardinal who lived in the late 16 th and early 17 th century.   He was born shortly after Ignatius founded the Society of Jesus, and the Council of Trent began when he was a child, ending during his philosophy studies in Rome.   His entire theological career was marked by the decisions made by the Council and by the theology of reformers such as Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Ulrich Zwingli.   In fact, his writings reveal that he read and knew their th...