Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Companions on the Journey

          On Saturday, November 1, we celebrate the Feast Day of All Saints.  This feast is a celebration of the Communion of Saints and all the saints of the Church’s Liturgical Year, those with assigned days and those not celebrated on any particular day.  It is an inclusive celebration for “all saints” in general. We remember the lives of these saints and how they grew in holiness.  Sometimes we try to imitate their virtues. We all have our favorite saints.
          November 2 is the feast day of All Souls Day, and we remember all who have died, our relatives, community and friends. We pray for them and ask them to also intercede for us who are still on our journey. The older I get, the more people there are to remember on All Souls Day, my parents, friends, community and co-workers.
          Recently, on October 23, our community lost a friend and companion, Sr. Betty Cahill.  She is greatly missed and will certainly be remembered on All Souls Day

           Sr. Barbara Woeste
            

Monday, October 27, 2014

Now is the time

For letting go so others might grow...
For recognizing one’s need for less in a world that’s splintered in spirit… 
For surrendering to the slow grinding of justice pursued...                                    
For planting a perennial, passing on a good word, loving anew...                    
For blessing the moment, the child, the migrating bird... 
For giving thanks to the tree outside the window, standing so long and still giving green... 
For asking the question, “Where are we going?” and listening faithfully,  
hearing the words of our dear Sister Bea*
      “Into eternity.”

That in all things God may be glorified  Amen.
                       Sr. Sharon Portwood, OSB



*Our beloved Sister Beatrice Flickinger, died in 2001

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Teresa of Avila

Today on the feast of Teresa of Avila I thought I’d reflect upon this complex and paradoxical saint and share of my favorite quotes from her. Teresa was born in 1515 in Spain, and her grandfather had been Jewish at the time when Ferdinand and Isabella gave the Jews the choice of converting or being expelled. Teresa’s early spirituality was based in boldness and fear. At the age of seven she and her brother ran away from home to be martyred in the name of Christ. An uncle found them and brought them home. At the age of 14 her mother died and Teresa appealed to the Blessed Mother to be a mother to her. Later at the age of 17 she determined that being a religious was the “safest course” for her.
               Her early life as a Carmelite did not go well. She became seriously ill and three years later had to return home. She recovered but for eighteen years lived in a dark period of doubt and illness. At the age of thirty-nine she experienced a profound conversion. She sought out confessors who encouraged her not to doubt her spiritual experiences and to concentrate on the passion of Christ. In 1560, unhappy with the unreformed Carmelites, she began to meet with a group of like-minded sisters who wished to establish a new monastery based upon the primitive tradition of Carmel and the discalced reform of Saint Peter of Alcantara. The monastery would live entirely by alms and the sisters’ own labor; they would be vegetarians and adhere to a rigorous schedule of prayer. At this point she began to write her autobiography under obedience to her confessors and later wrote the Way of Perfection and the Interior Castle even though she said she had neither the health or intelligence for writing.
Painting done in 1575 by Brother Juan
de la Miseria. Teresa said upon seeing
it, "God forgive you, Brother Juan!
How ugly and bleary-eyed you have made
me!"
              Her reforms were not universally accepted and 1576 she was put under house arrest and her new convents were forbidden to accept more novices.  In 1580 partly because of the intervention of King Phillip II, her Discalced Carmelites were made a separate province from the unreformed Carmelites.
               The main themes of Teresa’s spirituality are friendship with God, love of neighbor, obedience, humility, humor and the integration of contemplation with activity. Teresa herself says:
        Mental prayer, in my opinion, is nothing other than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with the One who we know loves us.”
        The Lord does not look so much at the magnitude of anything we do as at the love with which we do it.
        We cannot be sure if we are loving God, although we may have good reasons for believing that we are, but we can know quite well if we are loving our neighbor.
        Well, come now, my daughters, don’t be sad when obedience draws you to involvement in exterior matters. Know that if it is in the kitchen, the Lord walks among the pots and pans.
        “When I fast, I fast. And when I eat partridge, I eat partridge!”  (to a critic of her gusty enjoyment of a good meal)
        What a brain for a foundress! But I can tell you I thought I had a great  brain when I made up this.(after re-reading some verses she composed)
        I was amused at your remark that you could sum her up immediately if you once saw her. We women cannot be summed up as easily as that.(Speaking to Ambrosio Mariano who presumed he could judge who would make an acceptable Carmelite candidate)
     In 1622 Teresa was canonized; in 1970 she was made a Doctor of the Church.
         Sr. Deborah Harmeling, OSB


Thursday, October 9, 2014

Celebration of 60 years of monastic profession

     At evening prayer last Saturday we celebrated with four Sisters who renewed their religious profession that first occurred 60 years ago.  As they stood before us I became emotionally overwhelmed as their long and varied “careers” jumped into my thoughts.  I was amazed.  So here is a quick overview.  Join me in being thankful to them and to God whose call made it all possible.
     Sr. Ann Middendorf (known for a while as Sr. Ann Joseph) was an elementary teacher from the little ones to 7th grade.  She then trained for special education and for many years taught in Good Counsel School dedicated to schooling those with special needs.  Eventually Sr. Ann retrained and became a parish minister for Blessed Sacrament Church in Fort Mitchell KY.  I was especially in awe of her ministry to the sick and the homebound.
     Sr. Denise Gough received her training in nursing. She worked in the hospitals run by this community in Colorado and then in the Kentucky mountains.  The hospitals were small and in small towns so her tasks were many and varied.  As years went on
Sr. Denise specialized as a nurse-anesthetist finishing her nursing days at St. Claire Regional Medical Center in Morehead, KY.
Left to right: Srs. Rosemary McCormack,
Martha Walther, Mary Catherine
Wenstrup, Prioress, Denise Gough,
Ann Middendorf.

     Sr. Martha Walther (Sr. Janine) began her ministry as an elementary teacher and soon moved to high school specializing in Spanish.  The call from the Pope for missionaries took her to Pomata in Peru where she again used her teaching skills. After returning home she became executive director of Northern Kentucky Interfaith and worked with the Exodus Jail Ministry Program.  In the years following she served in the Tribunal Office of the Covington diocese.
     Sr. Rosemary McCormack (Sr. Adrian) was an elementary teacher and principal at several schools in Northern Kentucky and also in Colorado.  She claims to have taught every grade but the first grade and served as choirmaster.  After “retiring” from teaching she took up parish ministry at Jesus Our Savior parish in Morehead KY and was recently honored for completing 25 years of serving as Director of Religious Formation.

     As one of the Jubilarians exclaimed, “It was anything but boring.” 
      Sr. Mary Rabe, OSB 

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

BITS and PIECES of LIFE

Family member’s breast cancer scare turns out to be a false alarm.
Death of 95 year old cousin is the last of the “Akron gang.”
The ritual of a military funeral is inspiring.  It has a certain sacredness about it.
     With smiling enthusiasm, Patty becomes a postulant.
WELCOME!
     
October dawns with crisp air and a panoply of color.
Tomato plants to pull—fried green tomatoes to enjoy.
         Single mom spends herself to feed, clothe and pay bills for young family of five.
The desire for life keeps a Sister returning for treatment.
Elderly Sisters get life from “pop” visits from family and friends.
         Is “practicing Catholic” defined by one’s contributions to the Church?
A young nephew searches for a job.
A niece and her husband look forward to having a family.
Assembling photo albums is a treat, reviewing life in its stages.
Printed photos stop where cell phones begin.
         Life begins anew for two sisters moving from a small house to the Monastery.
         Four sisters celebrate 60 years of vowed Benedictine life at Evening Prayer.
The original Benedictine Foundation in the United States closes with a yard sale of belongings.
         It is a time to hope.
         A time to dream.
         A time to trust in the loving God who sustains us.
                   Sr. Kathleen Ryan, OSB