Responding to yesterday’s post Emissary of light to people in their darkest hours about Sister Mary Ann Rawson, SNJM, a Sister sent me this email message …
Today’s blog eminded me of this sister who just retired as the Catholic Chaplain at a state hospital … She’s a remarkable woman, with a heart 10x the size of her! It’s an incredible story of healing:
Finding Beauty and Healing Among the Saints (LA Times, April 18, 2008)
It’s about Sister Nuala Ryan of the Sisters of Saint Louis. She is retiring as the Catholic chaplain at Lanterman Developmental Center in Pomona, California. One of the captions in the photo gallery of Sister Nuala recounts this story:
A priest once asked Nuala why she taught at Lanterman when she could have been elsewhere, when much of her flock cannot pray, or dance, or sing. Where else, she asked him, could she walk each day among saints?
In another caption, Sister Nuala talks about the importance of PRESENCE which was mentioned in the article about Sister Mary Ann too.
Sister Nuala Ryan reaches out to clients as she conducts Sunday service. “Oh, we miss so much,” she said. “We get so busy, so caught in an agenda, and we forget even that heaven, or paradise, is really about presence. These clients are calling: be present with me. Sit with me. Laugh with me.”
"She wrote the way she lived: on the fly, without retrospect, always on the way, climbing higher."
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Another inspirational posting that is very much appreciated. I greatly enjoy reminders that “contemplating the meaning of life,” is less important “than giving meaning to your life.”
Often time we forget that “mere presence” is more helpful and appreciated than “presents.” It is an important lesson for parenting and caring, and when integrated into our psyche, makes almost all the excuses and rationalizations for doing nothing disappear.
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