My dear friend and IHM Sister Margaret Brennan recently published her memoir, What Was There for Me Once (2009 Novalis) and last week National Catholic Reporter published a review of the book called “A life of change and renewal” (February 19, 2010).

In Sister Margaret’s book, we find not just a memoir but a compelling and insightful story. Kilian McDonnell, OSB, remarks, “Here is a story of a young girl, sister, novice mistress, elementary and high school teacher, president of the congregation, and university professor in the midst of rapid social change.” Sister Margaret “had a major part to play in developing women’s religious, academic, and spiritual lives in the second half of the 20th century.”

Here are a few quotes from NCR’s review of the book:

This preconciliar church experience was fulfilling and made sense to her — and she embraced it. Of religious life as it approached Vatican II, she writes: “While I was entirely happy in the traditional model of religious life as it had been lived for hundreds of years, I was open to the coming changes.”

The Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary were among those religious who were quick to internalize the Vatican documents and the new theologians appearing on the scene. “To use the framework of [Jesuit theologian] Bernard Lonergan, I would say that for me the change from the traditional model of religious life to the Vatican II model was a process of conversion. In involved a real change in worldview, in horizon.”

“To keep the question of God — and God’s questions — high on the horizon of the world is worth the gifts of our lives,” Brennan says. And, without a doubt, her memoir attests to this purpose.

There are many things I love about this book — most especially to hear the voice of one of my sisters, one who was instrumental in my own vocation and religious life. I also love the way she writes with grace and a confidence in the providence of God. Sister Margaret also fills a huge gap in the Catholic and popular imagination about nuns and sisters. Kilian McDonnell notes this well writing that the book takes us through “the passage typical of many women’s religious apostolic communities from monastic models to religious forms more in keeping with their original active charism.”

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Join us for prayer this evening during our live Praying with the Sisters podcast at 6 p.m. CST at http://aNunsLife.org/live .

I have a great fondness for the written word and treasure well-written books. I’m back reading The Book of My Life by Teresa of Avila. One can never experience Teresa’s writing too many times. It has a formative character which, to be biblical, is written over and over again on one’s soul, creating a well-worn path to God.

Teresa of course is a great teacher and wisdom figure on prayer, and one of the reasons she is so wise on matters of prayer is because she had such a difficult time with it during various periods of her life. Early in the book Teresa notes how certain forms of prayer did absolutely nothing for her.

“I would think about a scene in his life and then try to picture it with my mind’s eye. But … my imagination was so clumsy that no matter how hard I tried to meditate on the Lord’s humanity, I could never quite succeed.” (p 21)

When this happens, the temptation is to think then that one can’t pray or doesn’t know how to pray. But Teresa came to a different conclusion. She tried something different — in fact, she tried something that she was quite fond of: books! In the midst of describing her struggles with praying using the imagination and mental prayer, Teresa writes, “But what I liked best was to read good books.” She goes on to say how reading good books (not just any books) helped her to keep her on track and not spin out of control in prayer or end up discouraged. Such books, writes Teresa, can be an aid in prayer and can anchor us when our prayer is difficult or arid.

“During all that time [of not being able to meditate], I never dared to sit down to pray unless I had a book close at hand…. Books were my companions, my consolation, my shield against the explosion of thoughts. If I didn’t have a book, I would suffer from terrible aridity. The minute I found myself without something to read, my soul would become immediately agitated and my mind would start to wander. But as soon as I started reading, the words acted like bait to lure my soul and my thoughts began to collect themselves again. Sometimes it was enough just to know that I had a book beside me; I didn’t even have to open it. Sometimes I read just a little, sometimes a lot, depending on the mercy of God.” (p 22)

Good books are for Teresa, as they are for me, wonderful spiritual companions. I think you know what one of my favorites to take to prayer is! What about for you? What book is your spiritual companion and why? If not a book, what is your spiritual companion in the sense of what Teresa is saying here?

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Praying with the Sisters podcast is in experimentation mode! We’re trying out an evening time slot and a slightly new format. Join us today at 6 p.m. Central Time (time zone converter). Join us at at http://anunslife.org/live.

Happy Nunday! Hot of the press is a photo and article about Sister Anne Higgins, DC, a Daughter of Charity. Sister Anne is a Catholic sister and a poet! Check out her blog of poetry at Scattered Showers in a Clear Sky. A link to her blog can also be found in our director of Blogs by Catholic Nuns.

Sister Anne was recently featured in The Frederick News-Post in the article Mount teacher’s poetry writing talent is a gift, not a compulsion by Marge Neal (October 04, 2009). Here’s a clip from the article and, of course, a photo of Sister Anne:

The Mount St. Mary’s University teacher leads classes in English, theology and poetry. As a member of the Daughters of Charity, she lives her faith on a daily basis. As a teacher at a Catholic university, she gets to share that faith with her students while getting them excited about the written word, another passion of hers.

“I’ve been writing my whole life,” Higgins said Thursday. “I probably started writing poems in fourth grade, just regular little rhyming poems.”

Sister Anne Higgins, DC; photo by Graham Cullen

Sister Anne’s fourth book of poetry, “How the Hand Behaves,” is set to be published Nov. 8 [Note: Correction to article: publish date = Nov. 30; also, hyperlinks mine].

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This week, the Praying with the Sisters podcasts are prerecorded because Sister Maxine and I are out and about on mission this week. So each morning we’ll have a link to the day’s prayer. We invite you to email your prayer requests to us so we can keep you in prayer. We’ll be back live on Friday at noon Central Time (UTC-5) for Nun News Roundup at http://anunslife.org/live. Here’s today’s prayer:

Happy Monday and happy Nunday! Nunday is alive and well but we still need your photos of Catholic sisters and nuns. Maybe it’s a nun that is a friend or relative of yours. Maybe it’s your teacher or catechist or coworker. Send in your photo to be featured on NUNDAY. By participating in Nunday, you’re helping in our ministry by promoting authentic images of women religious, that is, Catholic sisters and nuns, and helping people to get to know us personally!

You can view past Nunday blog posts or see the whole collection of nun photos on the A Nun’s Life Facebook page.

Today’s Nunday is a photo from Trish Clark, author of the book Good Night and God Bless which was recently reviewed here at A Nun’s Life. Trish writes:

“I took this photo when I was staying a convent guesthouse in Venice researching my book on convent and monastery accommodation for tourists, called Good Night and God Bless: A Guide to Convent and Monastery Guesthouses in Europe.

The sister was sitting at the reception desk knitting and came outside to give me directions.  She was very happy to have her photo taken and was thrilled with the instant (digital) result.”

I just learned that Trish shares all of the royalties from the sale of this book with the Mary MacKillop Foundation, an organization founded by the Sisters of St Joseph of Australia to help “helps those without choices, without hope, without a voice”. Way to go, Trish! You can find out more at the book’s website goodnightandgodbless.com.

So get a great book and at the same time support this author’s work and the Mary MacKillop Foundation. You’re also supporting the ministry of A Nun’s Life as we receive a small percentage (4%) of the purchase price from Amazon when our visitors click on links from our website to Amazon. Since I’ve inadvertently headed in this direction, I might as well add that A Nun’s Life Ministry welcomes direct donations as well — any contribution you can make helps offset some of the costs associated with providing this online ministry. To donate or to find out more, please our donate page.

UPDATE: Listen to today’s Praying with the Sisters podcast.

Today’s post continues a conversation from the last few days about Sister Sandra Schneiders’ writing. Sister Sandra has written and presented much on Religious Life. To each endeavor she brings herself and the variety of “coordinates” from which she speaks: a Catholic woman, an IHM Sister, an internationally recognized scholar in Scripture and in Religious Life, Professor Emerita at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley.

When addressing topic it’s not always easy (or desirable) for an author to speak only from one “coordinate”. In this context we’re talking about the specific issue of Religious Life, which is my lived experience and also the lived experience of my IHM Sister Sandra. It’s not always easy or even possible to separate oneself from the subject of inquiry.

Dr. Margaret Susan Thompson, known as “Peggy” here at A Nun’s Life, has graciously given us permission to post an essay she wrote on this topic. Click on the link below to view a PDF of her essay.

Concentric Circles of Sisterhood

Introduction to Building Sisterhood: A Feminist History of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Monroe, Michigan (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1997)

by Margaret Susan Thompson, PhD

Associate Professor of History and Political Science at Maxwell School of Syracuse University

A note about the use of “feminist” in Building Sisterhood: A Feminist History of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary … The IHM congregation has a long history of what today we would call “feminism.” The word has many different meanings. It’s rooted in the belief that all people deserve respect, equality, and justice. Many women around the world lack these things and suffer as a result. In this regard, feminists are women and men who desire a world where the fullness of life is available to all people. “Feminism” also refers to a perspective. For much of recorded history, the experience of women was articulated by men. Feminists are women who articulate their own experience as women, and this can yield a perspective on events, such as the birth of a child or the decision to enter religious life, that may be very different from the perspective of men.

There’s more information about the feminist perspective in Dr. Thompson’s introduction to Building Sisterhood.

Friday is here and that means it’s time for Nun News Roundup podcast day. One of the stories that we are going to talk about today is on the Eucharistic Congress which starts today in Washington, DC. As I was pulling together information about the Congress, I stumbled upon one of the presentations. It’s called “To Be Lovers of Life: The Legacy of My Mother, St. Gianna Beretta Molla”. Did I read that right? I wondered …. “my mother, Saint Gianna”? I don’t think I remember ever having encountered a saint whose still had a living child upon being canonized. Do you know of any? If so, let us know — comment below or join us during the live podcast in the chat room.

Here are the other stories we’ll be chatting about …

• a Catholic Sister who knows a thing or two about uranium — Who’s Who in Green: Dr. Rosalie Bertell, Anti-Nuclear Nun (September 5, 2009). Sister Rosalie Bertell is a Grey Nun of the Sacred Heart, a nuclear science researcher, a human rights activist and author of The Impossible Will Take a Little While
• remembering Mother Teresa of Calcutta — Christians, Hindus and Muslims remember Mother Teresa, a woman of “Charity in Truth” (September 5, 2009)
• the Eucharistic Congress and Saint Gianna Beretta Molla
• a new book called Loreto in Australia (2009) about the Loreto Sisters of Australia who were founded by Mary Ward.
• how a nun figures into the creation of Hummel figurines — Hummels Regain Fragile Foothold on Life (New York Times, September 8, 2009) about Franciscan nun, Sister Maria Innocentia, born Berta Hummel
• an interesting coincidence for Sister Julie — meeting one of the nuns we reported on during last week’s Nun News Roundup at the meeting of Sisters and Brothers of Immigrants
• a nun birthday — Sister Maxine and Sister Julie celebrate the natal anniversary of their friend Sister Mary Jane of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth.

Visit ANunsLife.org/live
Today
12 p.m. Central Time / UTC-5

You can join in on the conversation during the live broadcast by listening and chatting in our chat room. We’ll include your questions and comments from the chat room on air.

POST-SHOW UPDATE: Listen to the recording of this show by clicking the “play” button below.

Today we have a special guest post by our friend Moira Urich. If you like to travel and enjoy hanging with nuns and monks, this book may be for you!

Good Night and God Bless: A Guide to Convent & Monastery Accommodation in Europe: Austria, Czech Republic, Italy
By Trish Clark

If you’re expecting hair shirts and barren cells, this book will surprise you with entries describing modern guestrooms, occasional three-star-hotel-caliber amenities, and even thermal spring health spas run by sisters in Austria. Readers seeking solely spiritual sanctuary can limit themselves to the Spiritual Retreat entries. But the vast majority of lodgings are categorized as Open Houses, meaning open to tourists looking for simple but good quality accommodations at lower cost.

For those who want to see photos before booking, most if not all of the convents and monasteries either have their own web presence or are featured on travel sites. Good Night & God Bless is a good bet whether it’s your sole source of travel information or it’s a valuable starting point for those wanting to find out more online (for instance, more detailed maps). The book also offers information not easily found–or simply not found–on other websites.

The entries routinely provide information about:

• Contemplative or spiritual destinations in the vicinity, as well as pilgrimage sites
• Notable artworks in or near your lodging
• Off-the-beaten-path activities such as truffle-hunting excursions, outdoor markets, and day-long cooking classes
• Shops that feature hand-crafted goods
• Restaurants and cafes, in the Food and Drink section accompanying each entry

What other book about monastery lodgings would tell you where to find a great beer-bath spa in the Czech Republic? Or where to find an organic buffalo farm for tasting fresh Italian buffalo mozzarella? This book’s helpful tidbits of information, too numerable to categorize here, make it well worth your while.

Book review by Moira Urich

September 8th is the feast day of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. It caught me off guard a bit today because I’m used to seeing the feast listed as “the birth of the BVM” not “the birthday of the BVM”. A minor change of words, but enough to throw me. When I saw “birthday” I immediately had images of a young child celebrating their birthday with cake, balloons, presents, and friends. Juxtaposing that image with the great BVM, the Blessed Virgin Mary, seemed almost sacrilegious.

The Birth of the Virgin, a painting by Francisco de Zurbarán

Yet … it got me thinking. First Mary didn’t (and probably doesn’t even now) spend her days frozen in an untouchable marble pose. She was a person like you and I (albeit without sin) who had a life, daily chores, friends, field trips, and other ordinary “stuff” of life. She also had a childhood, and parents Ann and Joachim. Granted, her life — and any celebration of a birthday she might have had — would have looked very different from ours today, but I can’t help imagining a little Mary running around with her family and friends, enjoying a feast or something to celebrate her life. It gives me pause because I don’t ordinarily see Mary this way, as a child doing normal kid things. I usually only see her as a young woman growing in her relationship with God through her “Yes” to bear the Son of God all the way through the Pentecost event and her encounter with the Holy Spirit. But a child?

Today I think I’m going to spend more time getting to know Mary through this other image, a child full of life and mischief and fun and energy! And I’m going go find my copy of Truly Our Sister: A Theology of Mary in the Communion of Saints by Sister Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ, in which “Johnson offers an interpretation of Mary that is theologically sound, spiritually empowering, ethically challenging, socially liberating, and ecumenically fruitful.” I’ll be interested to see what she says of Mary’s childhood.

How do you think of Mary? Is there a particular image or title of Mary that speaks to you the most? How do you relate to Mary in day to day life?

Join Sister Maxine for prayer on this feast day today at 12 noon (Central Time/UTC-5) at http://anunslife.org/live.

I am reading the galleys of a soon-to-be-published book by Mary Gordon. It’s called Reading Jesus: A Writer’s Encounter with the Gospels (Pantheon Books, 2009).

Normally I don’t really like books on Scripture or theology that don’t come from a scholar in the field (yeah, I swing that way) but this book is a major exception and has proven not only to be a great read, but it has rocked my world. I think it is because Mary Gordon is an exceptional writer and has researched scripture scholars and has approached the topic from a unique perspective. Plus the topic is near and dear to my heart.

I will be writing more about the book but for now, since I am so taken by this book, I want to hear from you about which book has totally rocked your world. Maybe its something from an author you would never have read in a million years, maybe it’s a perspective that runs counter to your own, or maybe it’s just plain-old amazing writing that has somehow seeped into your very soul. Let us know!

Did she say AUDIO?? That’s right folks. Today’s live discussion of the book Lying Awake by Mark Salzman is going to be in audio form. There will text as well. Sister Maxine and I are experimenting with audio formats (podcasts) and thought we’d try it out for this live discussion. We also recognize that the forum format for live discussion is a bit wonky which can prevent some folks from joining in.

Time: 1 p.m. EST — for about 45 minutes

Location: Right here on at anunslife.org

Topic: Deciding to Become a Nun – We’re going to look at Sister John’s decision to become a nun, how she was influenced by her family, mentor, and God. To see relevant pages and questions click on the link which will take you to the original discussion from Sunday. We’ll start with this topic and see where it leads!

In terms of logistics, you can participate in several different ways.

At 1 p.m. EST, come back to ANunsLife.org. On the right side of the blog under the photo you’ll see a blue box displaying a green button that says “LIVE NOW” (if you don’t see it click on the A Nun’s Life header at the top of the screen to refresh the page).

1. Streaming Audio – Listen Only. Click the button to start the audio. It will take a minute or two for the audio to start streaming. If you have trouble with streaming audio, then try #2.
2. Audio via Phone Line – Listen Only. Call into the show by phone to listen. Dial 724-444-7444 and enter Call ID number 60385 and then enter the # sign.

You can also participate in the conversation. Click the link that says “Join Now To Participate”. A new window will open on your screen that says “TalkShoe Web Client” at the top. This screen allows you to see a chat box and also to see a list of other participants.

1. Text Chat.  You can ask questions or make comments in the chat box. These may or may not be picked up on air.
2. Phone Chat. You’ll see a box with instructions to call into the show (if you are not already connected by phone). Dial 724-444-7444 and enter Call ID number 60385 and then enter the # sign. Sister Maxine or I can “unmute” you so that you can be heard by all when you have a question or comment.

It’s actually quite easy to use. Try it out. Once you familiarize yourself with the basics, you are ready to go. Since we’ve not done this before, we’re not sure how smoothly we’ll be able to handle phone questions/comments/responses, but we’re counting on you to bear with us and offer helpful feedback!

Thanks for being part of this live discussion and new format! We think that this will have great possibility and allow for more fruitful, adventurous discussion!

P.S. The discussion forum will be open for any ongoing conversations on the book.

Yesterday I came across a line by poet T.S. Eliot that struck me so soundly that I drove immediately to the bookstore and got a copy of his book of verse Four Quartets.

Quick now, here, now, always–
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well …

(T.S. Eliot, “Little Gidding” V in Four Quartets)

“A condition of complete simplicity / (Costing not less than everything)” … wow. As I read the rest of this section of verse, I realized I had heard many pieces of it before, but these two lines were like a sword piercing my soul.

Simplicity is a complex word. It’s nuanced and multivalent, seemingly contradictory in itself.

Main Entry: sim·plic·i·ty (Merriam-Webster)

1 : the state of being simple, uncomplicated, or uncompounded
2 a : lack of subtlety or penetration : innocence, naiveté b : folly, silliness
3 : freedom from pretense or guile : candor
4 a : directness of expression : clarity b : restraint in ornamentation : austerity

Depending on how you read it, simplicity can be a good thing or a bad thing. Which meaning did Eliot have in mind for these verses? And, perhaps more importantly, what meaning does the reader perceive as she or he reads these verses? Reading this, reflecting on it, has become a part of my prayer for today, a kind of lectio divina or “sacred reading” as I try to see what God might be saying to me through my being captured by these words.

I find that many times when I am struck soundly by something out of the blue that I can use the experience to “unpack” some kind of call from God. It might be a call to attend to a pressing concern, to explore an idea further, to grow in understanding God, etc. It’s an invitation to go deeper in a new way.

A couple questions for you … how do you read Eliot’s line about simplicity? Have you had a similar experience of being “struck soundly” by a word or image or other experience?

]]> http://anunslife.org/2009/08/11/3459/feed/ 6 http://anunslife.org/2009/07/20/on-writing-spirituality/ http://anunslife.org/2009/07/20/on-writing-spirituality/#comments Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:02:46 +0000 Sister Julie http://anunslife.org/?p=3336

Question from Michelle …

I am a 23 year old college grad, a writer and actress, but I have always felt very called to God in some way. I feel as if I should write about spirituality… but I’m unsure what to write! Anyway… this “calling” (I hesitate to call it that because I’m really not sure)– has gotten stronger lately, but the problem is that I dont have anyone to talk to about it. I live in New York City with a lot of actor/artist friends, and generally when you talk to them about religion, they get uncomfortable. I have lost some friends this way. I also work at a church, and every time I attempt to talk to a priest about it, they seem as if they dont really have time for me.

Dear Michelle, Thanks for writing — sorry for the delay in responding. Very cool combination of talents you have! Spirituality is a great topic to write about — especially because it is in everything we are and do! It’s about seeking something deeper, something “more than” … it’s about being aware and present to the moment, to where you are and to how God is calling you. I encourage you to tend to your feeling of wanting to write about spirituality.

One of the best authors on this subject is my friend Vinita Hampton Wright. Vinita is one of the reasons I got back into writing. Back in 2004 I did a retreat with her called “The Soul Tells a Story”. It rocked my world!

Seriously the retreat changed how I thought about myself as a writer and Vinita gave me wonderful skills and encouragement to persevere, to delight in, to reverence the art of writing. Vinita still does these retreats and she has a book on the same topic — The Soul Tells A Story: Engaging Creativity With Spirituality In The Writing Life. (Hmmmm … maybe we can get Vinita to visit us on A Nun’s Life for a live discussion!??)

I encourage you to pursue this calling, Michelle, and to think on those elements of the spiritual life that attract you, that intrigue you, and maybe that even scare you! Those are good places to start. Also, read good literature and spiritually-minded authors like Joyce Carol Oates and Virginia Woolf (especially Mrs. Dalloway). Mark Salzman is another excellent writer who deals with spiritual themes. In terms of non-fiction type stuff, start with some of the classics by the saints and holy people of various religious traditions. And you can always check in with me. I’ve always wanted to be part of a spiritual writers club!

Now in terms of having folks to talk with, let me put it out to the A Nun’s Life community here — Any suggestions for Michelle to connect with writing groups online or in NYC that deal with writing spirituality? Any nuns in the area who would enjoy hooking up for spiritual conversation with Michelle?

I‘ve been on the road traveling, retreating, and visiting. At the moment I am in Toronto for a book launch at Regis College theological school. One book is a memoir by my IHM Sister Margaret Brennan that is hot off the press: What Was There for Me Once. The other is by a friend Sister Kathleen McAlpin, RSM, Ministry That Transforms: A Contemplative Process of Theological Reflection.

Since I’m running around and can’t think of a thing to post today, I thought we’d just have a free for all. Get a conversation going — talk about nun life, vocations, discernment, overcoming stereotypes — whatever! Although I’m out and about, I’ll be hopping on the blog to offer my 2 loonies (I’m in Canada so loonies seem more appropriate than cents).

Let the games begin …

In my last post, I noted that I am giving myself to more spiritual reading this Lent and beyond. I think I found the book that I’d like to begin with: The Saints’ Guide to Happiness: Practical Lessons in the Life of the Spirit by Robert Ellsberg.

The suggestion to read The Saints’ Guide to Happiness came from my nun, Sister Mary Ann Untener, IHM. Listen as she describes the book and the impact it has had on her. (Please note: this was filmed next door to a room full of nuns playing Wii and other games. So there’s a bit of rowdiness in the background!)

The other books mentioned by Sister Mary Ann are as follows:

• The Way of a Pilgrim
• The Seven Storey Mountain

Sister Mary Ann also mentioned her brother Bishop Ken Untener and the author Henri Nouwen.

Monday is Nunday! I received an email from Christine telling me about a website by Sister Mary Jane Masterson, CSJ. I thought it would be a great contribution to Nunday as Sister Mary Jane has lots of photos from throughout her life.

Sister Mary Jane is a sister of the Congregation of Saint Joseph in Cleveland, Ohio. Christine notes,”Sister Mary Jane has published a book about her life, reflecting on her growing up years, twenty years of convent life before Vatican II and her road of renewal that she continues to travel today.” You can check out the book on Sister Mary Jane’s website or at Amazon at One Nun’s Story: Then and Now.

Here’s a couple of pictures from Sister’s website:

Keep sending in your photos of real Catholic sisters and Nuns.

The final part of a story by Brian Doyle in Best Catholic Writing 2007 on The Sisters of Mount Angel (return to the beginning of the story)

If we are to properly honor and celebrate the legacy of such graceful and strong people as the sisters at Mt. Angel, who have bent their whole lives to the promise that love will defeat darkness, then we must march into our days with rage and song, with hammers in our hands and prayers in our mouths, and build us a new Church and a new world and a new, roaring poem, with all the grace and strength and sweet, wild magic we can muster. It can be done. It’s being done as I write these words and as you read them. These brave women bet their lives on that premise. My mama bet her life on that premise. Are we to tell them they were wrong, and the task is too big? I don’t have the courage to tell my mother such a thing, for she is a tart, tough, tiny Irish Catholic woman from New York City, and even my brothers, strapping men far taller and broader than I, quail at the thought of telling our mum what cannot be done; and it would take a far braver man than I to stand up to tiny Sister Alicia and tell her that the work she has chosen to do is a bust. She would laugh in my face, and she would be right.

So let us go, then, you and I, and forge a new thing. We do not know its shape, but we know the astounding idea at its heart, the idea that has driven the Catholic clan through two thousand years, the idea that remains, I believe, the key to the moral evolution of the human race, the idea that fell again and again from the lips of the gaunt, dusty man with starlight in his veins: love, love, love, love, love.

The End.

The fourth part of a story by Brian Doyle in Best Catholic Writing 2007 on The Sisters of Mount Angel (return to the beginning of the story)

And I stood there at the lectern, in that cavernous room in that lovely old monastery, with its cedarn air like music in the nose, the extraordinary faces of the nuns held up to me in the twilight, and I tried to imagine or articulate or conceive a world without my mother in it, and I started to cry, and I could not stop. Forty-nine years old, and still sobbing in front of nuns.

No one spoke.

After a couple of minutes I got a grip and looked out at those women, and in the sweet silence, the brilliant shine of tears flashing here and there, I saw them for who they really are. I swear I did. I was granted and vouchsafed a vision: these sisters, and all sisters, are the sinews who hold the Church together. Their prayers hold us like hands. The Church has for centuries rested on their thin, bony shoulders. They are brave beyond words and we take them for granted and we should get down on our creaky knees and clasp our hands in prayer and speak to the dust and say, “Lord, we thank you for these women; for their grace we thank you, for their sacrifices and sweat we thank you, for their hearts in which we swim we thank you.”

Look, I am not an idiot all the time, and I know full well, all too well, that the story of the world is struggle and sad, loneliness and loss, but to my mind there just is no way to stay sad as long as there are thin, bony, brave women like these nuns, like my mom, like your mom, in the world. It just cannot be done. We cannot let ourselves despair at the greed and cruelty of the world, and sometimes of our Church, because the sisters do not despair; they fight the brambles all day and night for us, and they are lodestars and compasses and prisms and leaders of the world that will come, the world of joy and light, where no child weeps from fear, where no one huddles in hopelessness.

If we are to properly honor and celebrate the legacy of such graceful and strong people as the sisters at Mt. Angel …

Check in tomorrow for the finale of The Sisters of Mount Angel.

The third part of a story by Brian Doyle in Best Catholic Writing 2007 on The Sisters of Mount Angel (return to the beginning of the story)

Finally I gave my talk, singing and roaring, spinning stories, making jokes. I told them about barking “Point it down!” at my toddler twin sons when I was teaching them Guy Rules years ago, and about the puppy who knew a hundred words but just could not seem to get her head around the word no; and I told them about my friend Tommy, who was roasted to white ash on September 11, and my theory that every story I tell about Tommy is a prayer for his brilliant soul and a dart to the heart of the cow-ard in the cave in Afghanistan; and I told stories of priests and firemen and dads and other brave men, and ospreys and daughters and rivers and other miracles, and I tried to make those nuns and their friends laugh and cry, because laughter and tears are prayers too; and finally I concluded my burble and rant by telling them about my mama, the salt sea from whom I came.

She never turned aside a poor or hungry soul, did my mama, and she patiently taught children at home and in school for years and years, and she has the sharpest and quickest of wits and tongues, does my mama, the deft storyteller, my mother with her fingers in the deep, holy loam and skin of the earth; my mother who loves the smoky, magical theater and miracle of the Mass; my mother with the memory of twenty elephants and a mind far quicker and more capacious than those of all her children put together; my mother with a ferocious commitment to peace and justice and honest talk, especially in the political and religious arenas, where lies kill people and bleed souls; my mother who has not a jot or an iota of pious nonsense in her; my mother who thinks that the divisions among Christian faiths are silly and stupid; my mother who knows more about the New Testament than I ever will and is fond of quoting the line wherein children are told to care for their fathers even when their minds go, which used to make my dad laugh in the other room; my mother stubborn as ten mules; my mother who took all her stunning talents and bent them toward love; and my mother celebrating and living the wildly improbable message of the Christ, a message she thought could and should change the world, my mother who de-voted her whole life to the possibility of that mad idea; my mother now near the end of her time on this, God’s earth; my mother soon to sift to dust; my mother more bent and fragile by the minute; my mother whose warm, salty voice was the first thing I ever heard, and I cannot imagine a world without that grinning voice, a world without my mama in it….

Check in tomorrow for the continuation of The Sisters of Mount Angel.

The second part of a story by Brian Doyle in Best Catholic Writing 2007 on The Sisters of Mount Angel (return to the beginning of the story)

First there was a meal, of course, and before the meal were prayers, and the three nuns offering prayers were a microcosm of the monastery. One was very old and bent and grinning and calm. The second, the prioress, was tall and strong and commanding and gentle. The third was tiny and lithe and exuberant and looked to be about twenty years old. Each was terse and eloquent, and all three were funny, joking about making and selling thousands of jars of their legendary mustard, joking about the monastery’s legendary basketball team in the old days, joking about their eternal battles with blackberry brambles, which they fought valiantly even while thanking the merciful Lord for the berries—the black honey of summer, as the great poet Mary Oliver says.

During dinner I talked to all sorts of nuns—postulants and novices, sisters who had taken first vows, sisters who had taken perpetual vows. I talked for a long while with a cheerful woman who when young had been a sister at the monastery but had finally stepped away to spend her life as a teacher, yet she had never stopped visiting or supporting the monastery and in fact had been crucial in raising a million dollars for the new chapel. I talked to one young woman who was, as she said, an inquirer, a formal designation given to a woman who wishes to acquaint herself with the Benedictine monastic community on the off chance that she might join up. Each of these women was quick-witted and humorous, but there was a calm about them, a direct ease, a warm dignity that seemed to me, thinking about it later, best captured by the word grace.

Finally I gave my talk …

Check in tomorrow for the continuation of The Sisters of Mount Angel.

Last year my colleague Jim Manney shared with me the Foreword of a book that he had just finished editing, The Best Catholic Writing 2007 (a series that Loyola Press publishes annually). Brian Doyle, who wrote the Foreword, tells of his experience with the Sisters of Mount Angel. Loyola Press graciously granted me permission to reprint the story for you here at A Nun’s Life. The story will be done “serial-style” with a few paragraphs each day during the Christmas holiday. I’ll be interjecting occasionally to comment and to converse with you. Enjoy!

Some time ago I gave a characteristically rambling talk to a group of Benedictine nuns at their monastery in Oregon. As usual I set out to tell stories and sing prayers and tell jokes and draw tears and foment cheerful chaos and try to connect at some deep, inexplicable level that has everything to do with laughing and weeping, and as usual I was granted more epiphany and delight than I could ever have delivered, which happens to me all the time, which is one of the reasons I feel like the richest man on earth, even though my back is sore all the time and my wife is a confusing country and my children never make their beds and it rains so much here that everyone gets a little mossy come winter.

Anyway, I arrived early at the monastery and wandered around the grounds for a couple of hours, out of respect for my hosts, trying to see and sense something of their lives and loves: their salty days, the way the wind slid through their fir trees, the geometry of the gravestones in their tiny cemetery, the way the hop fields and vineyards stretched away in corduroy rows beneath their little hill, the keening of hawks overhead, the secret words that dragonflies and damselflies spelled in the air among the old stone buildings. I wandered and wondered. I walked the simple stations of the cross that someone had carved in trees along a path. I examined the old washhouse, where millions of prayers had been murmured over socks and frocks during the last century. I sat in the tall grass and prayed quietly for all sorts of things, even for the one-eyed cat glaring at me balefully from the brambles, and then I went to give my talk.

First there was a meal, of course, and before the meal were prayers, and the three nuns offering prayers were a microcosm of the monastery….

Check in tomorrow for the continuation of The Sisters of Mount Angel.

Sister Anne Crane, IHM, joins us today. This is one of the videos that I took when I was home in Monroe. You’ll hear a bit of partying in the background as this video was taken during “pub night” at one of our IHM gatherings. Sister Anne responds to one of your Nun Questions.

What books are you reading now?” (from Marquis and others)

In this video Sister Anne talks about three books (listed below) which are different in themselves but which are connected by a common theme of “girls growing up”.

The three books that Sister Anne reviews are as follows:

• Run: A Novel by Anne Patchett
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi

Sister Anne Crane, IHM, is a Catholic nun belonging to the Immaculate Heart of Mary congregation. Sister Anne recently retired from Saint Edward’s University where she was a Professor of English. She lives on our IHM Motherhouse campus in Monroe, Michigan.

I have been doing a lot of thinking on, praying with, and studying of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This image of Mary is near and dear to my own heart as it is the namesake of my own religious congregation. But recently it has been an image — and a certain kind of devotion — that has drawn me in, almost as if asking me, inviting me, to go deeper.

I didn’t really grow up with Catholic devotions though the sacredness and mystery of Catholic devotions surrounded me like incense on a high holy day. As a kid, I wondered how people could be so into their devotion, what attracted them so much. No devotion ever gave me that kind of feel so I figured I was either doing something wrong or I just wasn’t religious enough.

Things have changed since I was a child. I look at and experience Catholic devotions in a very different way, though the feeling of sacredness and mystery are still there. As Mary and the image of her immaculate heart have stayed and grown with me, I’m in a different place to consider what devotion means to me and what this image in particular means to me as well as within the Church’s tradition and the lived faith of others.

Coincidentally (in fact I remembered this just as I was writing this post) I recently discovered a book we published at Loyola Press in our company library: Awake My Soul: Contemporary Catholics on Traditional Devotions It’s got me wondering what Catholic devotions mean to other people.

How are you with devotions? What are especially meaningful to you and how does it engage you, call to you deep within your spirit?

Today we are blessed to have Sister Theresa Milne, IHM, with us. This is one of the videos that I took when I was home in Monroe. Sister Terry responds to one of your Nun Questions.

What particular spiritual practice is most important to you in your walk with the Lord and why?” (from deerose)

In this video Sister Terry talks about the simple prayer of saying “yes” and “thank you” to God.

The two books that Sister Terry mentions are as follows:

• Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean-Pierre de Caussade
• Thank God Ahead of Time: The Life and Spirituality of Solanus Casey by Michael Crosby

Sister Theresa Milne, IHM, is a Catholic nun belonging to the Immaculate Heart of Mary congregation. Sister Theresa lives at our IHM Motherhouse in Monroe, Michigan.

I just saw the movie The Secret Life of Bees. I had read the book by Sue Monk Kidd a while back when it first came out. I loved the book and so I was nervous about seeing the movie because something is always different. But I figured Queen Latifah, whom I adore, was in the movie so it would at least be enjoyable to see her. Still I had some second thoughts, especially after my friends bailed on me. I don’t know if I’ve ever been to a movie by myself. Seemed a little weird, but I went with it. In fact this was probably providential because the movie itself went from being a mere movie to something of a meditation for me, something which had I been surrounded by friends or people (there were only 5 or 6 other people there) might not have happened.

The movie, in a nutshell, is as follows:

Set in South Carolina in 1964, it’s the tale of Lily Owens, a 14 year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother. To escape her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father, Lily flees with Rosaleen, her caregiver and only friend, to a South Carolina town that holds the secret to her mother’s past. Taken in by the intelligent and independent Boatwright sisters, Lily finds solace in their mesmerizing world of beekeeping, honey and the Black Madonna. (source: IMDb.com)

What I love about this movie as well as the book, is the imagery of Mary the Mother of God that pervades and grounds this story. Granted, Kidd did fictionalize a lot of the stuff around Mary lore, but it’s still compelling.

The imagery begins with a line from Lily at the beginning of the movie. (A lily flower, by the way, is a symbol for Mary.) Lily is fascinated by the arrival of bees and even imagines that they are swarming in her room as she lies awake in bed at night. Lily notes, “[The bees] showed up like the angel Gabriel appearing to the Virgin Mary. I know it’s forward to compare my small life to hers, but I have good reason to believe she wouldn’t mind.”

This reference to the Annunciation when Gabriel announced to Mary that she would give birth to the Son of God is crucial to understanding the whole movie (from my humble perspective). The wiser-beyond-her-years Lily has an inkling that her life will forever change in the near future, a change that will bring her new life.

Mary imagery appears again in the form of a label for Black Madonna Honey. It this label that leads Lily from the tyranny of her father T. Ray to the home of May, June, and August Boatwright in Tiburon, South Carolina. It’s as if Mary herself is helping to lead Lily and guide her to new life. FYI while the Black Madonna that the Boatwright Sisters talk about is fiction, there really is a Black Madonna, and in fact, multiple ones.

Mary imagery appears yet again when Lily and Rosaleen first arrive at the Boatwright house. In the parlor is a striking statue of the Boatwright’s Black Madonna. I personally missed the original language of the book that referred to the statue as Our Lady of Chains of which August says that the reference to chains is “not because she wore them, but because she broke them.” Lots can be said about this statue. What was most meaningful to me was the focal point of the statue: Mary’s heart. It is Mary’s heart that the Boatwright sisters, and the prayer group “the Daughters of Mary”, touch for healing, for comfort, for encouragement, for connection to the Sacred. In our Catholic tradition we refer to Mary’s heart as the Immaculate Heart of Mary (something which I want to write more about soon).

One of the most profound images of Mary comes in two of the Boatwright sisters: August (Queen Latifah) and May (Sophie Okonedo). Although we don’t hear much about August’s past, her motherly presence is unmistakable. She is a living image of Mary the Mother of God. Her sister May is also an image of Mary but more so as Our Lady of Sorrows. It is May who represents the Mary who “holds all these things in her heart” (Luke 2:19). She takes in each and every bit of suffering that she sees and feels around her, and holds it in her heart. May’s character is probably my most favorite of the whole movie. She embodies the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the heart pierced by a sword because of the suffering of her child and the suffering of the world.

These are just a few of the powerful images that remain with me from the movie. As I mentioned above, the movie became a kind of prayer for me, leading me to think a lot about Mary (the real one, not the fictionalized one) and about myself as an Immaculate Heart of Mary sister. I will be pondering these things for a while.

Tell me your thoughts about the movie, book, or these reflections …

Question from Jack …

Dear Sister Julie, Could you tell me why a Nun’s Habit is called a Habit, I cant seem to find the answer anywhere! Best wishes

I had to do a little searching for this one. First stop: Merriam-Webster.

Main Entry: hab·it archaic : clothing
Pronunciation: ˈha-bət
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin habitus condition, character, from habēre to have, hold
Date: 13th century

Next stop: Elizabeth Kuhns’ “popular history” book The Habit: A History of the Clothing of Catholic Nuns. Not much in the way of an origin or meaning of the term, however Kuhns does succinctly define the term: “Habit refers to the ensemble of clothing and accessories that make up religious dress. It can also mean specifically the robelike tunic or dress that is the main garment worn over the body.” (page 5) And a glance at the table of contents also reveals a range of terms that have been associated with the term “habit”, each of which is a whole discussion in and of itself:

• enigma
• tradition
• holiness
• conformity
• emblem
• charity
• courage
• explosion
• remnants

What I find most helpful in understanding why the habit is called a habit is to look at the symbolic meaning behind it. As M-W and Kuhns note, the word habit refers to “clothing”. Often times when persons go through a major change in life, especially in a religious context, it is symbolized by a change in clothing symbolically covering up the “old” person and expresing the “new person”. Sound familiar? It’s what we do at baptisms and funerals with the white robe or cloth which symbolizes our new life in Christ Jesus. And it’s not just Catholicism that does this. Many religions have special garb to designate a “new” personality or state in life.  There’s an interesting discussion of “religious dress” at Encyclopedia Britannica.

Other thoughts on the origin of the word “habit”?

Question from Shana …

Can nuns be visual artists? I’m studying art and minoring in education right now. I don’t really plan on becoming a nun because I want a husband but then again religious life has some appeal to me. I’m really interested in theology and in using art to redeem culture, my faith is very central to me. Also, my favorite subjects for art are people, so I like portraiture and figurative stuff. Would nuns/ sisters not be able to work from nude models? Do you know of any artists who are nuns? Nuns are awesome.

Thank you and God bless you!

Hi Shana! Thanks for writing. Yes, nuns can be visual artists and pretty much any other kind of artist they want! God gives us all wonderful gifts and whatever state of life we choose (single, married, religious) we are to use the gifts God gave us. I love what you write about art and theology — I’ve done some work in my own theology around art and visual expression. I also took a fine arts class a few years ago in which we had a nude model. Nuns, especially nuns who are artists in whatever medium, have a great appreciation for beauty and that includes the human body. Have you ever seen Sister Wendy Beckett discuss art masterpieces that reveal the human body? She deals with it quite naturally. (See an archived article from the LA Times that addresses this.)

I know a ton of nuns who are artists, many of which are in my own congregation. Here are a few off the top of my head:

• Sister Nancy Lee Smith, IHM (my nun) an Iconographer, painter, and photographer at Saint Joseph Studio
• Sister Doris Klein, CSA (Sister of Saint Agnes) watercolor
• Sister Helen David Brancato, IHM (Scranton) oil, acrylic

Also there’s a fascinating book about medieval nuns as artists … Nuns as Artists: The Visual Culture of a Medieval Convent by Jeffrey F. Hamburger. Check it out!

Who are other Catholic nun visual artists that you know?

Today is Blog Action Day: Poverty. Bloggers, podcasters, and videocasters across the globe are addressing the issue of global poverty so that together we can raise awareness and trigger a global discussion. A Nun’s Life blog is participating today by hosting a discussion on poverty in light of faith by using Jon Sobrino’s book No Salvation Outside the Poor. This morning, I’d like to start off with a simple” question:

What does “no salvation outside the poor” mean to you?

Special Note:
For those of you on Plurk or Twitter, Denise205 will be covering the comments on A Nun’s Life throughout the day.

Tomorrow is Blog Action Day 2008 on Poverty. A Nun’s Life will be hosting a book discussion using Jon Sobrino’s book No Salvation Outside the Poor (Orbis 2008) as a springboard. It is not necessary to have read the book, but for those of us who have, please bring in your ideas, questions and thoughts.

Many of the thoughts in Sobrino’s book are based on the words of Ignacio Ellacuría, a Roman Catholic Jesuit priest who was also a theologian and philosopher who contributed to the work of Liberation Theology. He was martyred in El Salvador in 1989. Sobrino says in the prologue to the book that his reflection is based on the words of Ellacuría in a speech given in Barcelona 10 days before his assassination:

“This civilization is gravely ill–sick unto death, as Jean Ziegler says; to avoid an ominous, fatal outcome, the civilization must be changed.” With absolute and radical clarity Ellacuría added, “We have to turn history around, subvert it, and send it in a new direction.” (page ix)

I’d like us to think on this quote a bit and also consider the title of the book itself — “no salvation outside the poor” — and what it means to you personally. I’ll also post a few other compelling quotes from the book as we go through the day. Please let me know if there are specific questions that you would like us to consider. There are no “experts” checking in, just you, me and the rest of the A Nun’s Life community to reflect on and ponder these questions. As always I welcome your thoughts.

Blogs across the World Wide Web will be writing about poverty tomorrow. Be sure to check them out for other lenses through which to view the issue of poverty. My hope is to offer a faith-inspired lens through which to look at not just poverty abstractly but to stand with our sisters and brothers who are poor.

Let us dare to dream that we can do something to eradicate poverty and to love and support all people.

Robin: Personally, my own belief in angels is much more simple than the artistically rendered visions of light and magnificence that has personified them in the art, collectible and pop culture world. I believe in angels as the everyday presence of God and God’s approachability and unconditional love in one’s life (as well as the not so everyday awareness of being carried by God in times of difficulty and in times of pure joy. ) This is a message Joan so beautifully articulates in her writings. But I also understand as a Catholic that we love and treasure icons and human imagery. I have 3 questions for Joan (no expectations you would answer them all, but I wanted to put them out there):

What are your thoughts about the connection between angels and the Trinity (I usually think of angels as being sent by God Creator (or Father, if one prefers)?

Do you consider the intervention of particular saints “angelic”?

And what about the notion of the infamous “fallen angel?”

Thanks for your presence here today.

Joan: Hi, Robin. You ask good interesting questions! Let’s see where we can go with them. Yes, I do believe that the Holy Trinity sends angels. In other words, angels are there to do God’s bidding, not ours. My concern with the New Age flavor that has in some cases taken over the “angel movement” is that angels are sometimes presented as servants to humans. But angels are God’s servants, not ours, and they work on God’s timetable, not ours. I think one of the best ways to truly understand how God wanted us to regard angels is in Exodus 23. So loving (And God in the Old Testament was pretty strict!) He says, “See? I am sending an angel before you to guard you on the way…Be attentive to him and hear his voice.” It goes on… Note the authority: “I am sending…” Not, “the angels has decided to pop into your life etc.”

As to the intervention of saints, I think it happens all the time. Since they are human, we can certainly relate to them. But again, they’re not angels and their work is different in that they bring human characteristics to the job, while angels primarily reflect God’s light.

The fallen angels are indeed real. It’s a doctrine of our Catholic faith. And does anyone doubt their existence in today’s world? In the 70’s, Reverend Billy Graham went looking for material on angels so he could plan a sermon on them. He found next to nothing,(angels had fallen out of popularity then)so he began his own research and eventually published a book on angels. One of the more meaningful lines in that book was when the Reverend said, “During the coming dark times, angels will prove to be a light to many.” I am sure he was predicting the 90’s when the angel explosion occurred, because despite all the darkness and spiritual warfare now going on, angels are a fixture in our world today.

Chloe: Hi Joan, Thanks for being here today. How does the idea of angels fit with the idea of the Holy Spirit as God’s abiding presence among us? Does the presence of angels diminish the significance of the Holy Spirit in any way? I appreciate having a place to ask this question! Thanks again.

Joan: Hi Chloe,  No, the Blessed Trinity really doesn’t conflict at all with angels.  Angels aren’t God, and don’t have God’s power.  We could get along without them, but try getting along without God!  People often wonder why God made angels, and I really don’t know.  I guess, just as there are millions of varieties of plants, for example, God is an abundant God.  We could have gotten along with two or three varieties, but He gives us tons.  And the same with angels.  Life is so much richer knowing that angels are around.

More than one person has suggested that to some, God may seem too exalted to relate to, so angels are a good substitute.  I don’t think anything can be substituted for God, however I do see what these people mean.  Perhaps an angel is more approachable.

Mary Ann:

Dear Joan,

The “coincidences” that God throws my way always make me smile. My 10-year-old son, Gareth, came home from school today and told me that his friend was “very lucky”. This boy had a bad fall on the playground and staff members were afraid that he’d given himself a concussion and broken his thumb, but he was fine. I told Gareth that his friend’s guardian angel was at work.

Gareth was one of those quiet, destructive toddlers,who caused several hundred pounds’ worth of damage to our property and had many, many scary falls. By rights, by his third birthday Gareth should have had at least three concussions, two dozen stitches in his head and a handful of broken bones. As it happens Gareth has never had a trip to the hospital, though I have spent a few sleepless nights sitting up next to him making sure that he wasn’t concussed. I often joke that I owe Gareth’s guardian angel a keg of single malt whisky, but the simple truth is that, if I hadn’t believed in guardian angels before I had Gareth, I certainly would now. We worked in conjuction with his guardian angel, of course, by keeping matches and sharp objects out of Gareth’s reach! It’s probably a mother thing, but I feel closer to Gareth’s angel than he does. His angel has never revealed his name to us, and I won’t go out of my way looking for it if he doesn’t want us to know.

While my 11-year-old daugher has not had as much need for her angel (yet!) my 8-year-old son, who has Autistic Spectrum Disorder, must have a special angel just for children like him.

I also find it interesting how supposedly athiest friends begin to doubt their disbelief in, if not God, at least in angels, when they walk away unscathed from what should have been a nasty accident.

I look forward to reading your posts this week.

Cheers,

Mary Ann in the UK

Joan: Mary Ann, I laughed when you described your little boy. I have four sons, born close together and one of them was a real imp. I wish I had been wise enough to entrust each of them to the angels. I have noticed that small children seem to see angels frequently. Any of you? I think it may be because they are so pure of heart, and they haven’t any preconceived notions of whether they should be able to see the spirit world.

Kazimer: Hi Joan ~

1) How does a person distinguish between a coincidence event and the interaction of an angel (and/or their guardian angel) ?

2) It seems that it would be un-nerving to “realize” a communication/connection with an angel, so:

a) Is there a time ( and if so how) when a person feels at ease with this interaction ?

b) How does a person distinguish between a good angel vs an evil angel especially if/when an evil angel may communicate/portray themselves as a good angel?

3) If someone feels they have made contact with an angel/their guardian angel, is this something to be shared with others?

Specifically, some people ( including priests/sisters/religious ) may tend to view a person stating such an interaction as having an over-active imagination.

4) Once someone has in their heart of hearts knows they have a connection with an angel, how does this person develop the relationship and what is involved with it ? i.e. I would assume the interaction would be more than a “what can you do for me ” type of relationship

Thank you for your insights.

Kazimer – “Kaz”

Joan: Hi, Kazimer. You’ve thought about this topic—I can tell. I think first we should agree that angels are always with us. It is the Catholic belief that each human being is given an angel at the moment of one’s existence, to watch over them, protect them from sin whenever possible, and to bring messages. The angel’s behavior doesn’t depend on anything we do. They are God’s gift to us. If we wish to become closer to them, this is all well and good with God. However, we are not in control of angels, as I have said before.

So what we’re really discussing here is what happens when that veil between heaven and each is slightly lifted, and angels become visible to us, just for a moment. We see that they are engaged in some activity, much of the time getting us out of a difficult situation or bringing us a message of some kind. For reasons sometimes known only to God, we are allowed to see this going on. The vast majority of “angel experiences” I think, are done in secret. Angel don’t want or need attention; they are not the Message, only the messengers, and so their tendency is to get in, get it done and get out. It is during this little break in time when we are permitted to see what is always going on. And we can not always be sure that it was an angel who helped us. As we look back on the experience, there are usually some puzzling aspects to it, but nothing really concrete (unless someone has had a vision). It is normal to doubt, as many questions arise after such an experience, and people react in different ways.

The main way to respond is to test the spirits. If the fruit is good, it was probably an angel. The Holy Spirit gives us gifts to discern goodness vs evil, and we should stay close to God, receive the sacraments regularly and, of course, mention Jesus’ name whenever you are in doubt. Sometimes if someone is going through something odd in their homes, experts recommend that you bless your home, or have a mass said for the people that used to live there, because sin has a tendency to hang around. It does sound odd, I know, but we have to be careful what we let into our homes today.

Angels are aware of all this, and can prompt us towards the right action. This is one of their best gifts to us.

Sister Julie: Have you ever experienced or heard an angel and nun story?

Joan: Julie, you asked if I know any angel stories about nuns? When I was still in the bewildered stage, looking for stories but not quite sure what I was going to do with them, my mother told me about a sister she had met while volunteering at a nearby hospital. Mom had told Sister Mary Dolores Kazmierczak about my quest and Sister got one of those knowing looks on her face. The upshot was, Sister gave me the first REAL story I felt I could include, and to this day she is on my angel story mailing list (sign up at www.joanwanderson.com pretty sneaky huh?) and a firm angel fan:

Sister loved traveling, and had planned a trip to Italy and Poland with a few friends, and her elderly parents. Unexpectedly a few months before departure, her mother died and her father developed a form of shakiness. Sister was worried that he wouldn’t be able to handle the physical challenges on the trip, and what if he injured himself in a foreign country? She prayed for guidance but no answer seemed to come. Reluctantly, Sister decided to leave Dad at home. He was hurt but understanding. Sister felt terrible.

A few days before bon voyage, Sister and her dad visited her mother’s grave. On the way home, they saw a fruit stand ahead, and turned in to pick up some produce. There were two Mexican men working there, and no other customers. One of the men, wearing a blue shirt, was manning the cash register. The other, in a brown hat, was arranging displays. Mr. Kazmierczak wandered around; Sister kept an eye on him in case he fell. No one spoke, and eventually Sister went to the man at the cash register, rang up her purchases and walked toward her father. Just then the man in the brown hat approached her. “That trip you’re going on?” he said to Sister. “I just spoke with your mother. She says it’s okay to take your father along. Nothing bad will happen to him.”

Sister was astonished. “My mother is dead,” she told him.

“Yes.” He nodded. “I know.”

Sister’s reaction was to Get Out Of There right away. Quickly she got her dad in the car and off they went. Then it occurred to her. Had her father been talking to the man in the brown hat, complaining about being left behind? Why would he tell a perfect stranger? And yet she hadn’t heard any conversations at the fruitstand. She asked her dad if he had spoken to either of the men. “There was just one man there,” her father answered. “The one at the cash register. I didn’t talk to him.”

“I’m talking about the other man, the one in the brown hat. You were right there. You must have seen him.”

Her father looked confused. “But I didn’t. There wasn’t anyone else there.”

Sister stopped. She was starting to get a funny little feeling. Hadn’t she asked for an answer?

During subsequent summers, Sister took her father on several trips. He never had a mishap and thrived on the changes of scene. Sister never worried about him after the episode at the fruit stand. She new her mom was watching over both of them.

Welcome Joan Wester Anderson to A Nun’s Life blog. Joan is a best-selling author and lecturer. According to her website, Joan “began her writing career in 1973 with a series of family humor articles for local newspapers and Catholic publications, and was a monthly columnist for two national magazines during the 1980s. She has published more than one thousand articles and short stories in a variety of publications.” Joan has been interviewed far and wide including by Oprah, Good Morning America, 20/20, NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, and Mother Angelica.

Joan is here at A Nun’s Life to chat with you about “angels and wonders” (also the title of her new book). I and a few others already have few questions for Joan to begin. Remember, this conversation is for you, so ask away!

Here’s how this works …

1) Ask your question(s) for Joan by writing a comment in the comment box below this post or any post today (all of the posts today will be part of the conversation with Joan).

2) Joan will be scanning all of these posts and comments and will respond to people’s questions. She’ll send me an email so that I can re-post the questions along with her responses in a new post. The most recent questions with responses will appear at the top of the blog. Joan’s responses will be in blue text.

3) If the questioner, Joan, or anyone else would like to further a particular conversation, they can click on that post and comment there.

4) Loyola Press, the publisher of Joan’s books (there are many), is raffling off a free autographed copy of her book Angels and Wonders – you are automatically entered in this drawing when you post a comment or question for Joan.

5) If you’d like to purchase a copy of Angels and Wonders, the publisher Loyola Press is offering you a 30% discount on the book. You can order at www.loyolabooks.com or by calling Loyola Press toll-free at 800-621-1008. Please use the code 2765 to save 30% on Angels and Wonders. This offer is good through October 5, 2008.

My gratitude goes to Joan Wester Anderson for joining us, to Loyola Press for sponsoring this, and to you readers and guests of A Nun’s Life for joining in!

Welcome, Joan Wester Anderson!

Joan: Hi, everyone! I hope this is the place where I write my comments (not too blog-savvy as yet!). I thought I would perhaps explain why and how I got interested in angels, and began writing books about them. It might help you get to know me, and vice versa.

I had five children and a handyman special house when I began writing for magazines. It was a way to add a second income and stay home with the kids at the same time. The “second income” was very modest and at times I wondered what a nice girl like me was doing in a place like this. I also wrote seven books through the years, on various topics, kids, humor etc. I never gave a thought to angels; in fact, I never even taught my kids the guardian angel prayer. Angels just weren’t on my radar. If you had Jesus, what else did you need?

Then to make a very awesome story short, my son Tim graduated from college and took a job in CT. (We live in suburban Chicago). That first Christmas he planned to drive home along with a couple friends. As Christmas approached, the weather became extremely dangerous, way below zero, storms etc. The boys broke down in the middle of the night in an Indiana cornfield, no lights, no people and the temperature 35 degrees below zero.

Suddenly there were lights streaming into the car. Headlights resting on their back bumper. It was a tow truck. They hadn’t seen it coming. It wasn’t there—and then it was. The driver was all bundled up; they couldn’t see his face, but he hitched them up, took them back to a house in Fort Wayne where they had previously dropped one of the boys, and when they got out of the car, the truck was gone and there were no tire tracks leading away from where they stood.

My son is an engineer, picky about details. His friend saw everything (or nothing) too. The story was so unbelievable that I didn’t know what to do with it. (This is a common reaction when an angel touches you). Finally, after some years of pondering, I started telling the story and people started telling me THEIR stories! I realized with my writer’s sense that this was the best untold story I’d ever heard. So I started interviewing etc, and a small publisher took a chance on the book, Where Angels Walk, it was published in 1992 as what I considered to be my last book, and it became a New York Times bestseller and has sold over a million copies. It is still in print some sixteen years later, along with many sequels. Little did I know that during the years when I struggled at home, God was training me for this job.

I am pleased to announce that I will be hosting author and speaker
Joan Wester Anderson for a day-long visit at ANunsLife.org!

This Thursday, October 2 — which happens to be the Feast of the Guardian Angels in the Catholic tradition – Joan will visit this blog and discuss her new book Angels and Wonders: True Stories of Heaven on Earth. Joan is the author of numerous books on angels. You can learn more at her website JoanWAnderson.com.

How this works is that Joan will be checking in at my blog from around 8 a.m. Central Time to about 8 p.m. in the evening. Both she and I will be in and out but will try to get to all your questions and comments throughout the day. I’ll create a special post for that day and start the conversation off with Joan by asking a few questions. She’ll respond via the comment section which is open for anyone to write in any questions/comments for Joan. She’s here to engage with you so please come and visit throughout the day. I am so looking forward to getting to know Joan and coming to a deeper understanding of “heaven on earth”.

Read the Introduction of Angels and Wonders courtesy of Loyola Press.

Loyola Press is also raffling an autographed copy of Angels and Wonders. Everyone who joins the Thursday online discussion by writing in (via the comments section) is automatically entered into the raffle. Readers of ANunsLife.org will also be given a special discount code to order the book. Thanks, Loyola Press!

Please join the conversation this Thursday, October 2, and bring your questions and ideas for Joan Wester Anderson.

In honor of Blog Action Day 2008: Poverty, A Nun’s Life will be having a discussion on poverty on Wednesday, October 15, 2008. We will be using Jon Sobrino’s book No Salvation Outside the Poor (Orbis 2008) as a springboard (click below to order from Amazon).

No Salvation Outside the Poor

While the book is not necessary to be part of the day’s conversation, it’s a good opportunity to read something new and to get deeper into what poverty is and how the Gospels call us to respond. It’s a short book (147 pages) comprised of 6 essays.

Get your copy and start reading. I’ll post more as we get closer to October 15.

I’m hanging out at Starbucks so I can cool off. Just installed my AC units this morning but still hot and muggy. I left Chloe the Convent Cat sprawled on the rug and licking an ice cube. What happened to the rest of Spring??

Today the IHMs in Chicago are gathering from far and wide for a cook-out, book study, and prayer. I’m looking forward to being all together. We are reading The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. It’s a series of vignettes about Esperanza …

… a Chicana (Mexican-American girl), who is about twelve years old when the novel begins. During the year, she moves with her family into a house on Mango Street. The house is a huge improvement from the family’s previous apartment, and it is the first home her parents actually own. However, the house is not what Esperanza has dreamed of, because it is run-down and small. The house is in the center of a crowded Latino neighborhood in Chicago, a city where many of the poor areas are racially segregated. Esperanza does not have any privacy, and she resolves that she will someday leave Mango Street and have a house all her own. (source: SparkNotes)

Have you read it? What do you like about it?

This is a powerful video … click play and check it out.

I’m proud to say that Loyola Press, my place of ministry, is publishing A Persistent Peace, the newest book by John Dear, SJ. Father Dear is am amazing guy and has done so much to reach out to people, to work for nonviolence and peace, and to truly live the Good News of Christ Jesus.

There are some great quotes in support of John Dear including quotes from Joan Baez, Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ, Desmond Tutu, and my childhood hero Fred (Mr.) Rogers.

I encourage you to spend some time on Father Dear’s web site, A Persistent Peace. You’ll definitely find some inspiration there.

I’ve been reading The Collected Letters of St. Teresa of Avila (Vol. 1, translated by Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD) (Amazon).

I happened to read the Introduction of the book the other day — something I don’t usually do with books. I like to get right to it. I want to read Teresa, not someone writing about Teresa.

But in this case, I was wrong because the Introduction was actually quite compelling and taught me things I never knew about Teresa of Avila.

Writing from his monastery in Washington, DC, the Carmelite Father Kieran Kavanaugh does a great job at situating Teresa in her time and context.

Kavanaugh presents Teresa as an amazing woman, yes; but also as an ordinary person who had to balance community life, prayer, ministry, and the mundane things of life.

The extraordinary gifts of grace bestowed by God on this Spanish Madre fortified her for a demanding ministry of service which entailed heavy responsibilities that drew her contemplative soul into a maelstrom of activities. (page 13)

[Sidebar: That is an amazingly written sentence. "Maelstrom" is a word not often used in everyday parlance. I shall have to incorporate that into my vocabulary. And yes, I had to look it up. It means "a very powerful whirlpool; a large, swirling body of water." A fabulous image.]

Okay, back to the quote. It’s easy sometimes to think of Teresa as tucked away in her monastery cell writing and having ecstatic experiences of God. But she was a contemplative who was very active with ordinary monastery life not to mention writing books and letters and reforming and founding Carmelite monasteries. A monastery just doesn’t appear out of nowhere. Imagine the work that goes into mobilizing people, finding and obtaining a suitable building, caring for the spiritual and physical needs of a group in transition, etc.

Teresa didn’t always succeed at balancing all this stuff. She suffered from lack of sleep and was often sick because she was trying to get so much done and to keep up on her responsibilities. That’s one reason I love Teresa so much — she was just like us in so many ways.

Many of us can well relate to being caught up in “a maelstrom of activities”. How do we handle it all? How do we tend to that contemplative place within each one of us?

Yesterday I watched the flick Fried Green Tomatoes (1991). I thought I had never seen it before but it seemed strangely familar as I watched it.

“In this adaptation of Fanny Flagg’s novel, flashbacks reveal the remarkable and mysterious story of soul mates Idgie (Mary Stuart Masterson) and Ruth Jamison (Mary-Louise Parker), whose antics cause an uproar in their rural Southern town during the 1920s. Feisty Ninny Threadgoode (Jessica Tandy) tells the tale to a repressed Alabama housewife (Kathy Bates), who becomes obsessed with Idgie and Ruth, and ultimately finds inspiration in their story.” (source: Netflix)

While there is defintely a sense of “girl-power” throughout this movie, there is a very powerful underlying message about the evil of racism. Actually, a lot of “isms” are turned upside down in this movie. Interestingly, the style reminded me a lot of Jesus’ parables, where you think one thing is going to happen and your expectations are totally turned upside down as Jesus seeks to communicate a deeper message.

For example, a scene early on has Ruth trying to get to know Idgie by going with her to the train yard, hopping on a train car and rifling through the skids of food. Prim and proper Ruth is agast as the train begins to move and Idgie starts hurling cans of food, boxes, ears of corn and other food items through the open door. “That food isn’t yours to take,” Ruth says indignantly (or some other words to that effect). Idgie keeps tossing out food and then Ruth sees what is going on. The train had been passing through a very poor area of town with people living in tents and huts. People are shouting, “Someone’s throwing food from the train!” and adults and children start running along the slow moving train. It dawns on Ruth that Idgie is giving the food to the poor. It is her concern for and connection with (she looks into the eyes of the children looking up at her, hoping for food) the people that moves Ruth to join Idgie in taking the food (i.e., stealing, something Ruth probably had never done) and giving to the people who were in terrible need of it.

In this brief scene, one sees a turning upside down of expectations and a conversion of heart — in Ruth certainly, but perhaps in the viewer as well.

Have you had a “parable moment” recently … something happen that turned your expectations upside down and revealed a deeper message?

Well I’ve been on the road traveling yet again. I had the pleasure of presenting at the Archdiocese of New York’s Teacher Institute. I went as a representative of Loyola Press, my place of ministry. My topic was “Navigating the Wilderness of Prayer: Insights from Saint Teresa of Avila.” It was especially fitting since we just celebrated the Feast of Saint Teresa of Avila (does that explain why I’ve been blogging so much about Teresa?!). I hadn’t read Teresa in a while so it was like coming home when I picked up The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila again. The Life is Teresa’s account of her experiences of God and includes a teaching on prayer as well as the foundation of a Carmelite monastery. Reading Teresa of Avila is like being with one of my nuns and just chatting about life, God, and prayer. I think I’m going to read her other stuff again (Interior Castle and Way of Perfection). I also just ordered her Letters which I’ve not yet read. Looking forward to it.Right now I’m sitting in the airport writing this in Word because I can’t for the life of my stay connected to the wireless connection. So this’ll be uploaded when I get back. Due to the lovely tornado conditions in the Midwest, I’m stuck here for a little while. For fun I’m reading The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (1996). The San Francisco Chronicle says about this book:

“Powerful … Father Emilio Sandoz [is] the only survivor of a Jesuit mission to the planet Rakhat, ‘a soul … looking for God.’ We first meet him in Italy … sullen and bitter … But he was not always this way, as we learn through flashbacks that tell the story of the ill-fated trip … The Sparrow tackles a difficult subject with grace and intelligence.”

Should be interesting. Odd, yet interesting. I need something right now that is truly “out of this world”. Have you read the book? Don’t give anything away!What are you reading now?

Reading Stephanie’s blog A pedal stroke closer to the monastery (which I wrote about in my previous post) reminded me of what a great form of prayer and discernment and personal growth a pilgrimage can be. For those not sure of what a pilgrimage actually is, Wikipedia puts it this way:

In religion and spirituality, a pilgrimage is a long journey or search of great moral significance. Sometimes, it is a journey to a sacred place or shrine of importance to a person’s beliefs and faith. Members of every major religion participate in pilgrimages. A person who makes such a journey is called a pilgrim.

There are all sorts of ways that we make pilgrimages. It may be traveling to Europe to follow one of the ancient pilgrimage routes. It may be cycling across the midwest. It may be getting on the bus and traveling across town to the cemetary where a loved one is buried. “Smaller” pilgrimages are not necessarily less significant. We all have our own reasons for a pilgrimage, reasons which may seem absurd to others. Often pilgrims journey together, each for their own reasons or for a common one. I know in my life I have made several deliberate pilgrimages. One was my journey to Monroe for the first time to visit the IHM Motherhouse. Another was a trip to the desert and the mountains for retreat, prayer and discernment.

Zenit.org recently published an article on the modern pilgrim: “Planes replace trains for modern pilgrims“. The article ends with a good quote by Cardinal Ruini: “The ways of doing pilgrimage change often, but its deep soul remains substantially the same when one is speaking of pilgrimage and not just of tourism. The search in this kind of travel and prayer leads to a more profound contact with God.”

A book that I’ve found helpful is The Journey: A Guide for the Modern Pilgrim (2004) by Maria Ruiz and Michael Scaperlanda.

Rooted in the rich Catholic tradition of pilgrimage, The Journey combines a practical understanding of the vitality of physical pilgrimages and a holistic understanding of what it means to live a pilgrim life. Written by husband-and-wife team Michael and María Ruiz Scaperlanda, this book offers a fresh perspective, a wealth of firsthand stories, and advice and guidance for those seeking to live as pilgrims.

Having backpacked through Europe with their four children during the Jubilee year 2000, the Scaperlandas include their own stories in the book. Examining what it means to live a pilgrim life, how to make all travel sacred, and what “travel tools” can help promote a pilgrim attitude, the authors also include practical tips for taking a traditional Catholic pilgrimage and helpful appendices that list major pilgrimage sites, topics for journaling, and various travel resources.

What kinds of pilgrimages have you made in your life?

This past weekend as I relaxed and recovered from what seems like weeks of traveling, I popped in the DVD “Pay It Forward” (2000).

Young Trevor McKinney (Haley Joel Osment) responds to an assignment from his teacher (Kevin Spacey) with a plan to help three people … who will help three more, and so on, in an ever-widening circle. Trevor touches more people than he expected in director Mimi Leder’s gentle drama: his abused mother Arlene (Helen Hunt), his physically and emotionally scarred teacher and a journalist who hears of the plan and starts investigating.

Although little Haley Joel Osment of “I see dead people” fame got on my nerves after awhile, he did a great job as a truly soul-filled kid who honestly believes he can change the world. His character Trevor is blown away by a teacher’s bonus assignment to think about a way to change the world and then put it into action. How his consciousness begins to change as well as the consciousness of people around him is truly amazing and the heart of the story. The rest of the drama swirling around this key message gets a bit weepy and exaggerated at times, but the message is compelling enough that the excess drama is tolerable.

The character Trevor is told the seemingly impossible: that he can change the world. As he’s riding his bicycle home after school, he passes an area where people who are very poor live. Trevor realizes that he can do something about it by bringing one person home, feeding him, and letting him sleep in the garage. When asked by the man how he can repay him, Trevor tells him to pay it forward: help three other people and tell them to do the same when they ask how they can repay the kindness.

In the novel Pay It Forward which inspired the film, Trevor explains:

“You see, I do something real good for three people. And then when they ask how they can pay it back, I say they have to Pay It Forward. To three more people. Each. So nine people get helped. Then those people have to do twenty-seven.” He turned on the calculator, punched in a few numbers. “Then it sort of spreads out, see. To eighty-one. Then two hundred forty-three. Then seven hundred twenty-nine. Then two thousand, one hundred eighty-seven. See how big it gets?” (source)

Catherine Ryan Hyde, the author of the novel Pay It Forward, created quite a book in that she embedded within fiction a plan of action to help others out of kindness and without expectation of reimbursement. Since writing the book, Hyde and others have started the Pay It Forward Foundation “to educate and inspire students to realize that they can change the world, and provide them with opportunities to do so.”

I am pleased to know that the “pay it forward” concept is not just fiction, but that there are people out there who are trying to put this into practice. I think we all struggle with the knowledge that things in the world and in our own neighborhood are not as they should be. Yet we feel powerless to do anything about it or we feel like there is a chasm between “us” and “them”. Children are often much more adept at crossing lines because they don’t see the chasm or the boundaries. They’ve not grown old enough to construct all kinds of social/cultural/political/emotional barriers like we adults do. Jesus’ simple request that we become like little children was indeed loaded when looked at from this perspective.

Have you ever felt like you could change the world? What did you do or, what stopped you? Is there some need right in your own neighborhood that you could address, even if in a small way?

I’ve been reading Pope Benedict XVI’s new book, Jesus of Nazareth: From Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration (Doubleday, 2007). Of the book the pope himself says, “This book is… my personal search ‘for the face of the Lord.’”

I’ve been quite impressed by this book … some very excellent reflections on who Jesus is and how to understand Jesus in light of today’s world and concerns. It’s got an academic and apologetic edge to it, and yet also has some truly inspired pieces that make you feel like you are praying.

I recently read chapter 4, “The Sermon on the Mount” and spent some time reflecting on the part about the “poor in spirit” from the Beatitudes. The Pope connects this saying with the piety of the psalms which reflected people’s sense that even in the midst of their poverty and oppression, God did not abandon them but was working toward their salvation. This, the Pope writes, “developed that generosity of heart that was to open the door for Christ.” (page 75; emphasis mine) I think this sense of generosity of heart is something that should characterize the vow of poverty for us religious.

“[Persons who are poor] know that their poverty also has an interior dimension; they are lovers who simply want to let God bestow his gifts upon them and thereby live in inner harmony with God’s nature and word. The saying of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux about one day standing before God with empty hands, and holding them open to him, describes the spirit of these poor ones of God: They come with empty hands; not with hands that grasp and clutch, but with hands that open and give and thus are ready to receive from God’s bountiful goodness.” (page 76; emphasis mine)

“… in order to be the community of Jesus’ poor, the Church has constant need of the great ascetics. She needs the communities that follow them, living out poverty and simplicity so as to display to us the truth of the Beatitudes. She needs them to wake everyone to the fact that possession is all about service, to contrast the culture of affluence with the culture of inner freedom, and thereby to create conditions for social justice as well.” (page 77; emphasis mine)

Last night I started re-reading Foundations of Christian Faith by Karl Rahner, SJ (my favorite theologian and subject of my MA thesis). In it he talked about how we are all called to give an “account of our hope” (1 Peter 3:15) that is, an intellectually honest justification of our Christian faith. Then this morning I stumbled upon an old post by fellow blogger Father Ben Hawley, SJ. “The Good News of Our Lord Jesus Christ” is a beautiful and succinct message of the Good News. In many ways it does exactly what Rahner writes about in terms of giving an “account of our hope” (the major difference being that Father Ben does it in 15 points and Rahner does it in 470 pages!). This is a post to which I will return again and again. Be sure to check out Father Ben’s recent posts too!

I just started reading a new book called My Best Teachers Were Saints and was just thinking how true that really is in my life as well. When I was a kid, we had a bunch of little story books about Jesus’ life and the life of the saints. We even had comic books which were actually just as compelling if not more than my Star Wars and Wonder Woman comic books. One in particular is etched in my mind. I used to have a comic book about Saint Maximilian Kolbe. Maximilian was a Catholic priest who was considered a threat by the Nazis, arrested and sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz where he died. What is amazing about this man is that he volunteered to take another man’s place who was condemned to die at the camp. As a kid, I read his story over and over again and to this day I can still see the cartoon pictures in my mind and feel the awe I felt as a kid. For me, Maximilian Kolbe is one of those saints who was one of my best teachers.

What I like about this book, My Best Teachers Were Saints, is that the author Susan Swetnam sees the saints as persons who not only inspire us but help us in concrete ways. The book is focused in particular on bringing to bear the wisdom of the saints on the challenges of being an educator. “Swetnam focuses on fifty-two saints–many of them teachers–who faced challenges similar to those that nearly all educators face today, from indifferent students and recalcitrant colleagues to their own limitations and feelings of isolation.” Though I’m currently not teaching, I find this book delightful and it makes me want to spend some time with the saints who are my best teachers and see what they have to say to me today. Another great saints book is Jim Martin’s My Life with the Saints which I previously wrote about here.

Which saints have been your best teachers?

A while back I did an email interview for a book called Clear Blogging by Bob Walsh. It was just published this month. Bob has a blog at http://www.clearblogging.com/ with the full interview in his post “Spreading the Word, Online” (February 7, 2007) and details about his book. Check out Bob’s blog and learn more about this book. I think it is very timely and am looking forward to reading it.

Note: the following is not written by me but is taken directly from Rochelle Shapiro’s review …

The Perfect Nun

The Tulip & the Pope

by Deborah Larsen (Vintage) 256 pages

Reviewed by Rochelle Shapiro

In high school my best friend, Cathy, who went to an all-girl’s Catholic school kept telling me, “The nuns say I have a calling.” We used to crack up laughing. After all, it was Cathy who swiped her father’s cans of beer from the fridge and her mother’s Kools from her pocketbook, and hung out with hoods. “No way am I going to a Catholic college,” she’d insisted, and we made plans to go away to a state school together and be roommates and have love affairs. But, to my shock, Cathy entered a convent after high school and cut herself off from me completely. That’s why I leaned forward in my chair, gripping the book hard, as I read Deborah Larsen’s spiritual memoir, The Tulip & the Pope. It begins in the summer of 1960. Deborah Larsen (then Maertz) and two of her friends from Minnesota are in the back of a cab, desperately taking the last drags of their cigarettes, Deborah smoking two at a time. They know that at the end of their journey they will have to hand their remaining cigarettes and all of their money, except a $50 dowry, to the cab driver before they enter the convent of Motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity in Dubuque, Iowa.

A Mind Full of Martyrdom

Inspired by A Nun’s Story, the 1956 novel by Katherine Hulme that later became a famous movie starring Audrey Hepburn, Deborah leaves a life of dates, smoking, and party-going, to become the “perfect nun.” With her mind full of martyrdom—Thomas More, chipper to bare his neck to the executioner because he was so sure it would bring him closer to seeing the face of God, and Joan of Arc, burnt at the stake despite her heroism in leading the French resistance against the British invasion in the Hundred Years War—Deborah is disappointed to be handed a small vegetable peeler instead of a scrub brush for her chores. When it’s time to get her hair cropped, she imagines Audrey Hepburn getting her long, thick brown hair shorn, and it’s easier to part with her own, especially since her own hair is curly at a time when straight hair is all the rage. And there is the added delight that Deborah tries to keep in check for humility’s sake, of people remarking that with her dark veil, she looks like Jackie Kennedy.

In a quirky series of short pieces that read like prose poems with titles such as “Pajama Legs,” “Skin,” “Raw Eggs, a Green Sweater, and Ham,” Larsen takes us inside the hushed life of the convent where the scratch of Brillo on the pots after the noon meal and the buzz of the electric polisher and a sneeze only emphasize the silence instead of disturbing it. There is a number for everything—her spot at the postulant table, her communion number, cubby number, etc. In the midst of hearing all these rules, Deborah gets distracted. She wants something. What? A cigarette. This craving becomes a refrain in her early days at the convent. There’s a chapter called “Smoke.” And because no one is allowed to eat anything other than what the convent provides (packages from home are considered property of the group to be distributed and shared), she becomes dogged by food cravings. There’s even a chapter called “Weiners.”

Doing Without Books

Postulants aren’t allowed to watch TV, read newspapers, and all their incoming and outgoing letters are read by superiors. Worse for Larsen, they aren’t supposed to have books of their own. In an ironic lament, Larsen writes, “You can do without the books you fall asleep with, the ones that smell like pulp mill or mildew or the ones that smell like Belgian linen.”

“Larsen takes us inside the hushed life of the convent where the scratch of Brillo on the pots after the noon meal and the buzz of the electric polisher and a sneeze only emphasize the silence instead of disturbing it.”

A postulant must not have friendships outside or even inside the convent. They are also expected to break all attachments to their families. When it’s announced that her mother has brain cancer, Deborah is discouraged from going to visit her. And Deborah, a girl who had so loved the outside world that she used to tunnel in snow, stay outside in pouring rain, and lay under a tulip to observe its underside, (the inspiration for the book’s title) is expected to follow “The Custody of the Eyes,” averting her eyes to shut out other people and the nature to focus more on God. Larsen gives us a diagram of the marbles that make up the body and how to align them for perfect posture, the lists of rules for hygiene, what possessions a nun is permitted, even the underwear she is allowed and what stores to buy it in.

Holy Life

In 1965, while going to college in Chicago, Deborah meets a woman professor who has a husband and three children, a woman with a vocation outside the church, and Deborah’s eyes begin to open to other possibilities for herself. She also becomes engrossed with the writings of theologians such as Teilhard de Chardin, Paul Tillich, Martin Buber, and others who lead her to the conclusion that “life in the world was holy and not second best.” Nature, sex, friendships, working both inside and outside the church, are all part of a spiritual life. She even meets a professor who is an atheist and turns out to be a nice guy. After many visits with her confessor, Deborah leaves the convent.

But she respects that the church provided a way for women to have a career at a time when it wasn’t easily available. A nun’s college and post grad courses are paid for by the church and a nun’s life allows her to dedicate herself to a life of service without the distraction of family life, and know that, at every point in their lives they will be taken care of. Also, all that silence and meditation has given Deborah the ability to concentrate and learn anything. Today, she’s a writing teacher, a poet, a novelist, a wife, a mother, and her faith, no longer shaped by the Catholic Church, is powerful. Deborah Larsen’s book is not only about nuns and about her own journey to her very personal faith, but about literature as well. Larsen quotes everything from fairy tales to theologians to Lady Chatterly’s Lover. She compares reading theological articles to the joy of stuffing your mouth with Milk Duds while watching a movie, and that’s just how I felt reading The Tulip & The Pope. Forty years later, when Larsen returns to the convent to do research for this book, she finds the Sisters of Mount Carmel wearing mauves and greens and patterned scarves instead of habits. And they are, as Larsen says, “ungraspable in their individuality and distinctiveness.” Each is warm and open to her, looking her straight in the eye. Maybe it’s time I look up my old friend, Cathy.

Reviewed by Rochelle Shapiro

I’ve been reading a book by Jim Martin, SJ, called My Life with the Saints (Loyola Press, 2006). Growing up I always thought of the saints as superhuman (not unlike Wonder Woman or Superman) … people with an extra dose of holiness who were able to do amazing things. I never really thought of them as ordinary people. Over the years I learned otherwise and have come to appreciate the saints for who they really are.

I love the Thomas Merton quote that Jim Martin uses to open his book: “For me to be a saint means to be myself.” (Would that it was always easy to be ourselves!) The saints are people who are truly themselves, the people God created them to be … with all their craziness, holiness, foibles, and insights. Saints are truly people whom we can relate to, not ones who are so superhuman that they don’t really relate to our own lives. That’s why I like My Life with the Saints. Martin presents the saints as our companions on life’s journey. We can look to them for inspiration, encouragement or even a good laugh.

As I’ve been reading this book, I’m reminded again how we encounter God in the most ordinary ways in our lives (e.g., a sock drawer … you’ll just have to read the book to see what I mean!). Just as the saints opened themselves to experience God in all things, we too are called to that same kind of openness and willingness to meet God.

Click here to read more about My Life with the Saints as well as other stuff by or about Jim Martin.

Below is a review published in US Catholic (October 2006) by one of my nuns, Margaret Brennan, IHM. Margaret is a good friend of mine, a wonderful theologian, articulate writer and speaker, and a woman of wisdom and insight. Here’s what she has to say in US Catholic about the book Double Crossed:

Double Crossed
By Kenneth Briggs (Doubleday, 2006)

To “double cross” is to deceive or betray a person one is supposedly helping. But that word doesn’t adequately identify the situation Kenneth Briggs attempts to describe in Double Crossed, which contends that “much of the demise of religious orders at the dawn of the 21st century can be traced to the hierarchy’s refusal to make good on the promise of renewal made by the Vatican 40 years before.”

There is no doubt that many of the council fathers thought that women religious would be slow to enter into the changes in the church after Vatican II. Small wonder then that Vatican officials and many bishops experienced a “double take” at the alacrity, seriousness, and independence with which U.S. women religious internalized and undertook the renewal that inevitably would bring them into conflict with church officials. Their participation in the burgeoning civil rights, feminist, and peace movements, and their endorsement of the right of self-determination and the dignity and contribution of each person met with strong opposition from ecclesiastical authorities, with some notable exceptions.

Briggs’ thesis is well-intentioned but somewhat simplistic in its final analysis. Although he alludes to the painful struggles over the meaning, extent, and theology of renewal as mandated by the council, it is important to note—which he neglects to do—that many of those struggles arose from commitments of the women religious themselves to differing ecclesiologies.

Although religious life has dramatically diminished in size since the beginning of the council, it is good to point out, as Briggs does through the astute reflection of theologian Sandra Schneiders, that “the most miraculous aspect of the dying process was that so many communities remained buoyant even as the roof was falling in upon them. . . . They appeared ready to let the mustard seed take its course.”—Margaret Brennan

I’m reading Can Religious Life Be Prophetic? by Michael Crosby, OFM Cap. The book is unsettlingly inspiring. (That’s a good thing.)

It is unsettling because in raising the question — “Can religious life be prophetic?” — Crosby is also asking, “Can YOU be prophetic?” This is very unnerving. I don’t think that anyone truly sets out to be a prophet. It is a terribly unsafe choice of careers. Look at what all the biblical prophets suffered at the hands of their own people. Yet it is true that religious life by its nature has a prophetic dimension. Sisters and nuns, brothers and monks, are called to be a goad to the conscience of the Church and of the world. This is the “rugged prose” part of religious life. It’s a part that I find difficult to fully comprehend but which I know is part of the DNA of religious life. Most of the difficulty for me comes in the fact that the more I comprehend, the more I must change my own ways of thinking and my own lifestyle. It’s uncomfortable and very challenging at times.

Crosby’s book is also inspiring. I’m learning a lot about the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. I’m also learning about what this prophetic call within religious life looks like. I would like to be the kind of religious which he envisions. I’d like to become someone who has so imbibed the Word of God that I am able to put God first in all things. I want to be a voice for those who are voiceless. I want to place others’ needs ahead of my own. I see many of my sisters who have embodied this kind of lifestyle. I pray that I might be able to grab on to their shirt-tails for a while and deepen this lifestyle within myself.

Vinita Hampton Wright has just published her latest book, A Catalogue of Angels: The Heavenly, the Fallen, and the Holy Ones Among Us (Paraclete Press, 2006). I got to know Vinita when I attended her writing workshop “The Soul Tells a Story” (she now has a book by that title which I highly recommend). I have a deep appreciation for Vinita’s writing and the deeply spiritual and human themes she speaks to in her novels and non-fiction.

Admittedly, I was never in to angels very much, though I have had occasion to call upon the big three — Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael — at times. I never liked the angel genre of inspirational stories. But this book is way different.

A Catalogue of Angels is about “the origin and nature of angels, where they dwell, what they do, and how they relate to humanity” (back cover). Vinita bases her exploration on stories and writings from the three Abrahamic faiths — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. James Martin, author of My Life with the Saints, writes: “This is the best book available on angels — a wildly popular topic that has long deserved the attention of a thoughtful and talented writier like Vinita Hampton Wright. She brings a poet’s skill, a scholar’s care, and a believer’s heart to the heavenly companions whose presence we might sense, but many know little about” (back cover). It is inspiring indeed.

I’ve finally begun reading Kenneth Briggs’s Double Crossed: Uncovering the Catholic Church’s Betrayal of American Nuns. Doubleday, the publisher, has not made it easy to want to pick up this book and read it. The title of the book is a bit too sensational for my tastes, and the cover art of a nun in full habit looking like she’s just been betrayed big time is definitely a turn off. But, nevertheless, I persevered and was able to move beyond the first few pages. The preface begins with the following:

No figure has etched a more indelible impression on the nation’s psyche than the nun. A vivid picture of the sister wrapped in a mysterious bundle of wool, with only a cameo of her face showing through, remains deeply imbedded in the mind’s eye of Catholics and non-Catholics alike. Sisters are the stuff of legend, fixtures in a cascade of plays, movies, television shows, Xerox comercials, and endless kitsch. (Preface, ix)

Having grown up in the post-Vatican II era, my encounters with those “mysterious bundles of wool” were few and far between. For me, the mystique of sisters was equal to that of police offers and fire-fighters in full garb, university professors in academic regalia, nurses in their scrubs, or martial artists in their traditional gis (uniforms). They represented people whom I was in awe of — whether because of their healing abilities, athletic abilities, broad knowledge, or courage. As a kid, I may not have wanted to do the kinds of things they were doing, but I did want to be the kind of person I perceived each one of them to be. The same is true of the nuns I knew. I admired these women of faith, witty humor, wisdom, and prayer. For most of my life, however, I never wanted to be a nun; I just wanted to be that kind of person. And lo and behold I find myself an actual nun now. It seems that the whole package suited me (I still find that surprising). Not that I am all those things, but I choose to mark my life by my pursuit of those things. For me, I am becoming more and more myself through this path. Indeed, religious life has been for me its own little “mysterious bundle.”

Amy Welborn, who has written a number of books for us at Loyola Press, has a cool blog called Open Book. On August 4, 2006, she blogged about the book Double Crossed: Uncovering the Catholic Church’s Betrayal of American Nuns by Kenneth Briggs. She also reviewed the article from the National Catholic Register that I recently reviewed in this blog. I resonated with Welborn’s take on the book from my very brief impressions of the book so far. I just got the book today so I’ll begin my review of it shortly.

Check out Amy Welborn’s blog Open Book and her website AmyWelborn.com.

Read Amy Welborn’s blog on Double Crossed here.

I just read a very interesting article called “Where have the nuns gone? Orders thriving despite ‘double-cross’ claim” on Catholic Online that was originally published in National Catholic Register (8/3/6). In the article the perspectives of two nuns on religious life are set in contrast.

The article centers around a new book by former New York Times religion editor Kenneth Briggs. The book is called Double Crossed: Uncovering the Catholic Church’s Betrayal of American Nuns(Doubleday). Although I have not yet seen the book, the title and description of the book lead me to conclude that it may have a provocative edge to it (just a guess). You can be assured that a review of that book will be forthcoming in this blog. The other book mentioned in the article is Joseph Varacalli’s The Catholic Experience in America (Greenwood Press) which takes a very different stance than Double Crossed. (Note: my hermeneutics of suspicion compels me to note that both authors are men … while I’m sure I will learn from their books, I’m a little suspicious of anyone “defining” or “categorizing” or making judgments about nuns who do not (and, in this case, cannot) live the lifestyle of women religious. I am surprised that the author of the article did not note this and balance the books with any of the countless books on religious life written by women religious.)

A number of observations made in the article seemed legitimate: the differing perspectives on religious life, the effects of Vatican II on religious life (especially women religious), and the dynamic tension between remaining who you are as a congregation and adjusting to meet the signs of the times (my words, not the article’s).

However, I have to say that I was very disappointed in the article because it basically pitted two contrasting perspectives (and nuns) against one another. I was left feeling like a whole dialogue on religious life was left out and that the state of religious life in the American Church (the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious and the Leadership Council of Women Religious both represent women religious in the United States) was distilled to merely two perspectives that were placed in opposition to one another. The truth of the matter is that there is far more dialogue that goes one within and between these national councils and the sisters they represent. Congregations contain a wonderful mix of sisters with varying perspectives on their call, religious life in general, the Church, ministry, prayer, etc. This is good and healthy. In addition, every congregation struggles with the question of how to remain true to their founders vision and to their own calling while at the same time adapt to what Vatican II called “the signs of the times.”

Read the article here: “Where have the nuns gone? Orders thriving despite ‘double-cross’ claim.”