Yesterday I attended a funeral service in a Christian church in a small town. The parking lot was packed. People of all ages squeezed into pews, sitting elbow-to-elbow to make room for all. The love and respect in the worship space were tangible.

When the pastor spoke, he articulated the spirit that I felt in the church. He talked about hospitality, and how it creates a space for mourning.

He urged the assembly to embrace their feelings about the death of their loved one – to grieve, to celebrate a life well lived, to be angry, peaceful, joyful, sad. The pastor didn’t suggest that they should just be happy that their loved one was now with God, or that they should simply be stoic.

It’s hard to let go of the people we love. In times of grief, it’s hard to believe the psalmist’s words–that our despair can be turned into a dance. But the small-town church was a space where people were free to bring all their emotions to God, trusting that the Spirit would be with them, offering consolation and healing and hope.

The church service reminded me of the unselfish nature of hospitality. Hospitality has no hidden agenda. It has no answers or quick fixes. It is open to mystery. It lets people take their time.

* * *

Join the A Nun’s Life Community for prayer at 6 p.m. CT in the chat room today.

AS074 Ask Sister podcast recorded live on June 9, 2011. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Topics include: testing God, praying for safety in risky situations, religious medallions, psalm selections, does prayer really work.

Click PLAY below or right-click here to download the MP3.
Subscribe to A Nun’s Life Podcasts:

Ask Sister podcast is a live podcast where you have the opportunity to engage with us and ask questions about nuns, prayer, religious life, or pretty much anything in between!
Here are some of the topics we addressed in this Ask Sister podcast:

• Does participating in something inherently risky, like bike racing, equate to “testing” God?
• A lot of bike racers have religious medallions. My Mom also puts guardian angel pins in my car. Do medallions actually do anything?
• Does prayer really work? How can you tell?
• How does the church pick which verses of a psalm to use?
• What does it mean to test your “readiness” for a vocation?

Do you have a question for us? Visit our new portress Sister Mary Evoca http://anunslife.org/contact/and leave a message for us. Be sure to give us your first name and city from where you are calling. We’ll play your message and respond on the Ask Sister podcast. You can also comment below. In whatever way you contact us, please know that your last name, email address, and any other private information will be kept confidential.

AS055 Ask Sister podcast recorded live on January 7, 2011. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Topics include:nun eating habits, ordering pizza, cultivating mindfulness in daily life, making and breaking religious vows, the four-week psalter, and more!

Click PLAY below or right-click here to download the MP3.

Subscribe to A Nun’s Life Podcasts:

Ask Sister podcast is a live podcast where you have the opportunity to engage with us and ask questions about nuns, prayer, religious life, or pretty much anything in between!

Here are some of the questions we addressed in this Ask Sister podcast:

• What vows do a nun take? What would happen to a nun if she broke one of her vows?
• How can we live mindfulness, especially when we are always multitasking?
• What are samples of your typical meals? are you allowed coffee?
• Do nuns order pizza?
• Why the variety in styles of dress across religious congregations?
• What’s up with the four-week psalter and how do I know what week we’re in?

Do you have a question for us? Call our toll-free Voicemail Hotline at 888-703-4732 and leave a voicemail for us with your question. Be sure to give us your first name and city from where you are calling. We’ll play your message and respond on the Ask Sister podcast. You can also send us an email or comment below. In whatever way you contact us, please know that your last name, email address, and any other private information will be kept confidential.

Lectors say the darnedest things. Yesterday at Mass, the lector (the person who proclaims the scripture readings of the day) was leading us through Psalm 19. It is a beautiful, awe-inspiring psalm, which begins

The heavens herald your glory, O God, and the skies display your handiwork. Day after day they tell their story, and night after night they reveal the depth of their understanding. Without speech, without words, without even an audible voice, their cry echoes through all their world …

The best part, however, was the ending, which is supposed to read, “May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O God, my rock and my redeemer!” But the lector fumbled a bit as she proclaimed this part of the psalm and what came out instead (at least to my ears) was “… I rock in my redeemer.”

That’s right, I rock in my redeemer.

As the liturgy continued to the next reading and Gospel, my mind spilled over into thoughts of David, the psalmist, who himself was a musician. I bet he felt like that sometimes, as in this psalm, where the whole world — including oneself — is alight with God’s glory. Simply put, we rock because God rocks! “To rock” is a popular slang term that means to excel, to do something so awesome that it’s not just well done, it rocks.

How will you be caught up in God’s life and grace today such that you too can proclaim, “I rock in my Redeemer!”?

* * *

Join us tonight for prayer at 6 p.m. CST at http://aNunsLife.org/LIVE.

In the last post Make My Heart Simple, a conversation started around the verse, “I will give glory to your name for ever, for your great kindness is upon me: you have rescued me from the deepest depths.” (Psalm 86).

Many of us have been or currently are in those “deepest depths” … that place where life takes a different, often tragic, turn that we did not expect or particularly want. A sudden major illness or disability ranks right up there in this regard. Unfortunately (fortunately?) I know this all too well having had breast cancer almost 7 years ago and having a tough recovery for that first year or so.

After the shock of finding out about having cancer or going deaf or whatever it may be, it can be difficult (understatement!) to get a handle on one’s thoughts and feelings. Fear, anger, guilt, grief, bitterness, vulnerability, sadness and questions like “why me?”, “what do I do?”, “why if …”, “how can I live like this?” …. all these things can all come rushing in on us and can feel like they are crushing us.

Then there’s the question of God. Where does God fit into this? Did God “will” me to get sick? Is God responsible for this? Can I get angry with God or  yell at God for this thing that has happened? Do my feelings of fear, anger, or bitterness mean that I don’t trust God? Will God be with me through this?

It is totally okay to have these feelings and questions. Life just took an unexpected turn and even if things turn out okay and are “back to normal”, what you have gone through does change you irrevocably. Even though it’s been 7 years since I had my first surgery and then got the “all clear”, I am still dealing with how my life has changed — having breast cancer made me rethink everything — my perspective on life, God, myself, relationships and the whole world. And yes, I was bitter about the whole affair. I was young, I had fallen in love with the IHM life and mission, I was active in ministry, and then SMACK! Cancer. After the shock and just getting through the things that needed to be done, I was able to feel more — to feel scared, bitter, and heart-broken. I never blamed God, as I don’t believe God gives us things that hurt us, but I did wonder if any good could come of this. How could I live with something that God didn’t want for me and I certainly didn’t want for me either? Was it possible — really and truly possible — for me to not only cope but to fully embrace this?

There is a great quote from one of our IHM founders, Louis Florent Gillet, CSsR, that is a guiding lights in my life, and it has come to embody how I see God at work even in the midst of my struggles:

“I began without thinking of the future of the work, leaving it to God alone to bless and make it prosper, if it were pleasing to God and useful for the good of others.”

The message of this quote helps me to move through the anger and the grief to a place where I can truly embrace the thing before me (in this case, cancer) and trust that God will make good come of it. Doesn’t mean that God willed the tragedy or that God or I condone it. It just means that even in the darkest, deepest depths, God is there and finds a way bring good to me and to others.

As I write this, I am very much mindful of the tragic death of Natasha Richardson, of the sudden death of one of my friends’ religious sister, and of my own nuns who are living through cancer. Please keep these women and their loved ones in your prayers.

From what or whom do you draw strength when you are in the deepest depths?

O Lord, teach me your paths,
and I will come to your truth.
Make my heart simple and guileless,
so that it honours your name.
I will proclaim you, Lord my God,
and give you praise with all my heart.
I will give glory to your name for ever,
for your great kindness is upon me:
you have rescued me from the deepest depths.
~ from Psalm 86 (85)

This morning’s prayer (from the Liturgy of the Hours) gave me pause today because it kind of summed up how I feel this Lenten season.

For me, this Lent is a time to pull up a stool and sit at the feet of the Lord, to be mentored in God’s ways. This is something we must do regularly throughout life. It’s like going back to the basics, but learning and re-learning them at deeper and deeper levels.

Simplicity is also something I strive for, especially at this point in my life. There’s a couple levels to this. First is an “outward” simplicity. I am trying to get rid of the clutter that surrounds me. Oh, it’s not like there’s a ton of stuff, but there is more than what I need to live on. I was cleaning my porch last night and found 6 bike pumps. Seriously more than I need or can even use at one time! “But what if … ” is the phrase that runs through my head. “But what if one breaks, or someone needs to borrow one, or you lose one …” I am commiting myself to stopping the “But what if’s” and passing along this stuff to others who actually need a bike pump or whatever.

There’s also the “inward” simplicity. “Make my heart simple.” For me this speaks to living out of my heart’s desire — not getting distracted by “lesser” desires or attractions. I have to think more on what this means. I know there is a message in there for me, but not sure what yet.

How does this psalm speak to you?

]]> http://anunslife.org/2009/03/18/make-my-heart-simple/feed/ 12 http://anunslife.org/2008/09/30/be-still-and-know-that-i-am-god/ http://anunslife.org/2008/09/30/be-still-and-know-that-i-am-god/#comments Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:52:22 +0000 Sister Julie http://anunslife.org/?p=696

“Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)

This is one of my most favorite quotes that when I read it or say it or hear it, it drops me right into a place of contemplative silence with God.

What quote (doesn’t have to be biblical) helps you to drop into contemplative silence — even amidst the activity and challenges of daily life?

(a continuation of A Catalogue of My Favorites: Part I)

[M is for Mary, the Mother of God - your favorite term of endearment for her]: Ark of the Covenant

[N is for New Testament - your favorite passage]: “If you make my word your home you will indeed be my disciples; you will come to know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32

[O is for Old Testament - your favorite book here]: Isaiah and the prophets

[P is for Psalms - your favorite]: Psalm 63.

[Q is for Quote - saint quote]: “It is better to illuminate than merely to shine.” Saint Thomas Aquinas

[R is for Rosary - your favorite mysteries]: The Luminous Mysteries

[S is for Saint - the one you turn to in time of need - not including the Blessed Virgin Mary]: Saint Teresa of Avila, Mother Theresa McGivney, IHM, Saint Ignatius of Loyola

[T is for Tradition - your favorite Catholic tradition]: The Liturgy of the Hours and anything with incense

[U is for University - Which Catholic university have you attended or are currently attending?]: I’ve got my bachelor’s degree from University of Saint Michael’s College (Basilian) at University of Toronto, my masters from Regis College (Jesuit), and some miscellaneous course work at Sacred Heart Major Seminary (diocesan) and Washington Theological Union (mix of religious communities). I also taught a few semesters at the University of Detroit Mercy.

[V is for Virtue - the one you wish you had]: Prudence … as in “Be not conformed to this world, but he reformed in the newness of your mind, that you may prove what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:2)

[W is for Way of the Cross - Which station can you most relate to?]: The fourth: Jesus Meets His Mother. In the movie The Passion, when Jesus meets his mother on the road to Calgary, he says “Behold I make all things new.” (from Revelations 21:5) I was so struck by that when I saw the movie that the image continues to stay with me.

[X is for Xaverian Brothers - Do you know who they are?]: Their patron is Saint Francis Xavier.

[Y is for your favorite Catholic musician]: Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) — writer, composer, musician

[Z is for Zeal for the faith]: Absolutely!