A Nun's Life » saints and feasts

Game-show God

Sister Maxine — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:26:49 +0000

“This is not what we were praying for, but this is what God sent.”

After last night’s In Good Faith podcast with Jane Knuth, I couldn’t get these words out of my head.

Jane volunteers at St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The store is in a rough area of town, and she began working there to lend a hand for just a short time. The next 15 years took her on a spiritual journey that she didn’t expect, a journey that continues to this day. She wrote about that journey in her recent book,Thrift Store Saints.

During the podcast last night, Jane recalled a time when she and her co-workers prayed for more volunteers to help with heavy lifting and other physically demanding tasks at the store. Shortly thereafter, a woman in frail health came to volunteer. I can imagine a look of incredulity on Jane’s face when the woman said was ready to dig in and work.

As Jane told the story, I thought about the many times that God sent me someone or something that didn’t match up with my hopes or expectations. I remembered wondering if God hadn’t bothered to listen, or worse, if God was just messing with me.

In Jane’s story, it turns out that the woman was a real estate professional. In the short time that she was able to work, she helped a family avoid eviction and homelessness. She did some “heavy lifting” that was much needed but unanticipated at the time she showed up at the thrift store.

Late into the night I thought about this story and about the various reactions I’ve had when God’s response to me was unfathomable at the time. Sometimes I felt disappointed, confused, frustrated. Other times I had a good laugh, a new way to look at a situation, a deep sense of trust.

Sometime after midnight, I started to imagine God as the host of a TV game show called Jeopardy. On the show, the contestants get an answer first, and then they have to come up with the right question. It made me smile to think that maybe God is always giving me answers, and that maybe my prayers are actually questions.

What are some of the reactions you’ve had to God’s response to your prayers? What image of God and prayer does it bring to mind for you?

P.S. We’ll post the recording of our podcast with Jane Knuth on our website in a couple of days. You can listen to it there or download the MP3 file.

* * *

Join us for a live prayer webcast this evening at 6 p.m. Central Time at aNunsLife.org/live. On Wednesdays at 6 p.m. Central Time, join us for Ask Sister, a live webcast where we take your questions and insights about God, faith and religious life.

In Good Faith with author Jane Knuth

Sister Julie — Wed, 23 May 2012 12:25:12 +0000

Join us today for a live broadcast of In Good Faith, a conversation exploring God’s call in everyday life hosted by A Nun’s Life Sisters Maxine and Julie.

On Air: Today from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Central Time (your time zone)

Where: www.aNunsLife.org/LIVE

Guest: Jane Knuth

Jane Knuth is the author of “Thrift Store Graces” and “Thrift Store Saints,” which recently won first place for “Popular Presentation of the Catholic Faith” from the Catholic Press Association. She has been volunteering at the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store in Kalamazoo, Michigan, for the last 15 years. She is also an eighth-grade math teacher. Jane and her husband, Dean, live in Portage, Michigan.

We’ll talk with Jane about her experiences as a volunteer at St. Vincent de Paul thrift store in Kalamazoo, MI, about how her faith has been transformed one donation at a time, how her sense of humor factors into her faith, and her pilgrimage to Medjugorje in Bosnia.

Details: The broadcast is free and open to the public. You can tune in from any place you have internet access. We also have a chat room for you to use during the broadcast in order to connect with one another and with us. You can also submit your questions ahead of time by using the comment box below.

If new to A Nun’s Life podcasts, the podcasts are basically like tuning into a radio program, but instead of broadcasting it on the airwaves, we broadcast it on our website. All you have to do is visit our website and make sure the volume on your computer is up.

More information including upcoming shows and recordings of past episodes can be found at the In Good Faith program web page.

Lent: desert and/or dessert?

Sister Julie — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:59:06 +0000

Mardi Gras is here and that means it is Catholic party time! Enjoy the day, but don’t forget the best part of the part — the desert! Or is it the dessert?! I was reflecting on today’s Take Five for Faith and I inadvertently switched the “desert” in here to “dessert”.

Preparation is crucial for a meaningful celebration. Advent prepares us for Christmas, Lent prepares us for Easter, and Mardi Gras prepares us for Lent. These alternating seasons of quiet and celebration help us notice and appreciate the fact that God is found not only in austerity and prayer but also in music and celebration. As a result, we experience the sustaining presence of God in every aspect of our lives. A good Mardi Gras will help us have a good Lent. A good Lent, in turn, ensures a spiritually rich Easter, which is the ultimate goal. So go ahead and celebrate Mardi Gras today! Decorate your home, gather with friends, enjoy some good food. Tomorrow you enter the desert.

That’s right, I thought it said that tomorrow I enter the dessert. That to me sounded a lot better than entering the desert (or the dragon for that matter).

Desert and dessert seem to have such opposite meanings and so whether you are entering one or the other can make a HUGE difference! The desert is often used, though not terribly correctly, as a symbol of lifelessness, vastness, and oppressive conditions . It can seem hostile and unwelcoming. Desserts, on the other hand, are sweet, lush, and luxurious. We turn to them for comfort and for celebration.

And so now I am left with this curious image of Lent — how is it both desert and dessert? If that isn’t enough to blow one’s mind check this out — the word “dessert” is actually Middle French, from desservir to clear the table, from des-de- + servir to serve, from Latin servire (Merriam-Webster). So dessert might actually be an apt image for us during Lent — to take time to clear the table and to prepare to serve.

Tell us your thoughts on desert and dessert as you prepare for Lent!

* * *

For kicks and inspiration, listen to one of our famous podcasts on Mardi Gras. Also, don’t forget, we are doing a live broadcast of Ask Sister from a secret location tomorrow (Wednesday). And finally, join the A Nun’s Life Community for prayer at 6 p.m. CT in the chat room today.

Feast of St. Scholastica

Sister Maxine — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:05:06 +0000

Today is the feast of St. Scholastica (d 543 CE), a remarkable woman who has influenced spiritual seekers to this day! Among her life’s work was the founding of a monastery of nuns just a few miles from the monastery established by her famous brother, Benedict.

A year ago, Benedictine sister Lynne Smith described St. Scholastica’s life and ministry during an Ask Sister podcast. We’re delighted to offer this recording of Sister Lynne’s story of St. Scholastica!

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

Subscribe to A Nun’s Life Podcasts:

* * *

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

Feast Day Letter to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Adventure Nun

Sister Maxine — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:07:23 +0000

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, 1774-1821

Dear Sister Elizabeth Ann,

Just a short note to say that I’m a big fan of yours! It’s not just because your feast day is on my birthday, which it is. Or that my momma’s name is also Elizabeth Ann (BTW she’s a huge fan too).

I really admire your sense of adventure, or whatever spirit it was that allowed you to say “yes” to God in so many different ways. Raised an Anglican in New York, you married and went to Italy with your hub and one of your five kids. (My mom and dad also raised five kids).

It must have been very difficult when your husband died in Italy. Yet even then, you did not lose faith. Even then, you turned to God. Maybe the challenge of being a single parent led you to such a deep desire to help others. Back in New York, you became a Catholic and raised your kids.

And then you began a religious order! Way to say “yes” to that one – the Sisters of Charity, Emmitsburg, Maryland, was the first order of women religious that originated in the United States! (My congregation was also founded in the U.S.!) Not only did you and your sisters help many poor young women by providing free Catholic education, but you left a legacy that’s still vibrant nearly 200 years later!

Throughout the day today, I’m going to pray in these words you wrote to a good friend in a letter in 1810:

“Faith lifts the staggering soul on one side, hope supports it on the other, experience says it must be and love says let it be.”

Thanks for the many ways you said “yes” to God, Sister Elizabeth Ann!

* * *

Join the A Nun’s Life community for prayer (Mon.-Wed and Friday) at 6 p.m. Central Time at aNunsLife.org/live. Join us there on Thursdays at 6 p.m. for the Ask Sister broadcast.

Mohawk and Nun to be Sainted

Sister Julie — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:08:01 +0000

Kateri Tekakwitha stained glass window by Debora Coombs in St. Mary

Let’s hear it for the Mohawk Valley area of New York state! From that area of the world not one but TWO soon-to-be saints have emerged (not counting myself who was born a mere 3 hours away).

“The Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, a Mohawk Indian, spent most of her life here during the 17th centurY. About 200 years later and 40 miles to the west, the Blessed Mother Marianne Cope began a religious life that focused on providing medical care in central New York and the Hawaiian islands.

On Dec. 20, Pope Benedict XVI certified miracles attributed to the two women, the final step toward sainthood. The women’s canonization is expected to happen this year.

When they are elevated to sainthood, they’ll be among just 12 of the Catholic Church’s thousands of saints who either were born in America or ministered in what is now the United States.” (source)

While many may be familiar with Kateri, let me fill you in a bit more on Mother Marianne. She belonged to the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities.

“Mother Marianne Cope’s roots in the Mohawk Valley began in Utica, where her family settled in 1840 after emigrating from Germany the previous year, when she was a year old. A factory worker until she joined the Franciscan sisters in Syracuse in the early 1860s, the young nun worked as a nurse and hospital administrator, helping to found two hospitals — St. Joseph’s in Syracuse and St. Elizabeth’s in Utica — that are still in operation today. Under her direction, no one was denied medical care, according to Sister Patricia Burkard, general minister of the Syracuse-based Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities.” (source)

Marianne Cope in a 1883 photo provided by the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities

She was “the only one of 50 religious leaders to respond positively to an emissary from Hawaii who requested for nuns to help care for Hansen’s disease patients on Kalaupapa.” This earned her the title “beloved mother of the outcasts.” The place where she went was a settlement on Molokai island run by Father Damien who was recently canonized a saint in 2009.

“Marianne was known for demanding money from the government to help the leprosy patients. She wasn’t “afraid to pursue anything for her people,” said Sister Davilyn Ah Chick of Honolulu….

The nuns said Marianne is credited with having a school built and teaching women and girls to sew and garden. She was also a source of support during a time of much suffering, which included abuse, families forced apart and the banning of pregnancies, [Sister Rose Annette] Ahuna said.

Marianne died there of natural causes in 1918.” (source: Hawaii nuns describe life of soon-to-be saint, Jan. 2, 2011)

We look forward to the canonizations!

AS093 Ask Sister – Special Edition on Saints, holiness, and joy with guests Sister Sandra Schneiders and Father James Martin

The Nuns — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 07:00:55 +0000

AS093 Ask Sister podcast published on November 24, 2011. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. This is a Special Edition on Saints, holiness, and joy. The nuns are joined by Catholic superstars Sister Sandra Schneiders, IHM, and Father James Martin, SJ.

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:

Sister Sandra Schneiders

What is the Scriptural basis for the saints?
In iconography and in various visual renderings, the saints are often pictured with some kind of symbol that speaks to something about their life — Teresa of Avila is pictured with a dove and quill, Saint Joseph with carpentry tools. Centuries from now, what symbol would you hope would be associated with you?
What does holiness mean in general as well as in the ups and downs of our daily life?
What was it like first getting to know the author of the Fourth Gospel?
Check out Sister Sandra’s new book Prophets in Their Own Country: Women Religious Bearing Witness to the Gospel in a Troubled Church

Father James Martin

What role do saints play in our prayers?
Is it considered a miracle that some saints do not decompose after dying?
Isn’t holiness a pretty serious thing? What role do joy, humor, and laughter play in the spiritual life?
What’s the deal with relics?
What advice would you give to people who want to live a saintly life?
Check out Father Jim’s new book Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life

Do you have a question for us? Contact us http://anunslife.org/contact/and, using your computer, record your question on voice mail. 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.

Singing with Saint Cecilia

Sister Julie — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:39:13 +0000

Saint Cecilia by Ellen Chavez de Leitner

Today is the feast day of Saint Cecilia! Although we know little about Cecilia’s life, she remains an inspiration and ever-popular saint in our Catholic faith. She is known particularly for being a patron saint of music. Here’s why:

The Acta of Cecilia includes the following: “While the profane music of her wedding was heard, Cecilia was singing in her heart a hymn of love for Jesus, her true spouse.” It was this phrase that led to her association with music, singers, musicians, etc.” (source)

Here at A Nun’s Life, we have a great fondness for Saint Cecilia. Many of our podcasts open with the song “Bits and Pieces” which features Saint Cecilia prominently. The song is written and song by the fabulous folk group, Wild Carrot. Here’s the first verse and chorus:

Bits and Pieces
(Pamela Temple; © 1998 Chocolate Dog Music (BMI))

I’ve got a box crammed with pictures of places I’ve been
and my backpack is worn at the seams.
I’ve got letters written in foreign tongues from friends who think
my tongue’s a foreign tongue too.
Stories, yeah, I’ve got some of those
Tell me how much time can you spare
I’ve seen profiles in purple suns and weavers in the mountains
I’ve held the hands of hardlived lives

And I’ve got Bits & Pieces, Bits & Pieces
I’ve gathered
I want them to sew themselves together
While I sleep
And I call on St. Cecelia
St. Cecelia
Send me, send me
a song …

So in honor of Saint Cecilia we invite you to share a verse or two of your favorite song which you sing in your heart out of love for God!

* * *

Join the A Nun’s Life community for prayer tonight at 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone). Just go to aNunsLife.org/live.

Day 9 Saints Novena – Saint Joseph

The Nuns — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 12:32:42 +0000

** Final Day of A Nun’s Life FUN!raiser! We’re at $9,919 and need less than $1,000 by the end of today! Please consider kicking in $10 — if each of us does, we’ll be sure to make it! Plus you just might win an iPad 2 too! Plus tonight at our Ask Sister podcast we’ll be giving away 3 fabulous giveaways for folks in the chat room! Donate now at http://anunslife.org/donate

9 Saints Novena – Saint Joseph – by Bcoop

Saint Joseph and Christ Child icon by Michael O'Brien from Ontario Canada (www.studiobrien.com)

Reflection: Day 9 – Saint Joseph
Joseph of Nazareth is one of those hidden people in the Bible, but he played a big part in the lives of Jesus and Mary. He only appears in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, first as an entry in the genealogy of Jesus and a link to King David’s line. He is mentioned as the husband of Mary and the father of Jesus. He was a carpenter in Nazareth. Matthew pictures him as a man who hears an angel’s message and protects his family from Herod’s wrath. Later, Luke tells the story about 12 year old Jesus in the Jerusalem Temple and his parents’ search for him. Then Joseph disappears from the scene.

Perhaps the most important statement about Joseph in the Gospels is that he was a “just man”. That is, a person of integrity, of compassion, who is upright, sincere, and true. A person who lives in and for God, who is wise and learned in the Torah. Luke tells us that Jesus “grew in body and in wisdom, gaining favor with God and other people”. (Lk 2:52) I think he learned this along with carpentry at Joseph’s side.

Prayer:

Pray with us, Saint Joseph,

patron of the Universal Church, teach us to walk in the Way of Jesus.
patron of workers, help us to provide meaningful employment and adequate wages to all.
refugee from Herod’s hatred, help us to be compassionate and open to those in trouble.
father of your family, bless our families and teach us to live in love.
teacher and guide for the child Jesus, help us to guide and support each other on life’s way.

Suggested Reading:

The Bible

Join A Nun’s Life Community in the LAST DAY OF THE FUNDRAISER! We are close to our goal of $10,000 for much needed equipment and supplies. See our fundraiser page for more information. You may be eligible to win a brand-new iPad 2!

Day 8 Saints Novena – Father Augustus Tolton

The Nuns — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 08:02:33 +0000

We offer this Saints Novena in gratitude for the ways God lives and moves and has being in the lives of all the saints who are part of this online community. We give thanks for you and for the gift of God that you are to us and to the world. It is because of people like you that there is this awesome place of hospitality and gospel community. This novena is written by the A Nun’s Life Community.

8 Saints Novena – Father Augustus Tolton – by Audra

Reflection: I would like to introduce you all to a good spiritual friend of mine: Fr. Augustus Tolton, the first African American priest in the United States.

Augustus Tolton was born a slave in 1854 in rural, Missouri. He was baptized a Catholic at St. Peter’s Church in Brush Creek, Missouri. His father died right before serving in the Civil War. Wanting a better life for her children, Augustus’ mother escaped slavery with her three children forty miles east to Quincy, Illinois. There Augustus would find his calling as a Catholic Priest.

However, since he was black, no seminary in the United States would accept him. He was sent to the Propaganda Fide in Rome where he studied with seminarians from all over the world. As soon as he was ordained he asked to be placed as a missionary in Africa, but instead, he was sent back to his home parish in Quincy.

No matter where he went, his deep baritone voice would be heard by people of different cultures together in the same church. The other priests became jealous of Fr. Tolton’s popularity and made it impossible for him to stay in Quincy. Deeply heartbroken Fr. Tolton accepted his new mission in Chicago. There, he raised funds to build a church for the African American community. While funds were being raised, “the good Father Gus” as people called him, ministered all over the Chicago ghetto. Unfortunately, Fr. Tolton never got to see his church finished as he died of a heat stoke at the age 43.

Fr. Gus was truly a servant of God as he preserved time and time again. He once wrote to St. Katherine Drexel, “I shall work and pull at it as long as God gives me life for I am beginning to see that I have powers and principalities to resist anywhere and everywhere I go.” Even though Fr. Gus’ church was never finished, his spiritual legacy lives on in those who hear his story. He is a role model for all who are in the minority to follow God no matter the cost.

Prayer: ”O God, we give you thanks for your servant and priest, Father Augustus Tolton, who labored among us in times of contradiction, times that were both beautiful and paradoxical. His ministry helped lay the foundation for a truly Catholic gathering in faith in our time. We stand in the shadow of his ministry. May his life continue to inspire us and imbue us with that confidence and hope that will forge a new evangelization for the Church we love.” (from the Canonization Prayer)

Suggested Reading:

A Biography of Fr. Gus by Fr. Roy Bauer
Support Fr. Gus’ cause for canonization

Join A Nun’s Life Community for a day of events in honor of All Saints! See the schedule for the day’s events in the sidebar to the right. And please consider participating in A Nun’s Life fundraiser going on now through November 9. We need to raise $10,000 for much needed equipment and supplies. See our fundraiser page for more information. You may be eligible to win a brand-new iPad 2!

Day 7 Saints Novena – Dorothy Day

The Nuns — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 08:29:07 +0000

7 Saints Novena – Dorothy Day – by Bcoop

Reflection: Dorothy Day (born: November 8, 1897; died: November 29, 1980)

Dorothy Day on picket line with farm workers in Lamont, California, 1973

I wonder how Dorothy feels about being “nominated for official sainthood”? She is reputed to have said: “Don’t call me a saint. I don’t want to be dismissed so easily.” Saints do run the danger of being “photoshopped” – all their quirks and warts smoothed away until they appear as bland as marshmallows. That might be more difficult to do with Dorothy.

Dorothy’s whole life was marked by concern for the injustices of society and the plight of destitute people. She spent her life joining charity and justice. As she said: “There was a great question in my mind. Why was so much done in remedying social evils instead of avoiding them in the first place? . . . Where were the saints to try to change the social order, not just to minister to the slaves but to do away with slavery?” (Long Loneliness, p. 45)

Dorothy’s first job as a journalist was with the New York Call, a socialist newspaper. Her reporter colleagues were socialists, communists, labour organizers for the American Federation of Labour and the Industrial Workers of the World and various free thinkers and anarchists opposed to conscription and the entry of the United States into World War I.

The labour movement, socialist ideas, and her own experiences of hardship had a strong influence on Dorothy’s commitment to social justice. At the same time, she was searching for some inner connection with the God who was enticing her. Brought up in a nominally Protestant home, Dorothy was drawn to the ritual of the Catholic Church.

In 1927 Dorothy’s daughter, Tamar, was born and was baptized in the Catholic Church. Dorothy said: “I did not want my child to flounder as I had often floundered. I wanted to believe, and I wanted my child to believe, and if belonging to a Church would give her so inestimable a grace as faith in God, and the companionable love of the Saints, then the thing to do was to have her baptized a Catholic.”

Dorothy’s interest in religion, as well as the birth of Tamar, led to the break-up of her common-law marriage. This freed her to be received into the Catholic Church and started her on a search to bring together her faith and her social values.

In 1932 Dorothy met Peter Maurin and the Catholic Worker was born. These communities still work to fulfil these words of Dorothy: “The greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution which has to start with each one of us?”

Prayer: Help us dear Dorothy, to overcome our fear with love, our selfishness with compassion, and our anger with peace.

Suggested Reading:

Main website for the Catholic Worker
Social Justice Teachings, Catholic Worker House in Oklahoma City

Day 6 Saints Novena – The Latin American Martyrs

The Nuns — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 13:53:30 +0000

6 Saints Novena – Latin American Martyrs – by Marla

Reflection: Wherever great evil thrives, great saints are made. Evil, as in Latin America from forever until today, kills and steals and destroys. It is horrific, but predictable.

Saints like Archbishop Oscar Romero learn great lessons and turn their lives around; Romero himself was martyred for repeatedly calling on the Salvadoran government to love the poor instead of killing them.

The six Jesuit priests along with their cook and her daughter were murdered in their home by US-backed Salvadoran forces in 1989 were guilty of preaching peace and caring for the poorest of the poor.

When the Salvadoran government killed people who spoke up against injustice and left them to rot on the streets, with the understanding that anyone who moved the bodies would be subject to the same treatment, the Four Churchwomen chose to honor the corporal works of mercy taught by the Catholic Church and buried the dead anyway. Just before the three nuns, Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, Maryknoll Sister Ita Ford, and Maryknoll Sister Maura Clarke, along with lay missioner Jean Donovan were murdered and left in a shallow grave, Clarke wondered aloud to her friends, “I know death is coming. Will I be faithful?”

These and other saints from that evil time and place spoke truth to power—even to US power who gave money to the evil Salvadoran armies—and nothing is harder to do when death is chasing you down.

Prayer: Dear Creator, may we, like the Latin American Martyrs, be willing to have our eyes opened and our lives changed. May we ask daily, as Maura Clarke asked on the eve of her murder, “Will I be faithful?” With the other churchwomen, may we be willing to live our faith without fear of reprisal. And with the spirit of all Latin American martyrs and saints, may we be bold enough to speak truth to power even when the truth will cost us. Bless us with your love of justice.

Suggested Reading:

Companions of Jesus: The Jesuit Martyrs of El Salvador by Jon Sobrino
Salvador by Joan Didion
Disturbing the Peace: The Story of Father Roy Bourgeois and the Movement to Close the School of Americas by James Hodge and Linda Cooper
Salvador Witness: The Life and Calling of Jean Donovan by Ana Carrigan

Day 5 Saints Novena – Saint Dominic Guzman

The Nuns — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 16:15:42 +0000

5 Saints Novena – Saint Dominic Guzman – by Bcoop

Reflection: While almost everyone knows and loves Francis of Assisi, few are familiar with his contemporary, Dominic de Guzman. Dominic was born about 1170 in Caleruega, a small village in Spain. I could write a biography but you can get that from Google. Instead I’d like to tell you why I love this man.

As a student Dominic needed and treasured his books. This was before the invention of the printing press so they were laboriously made by hand and couldn’t be replaced at a local book store. When famine struck, Dominic sold his precious books to feed the poor.

He opened himself to the unknown when he saw a need for change. He left what he knew and was comfortable with, and entered into uncertainty to discern the path God was calling him to.

Dominic was cheerful. When he and Francis met I imagine them having some good laughs about wolves and birds, among other things.

Dominic lived outside of “boxes”. He blended and brought things, and people, together rather than separating them.

Perhaps this could be summed up best by what I wrote in my Journal so many years ago:
I think of Dominic – a man of joy and prayer, a man who treasured his friends, and in their common passion for living and preaching the Gospel, deepened in relationship to become “Family”.

Simon Tugwell wrote:

“The faith of God in people makes, every now and then, a person come true.
And then a heart is rhythmed to the very beat of God,
a mind to truth, and a mouth to gospel,
wooing the matter of man to God.”

Prayer:

Joyful Friar
Patient Teacher
Grace-filled Preacher
Gospel man of prayer
Pray for us and walk with us in God’s Way.

Suggested Reading:

Early Dominicans from Classics of Western Spirituality
International Dominican website
Reflections on readings, resources, etc
Bcoop’s Journal of my pilgrimage to the lands of Dominic)

Day 4 Saints Novena – Saint Francis of Assisi

The Nuns — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 14:38:38 +0000

3 Saints Novena – Saint Francis of Assisi – by Audra

Reflection: Saint Francis of Assisi is one of the most popular saints ever. There have been hundreds of books, several movies and one Broadway play done on this twelfth century saint. But for me, what makes the cool points go through the roof is that Saint Francis has his own comic book- and not just any comic book a Marvel comic book. Yes, that’s right. The kings of the comic books wrote a comic book about Saint Francis.

Francis Berandone was born into the middle class but always dreamt of being a knight. He fought in the Perugian War but was captured and put in prison for a year. It was while he was in prison that Francis first began to experience the hints of how God was calling him. In prison, Francis saw how the very men he had respected and served valiantly with were now fighting each other for food. Instead of joining them, he found that he felt joy when he gave food to the other prisoners.

When freed, Francis returned to his partying ways — and was really good at it. When fights between the pope and German princes broke out, he again was lured back to his dream to be a knight. Francis purchased the finest armor and rode with other soldiers to defend the Church. But one night before the war, God told Francis in a dream to return to Assisi. A would-be knight turning away from a fight was more than Francis’ family could bear and they were embarrassed by him. So one day Francis went to Mount Subasio to pray. He didn’t hear God’s voice but felt freer just by praying. Francis prayed intensely for a year but still couldn’t hear God’s voice. Then one day while walking he came upon a leper. At first Francis was scared, but then he felt overwhelmed with compassion and reached out and gave the leper a hug.

Later on, Francis went to the San Damiano church to pray in front of the Crucifix. Suddenly Jesus came alive and told Francis to “rebuild my church.” Francis took this to heart, and did his best to sell his merchant father’s bolts of clothes for building supplies. Unimpressed, his father found out and took him straight to the bishop. Francis’ father asked for the clothes back. Francis obliged, and right then and there took off all of his clothes in front of everyone. This marked Francis’ choice to leave behind all the expectations of his family and his own expectations and follow God.

A few days later Francis’ friend Bernardo asked to join him. Eventually more men joined them. Seeing the numbers grow Francis went to the Pope to ask if he would start a new religious order. The Pope said no, but that night he had a dream that Francis was able to rebuild the church. The next day the Pope gave Francis his blessing.

When Francis returned to Assisi, his friend Clare — yes, THE Clare — came to him asking to join his new order. Francis was hesitant at first, but then told Clare that she could live under the same laws as the Friars. The Poor Clares were born!

A few comic book days later, Francis witnessed the battle of the crusades and decided to speak with the sultan to stop the war. Francis gained the respect of the Sultan and was given a pennant so he could safely travel to all of the holy places of Jesus’ life.

After the trip, Francis came back to find his order … umm… not in order. They forced him to write rules other than the Gospels to live by. So Francis did what he always did when he needed to pray: he headed for the hills. Like Jesus, Francis spent much time in prayer in mountains. There on Mount La Verna he received the Stigmata. He became an instant celebrity as people heard about these extraordinary marks of holiness. Over the next two years Francis’ health deteriorated. As he lay on the death bed Francis said, “Praise the Lord, for our Sister, death whom none can escape. My soul is at peace. I am prepared to meet her. Welcome Sister Death.” Francis died on October 3, 1226.

Saint Francis to me is an everyday, working person’s type of saint. He was also crazy. Crazy for God that is. I wish I can be that type of crazy. He didn’t care if you were man, woman or beast — you were a child of God and worthy of love. I think that’s why he is also the patron saint of animals. They were his sisters and brothers too.

Prayer: A very popular Prayer NOT written by Saint Francis but is something he would say: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Suggested Reading:

“Francis, Brother of the Universe” Comic Book by Marvel
Life of Saint Francis of Assisi by Saint Bonaventure

** Be sure to join in today’s Litany of the Pets at 6 p.m. Central Time followed by the first ever PAWCAST featuring the pets of A Nun’s Life Community! Click here for more info on the Litany of Pets and Pawcast!

AS090 Ask Sister – Special Saintly Edition, with saints in a cave, saintly symbols-coffee and ice cream, decommissioned saints, saintliness in scripture

The Nuns — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:12:52 +0000

AS090 Ask Sister podcast recorded live on November 3, 2011. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Special Saintly Edition. Topics include: saints in a cave, saintly symbols-coffee and ice cream, decommissioned saints, saintliness in scripture

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

How St. Syncletica ditched her entourage and headed for a cave
Coffee, bicycles, trees, open vessels, ice cream and other symbols of sainthood
When saints go marching off the General Roman Calendar–where do they go?
Sister Sandra Schneiders on holiness from the perspectives of St. Paul and the Fourth Gospel

Do you have a question for us? Using your computer, record your question on voice mail. It’s easy to do! Just click this Record link to get started! 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.

Day 3 Saints Novena – Theresa Maxis Duchemin and Louis Florent Gillet

The Nuns — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 09:09:29 +0000

2 Saints Novena – Theresa Maxis Duchemin and Louis Florent Gillet – by Sister Julie

Reflection: Saints take many forms, canonical and otherwise. In today’s novena we celebrate all the saints who have gone before us “marked with the sign of faith,” those who may not be canonized but who have had a profound influence on our lives. Today we honor two such saints, founders of the religious congregations of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

While general superior of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, Theresa Maxis Duchemin met the Redemptorist missionary Louis Florent Gillet, who was seeking women religious for schools in the still new State of Michigan. After much discernment, Theresa agreed to help Gillet found a new congregation in Monroe. On November 10, 1845, Theresa along with Charlotte Schaaf and Therese Renaud, became the first members of a new religious community dedicated to education in the frontier land of Michigan.

In January 1846, they opened St. Mary’s Academy in Monroe. As the community and mission grew, Father Gillet was forced to leave and return to Europe in 1847. Though flourishing, the community struggled to deal with Louis’ departure and their struggle worsened with a sudden separation from Theresa. Theresa was caught in the middle of a jurisdictional dispute about the congregation between the bishops of Philadelphia and Detroit. The bishop of Detroit held Theresa responsible, deposed her as General Superior, and sent her to the Pennsylvania foundation, which later became a separate branch of the congregation. Despite these trials, the new community persisted in its Redemptorist spirit of humility, simplicity, and zeal.

Theresa and Louis’s legacy of courage, peace and service to the poor continues in now three IHM congregations of Monroe, Michigan, Immaculata, Pennsylvania, and Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Prayer: We pray that we might tap into God’s gifts to each of us of courage, peace, and service, even when it seems the struggles and trials that we bear are too much. We trust with Theresa and Louis, that God will bring all our efforts to good.

“May the same faith and hope and courage of those loved ones who are ‘dwelling now in Light—yet ever near’ inspire us to continue bravely and earnestly the glorious work so nobly begun.” (Mother Theresa McGivney, IHM, November 10, 1945)

Suggested Reading:

Paths of Daring, Deeds of Hope: Letters by and about Mother Theresa Maxis Duchemin by Sister Margaret Gannon, IHM (Published in Scranton, Pennsylvania, 1992)
Building Sisterhood: A Feminist History of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the IHM Sisters of Monroe, Michigan (Syracuse University Press, 1995)
Also, be sure to spend time with the icons of Louis and Theresa by Sister Nancy Lee Smith, IHM, iconographer

Day 2 Saints Novena – Josephine Bakhita

The Nuns — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 22:30:06 +0000

2 Saints Novena – Josephine Bakhita – by Sister Maxine

Reflection: St. Josephine Bakhita shows us that forgiveness and freedom walk hand in hand. Kidnapped into slavery as young girl in Sudan, Bakhita was sold and re-sold in African slave markets. The name, Bakhita, meaning “Fortunate One,” was given to her by her kidnappers.

Bakhita faced great physical, spiritual, and emotional adversity during her enslavement. But even these experiences could not destroy the seeds of hope and transformation that lived in Bakhita.

Eventually, Bakhita was purchased by a family that, by the standards of the times, treated her kindly. She later moved to Italy with the family, and there she met the Canossian Daughters of Charity. With them, she began her journey into the Catholic faith and was baptized. The sisters were among those who helped Bakhita, baptized as “Josephine,” achieve her freedom, and soon she entered the congregation.

St. Josephine forgave her kidnappers and captors. They had caused enormous pain in her life, yet she chose forgiveness. In doing so, she rejected hate, anger, fear, and revenge—emotions that, in themselves, enslave people and rob their capacity for joy.In forgiving others, St. Josephine chose freedom, and in her freedom, she found joy.

Prayer: Walk with us, St. Josephine Bakhita, at times when we feel unable to forgive others. Help us find our way through the pain we’ve experienced. Help us open ourselves to transformation. Free us from that which can enslave us. Walk with us into a new place of joy.

Suggested Reading:

Day 1 Saints Novena – Mary our Sister

The Nuns — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 08:26:50 +0000

1Saints Novena – Mary our Sister – by “Bcoop”

Reflection: With an elevated title like “Mother of God”, we might forget that Mary was a young Jewish girl from Palestine. She lived in a Country dominated by a foreign power, knew the violence of occupation, of fear, of anger at injustice, and probably joined in lamenting the slowness of Israel’s God in rescuing the people. Mary spent her days doing the routine stuff of life, like going to the village well to draw water for her family or learning to cook as her mother did. She went to the Temple as the Law of Moses prescribed. She learned to listen to what was in her heart. One day, she became pregnant with new life and we all know where that led. We might think that because she was Jesus’ mother she is elevated beyond anything we might aspire to. But when Jesus praises her, it is because she had open ears and a responsive heart to God’s Word.

Like Mary we are pregnant with God’s own life. We are called to give birth to that life in our world and our circumstances. Mary shows us the way in her example of hearing God’s Word and acting with it.

Prayer: Be our companion on this journey dear sister Mary. Teach us the ways of wisdom as you taught your son Torah. Encourage us by your strength, inspire us by your attentiveness, and be our midwife in witnessing to Christ in our life.

Suggested Reading:

Truly Our Sister: A Theology of Mary in the Communion of Saints by Elizabeth A. Johnson
Dangerous Memories: A Mosaic of Mary in Scripture by Elizabeth A Johnson
Miryam of Judah: Witness in Truth and Tradition by Ann Johnson

Two saints walked into a bar…. LOL for a healthy spiritual life

Sister Maxine — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:25:22 +0000

Idon’t know if saints ever did stand-up comedy, or if the Scripture writers ever LOL’d at what they wrote. But they do show us that there’s a connection between faith, humor, happiness and transformation. It’s what Father James Martin writes about in his new book Between Heaven and Mirth.

Sister Julie and I are delighted that Father Martin will join us for a live podcast on All Saints Day! It’s part of our very first A Nun’s Life Fun!raiser. We’ll talk with him about saints and the role of humor in the spiritual life. Join us in the live chat room during the podcast, which begins at 2 pm Central, to ask questions and share your best spiritual humor! Check out the sidebar to the right for more info about events during the Fun!raiser!

In the meantime, if you need a spiritual boost, check out this video clip of Father Martin sharing a joke with journalist Sally Quinn.

We hope you can join us for the podcast with Father Martin and for other fun and one-of-a-kind events during our nine-day Fun!raiser. A Nun’s Life Ministry relies on gifts from readers and listeners like you, who make these podcasts and this ministry possible. We encourage you to support this ministry that strives to promote religious life and to encourage people in living their calling. Please consider a one-time gift or a monthly gift to support the ministry. Thank you!

O God, Your Creatures Fill the Earth – Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi

Chloe the Convent Cat — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 15:13:44 +0000

Molly of Audramo

Happy Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi! We celebrate this day mindful of all of God’s good creation. One of my nuns sent me the lyrics of a new hymn that was composed for the Humane Society by Pastor Carolyn Gillette of Limestone Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Delaware. The Humane Society is running a contest inviting people to take the lyrics and create a video performance that will then be featured on humansociety.org. Click here for a PDF of the lyrics and sheet music.

The lyrics of this beautiful hymn are our prayer of thanksgiving this day for Saint Francis and all of creation.

O God, Your Creatures Fill the Earth

Ameraucana Max of LeeAnn and Stan

O God, your creatures fill the earth with wonder and delight,
And every living thing has worth and beauty in your sight.
So playful dolphins dance and swim;
Your sheep bow down and graze.
Your songbirds share a morning hymn
To offer you their praise.
You made the pets we welcome in—
They’re wondrous blessings, too.

Button of Kbart and Marg

With paws and whiskers, wings and fins,
They offer praise to you.
O Lord, you call us to embrace
These creatures in our care.
May we show kindness, love and grace
To all pets everywhere.
You made the creatures on each farm;
You know the things they need.
May they grow healthy, safe from harm,
And safe from human greed.

Chloe the Convent Cat reenacting the bible verses of the lion laying down with the lamb

Just as a shepherd loves the sheep,
You know their joy, their pain.
Lord, bless the animals we keep;
May all farms be humane.
Your creatures live in every land;
They fill the sky and sea.
O Lord, you give us your command
To love them tenderly.
We’re called to have dominion here—
To care for them always.
By loving creatures you hold dear,
We offer you our praise.

* * *

Join A Nun’s Life Community for evening prayer and chat at 6 p.m. CST (your time zone) today at aNunsLife.org/live.

Looking to the Saints for Business Advice

Sister Julie — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 14:34:36 +0000

The saints as CEO? Picture this: Saint Francis of Assisi advising financial officers, or Catherine of Siena offering conflict resolution inservices. About 15 years ago author Laurie Beth Jones came out with Jesus, CEO (Hyperion, 1996) followed six years later by Jesus, Entrepreneur (Crown Business, 2002) and a smattering of other applications of Jesus to the business world and everyday life.

Now, we’ve got the saints weighing in! I just read a review by Philip Delves Broughton for the Los Angeles Times about the new book Mother Teresa, CEO: Unexpected Principles for Practical Leadership by authors Ruma Bose and Lou Faust.

Broughton says that the authors lay out eight principles based on the life and work of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta:

dream it simple, say it strong
to get to the angels, deal with the devil
wait, then pick your moment
embrace the power of doubt
discover the joy of discipline
communicate in a language people understand
pay attention to the janitor
use the power of silence

These are definitely worth pondering, though beyond these thoughts, Broughton’s values the brevity of the book. In the end he writes:

“[T]o get a real sense of the joys and travails of Mother Teresa as CEO, I recommend her private writings, which show how lonely it was at the top.”

While I don’t know what it’s like at the top, I concur 100% that the writings of Mother Teresa and the saints themselves is what will really help us in not only our business life but also everyday life as well. My saint of choice (which probably comes as no surprise) is Saint Teresa of Avila. Reading her writings as well as those of other saints like Mother Teresa give us a sense of the person and her interior life from the inside out — rather than from the outside in which often happens when we read about a saint rather than reading the saint herself which, I might add, also means walking with that saint and praying with her.

What have you learned from walking with Mother Teresa or another saint? How does that help you in your professional life or personal life?

* * *
Join ministry business partners Sister Maxine and Sister Julie and A Nun’s Life Community for prayer today at 6 p.m. CST (your time zone).

Of fish and prayer and Magis: Walking with Ignatius of Loyola

Guest Blogger — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 10:00:22 +0000

Guest blogger Regina Heater writes of fish and prayer and Magis in honor of the Feast of Saint Ignatius which was this past Sunday. Saint Ignatius is a great companion for those who are drawn to deepening their spirituality and who are discerning their life’s path.

Inigo the Fish

I am a big Ignatius fan, although I didn’t know very much about him until last winter when I read the book The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything by Fr. James Martin.

I’m such a big fan, I named my fish Inigo. This is my fish: (OK, I also named him Inigo after Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride. But he’s a Betta, a Fighting Fish, so Inigo fits him well, as both of his namesakes are warriors. But I digress.)

I could tell you all about Ignatius and why he’s awesome, but Fr. Jim has done that really well in a video from the Who Cares About the Saints series, so I’ll encourage you to watch the video for the basics about Ignatius.

There’s a lot of things I love about Ignatius, but I’ll share with you three things of Ignatian Spirituality that have particularly impacted me:

1. The concept of Magis.
Magis is doing more, the greater for God. At the heart of the Spiritual Exercises is this question: “What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What ought I to do for Christ?” In other words, what have I done, what am I doing, and what more can I do? It’s never a question of comparison with others, or a quest to be superlative. It’s simply an encouragement to extend yourself for Christ.

2. Contemplative in Action/Practicality
I love the inherent balance in Ignatian Spirituality. There’s a time to pray, there’s a time to work, there’s a time to play. Ignatius encourages spiritual directors to adapt the Exercises to the needs of the retreatant. And Ignatius understood that things take time, and failure happens. We’re not all Spiritual Superstars. Sometimes we have to take baby steps. And, Ignatius knew that not everyone was called to religious life; he wanted everyone to be able to seek, find, and experience God in their specific circumstance.

3. The Examen
I like to think of The Examen as a kind of “check yourself before you wreck yourself” practice. Francis Xavier encouraged Jesuits to prayer it twice a day – mid-day and before sleep. Ignatius has a suggested way for praying it, but with the advisement of Sister Kathie Budesky, IHM, the director of Visitation North Spirituality Center during this Ask Sister podcast, I’ve adapted it. Here’s how I pray the Examen at the end of the day.

A. Start with The Lord’s Prayer. I use the version in the Inclusive Bible, which I copied into my journal.
B. Write a list of everything I did during the day.
C. Read over the list and mark it up. For example, I might circle things to be grateful for, and underline things I need to repent and work on and star things that made me recognize God. Reading over the list also helps me remember things from the day like prayer requests.
D. Write additional things for which I am grateful and things for which I need forgiveness.
E. Write a Response – things I want to remember and work on tomorrow
F. Pray the modified Doxology.

For more detailed information and assistance in exploring the Ignatian Way, consider these resources:

Ignatian Spirituality (from Loyola Press):
http://ignatianspirituality.com/
dotMagis blog:
http://ignatianspirituality.com/dotmagis-blog/
Picturing God: reader-submitted images of the Divine
http://picturinggod.ignatianspirituality.com/
3-Minute Retreat:
http://www.loyolapress.com/3-minute-retreats-daily-online-prayer.htm
Pray-As-You-Go from the Irish Jesuits:
http://www.pray-as-you-go.org/ (This was how I first started praying the Scriptures each day. Be sure to also click on the “Review of the Day” which is a fantastic way to sort of “toe in” to the Examen.)
Way of Ignatius (also from the Irish Jesuits):
http://www.pray-as-you-go.org/wayofignatius.htm
Other6: offers a way to share with others where you found God and where you need to find God each day.
http://www.other6.com/

* * *

Join the A Nun’s Life Community for prayer today at 6 p.m. CST (your time zone)

Feast of Saint Alphonsus

Guest Blogger — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 12:23:12 +0000

Today is one of IHM Congregational Feast Days … Saint Alphonsus of Liguori. We’ve invited our IHM Sister and A Nun’s Life friend Sister Joyce Durosko, IHM, to reflect with us on the life of this saint.

Alphonsus Liguori, the Saint we honor today: Nobleman, Lawyer, Hospital Minister, Preacher of Missions, Chaplain, Artist, Musician, Poet, Man of Letters, Mystic, Spiritual Director, Founder, Friend of the Poor, Moral Theologian, Superior General, Bishop, Saint and Doctor of the Church. Obviously, Alphonsus was a very gifted person about whom each of us might want to know more.

Saint Alphonsus’ life extended through most of the eighteenth century (1696-1787). Basically, he was committed to preaching missions, along with the Redemptorist Order that he founded, among the abandoned rural poor around Naples, Italy.

There is so much to say about this great man but in this reflection, I want to emphasize his friendship with the poor, who in turn befriended him leading him to a deep and transforming union with God.

“It is evident that fidelity to the promptings of the Spirit was what led St. Alphonsus to leave his world in order to assume that of the poor and most abandoned, just as it is fidelity to that same Spirit that has led some religious to choose to live among, with, for and out of the world of the poor. They embrace the physical, geographic, and human situation of the poor as a focus of their encounter with God.”

~ Jorge Colon Leon CSsR

In this context, says, Father Leon, the poor are seen as a theophany, for in them the transcendent God makes himself present, causing us to question our bourgeois attitudes, calling us to consider whether our ministry choices-personal, community, or worldwide are really in line with call of the Gospel. There is a strong link, insists Kevin Dowling, CSsR, between allowing ourselves to be called by the poor or evangelized by the poor and explicit, prophetic and liberating proclamation of the Gospel to the poor.

My own IHM congregation of Monroe, Michigan was founded by a Redemptorist priest, Father Louis Gillet CSsR. His zeal for poor, educationally deprived girls challenged him to establish a Catholic school in 1845 on the River Raisin frontier in Monroe. That school still exists today in the form of a consolidation referred to St. Mary Catholic Central.

But more than beginning a school for poor girls, Fr. Gillet, needed women religious to staff this school, so he thought, if I can’t find them, I will make them. Thus, began the establishment of the Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1945. Our charism explicitly calls us to serve the most abandoned wherever we find them.

So I ask myself and you, the reader, to ponder: In the light of the Gospel, in what ways can I be involved in action to break down the sense of isolation and alienation among the poor and marginalized in my area or situation? How can I actively participate in poor people’s organizations and movements which focus on economic and political structures and systems? How can I personally live in unity with the poor from the faith perspective that we are one community in Christ? How can the Nunslife community as a group express some form of solidarity with the poor and marginalized?

The following is a link to all the 111 writings of St. Alphonsus which are available to the reader at no cost. Though the eighteen century language might not be the readers’ style, the beauty of his words and mystical expressions of his deep love for God is quite profound. Celebrate this great feast and treat yourself to some beautiful writings of a very talented and great saint.

~ Sister Joyce Durosko, IHM

* * *

The Sisters are back in the NL Studio! Join them and the A Nun’s Life Community for prayer today at 6 p.m. CST (your time zone)

Of cooks, pirates, and dragons: Saint Martha

Guest Blogger — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:12:33 +0000

Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Martha and invite you to enter into her story with our guest blogger and friend Marguerite ….

Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, Jan Vermeeer Van Delft, 1654-5

Among other things, Saint Martha, sister of Mary and Lazarus, is the patroness of single laywomen, butlers, cooks, dietitians, servers, homemakers, innkeepers, travelers, and of the village of Villajoyosa, Spain, which annually celebrates a 250-year old festival commemorating Martha’s resucing the village from an attack by Berber pirates in 1538. According to legend, Martha came to the rescue of the townsfolk by causing a flash flood that wiped out the enemy fleet, thus preventing the corsairs from reaching the coast.

I’ve always admired Martha’s spunk in the Gospel stories found in Luke and John, even though I think that Martha often got the short end of the bargain, as when she asked Jesus to tell Mary to give her a hand in the kitchen, and Jesus said that Mary had chosen the better part. Here’s Martha with a houseful of company, and who’s going to feed and take care of them if she doesn’t? On the other hand, what good Jewish woman who keeps a kosher house is going to let all those big fishermen muck about in her kitchen?

She wasn’t shy about making her feelings known, even to Jesus. When their brother Lazarus died, both Martha and her sister Mary were grief-stricken. But while Mary wept, Martha went out to meet Jesus when He arrived at their house, saying, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now, God will give you what you ask.” (John 11:21,32)

And when Jesus arrives at the tomb of Lazarus and commands that it be opened, the ever practical Martha says, “Lord, he’s been in there for four days. There will be a stench!”
(John 11:39-40)

But have you ever wondered what happened to Martha, Mary, and Lazarus after the Resurrection?

Orthodox tradition says that Martha’s brother Lazarus was cast out of Jerusalem in the persecution against the Jerusalem Church following the martyrdom of St. Stephen. His sisters Mary and Martha fled Judea with him, assisting him in the proclaiming of the Gospel in various lands. The three later moved to Cyprus, where Lazarus became the first Bishop of Kition (modern Larnaca). According to this tradition, all three died in Cyprus.

Saint Martha and the Dragon

But there’s another story, this one from Provence. According to the 13^th century “Golden Legend,” around 48 A.D., Martha, Mary, and Lazarus left Judea and went to what is now France, and there they converted the people to the faith. Martha preached to the people, and she was “courteous and gracious to them.” Now, keep in mind that this is a legend, but one with an interesting lesson to it. According to Provençal tradition, after the ascension of our Lord, when the disciples were departed, Martha with her brother Lazarus and her sister Mary and many others, were put into a ship without sail, oars, or rudder, which by the conduct of our Lord they came all to Marseilles, and after came to the territory of Aix, in Provence.

Saint Martha and the Tarasque, from a 15th century manuscript

The legend relates that Martha went to Tarascon on the Rhone River, where a terrible dragon, the Tarasque, lay hiding in the woods and lurking in the river, “perishing those that passed by and drowning ships.

At the behest of the people in the region, Martha went into the wood, and found Tarasque eating a man. She cast holy water on the dragon and showed to him the cross. Tarasque was overcome, and while he was standing “still as a sheep,” she bound him with her own girdle, and then he was slain with spears of the people.

According to the story, Martha and Mary lived out the rest of their days in Tarascon, and were daily occupied in daily prayers and in fasting, and thereafter gathered together a great convent of sisters and built a fair church in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Martha’s tomb is located in the crypt of the local Collegiate Church in Tarascon.

I’m intrigued by the legend of Saint Martha and the Dragon. She did not slay the dragon, but rather incapacitated it by the sprinkling with holy water. My mother, my great-aunts, and my cousin Martha tamed many of their own personal dragons (and those of the family, too) by means of prayer and sprinkling with holy water and by the power of faith—and never missed serving up a good meal! I think that the Marthas of this world are still out there, taking care of people, facing down a variety of dragons, speaking their minds, and continuing the work of Jesus in a host of practical ways.

Who are the Marthas in your life, and how do they influence you?

Credits: Wikipedia: Saint Martha

* * *

The Sisters are attending congregational meetings and will be podcasting from the IHM Mothership in Monroe, Michigan. Join them and the A Nun’s Life Community for prayer today at 6 p.m. CST (your timezone)

Feasts of Saints Ann and Joachim: The First Holy Family of Nazareth

Guest Blogger — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 11:38:12 +0000

We are honored to welcome again guest blogger and friend, Lisa Burke …

July 26th is, liturgically speaking, the feast of St. Ann and St. Joachim. Growing up it was a popular day to celebrate St. Ann with parish festivals and fireworks (the St. Ann feast in Hoboken, NJ is legendary). With a grandmother named Anne, it was also a day to give special thanks for her and to remember the ways in which she mirrored St. Ann(e).

Ten years ago when I relocated to the central part of New Jersey, I found myself at the Church of Saint Ann, the parish where I have since been a member. Each year the parish holds a preparatory novena for the feast that is a combination of the traditional novena and a parish renewal wherein a guest preacher – often a priest, not always – leads us in a series of reflections. When my work scheduled allowed me greater involvement in the nuts and bolts of parish life, the Novena Committee was the first activity I officially joined. Since then, I have had the standing privilege of “authoring” the daily general intercessions for the nine days of the novena. Having the opportunity to pre-pray the readings and themes of the novena has provided an additional layer of engagement with the feast that we celebrate today.

Catholics, for the most part, are probably pretty familiar with the Feast of the Holy Family that is celebrated on the Sunday after Christmas, a day set aside to honor the Holy Family into which Jesus was born, a family that provides a model for families today, regardless of their specific composition. But in reality, there was an earlier Holy Family of Nazareth, the family into which Mary, the immaculate conceived Mother of God was born, the family of Ann, Joachim, and Mary.

While it is common to relate to Ann and Joachim as the grandparents of Jesus and the parents of Mary, I think it is beneficial today, particularly in an era where diversity in the composition of families is more prominent and (unfortunately) sometimes more contested, to consider the first Holy Family of Nazareth.

Much of what we believe about Ann and Joachim comes to us through tradition based on the Protoevangelium (or Infancy Gospel) of St. James. In our minds, we understand Ann and Joachim to be somewhat older, perhaps around the age of Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, who tradition holds was the first cousin of Ann (or at least that is what I recall learning). So here we have the first Holy Family of Ann, Joachim, and Mary.

To understand the family, it is important to understand Ann and Joachim as individuals, as a couple, and as parents. Faithful, prayerful, devout. These three powerful adjectives tell us a lot about them. Trusting, confident, and hopeful. These three adjectives tell us a lot as well. But let’s think, too, about what we don’t often focus on, the preoccupations, concerns, and worries they must have had as they raised Mary and as they grew older. Clearly faith and, yes, spirituality (although that would not have been a common term at that time) were essential components of their lives. I can see them in my mind’s eyes participating the rituals and worship of the Jewish tradition on a regular basis. I can see them relying on the Scriptures of the Torah, and I can hear them engaging in the psalms as their way to connect with the Most Sacred G-d. I can imagine them working daily and toiling to sustain a home where G-d was all and all lived for G-d and one another. I can see Ann and Joachim raising their daughter to be a woman who would be betrothed to a man of G-d. Could they ever have imagined that she in fact would be the Spouse of G-d and bear in her own body the Savior of the World?

In that way, Ann and Joachim are beautiful models for parents and caregivers today. They provide us with real life people who dealt with all the unknowns life has to offer and faced the uncertainties of life with trust, faith, confidence, hope, and surrender.

It’s really impossible to appreciate fully the Holy Family (of the New Covenant) who we celebrate at Christmas without getting to know better the first Holy Family of Nazareth, and it’s limited in meaning to honor the Holy Family of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus if we don’t recognize the Holy Family of today, the families in which we find ourselves, whether they are blood families, spirit families, religious families, or chosen families.

Today, join me in taking time to contemplate the family of Ann, Joachim, and Mary and what treasures of faith and wisdom that Holy Family offers me and you. Today, join me in considering how the Holy Family of Ann, Joachim, and Mary made possible – and in fact was essential to – the Holy Family of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. Today, join me in thanking God for the Holy Family of Today, the many Holy Families, I have encountered in my own life. Today, join me in lifting up in prayer the rich diversity of families who comprise the one human family where all are made in the image and likeness of God and all are invited to “Love one another as I have loved you.”

* * *

The Story of a Name: On the Feast of Mary Magdalene

Guest Blogger — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 11:00:12 +0000

Today’s blog post is from our friend Sister Hildegard Pleva, OSsR, a Redemptoristine contemplative nun from New York. You can find Sister Hildegard at the blog Contemplative Horizon.

In the final days of my first long private ten day retreat in the monastery, a retreat in preparation for being received into the novitiate, a note was slipped under my door. The prioress, Sr. Moira, was asking if I had a preference for my name in religion. In the past, sisters and nuns routinely had their named changed by their novice mistress or prioress sometimes with consultation and sometimes without. The names of saints, frequently those with significance for the charism of the congregation or order, would be substituted for their baptismal names. In addition, particularly in contemplative monastic orders, a predicate would be added to the name. The Little Flower had two predicates – Sister Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face! In the mid-1960s the documents of the Second Vatican Council reiterated the primacy of our baptismal call therefore many sisters and nuns returned to the use of their baptismal name, the name by which they were called into the life of Christ Jesus.

Sr. Moira’s request to me was a very kind one. I had already given the issue some thought. I wrote back to her, “As if the name of Hildegard (my baptismal name) is not long enough, I would like to add ‘Magdalen of the Resurrection’ to my name if the space offered on whatever document has room enough.” On the last day of my ten day retreat my novice habit was blessed in the sacristy before Mass. The next morning I appeared in chapel wearing that habit (a burgundy jumper and white blouse) and the white veil of a novice (an option in our monastery) ready for Morning Prayer which was the setting for being received into the Novitiate. There followed a procession to the Formation Room (place for instruction during Novitiate) where a special blessing was given by the Prioress and the community.

Why Hildegard Magdalen of the Resurrection? I entered this monastery eleven years ago today. I looked upon Mary Magdalene as the patroness of the process of my formation and integration into this company of women. Evidence indicates that Mary Magdalene was a mature woman when she joined the company of Jesus. Her past has been the subject of great conjecture. But surely it was varied and unlike that of the other women who followed Jesus. I imagined that it took her a while to fit in. She would help me to ‘fit in.’ I was also influenced by the image of the Magdalene presented in Andrew Lloyd Weber’s musical Jesus Christ Superstar. There is such a haunting quality to the words of her soliloquy, “I don’t know how to love him…” I was learning the contemplative monastic way of loving Jesus. In addition, my baptismal godmother’s name was Madeline. I was not given a middle name at baptism but when I entered a small Catholic girl’s academy for high school the sisters insisted that I have one and I chose Madeline. My godmother was a creative, joyful, generous woman who had achieved a great deal in her life while overcoming poverty, lack of formal education and personal strife. She too was a role model.

Each year I marvel at the frequent mention of Mary Magdalene in the Easter liturgies and in the Mass readings of the Easter Octave. This is a major contribution to the transformation of her reputation from that of repentant prostitute to the Apostle to the Apostles. It is unfortunate that her person as been conflated with that of the woman who anointed Jesus at Bethany and the woman caught in adultery. Today, scholars agree that these are probably three separate people. That makes it so much more interesting!

I pray that Mary Magdalene will intercede for all women striving to make their way in the company of Jesus.

* * *

Join the A Nun’s Life community today for prayer at 6 p.m. Central Time.
(your time zone)

“Along the Journey to Find What is Yours to Do”

Sister Julie — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 00:19:30 +0000

A guest blog post by friend and writer Lisa Burke, New Jersey

In the journey of Discernment (yes, discernment with a capital D) to figure out the big life questions, “Who am I called to be? How I am called to live the Who that God has made me? Where and in what ways I am called to serve and consecrate myself?” we can become surrounded by many inspiring role models and attractive ways of life. As we encounter people who have expanded their baptismal consecration through the profession of the evangelical counsels, namely poverty, chastity, and obedience, through religious life, we find ourselves often times wondering if we can live up to the example of Sister A, or Sister B, or Sister C. While seeking to replicate the good examples of people who inspire and motivate us is a beautiful thing, we need not seek to be or copy another person’s life. As St. Francis of Assisi said to his young followers as he lay on his death bed, “I have done what was mine to do. May Christ now teach you what you are to do.” Blessed Teresa of Calcutta said to a woman who lived life with multiple sclerosis, “What you can do, I cannot. What I can do, you cannot. But together we can do something beautiful for God.”

Both of these statements are profoundly powerful and liberating. The realization that each of us has our own unique call, our own identity in the heart of God, is a beautiful realization. It allows us to accept the opportunities for grace, transformation, service, and love that come to us each and every day, knowing that God has given us those encounters in order to live out what is ours to do.

Today the Church honors the life and call of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha. I first “encountered” Kateri when I was a child. My middle sister is named Kathy, and while she was named for a paternal aunt of ours, my mother held Kateri as a kind of patron for her. Kateri was a Mohawk-Algonguin woman who lived 24 short years from 1656-1680. A beautiful young woman, her life was scarred with crosses from a very early age. Despite the difficulties she lived, Kateri sought to live God’s love at every moment. After having converted to Catholicism, she was ostracized and outcast by the non-Christian members of her community. She eventually moved to a community of Native American Christians in Quebec. There she lived a life of prayer, sacrifice and ministry to the infirm and elderly. One year before her death, she made a vow of chastity, an expression of her consecrated virginity. On April 17, 1680, Kateri, in the words of Catherine of Siena, “closed her eyes to this world and opened them to the next.” Her final words were, “Jesus, I love you!”

“Jesus, I love you!” is what our journeys of discernment are about, figuring out how God dreams for us to express most fully our love for God and experience most fully God’s love for us as we let our lives be poured out as bread and wine for a world that is hungry and thirsty for God. As many of in our community look to religious life and seek to identify the congregation/community to which they are called, the group of women (or men) among whom they can best live out their baptismal call and religious consecration, bear in mind that even when all or many members are engaged in the same or similar ministry or way of life, each of us still our own work to do.

As all of us, regardless of where we are in life, seek to live out God’s dream for us on a daily basis, I leave you with these words of John Henry Newman (Meditations & Devotions), which have always been a source of inspiration and encouragement to me as I have endeavored to discern both the big and small questions of my life’s journey.

God has created me to do him some definite service;
He has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another.
I have my mission;
I never may know it in this life,
but I shall be told it in the next.
I have a part in a great work;
I am a link in a chain,
a bond of connection between persons.
He has not created me for naught.
I shall do good, I shall do His work;
I shall be an angel of peace,
a preacher of truth in my own place,
while not intending it,
if I do but keep His commandments
and serve Him in my calling.

AS078 Ask Sister – engineering nuns, total consecration, when the saints go marching off the General Roman Calendar, and more!

The Nuns — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 14:13:06 +0000

AS078 Ask Sister podcast recorded live on July 14, 2011. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Topics include: engineering nuns, total consecration, when the saints go marching off the General Roman Calendar, and more!

Here are some of the topics we address in this Ask Sister podcast:

Can I use my engineering skills as a sister? What kinds of ministries could I be involved in?
What does “total consecration” mean theologically and how does it fit into a person’s daily faith life?
Who in the Catholic Church decides if a saint like Christopher or a “place” like limbo no longer exists? How do they decide?

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.

Who is the Little Flower?

Sister Julie — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 11:16:38 +0000

Our friend Father James Martin, SJ, sent us a link to a video from the newly released DVD, ”Who Cares about the Saints?” produced by Loyola Productions. This video is of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux (1873–1897).

Who is the Little Flower?
What does the life of a 19th-century Carmelite nun,
cossetted by her parents, nourished on a diet of overheated Catholic piety,
and cloistered for the last few years of her short life,
have to say to modern-day men and women?

SOURCE: Who Cares About the Saints? (Therese of Lisieux) from Loyola Productions

So, who is the Little Flower to you? What experiences have you had in getting to know her and praying with her?

* * *

Join the A Nun’s Life community today for prayer at 6 p.m. Central Time.
(your time zone)

Feast of Corpus Christi

Guest Blogger — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 09:29:15 +0000

On this holy feast day we have a guest blogger, Regina Heater …

When I first went back to Mass – to the Easter Vigil – after a time when I was deeply, deeply wounded by people whom I trusted and loved and depended upon – I cried through most of the Eucharistic liturgy. It felt like coming home, and it felt like I just might heal after all. And yet, as I went to receive Communion, at that Mass and the ones that followed, I would wonder – what exactly did I believe? Was I accepting Transubstantiation? Consubstantiation? Mere symbols? When I bowed with the priest, as the words triggered memories of bells rung by altar boys (how I wanted to ring those chimes!), what did I believe? Was it Christ? Was it bread? Was it blood? How could it be bread yet God? Doesn’t that defy physics? Does it matter? What did everyone around me believe?

And yet. I could not deny that there was something - something - Real and Present with me in the ritual. I used to think that what made Communion special was the community, gathered to commemorate together the Lord’s sacrifice. I’ve participated in some beautiful rituals – con-celebrating the blessing of the elements, (the setting from the Iona Community is particularly wonderful), distributing the elements, singing the common songs (One Bread, One Body… Let Us Break Bread Together), celebrating World Communion Sunday with breads from many nations. Amazing, wonderful rituals.

And yet. In my heart, deep within my soul, I yearned for something more. I learned in time that it is a combination of the gathered community and the Real Presence of Christ in our Eucharist that is the more I sought. It is knowing that our Eucharistic feast is merely a prelude for our experience of the Eucharist in the world. At Mass, we experience the Real Presence of Christ; outside of Mass, we are Eucharist for the world. We aren’t merely bringing Christ to the world, we ARE the Presence of Christ to everyone we meet. We are holy and living sacrifices. We are the bread, we are the cup, we are what brings nourishment and refreshment to the world. We are the instrument of grace to people around us, even as our commemoration of the Eucharist is a means of bringing grace to us. We are, literally and figuratively, the Body of Christ.

We sing a song at my church that begins with the Agnus Dei and transitions to a beautiful prayer about communion. It is called “Lamb of God/Taste and See,” composed by Tom Kendzia. I often find myself humming it after Mass, sometimes through the week. It is a reminder to me to give thanks at all times, that God is Real and Present with me and with all those around me.

Taste and see the goodness of the Lord,
oh taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

Let the lowly hear and be glad, let us glorify his name,
together let us praise God’s name.

Glorify the Lord with me, together let us praise his name;
from my fears God has set me free.

Happy Birthday, Church

Guest Blogger — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 12:26:08 +0000

On this holy feast day of Pentecost, we have a guest blog post from our friend,
Regina Snyder Heater.

I don’t know about you, but the Holy Spirit was not given much time in my faith formation. The emphasis was on Jesus, and if you read the Creeds and the prayers of the Christian tradition, you’ll see there is precious little devoted to the enigmatic Holy Spirit (there are more mentions of Mary than the Spirit in our Common Prayers listed in the Compendium.) Even during my theological studies, the Spirit was not given much mention. (For example, it was only last year that I learned what a Paraclete is.) It seems we only devote out attention to the Holy Spirit when it’s Pentecost and Confirmation (time to sing Veni, Sanctus Spiritus unless your choir/orchestra is up to O ewiges Feuer, o Ursprung der Liebe, BWV 34, (O eternal fire, o source of love) a glorious cantata by Bach).

There’s even confusion about whether the Spirit is Spirit or a Ghost, a She or a He or an It. Perhaps it’s because the Spirit scares us, with wind and tongues of fire and promises of visions, which our mystical counterparts like Hildegard embraced with abandon, yet are frankly a little scary, at least in my mind. And yet Hildegard really seemed to “get” the Holy Spirit, to the point that it makes me a little sad to think my own inhibitions perhaps get in the way of experiencing all that the Spirit offers to me in Christ.

In John 14, Jesus tell us “the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit whom Abba God will send in my name, will instruct you in everything and she will remind you of all that I told you.” The Greek word used here, parakletas, means “one called to the side of” which is why this is also translated as Advocate and Counselor. It’s interesting to me that the Holy Spirit is both called and sent. We can call upon the Holy Spirit to assist us in whatever we are facing, so that we might be animated and sanctified, that we might build the Church. If we live in the Spirit – if we live an animated life – we will not only see visions of a world where the Kin-dom of God exists in the present, we will also know the Fruits of the Spirit: love (charity), joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness and self-control. Those are things I want in my life, and so I will sing with our friend Hildegard and all Christians on Pentecost:

Come Holy Spirit, creator, come/from your bright heavenly throne/come take possession of our souls/and make them all your own…

Other great contributions from Hildegard about the Holy Spirit:

You are called Comforter,
gift of the highest God,
found of life, ﬁre, love,
and spiritual unction.

Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit, bestowing life unto life,
moving in All.
You are the root of all creatures,
washing away all impurity,
scouring guilt,
and anointing wounds.
Thus you are luminous and praiseworthy, Life,
awakening, and re-awakening all that is.

Feast of the Visitation of Mary and Elizabeth

Sister Julie — Tue, 31 May 2011 14:49:26 +0000

"Elizabeth Greets Mary," part of Dark and Beautiful, An Exhibit of Paintings by Fr. Jim Hasse, SJ, at the Marian Library of the University of Dayton

Today is one of my most favorite feasts of the year: The Visitation which is proclaimed in Luke 1: 39-56.

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’

My soul proclaims your greatness, O God,
and my spirit rejoices in you, my Savior.

For you have looked with favor
upon your lowly servant,
and from this day forward
all generations will call me blessed.

For you, the Almighty, have done great things for me,
and holy is your Name.

Your mercy reaches from age to age
for those who fear you.
You have shown strength with your arm;
and have scattered the proud in their conceit;

you have deposed the mighty from their thrones
and raised the lowly to high places.
You have filled the hungry with good things,
while you have sent the rich away empty.

You have come to the aid of Israel your servant,
mindful of your mercy—
the promise you made to our ancestors –
to Sarah and Abraham
and their descendants forever.

And Mary remained with her for about three months and then returned to her home.

What is a significant moment of “visitation” in your own life? How did this experience lead to a “magnificat” of praise to God?

* * *

Join the A Nun’s Life community today for prayer at 6 p.m. Central Time.
(your time zone)

Good Friday

Sister Julie — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 13:11:49 +0000

Blessings this Good Friday. This poem was written by Rosemary Blake, a poet who was studying theology at the same time I was at Regis College in Toronto. She is from Australia and now lives in Toronto, Canada. One Good Friday, Rosemary gave us this poem which I have treasured. It’s now published in her book of poetry, Wintering.

Good Friday

Always I remember in Easter Week
the sudden storms; the dark
on Friday after church, as if the weather
had been specially arranged.

Summer was over and autumn
with its random dry winds
was beginning.
You could feel the warm soil
and parched grass close.

But after the service,
after the cool stone quiet of the aisles,
you were always astonished
by the way the storms came
dark and sudden from the northwest,
startling the paddocks

As though a figure on the rough beams
really hung there.

~ Rosemary Blake in Wintering

Baking Communion Bread – recipe and reflection

Guest Blogger — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 07:05:25 +0000

Our guest blogger today is Marguerite with help from Karol and Button. Marg explores the legend of Saint Honoratus and the art and prayer of baking communion bread.

REFLECTION: Saint Honoratus, Patron of Bakers
by Marg

In the A Nun’s Life chat room, we’ve often discussed various vocations, not all of which relate directly to vowed religious life, but all of which seem somehow to relate to nourishing the spirit and sometimes the body—witness our many discussions about food!

As a home baker who is part of a team that makes the communion bread for our parish, I wondered who was the patron saint of bakers. It turns out to be Saint Honoratus, also known as Saint Honoré, a sixth-century French bishop so beloved that he is remembered today in the Parisian street name, Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré and is the namesake of the Saint Honoré Cake (which looks amazing!).

According to Wikipedia legend, Saint Honoratus was born in Port-le-Grand near Amiens to a noble family. He was taught by Saint Beatus and resisted being elected bishop of Amiens, believing himself unworthy of this honor. But it seemed God thought otherwise and, “when it was known in his hometown that he had been proclaimed bishop, his nursemaid, who was baking bread for the family, refused to believe that Honoratus had been elevated to such a position. She remarked that she would believe the news only if the peel [think pizza oven utensil] she had been using to bake bread put down roots and turned itself into a tree. When the peel was placed into the ground, it was transformed into a blackberry tree that gave flowers and fruit. This miraculous tree was still being shown in the sixteenth century.”

“In 1400, the bakers of Paris established their guild in the church of Saint Honoratus, celebrating his feast on May 16. He is the patron of a Carthusian monastery at Abbeville, founded in 1306.” (Read more on Saint Honoratus)

RECIPE: Communion Bread
by Marg

The recipe is simple: just flour, water, and a little salt for taste. I feel a kinship with ancient bakers who might have baked their bread on hot rocks instead of using a convection oven! There are various prayers that some of us say before baking the communion bread. Mostly, I recall the prayer in the Mass itself: “Through Your goodness, we have this bread to offer, which Earth has given and human hands have made. It will become for us the Bread of Life.” And also a heartfelt, “Dear God, please let it turn out all right and not burn!”

More important, though, is the feeling that it is a great privilege to be allowed to make this simple offering, and the feeling of humility and joy that I experience when I see this bread, in the hands of the priest, being transformed into the Body of Christ. It brings tears to my eyes.

VIDEO: Making Communion Bread
by Karol and Button

Karol recently made a video of me making the communion bread. Button supervised. Hope you enjoy it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QFVkbJb988

For prayer today, visit our Praying with the Sisters page for a recording of today’s readings and reflection.

Saint Genevieve

Sister Julie — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 18:20:26 +0000

Today is the feast day of Saint Genevieve of Paris (512). I came across this stunning icon of her and wanted to share it with you. The symbols associated with her are beautiful:

a loaf of bread because she was generous to those in need
a coin suspended around her neck symbolizing her consecration to God
a candle which it said she used as she walked to church at night and which stayed lit despite the devil’s attempts to extinguish it
the clothing of a shepherdess because she grew up tending to flocks

Saint Genevieve icon by Howard Anderson. Oil and metal leaf on linen and wood 34" x 48" Located at Saint Genevieve High School, Panorama City, CA

* * *
Join A Nun’s Life Community for prayer today via our live podcast “Praying with the Sisters” and chat room. Just before 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone) join us at http://aNunsLife.org/LIVE … more info on that page.

From Advent to Christmas

Sister Julie — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 10:00:33 +0000

Advent is now in its twilight as Christmas and new life begin to dawn. As Advent draws to a close, we celebrate the last of the “O Antiphons” of the Advent season, “O Emmanuel”, God-is-with-us.

The “O Antiphons” are seven liturgical stars in the Advent season. They begin on December 17 and end today on December 23. Each antiphon is a name of Christ representing an image or attribute of Christ from scripture.

Dec 17: O Wisdom (Isaiah 11:2-3)
Dec 18: O Adonai (Isaiah 11:4-5)
Dec 19: O Root of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1-10)
Dec 20: O Key of David (Isaiah 22:22)
Dec 21: O Rising Dawn (Isaiah 9:2)
Dec 22: O King of the Gentiles (Isaiah 2:4)
Dec 23: O Emmanuel (Isaiah 7:14)

As we move from Advent to Christmas, what is the antiphon that is on your heart and lips? For me it is O Wonder! as I am overwhelmed again and again by the awesomeness of God and the surprises that God always inserts into our lives. And I treasure the great gift of wondering of being open to new possibilities and imagination and creativity!

Sinless, but life is still not perfect…

Sister Maxine — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:50:26 +0000

This morning, I tried to imagine a life free from sin. It was a lot harder than I expected.

My ponderings were inspired by today’s feast day, the Immaculate Conception of Mary. According to Catholic doctrine, from the first moment of Mary’s existence, God preserved her from original sin and filled her with grace. Doctrine tells us that Mary remained sinless throughout her life.

What caused my difficulty was that I equated a sinless life with a perfect life. After all, if I never sinned, wouldn’t my life be perfect? Even if the people around me weren’t perfect, shouldn’t sinlessness protect me, so that stuff like anger or violence or greed wouldn’t impinge upon my perfect life?

Then I thought about Mary. She was sinless, yet her life was far from perfect. At one point, Mary faced the prospect of being single mom in a culture that looked down on unmarried mothers. When she was ready to give birth, she and Joseph were on the road, not with family who could help with the birth and the new baby. Her son Jesus was a great guy, but the ups and downs of his life greatly affected Mary, and she stayed with him through it all. Despite her sinlessness, Mary was one of us – a person who experienced joy and sorry, who cared for her family and neighbors, and who loved deeply.

So, maybe a sinless life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Not that I have to worry about it. Sorta like water under the bridge on that one. But Mary shows me that what matters is not a sinless or a perfect life. What matters is the fullness of life—the ability to embrace my own humanity and that of others, with all its eccentricities, joys, weaknesses, and challenges.

What message does Mary have for you today? Happy Feast Day!

* * *

Join A Nun’s Life Community for prayer today via our live podcast “Praying with the Sisters” and chat room. Just before 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone) join us at http://aNunsLife.org/LIVE … more info on that page.

Advent: Step 1 Read

Sister Julie — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:52:17 +0000

In the last blog post I mentioned a good formula for engaging in Advent and for deepening one’s spiritual life in general: read, pray, reflect, and act. A good first step in celebrating the season of Advent is to read.

Reading is an awesome gift, one which I am in awe of especially as I watch my baby nephew Simon voraciously listen to and look at books. He “reads” them in his own way, and it’s only a matter of time before he begins to see letters and words and meaning in the squiggly lines.

So it’s no wonder that reading is a good first step for Advent, for the new church year. Reading is an invitation to new life, to open up, to look outward, to take in new sights and ideas and perspectives. It’s like opening the window on an autumn day and letting the fresh, brisk air come in and wake us up, sharpen our senses! It can connect us with other people and ideas and help us to become more of who we are.

I’m recommitting myself to reading each day this Advent (and beyond I hope!). On my list are the following books:

The Beating of Great Wings: A Worldly Spirituality for Active, Apostolic Communities by Bernard J. Lee, S.M.

This book was recently mentioned at a presentation given at our IHM Motherhouse on tapping into what Lee calls the “deep story”, the charism or gift that religious communities receive from their founders. He presents an integrated spirituality of Scripture and Eucharist, community, vows, mission, and presence of the Spirit.

Reading Jesus: A Writer’s Encounter with the Gospels by Mary Gordon

I received a review copy of this, read the first few pages and had to put it down. Not because it was bad but because it was incredibly good — it cut to the heart both because of the superb writing and because of Mary Gordon’s honest, insightful thoughts and questions about the Gospel.

The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life by James Martin, SJ

I started reading this a few weeks ago, taking a chapter each week as a kind of “theme” to my week … desire, finding God, simplicity of life. Father Jim will be here at A Nun’s Life this Thursday for our live webcast In Good Faith. You are most welcome to join us!

Tracking and the Art of Seeing: How to Read Animal Tracks and Sign by Paul Rezendes

I’ve had this book ever since I went on retreat in the Rocky Mountains. I found so many animal tracks on the hiking trails and wanted to know who had been in the woods sometimes just seconds before me. “Seeing” through the forest trees, seeing animals and the wildness for who and what they are was and continues to be a great mediation for me on the beauty and interconnectedness of God’s good creation. As we prepare for snow here in the midwest United States, I’m preparing to “see”.

What’s on your reading list this Advent? If you don’t have anything on the horizon, then what kind of book might you be looking for?

* * *

Advent – A time to read, pray, reflect, and act

Sister Julie — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 14:19:19 +0000

One of my favorite Advent traditions is the Advent Calendar, which helps me keep tuned in to the spirit of the season, of awaiting and preparing for new life in Jesus the Christ. Though when younger I was more fond of the Advent calendars that had chocolate surprises each day, I am now into online interactive Advent calendars (plus they don’t have as many calories).

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has a cool, simple Advent calendar. On each day there are suggestions to read, pray, reflect, and act. These four steps make up a good formula for deepening our relationship with God and with the world around us. And not just during Advent — but at any time that you are struck by something or want to learn more about something, try using these four steps.

A thanksgiving prayer

The Nuns — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 07:26:32 +0000

We give thanks for each and everyone of you, and for the gifts and goodness of our God. Today on this U.S. national holiday of Thanksgiving, we offer this prayer written by an Omaha Native American.

Llanos de Cortes waterfall, just outside of Bagaces, Costa Rico; photo by Francisco at http://blog.blackant.net/

O Divine Gift-giver,
I stand beneath the endless waterfall of your abundant gifts to me.

I thank you especially for the blessing of life, the most precious of all your gifts to me.

I thank you, Ever-generous One,
for clothing to wear,
for food and drink to nourish my body,
for all the talents and skills
that you have bestowed upon me.

I thank you for the many joys of my life,
for family and friends,
for work that gives to me a sense of purpose
and invests my life with meaning.

I thank you as well
for the sufferings and trials of my life
which are also gifts
and which together with my mistakes
are among my most important teachers.

Grant that I may never greet a new day
without the awareness of some gift
for which to give you thanks.

And may constant thanksgiving
be my song of perpetual praise to you.

from the book Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim (on Amazon)

AS049 Ask Sister – no desire for a vocation, saints and symbols, two Saint Theresas, exercise habits, putting the holy in holiday

The Nuns — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 12:43:03 +0000

AS049 Ask Sister podcast recorded live on November 19, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Topics include: no desire for a vocation, saints and symbols, Therese of Lisieux and Teresa of Avila, exercise habits, putting the holy in holiday, 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:

Can you be called by God to a vocation that you don’t really want? NOTE: The article mentioned in the conversation is 4 Steps for Discernment and Decision-Making
In art and on holy cards, why are saints pictured with symbols?
Two Saint Theresa’s? How are they different?
Can nuns go swimming with their habit on? Horseback riding?
How do you put the “holy” in “holiday”?

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.

All Souls – remember and pray

The Nuns — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 14:01:58 +0000

Happy Feast of All Souls! Today we pray in a special way the words of the liturgy in which we call to mind all who have died: “Remember those who have died and have gone before us marked with the sign of faith … May these, and all who sleep in Christ, find in your presence light, happiness, and peace.”

In this spirit of remembering and of prayer, we invite you to listen to this reflection sent in to us by A Nun’s Life friend “Kbart” who often visits with us in the chat room each evening for prayer and conversation. Kbart recorded this during a drive through an area “full of colorful trees, farmlets with horses and chickens and a bridge over a dam.”

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

As we listen, we are invited to remember and to pray with those dearly departed who have touched our lives. After listening, please write the name of a loved one who has died in the comment box below. We will take these names to prayer with us tonight and read each of them. You are invited to join us for this prayer at 6 p.m. CST (your time zone). The prayer is broadcast live right from our website at http://aNunsLife.org/LIVE or click the “Listen Now!” button on any page of our website.

All Saints – miracles of unexpected blessedness

Sister Julie — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 13:38:32 +0000

Happy feast of All Saints. In honor of today’s holy day, I want to share with you a reflection on All Saints from my mentor, the great Catholic theologian Karl Rahner, SJ. Rahner asks, what mystery, what “word peculiar to itself … has been spoken by God into the Church and is intended through it to reach into our hearts” this day?

When we celebrate All Saints we have in mind chiefly those saints who are anonymous, the unknown saints who have not made any general impact in the Church and are not mentioned in her praises….

We celebrate in our hearts the fact that we can say: “there are some who actually have arrived, who are perfected, who are already in a state of blessedness, who have attained their due measure of perfection and have not wasted their lives, [persons] to whom something improbable has happened: to be drawn out of and beyond themselves in love, persons in whom one does not find emptiness and hidden egoism when they are stripped bare and exposed to view, persons who have not wept in vain, who have found life through death and the eternal kingdom through loss, persons who by the everyday conduct of their ordinary lives have achieved a dimension of life which is to an undreamt of extent absolute and of such value … ‘once for all’, and that it is worthy never more to perish for all eternity….

We might add, therefore, as a further message which this festival has for us, that God can make all into saints, into miracles and masterpieces so full of unexpected blessedness that one’s heart can be transfixed with delight at them a whole eternity through….

Certainly we celebrate All Saints sub una veneratione, and therefore the unknown saints as well, those who lived quietly in the land, the poor and the little ones who were great only in God’s eyes, those who go unacclaimed in any of the rolls of honour belonging to the Church or to world history … those nameless saints who are consecrated in silence and upon the private altars of our own hearts….

In the praise of All Saints, however, we are celebrating the Church herself, who, even though she is made up of ourselves, and therefore remains the Church of sinners, of the poor and insignificant, of the despondent and exasperated sinners, is still the Church of the saints, the Church which is so beloved by Christ with a love unto death — almost, one might say, a fierce love — that she can no longer escape this love. In all the saints we praise the power of that grace which, so to say, makes use of [people] in order to bring about our salvation, which gives what it demands, which sets us free for that liberty in which we are the freed and the blessed.

Karl Rahner, Theological Investigations, Vol. VIII: Further Theology of the Spiritual Life 2. Trans. by David Bourke (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1971) pp. 24-29.

* * *

A Litany of Saints

Sister Julie — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 12:13:51 +0000

A favorite IHM custom of mine is the prayers of the faithful during Mass during which time we remember by name our sisters who have died on or near that day. The name of the sister is read along with the year that she died. This custom reflects a profound sense that are sisters who have died are still truly with us albeit in a new way. As an IHM community, we trust in their love and prayers as we continue God’s mission as IHM sisters.

I was thinking about this custom because today we have a long list of saints to celebrate. We celebrate not only the memory of them and how they lived the Gospel, but we also celebrate how they continue to be with us, encouraging us on our journey, praying with and for us.

We are blessed to have 6 new saints in our midst! On October 17, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI canonized the following women and men:

Saint Mary MacKillop (1842-1909), an Australian religious and first Australian saint
Saint André Bessette (1845-1937), a Canadian religious
Saint Stanislao Soltys (1433- 1489), a Polish religious
Saint Candida Maria de Jesus Cipitria y Barriola (1845- 1912), a Spanish religious
Saint Giulia Salzano (1846- 1929), an Italian religious
Saint Battisat da Varano (1458- 1524), an Italian religious

In addition to these newly minted saints, we celebrate today the feast day of the North American Martyrs, Jesuit missionaries who were martyred in the 17th century.

Saint John de Brébeuf (1649)
Saint Noël Chabanel (1649)
Saint Antoine Daniel (1648)
Saint Charles Garnier (1649)
Saint René Goupil (1642)
Saint Isaac Jogues (1646)
Saint John de Lalande (1646)
Saint Gabriel Lalemant (1649)

We give thanks for all those saints (canonized or not) who have gone before us and who continue to be with us on our journey.

* * *

Happy Feast of Saint Teresa of Avila

Sister Julie — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 11:40:32 +0000

Today we celebrate Saint Teresa of Avila, a saint that is near and dear to my heart. Here’s a short piece I wrote in honor of the feast for Take Five For Faith, a publication by our friends over at TrueQuest Communications.

With God you’re never alone

Prayer can be lonely at times as we struggle to feel the nearness of God’s presence. It’s a comfort to know that even the great saint and doctor of the church Teresa of Avila also struggled with loneliness. No matter how much or how intensely she prayed, she’d sometimes feel a distance between herself and God. Using the words of the psalms, Teresa wrote, “I have watched and become as a sparrow alone on the housetop” (Psalm 102). Though suffering the pain of loneliness, Teresa assures us that God is right there with us and can use even our emptiness as a vehicle of grace. When you are like a sparrow alone on the heights, crying out into the vastness of the sky, what calls you away from the edge?

TODAY’S READINGS: Ephesians 1:11-14; Luke 12:1-7
“Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

Feats and Feasts: Saint Michael

Sister Maxine — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 15:21:26 +0000

In the Catholic tradition, today we celebrate the feast of the archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. Michael, whose name means “who is like God?” is the chief archangel. The feat he is most known for is driving Lucifer out of heaven.

Michael the Archangel. A 13th-century Byzantine icon from the Monastery of Saint Catherine, Sinai.

Saint Michael is the archangel I’m most familiar with, because that’s the name of the grade school I attended. That was many years ago, but the song we sang in his honor is still lodged firmly in my memory: “Saint Michael, Archangel, defend us in battle, and lead us to our Lord.”

Back in 5th grade, the use of militaristic language in religious songs didn’t catch my attention the way it does now. Even so, it was the art work depicting Saint Michael that most boggled my religious imagination back then. In school, we had a giant statue of Saint Michael standing over Lucifer and holding a long spear to his head. It freaked me out. I couldn’t name it then, but now I understand that it was because of the association between religion and violence.

As an adult, I can look at things differently. Where I can find meaning in the feast of Saint Michael is in what the archangel symbolizes: that good is more powerful than evil. When I think of Saint Michael this way, he’s not an image of violence but a symbol of hope. Happy feast, Saint Michael!

What are some of the images and symbols of Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael that are meaningful to you?

Feast of Saint Jeanne de Chantal

Sister Julie — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 13:05:06 +0000

Today we celebrate the feast day of Saint Jeanne de Chantal who, with Saint Francis de Sales founded the Order of the Visitation of Our Lady, or Visitation Nuns, in 1610.

Stained Glass window from Visitation School, Mendota Heights, Minnesota

Saint Jeanne was an amazing woman — a wife, a mother, a spiritual mentor, and a religious. Her life is a testimony to faith, to love for God, to service of others, and she opened herself to being personally transformed through all of the events of her life.

Her life experiences “opened her heart to her longing for God and she sought God in prayer and a deepening spiritual life. Her commitment to God impressed Saint Francis de Sales, the bishop who became her director and best friend. Their friendship started before they even met, for them saw each other in dreams, and continued in letters throughout their lives.

With Francis’ support, Jane founded the Visitation order for women who were rejected by other orders because of poor health or age. She even accepted a woman who was 83 years old. When people criticized her, she said, “What do you want me to do? I like sick people myself; I’m on their side.” She believed that people should have a chance to live their calling regardless of their health.” (source)

I like Saint Jeanne, I like her a lot because of her deep commitment to God. She opened herself to be “more than”, to acknowledge but not get stuck in the contrarieties of life nor the conventions of life! She opened her door to people who were poor, even when she was living on a tight budget. She forgave and even befriended the person who killed her husband. She founded a religious community for those thought too old or sick to be a religious, a community which celebrates its 400th anniversary this year.

We have much to learn about following Christ from Saint Jeanne de Chantal. And thankfully for us, we have not only her life witness but some of her writings and sayings! Here are some great quotes.

Follow your own way of speaking to our Lord sincerely, lovingly, confidently, and simply, as your heart dictates. (Source: Letters of Spiritual Direction (Classics of Western Spirituality))

In prayer one must hold fast and never let go, because the one who gives up loses all. If it seems that no one is listening to you, then cry out even louder. If you are driven out of one door, go back in by the other. (Source)

* * *

Honoring Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Sister Julie — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 13:51:39 +0000

Normally a pilgrimage is when people set out on a journey to visit sacred places and holy people. But this pilgrimage does it the other way around!

Catholic News Agency, Jul 15, 2010 – Relics of Blessed Mother Teresa are scheduled to visit several cities across the Midwest this weekend, as part of a tour of the United States and Canada. The tour is being held in anticipation of the 100th anniversary of the sister’s birth on August 26.

The relics are in the care of the Missionaries of Charity, the religious order founded by Mother Teresa, and include her sandals, crucifix and rosary, as well as a lock of her hair and drops of her blood contained in reliquaries.

The tour has already traveled through Boston and Baltimore, among other cities, and is scheduled to make stops in Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota in the coming days. (source)

In two days, Mother Teresa’s relics will be present at Saint Mark Church in Gary, Indiana, not far from Sister Maxine and me. Mass time is 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. We are hoping to make it there and if we do, we will share our experience with you. Has anyone else had the opportunity to see the relics?

* * *

CP003 Community Podcast – Saints

The Nuns — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 05:00:15 +0000

Listen to CP003 Community Podcast – Saints recorded live on January 15, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. In this show, the sisters and listeners tell stories about the saints include favorite prayers, Catholic practices, and recipes related to their saint.

Here’s a bit of what we discussed:

Who are the saints?
saint trivia (do you know who the patron saint of drug addicts is?)
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux by Jeannie
Saint Patrick video by Clare Leigh
Saint Syncletica by Julia
Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque by Kathleen
Saint Teresa of Avila by Suze
Saint Thecla by Beege

Listen to the podcast below and be sure to check out our previously recorded Community Podcasts!

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

Subscribe to the A Nun’s Life Podcast:

Saints Painting by Fra Angelico (1430)

Saints, Food, and Prayer

Sister Julie — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 14:26:50 +0000

This Friday, A Nun’s Life is hosting our third Community Podcast on Saints, Food, and Prayer. Our community podcasts are free-for-all opportunities for you all to come up with a topic and the content for a podcast which Sister Maxine and I host. The first two we had were Thanksgiving rituals, food, and prayers and Advent and Christmas rituals, food, and prayers. Various readers and listeners of A Nun’s Life community joined us live on the air or sent things in ahead of time.

Here’s how you can participate in the Saints, Food, and Prayer community podcast. We invite you to join us for the live show this Friday at 6:45 p.m. Central Time (your timezone). All you have to do is show up here at our website http://aNunsLife.org and when we go live, the audio will start playing on any page of our website. If you’d like to read or participate in the simultaneous chat, go directly to http://anunslife.org/live.

We’d love for you to add your voice to the on-air discussion by telling us about your favorite saint. Here’s how that works: you pick a saint (e.g., Teresa of Avila) , tell us who she or he is (She’s from Avila, Spain … she was a Carmelite nun and Doctor of the Church … she wrote about prayer) and why the saint is important to you (e.g., she’s helped me in my life as a nun, she is a companion in prayer). Then you can offer an interesting tidbit about the person, a prayer or quote written by or about the saint, or (because we tend to chat about food after our evening podcasts as we are preparing for supper) a food item or recipe relevant to the saint or her/his native land (e.g., a recipe for Pan de Horno — Spanish bread — that you tried or would like to try)

A few folks have already tagged their saint (I know Suze claimed Teresa of Avila) … but alas my list has disappeared. So, for all, please let Sister Maxine and I know who you’d like to share about. We’d like to have you share on the air with us (about 5-7 minutes) so you can call us (will give number out at beginning of podcast) or you can send us a private email with your phone number and we’ll call you!

Sister Max and I haven’t decided who we are going to talk about yet so stay tuned!

Saints Painting by Fra Angelico (1430)

It’s the end of the year

Sister Julie — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 12:21:32 +0000

I have the R.E.M. song “It’s the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)” in my head. I must say, I feel fine that this year is just about over. It’s been a good one, but it has been absolutely full with running from one thing to the other and major transitions. I’m ready for 2010.

Today I’m turning the writing over to you: What was most significant for you in 2009? What do you look forward to in 2010?

* * *

Please join us at 6:00 p.m. CST (your time zone) for Praying with the Sisters podcast, a ministry of A Nun’s Life. Visit aNunsLife.org/LIVE. Our next podcast will be on Monday, January 4.

Feast of Saint John of the Cross

Sister Julie — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:53:33 +0000

Happy feast of Saint John of the Cross! Here’s a bit of John’s story from Saints and Feast Days: A Resource and Activity Book by The Sisters of Notre Dame of Chardon, Ohio.

John of the Cross was locked in a cell six feet wide and ten feet long for nine months, with no light except that which filtered through a slit high up in the wall. He later forgave the men who had imprisoned him. How could he do that? He explained, “Where there is no love, put love, and you will find love.”

John’s father had been disowned by his wealthy Spanish family when he married a poor weaver rather than a woman of equal economic status. Living in poverty proved to be too much for him, and he died shortly after John was born. John spent much of his youth in an orphanage, where he was clothed, fed, and given an elementary education. At the age of 17, he found a job in a hospital and was accepted into a Jesuit college. In 1563 he entered the Carmelite Order. Eventually he enrolled in another university, where he did so well that he was asked to teach a class and to help settle disputes.

When he met Teresa of Ávila and learned from her about the reform of the Carmelite Order, John decided to help with it. As part of this decision, he wore sandals instead of shoes and lived very simply in prayer and solitude. In 1577 the attitude toward the reform shifted.

John was caught up in a misunderstanding and imprisoned at Toledo, Spain. During those months of darkness in that little cell, John could have become bitter, revengeful, or filled with despair. But instead, he kept himself open to God’s action, for no prison could separate him from God’s all-embracing love. During this time he had many beautiful experiences and encounters with God in prayer. Later he would describe these experiences in poetry. In 1578 John escaped to southern Spain to join the reformed Carmelites. There he held leadership positions and wrote reflections on his experiences, which showed his deep spirit of prayer. When he became ill, he chose to go to the city of Ubeda, where no one knew him. It was there that he died.

On this feast day, if you encounter a place of no love, put love, and you will find love.

* * *

Join A Nun’s Life community for prayer at 6 p.m. CST (your time zone). This Friday is the Ask Sister Podcast. If you have questions for us, please email them to us.

CP002 Community Podcast – Advent & Christmas

The Nuns — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 09:40:57 +0000

Welcome to our Advent and Christmas podcast, the second Community Podcast featuring nun other than YOU! During this podcast, we’ll talk about favorite recipes, meal prayers, recipes, music, stories. Our first ever was on Thanksgiving and members of A Nun’s Life Community shared about all the things they love about Thanksgiving.

Our podcast format is a bit different from our other podcast because the idea as well as much of the content comes from you, our listeners and members of our community here at A Nun’s Life Ministry.

And you’ll be hearing voices other than Sister Maxine and myself. We invite you to let us know what you’d like to share about your Advent and Christmas faves. Send us an email at sister AT anunslife DOT org and let us know what you’d like to share. You can come on the air with us and talk about your fave or we can read whatever you send us. Feel free to also send us a link to a picture or YouTube video.

Visit ANunsLife.org/live
TODAY
8:30 p.m. Central Time (your timezone)

After the show, we’ll post recipes and any other mentioned links/resources in the comment box below.

For help with listening or calling in to Talkshoe, see our tips on using Talkshoe.

The fun starts at http://anunslife.org/live

See you soon!

Post-show update:
Click PLAY below or right-click here to download the MP3.

Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception!

Sister Julie — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:57:11 +0000

It is December 8 and that means it’s the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, one of the high holy days for us as Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters. Here are a couple of posts about this feast day, one from my dear friend and sister Margaret Brennan, IHM, called Lily of My Heart and the other is one I wrote for the Young Women and Catholicism blog.

For today, I have chosen an icon from Jesuit Father William McNichols, SJ. Though he has one of the Immaculate Conception, I chose this icon called The Triumph of the Immaculate Heart because it is stunning and speaks to me of this Advent season — the coming of God in our midst, the dawn of a new day.

The Triumph of the Immaculate Heart icon by Fr. William McNichols, SJ

How does this icon speak to you? What words of prayer or reflection or action does it inspire in you?

Happy feast day to you!

* * *

Join A Nun’s Life community for prayer today at 6 p.m. CST
(your time zone).

3 Questions for Advent

Sister Julie — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:00:13 +0000

In response to yesterday’s post on Advent and compassion, my nun Sister Rose Carmel shared a bit of wisdom that she had just received:

Here are three questions Fr. Helfrich gave us to ask ourselves for Advent. I’d like to share it with all our friends on the post.

What have you given up on? (Not “What are you giving up?”)
What are you looking forward to?
What are you about? (The question asked three men hauling wheelbarrows. The first says “Can’t you see I’m hauling rocks?!” The second: “I’m earning food for my wife and children.” The third: “I’m building a cathedral.”)

Blessings on all for a fruitful Advent.

* * *

Join A Nun’s Life community for prayer at 6 p.m. CST (your time zone). Tomorrow is the Ask Sister Podcast. If you have questions for us, please email them to us at sister (@) anunslife (.) org.

Compassion

Sister Julie — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:17:26 +0000

Today’s Gospel reading (Matthew 15:29-37) is a powerful story of Jesus healing people one after the other. Scripture tells us that Jesus simply went up a mountain and sat down. That’s all he did. No indication that he set out to change the lives of the community and individuals forever. He just went up a mountain and sat down. No doubt word of Jesus’ presence and deeds had been spreading. He had just healed a young girl because of her mother’s faith. Whether for curiosity or suspicion or desire for healing, the people of the area through which Jesus was traveling (the Sea of Galilee) went to find Jesus.

Maybe Jesus was taking a break up on that mountain. Maybe he wanted some quiet time for prayer or a chance to be with his disciples alone. Maybe he sensed the needs and desires of the people and hoped they’d come out of their familiar setting into the mountain wildness, a place known for encounters with God.

Regardless of what Jesus may have had in mind, there he sat, and the people came to him.

The more Jesus heals, the more the crowd comes. First a person who was blind, then someone who could not speak, and another who could not walk. I imagine it was an exhilarating though exhausting day for Jesus and the disciples. And not just one day — Jesus tells us that this went on for three days.

So why did Jesus do this? Why did he take three days out of his traveling, out of his retreat time, out of whatever schedule he had in order to tend to the people?

Compassion.

Jesus said, “I have compassion for the crowd.” He said this as he gathered his disciples together to figure out how to feed the crowd who was rather hungry after three days with no food.

“I have compassion,” said Jesus.

Compassion is the ability to feel deeply for another person, a consciousness of how another is feeling and a desire to reach out. For Jesus, this was not some whimsical understanding of compassion or a “touchy-feeling” kind of thing. Jesus practiced this way of being in the world, this compassion, both with people it was “easy” to give compassion to, and people who weren’t so easy, like those who persecuted him.

As the dawn of Advent continues to break upon us, may the spirit of Jesus enliven all that we do and all that we are, that we might be a people of compassion and find ways each day to live this compassion of Jesus.

* * *

Join the A Nun’s Life community for prayer at 6 p.m. Central Time
(your time zone).

Blessings Stumbled Upon

Sister Julie — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:05:34 +0000

Much can be said (and written) about seeking God’s blessings and seeking God’s ways. Countless questions about God and directed to God have been uttered — what is the meaning in life, my life? how can I give my life to God? what is God like? where is God? does God hear me, notice me?

Sometimes, when pursuing one of these Big Questions, we stumble upon blessings that we did not intentionally seek. For example, way back when, I spent time discerning how God was calling me to use my gifts in the world as a Catholic sister. I was happily committed in my life as a sister but was still trying to find my place in the world in regards to form or context of ministry. Through prayer, conversations with my sisters, retreat, and simply trying new things, I began moving toward a kind of “answer” to what I was seeking. In the midst of all that discernment, that “figuring out” where God was leading me, there were some unexpected blessings.

Like blogging.

I started a simple little blog more as a hobby and to learn more about Internet technologies. I had no expectations for the blog other than it would help me learn a few tricks. I certainly did not expect that I would be working full-time with the A Nun’s Life website and community some 3+ years later! The blog was one of those blessings I stumbled upon while I was trying to pursue this other question of what work I wanted to commit myself to as an IHM Sister. It seemed irrelevant at the time, a mere distraction, yet it was and continues to be a great blessing that has taken me, and my original question, to a new place.

What “blessing stumbled upon” have you had in life? In what ways is God calling you to not necessarily answer your original question but simply to live out of the new place in which you find yourself?

Footnote: Thoughts today inspired by Teresa of Avila (p. 62) and my nun Sister Maryfran Barber, IHM.

* * *

Join Sister Maxine, the A Nun’s Life community, and me for Praying with the Sisters podcast at 6 p.m. Central Time tonight (your time zone).

Offer It Up

Sister Julie — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:03:22 +0000

Picture this: you’re going through a difficult time, you’ve got a lot on your mind, you just can’t seem to make sense of stuff. Then someone says it, that dreadful line: “Offer it up.”

If you are like me (admittedly, not my most admirable quality) you have to suppress an overwhelming desire to take a swing at the person.

To me, “offer it up” is not exactly the most compassionate thing a person can say when another is in a tough space. In fact, sometimes it rings of a kind of dismissal, an unwillingness to be with a person in their struggle, even if only in silent vigil.

Though not fond of this line, I found it was exactly the one that came to mind this morning as I read Saint Teresa of Avila. As mentioned before, I’m re-reading The Life as translated by Mirabai Starr in Teresa of Avila: The Book of My Life and am at a significant moment in Teresa’s life where she has a conversion. Teresa writes about how difficult prayer has been for her. “By now, my poor soul had grown weary. But no matter how much she wished she could rest, the bad habits I had developed would not let her” (p. 58). Teresa speaks of losing trust in herself, of being unable to imagine Christ in prayer, of having distracting thoughts that would torment her, of being plagued with doubts. “I slid back so many times that I was exhausted” (p. 59).

Teresa was indeed in a tough space. So what did she do?

She offered it up.

In this tough space Teresa gave to God all that she had — not successes or insights or any kind of “worthiness” — but the only things she felt she had left: her fears, her doubts, her temptations, her “deep soul-weariness”.

To God she offered them.

There is real wisdom in Teresa’s experience. Sometimes we feel like we don’t have a whole heck of a lot going for ourselves. We struggle, we deal with pain, we despair, we worry, we just don’t feel like engaging anymore. God does not ask us to give that which we don’t have. In these times, God doesn’t expect us to offer perfectly manicured prayers, devout thoughts, or deeds of righteousness. What God asks us for is who we are and what we do have. We can offer to God as a gift our pain, despair, worry, and struggle. Doing so is not abnegating responsibility or expecting that it will all magically go away. Rather, offering these our gifts is an opportunity to open the door to God, to God’s love and deep compassion. It is a chance to move beyond the impasse we experience in our life and become ourselves more fully.

“O God, help me! How a soul suffers when she loses the freedom to be who she truly is. What torment she endures. I am amazed to see that I survived such pain. Praise be to God, who gave me life when I was on the brink of such a deadly death.”

What comes to mind as you hear the words “offer it up” and as you hear Teresa’s experience? What’s the hardest part of “offering it up”? What’s happened for you when you’ve tried to offer up your own tough situations?

* * *

Join us this evening for Praying with the Sisters podcast — 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone) at http://anunslife.org/live. We’ll have a special reading in celebration of our IHM Founders Day.

Books: Spiritual Companions

Sister Julie — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:30:24 +0000

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?

* * *

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.

NNR008 Nun News Roundup

Sister Julie — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:19:12 +0000

Happy Friday! I can hardly believe that we are already in the later part of October. You know what that means … Halloween is creeping up on us, slowly but surely and spookily. For A Nun’s Life that also means addressing the oft-asked question this time of year: Is it appropriate for me or my child to wear a nun’s habit as a Halloween costume? Sister Maxine and I will be taking this question head on during today’s “Ask Sister” portion of Nun News Roundup.

Here’s today’s lineup:

Newly-minted saint Sister Jeanne Jugan

Pope Benedict XVI canonized Sister Jeanne Jugan
Nuns swing hammers, hang wallboard to rebuild homes hit by Katrina
Women religious take the podium at Africa synod of bishops
U.S. women religious supported by sister sisters in Asia
The Mysterious Sister X – an article in Commonweal Magazine
Interviewing Mirabai Starr on the Feast of Saint Teresa of Avila

Join us for all the news that’s fit to broadcast this week about nuns!

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

Join in on the conversation during the live broadcast by listening and chatting in our chat room.

FP002 Feature Podcast – Saint Teresa of Avila

Sister Julie — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:44:56 +0000

Happy Feast of Saint Teresa of Avila! I went to bed last night all giddy because of today’s feast. It honestly felt like Christmas Eve morning! I don’t exactly know why I have been feeling so excited about this feast day. As you know, Teresa of Avila is near and dear to my heart. She is one of the few saints that I feel so present to me. And it’s not just Teresa herself. It’s everything she stands for, the way she lived her life, and encouraged her sisters and everyone to seek God through both the contemplative moments of life and the active moments of life.

So I guess for me to celebrate her feast day is also a celebration of my relationship with her and my relationship with God! It’s not a bad way to spend a day!

As part of this day, I invite you to join Sister Maxine and I as we welcome another of Teresa of Avila’s friends, Mirabai Starr. Mirabai will be joining us for a live podcast today at 7:00 p.m. Central Time (time zone converter). Mirabai has spent long hours with Teresa, reading her and getting to know her as she worked on translating The Book of My Life and The Interior Castle. I can’t wait to talk with her about Teresa. More info in yesterday’s blog post. Also visit Mirabai’s website at http://www.mirabaistarr.com/.

This podcast is free and easy to access. All you need to do is visit http://anunslife.org/live any time from about 6:45 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. We’ll start officially at 7:00 p.m. Central Time (time zone converter). Follow the instructions at http://anunslife.org/live. Throughout the podcast we’ll take your comments and questions via the chat room. Use the chat room also to connect with other listeners and with us!

If you want to do a test run, join Sister Maxine and me for prayer at 12 noon Central Time. We pray the reading of the day and take your prayer requests every Monday through Thursday.

Blessings and happy Feast!

Post-show Update: Here’s the recording of the podcast:

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

Join us for Saint Teresa of Avila podcast – LIVE!

Sister Julie — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:08:28 +0000

A Nun’s Life is hosting a live podcast on Saint Teresa of Avila tomorrow evening — Thursday, October 15, at 7 p.m. Central Time (time zone converter). Sister Maxine and I are delighted to announce that we will be joined by Mirabai Starr, author of a fresh translation of Saint Teresa’s writings, Teresa of Avila: The Book of My Life and The Interior Castle.

Mirabai is a writer, translator, speaker, and teacher. She has also translated Dark Night of the Soul by Saint John of the Cross. You can learn more about Mirabai and her work at her website.

We’ll talk with Mirabai and with our listeners about who Saint Teresa is, her writings, her thoughts on prayer, and who she is for us today. Since this will be a live broadcast, we can take your questions and comments throughout the show. Join us and invite your friends!

Celebrate the Feast of Saint Teresa of Avila
Visit aNunsLife.org/live
October 15
7-8 p.m. Central Time

Information on how to listen to the podcast and how to participate can be found at aNunsLife.org/live. If you have any questions about logistics, please let me know.

To get us started, let us know what questions you’d like us to address. What would you like to know about Teresa or her writings?

Teresa of Avila, trusting always in God

Sister Julie — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:17:24 +0000

This is the final in a series of three posts on Saint Teresa of Avila. The whole piece was originally published in VISION, the Catholic Religious Discernment Guide.

Read the first part My BFF is a 16th century nun, Teresa of Avila and the second part Teresa of Avila’s desire to give her life to God.

A leap of faith

Teresa spent a year and a half living with the nuns. Still, she resisted becoming a nun, saying, “I could not be persuaded to be one” (Life 3.2). Though obviously attracted to the life, Teresa needed time to adjust to the possibility of God calling her to religious life. Like Teresa we are often given the same challenge of imagining our life in a different way. Teresa says little about how or even if she resolved her questions, but we do know that she decided to become a nun anyway. She was able to set aside her doubts and fears and respond to God’s call.

This didn’t mean that Teresa’s life was easy once she made the decision to become a nun. Explaining her call to family and friends proved to be a challenge. Her father so loved her that he couldn’t imagine letting her leave for the convent until after he died. Nothing Teresa said or did could change his mind. But Teresa wished to remain true to the call from God. She knew herself well enough to know that if she didn’t pursue God’s call now, she might never do it. So early one morning, Teresa quietly left her father’s house for the convent: “I remember, clearly and truly, that when I left my father’s house I felt that separation so keenly that the feeling will not be greater, I think, when I die. For it seemed that every bone in my body was being sundered” (Life 4.1).

The pain which Teresa wrote about here is real. Whether it be family or friends, careers or possessions that we want to hold onto, God’s call is all-encompassing. It is a call to be open to radical change in our lives, if that’s what God asks of us.

Filled with a new joy

Teresa entered the Carmelite Monastery of the Incarnation in 1533, took the habit, and eventually professed solemn vows as a Carmelite nun. Her initial struggle gave way to a lasting joy: “[God] gave me such great happiness at being in the religious state of life that it never left me up to this day, and God changed the dryness my soul experienced into the greatest tenderness. All the things of religious life delighted me, and it is true that sometimes while sweeping, during the hours I used to spend in self-indulgence and self-adornment, I realized that I was free of all that and experienced a new joy that amazed me.” (Life 4.2)

When I first began considering religious life, I never would have imagined I’d experience this “new joy” of which Teresa wrote. But the experience of responding to God’s call and eventually professing my vows as an IHM Sister was a joy that I’d never felt before. I felt like a new person, yet more myself than ever.

Trusting in God Always

All along the way, it helped to have Teresa by my side. Today she is still very much a companion. Sometimes I turn to her writings for encouragement, other times for help in a pastoral or theological quandary. Whenever I have questions about prayer or don’t quite understand how the Spirit is moving in my life, I pray and seek guidance from Teresa. Even Teresa’s own tangles with God (once, when complaining of her suffering, Teresa heard Jesus respond, “This is how I treat my friends” to which Teresa rejoined, “No wonder you have so few!”) give me assurance that my struggles are not out of the ordinary and that there is a way through the darkness.

Although I have known Teresa for many years now, I continue to discover new things about her. Recently, I read a book of her letters. The letters reveal a woman who was deeply committed to a contemplative life but who was, of necessity, engaged in what one commentator calls “a maelstrom of activities.” Sometimes this maelstrom got the best of her. Wrote Teresa, “With so many duties and troubles … I wonder how I’m able to bear them all” (Letter 39 in The Collected Letters of St. Teresa of Avila).

As a religious I can identify with this constant balancing of prayer, ministry, and community life. It is both a joy and a challenge to live this life. Religious life calls us to our best selves and often summons strengths and gifts that we didn’t even know we had. I’m sure on more than one occasion Teresa was surprised to see how things worked out or what paths opened up that she could have hardly imagined. Perhaps some of the best advice that Teresa has ever given to me is to trust always in God, even when things are tough or unclear. She reminds me that determination is indeed a virtue and a necessity in the life of faith.

“Have great confidence,” Teresa wrote, “for it is necessary not to hold back one’s desires, but to believe in God that if we try we shall little by little, even though it may not be soon, reach the state the saints did with his help. For if they had never determined to desire and seek this state little by little in practice they would never have mounted so high.” (Life 13.2)

* * *

What struck you about Teresa’s life and her desire to trust always in God? If you could ask Teresa anything, what would it be?

* * *

Join Sister Maxine and me for prayer today at noon Central Time at http://anunslife.org/live.

Teresa of Avila’s desire to give her life to God

Sister Julie — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:19:31 +0000

This is the second in a series of three posts on Saint Teresa of Avila. The whole piece was originally published in VISION, the Catholic Religious Discernment Guide.

Read yesterday’s post, which is part one in the series: My BFF is a 16th century nun, Teresa of Avila

Doing Something Big for God

One of Teresa’s first mentions of wanting to give her life to God comes in a story from her childhood. Teresa, at the tender age of seven, was inspired to do something big for God. We’re not talking here about making crosses out of clothes pins. Teresa decided that she and her brother ought to become martyrs because that was the quickest way to heaven (Life 1.4). So Teresa and her brother set out in search of unbelievers so that they could “beg them, out of love of God, to cut off our heads.” But no sooner had the children started their journey than an uncle caught sight of them and promptly returned them to their mother. Teresa surrendered her dream of martyrdom, concluding that “having parents seemed to us the greatest obstacle.”

She resigned herself to an ordinary childhood. Still, she clung to the desire, however innocent and immaturely expressed, to do something big for God. She took consolation in pretending to be a nun: “When I played with other girls I enjoyed it when we pretended we were nuns in a monastery, and it seemed to me that I desired to be one, although not as much as I desired [becoming a martyr or a hermit]” (Life 1.6).

This episode in Teresa’s life reflects the difficulty of feeling called to something, but not knowing exactly what. When I felt called I thought maybe it meant joining the Jesuit Volunteer Corps or dedicating myself to marriage and raising a family. Not convinced that religious life was for me, I tested many alternatives. But no matter how good they were or how much I welcomed them, they didn’t seem to fit.

No substitute for real nuns

Just as Teresa had romantic notions about what it meant to be a martyr or a nun in the 16th century, so too I had some skewed ideas about religious life in this century. My ideas came from a number of sources; actual experiences with nuns as an adult wasn’t one of them. It occurred to me that I hadn’t considered religious life before because I didn’t know what it was about. My lack of accurate information left me with a superficial understanding of religious life and the women and men who lived it.

Teresa’s life shows the importance of first-hand experience with people in religious life. When Teresa was twelve, her mom died, and she was raised by her father and older sister. When her sister left the house to get married, Teresa’s father decided to send Teresa to the convent school to be taught by the nuns and live with them. Teresa wrote of her initial unhappiness with this, mostly because she was afraid the nuns knew that she didn’t always live an exemplary life. Within days, however, her unhappiness gave way to peace, and she began to feel at home.

“My soul,” she wrote, “began to return to the good habits of early childhood, and I saw the great favor God accords to anyone placed with good companions.” (Life 2.8) While living with the nuns, Teresa found one who became a mentor and friend. This nun talked to Teresa about the things of God and even shared with Teresa her own path to religious life. This personal experience lead Teresa to free herself “from the antagonism that I felt strongly within myself toward becoming a nun” (Life 3.1). Still, Teresa notes, “I had no desire to be a nun, and I asked God not to give me this vocation.” (Life 3.2)

Throughout my discernment about religious life, I took great comfort in Teresa’s words. How many times did I pray to let this vocation pass me by? Yet even then, I felt as attracted to the life as I was terrified by it. What kept me going were the IHM sisters around me who encouraged me and who, by their lives, showed me the great gift and adventure of religious life. Had I not had a direct experience with nuns, I might never have been open to the possibility of religious life.

* * *

In what ways have you tested out your desire to give your life to God or to a vocation like marriage or education or art or parenthood? What words of wisdom do you hear from Teresa in pursuing this desire?

* * *

Join Sister Maxine and me for prayer today at noon Central Time at http://anunslife.org/live.

My BFF is a 16th century nun, Teresa of Avila

Sister Julie — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:02:48 +0000

The feast of Saint Teresa of Avila is just around the corner on October 15. I am delighted because Teresa is such an important person in my life. I never had any idea that someone who lived in the 16th century could become a close companion in my own life today. It underscores the power and presence of the Communion of Saints.

In honor of Saint Teresa, I am devoting this week’s posts to her. What follows is a piece I wrote last year for VISION, the Catholic Religious Discernment Guide sponsored by the National Religious Vocation Conference and published by TrueQuest Communications.

Introduction

As a 21st century nun ministering in the digital world, I try to stay on top of the latest technology so that I can best serve the people who visit my website, aNunsLife.org. But when it comes to living religious life, I’m old-school. One of my greatest mentors is Teresa of Avila, a 16th century Carmelite nun from a small town in Spain. Teresa is best known for her writings on prayer and reforming the Carmelite order. She is venerated today as a great saint and Doctor of the Church.

Personal Connection to Teresa

My first encounter with Teresa was in grade school, when I needed to take a saint’s name for Confirmation. Teresa seemed as good a saint as any. I chose her name and then pretty much forgot about her.

But Teresa did not forget about me. Over the years Teresa remained with me, waiting, it seemed, for me to come by her convent cell and chat awhile.

That day came one Fall morning in a graduate theology class in which I was introduced to Teresa’s writing. I took an immediate liking to Teresa. She wrote of ordinary, everyday stuff and of profound theological truths. I discovered that Teresa was a wise woman from whom I could learn much about the spiritual life. At that time, I had no idea how important Teresa would be for me in the months and years ahead, when my world would be turned upside down by the possibility that maybe, just maybe, God was calling me.

I first read Teresa’s classics, Interior Castle and Way of Perfection, because I needed to write a paper for a class. But soon I began to realize that Teresa’s words were there not just for me to study. I felt a personal connection. Through her writing Teresa was alive to me. She gave me insights not only into our shared Catholic faith but into my own self and how I was living the Gospel.

Later in my studies, when I began considering religious life, I returned to Teresa. I wanted not to study her writings, but to see what she was like as a nun. I wondered if Teresa had any of the same questions as I now had. Did she know for certain that God was calling her to religious life? Did she resist or doubt or panic at the thought? Hoping to get a glimpse into how Teresa realized her call from God, I turned to her more autobiographical work, The Book of My Life.

To be continued tomorrow … Teresa of Avila’s desire to give her life to God

* * *

How is Teresa of Avila present in your own life? What would you like to know about Teresa?

* * *

Join Sister Maxine and me for prayer today at noon Central Time at http://anunslife.org/live.

Feast of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

Sister Julie — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:03:08 +0000

Happy Feast of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux! Saint Thérèse, also known as the “Little Flower”, was a Carmelite nun and writer. She is patron of missionaries and a Doctor of the Church. She lived from 1873 – 1897, dying when she was not even 24. What is so remarkable about this young woman is that is is precisely through her “little way” that she became so “great”. “She never went on missions, never founded a religious order, never performed great works. The only book of hers, published after her death, was an brief edited version of her journal called The Story of a Soul … But within 28 years of her death, the public demand was so great that she was canonized.”

Read more about Thérèse’s life at catholic.org.

Here’s a great quote from Saint Thérèse … and a challenging one!

“I prefer the monotony of obscure sacrifice to all ecstasies. To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul.”

What “little way” do you practice in your own life?

***

Join Sister Maxine and me for prayer on
this Feast day
at 12:00 p.m. noon Central Time (UTC-5)
at anunslife.org/live

Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, Archangels

Sister Julie — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:03:09 +0000

Happy Feast of the Archangels! Michael, Gabriel, Raphael be blessed! I must confess I’m not one for run-of-the-mill angels (especially the little baby-faced ones which kind of scare me) but archangels? That’s my kind of angel! So who are these three that we celebrate today?

Well first, by way of information, an archangel is a chief angel. There are typically 3 archangels that we honor by name in the Christian tradition — Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. There may be up to 7 archangels in total (including Uriel who is honored in the Eastern Christian tradition) but this area seems to be a bit fuzzy in our tradition. The 3 archangels are honored in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

19th century Russian Orthodox icon of the Archangels. Michael is in the center, behind the circular mandorla of Christ. Gabriel and Raphael stand in front to the left and right respectively. Tempera and gold leaf on wood

Michael is considered the leader of the heavenly host, “one of the chief princes”. He is a patron of soldiers. His name in Hebrew means “Who is like God?” He is mentioned by name in three books of the Bible: Daniel, Jude, and Revelations. He is patron saint of many including soldiers, Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), and sailors.

Gabriel appears in the book of Daniel where he helped by explaining the prophet’s visions. Gabriel is probably best know as the angel of the Annunciation who appeared to Mary announcing that she would give birth to the Savior. He also announced John the Baptist’s birth to Zachariah. His name means “God is my strength”. Gabriel is patron saint of broadcasters (radio, TV, etc.) among others.

Raphael appears in the Book of Tobit where he heals Tobit of his blindness and helps Tobiah and Sarah. His name means “God heals”. Raphael is the patron of people who are blind, of healers, and of happy meetings.

We honor the archangels along with saints and other angels by remembering them and praying with them. Just like we might ask a friend to pray for us, or turn to someone who has “been there, done that” in some particular situation we are facing, we look to the archangels for support and for their presence. In early Jewish literature archangels are called “angels of the presence” which I think well describes how they are in our life.

How have you encountered these “angels of presence” in your life?

***

Join us for prayer at 12:00 p.m. noon Central Time (UTC-5)
at anunslife.org/live for a live podcast.

Happy Birthday to the BVM

Sister Julie — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:09:21 +0000

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.

Let Darkness be my Light

Sister Julie — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:03:00 +0000

A meditation today from Saint Teresa of Avila …

Let darkness be my light;
may my greatness lie in the lowest place.
Send me up the short, steep path;
make the cross my glory.

- from Life of Saint Teresa of Avila

What thoughts or images emerge as you ponder this quote?

Easter Tuesday

Sister Julie — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 10:53:13 +0000

It’s the season of Easter and Spring is nearly here. The flower buds are popping through the ground, and the air, though chilled, gives hints of warmth and sun!

“This I saw on an April day:
Warm rain spilt from a sun-lined cloud,
A sky-flung wave of gold at evening,
And a cock pheasant treading a dusty path
Shy and proud.

And this I found in an April field:
A new white calf in the sun at noon,
A flash of blue in a cool moss bank,
And tips of tulips promising flowers
To a blue-winged loon.”

~ by James Hearst, In April

What will or has Easter and Spring brought for you?

A Nun’s Life photo caption contest

Sister Julie — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 10:51:43 +0000

Welcome to the first ever A Nun’s Life photo caption contest. On my neighborhood walk yesterday I discovered the Blessed Virgin Mary in the front yard of an apartment building. The photo begs for a caption so I thought I’d toss it out to you to come up with the best caption for this picture.

Here’s what you do:

Pray and meditate on the perfect caption for this photo. (Suggestion: Befriend the BVM. She will help you with ideas and inspiration.)
Submit your entry by writing your name/pseudonym, real email (so A Nun’s Life can contact potential winners — enter where it says “email” — never made public), website (optional), and caption in the comment box below this post.
Check back often to see other divinely-inspired caption entries.

The contest will run through this Friday, March 27 midnight (CST).

Over the weekend, my nun Sister Maxine and I will go over the entries and select the finalists. Then on Tuesday, March 31 (one week from today), we will announce the finalists. You will have 24 hours to vote for your favorite one. The caption with the most votes wins! The prize? Well, that has not been decided. Far more important than the prize will be the personal pride and joy you will feel at winning this contest!

The Saints’ Guide to Happiness

Sister Julie — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:51:18 +0000

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:

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

Reflections on a poem by Nikos Kazantzakis

Sister Julie — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:31:07 +0000

At long last I am returning to a book about Saint Teresa of Avila that I picked up last year. It’s called Interior Castle Explored: St. Teresa’s Teaching on the Life of Deep Union With God by Sister Ruth Burrows, OCD, a Carmelite nun in Norfolk. I am a big fan of both Teresa’s and Sister Ruth’s writings. But I don’t always take the time that I need to do some spiritual reading. So I took out the book again and started reading it again from the beginning.

In Chapter One, Sister Ruth quotes a poem by Nikos Kazantzakis, a Cretan poet whose birthday, coincidentally, is today. Sister Ruth writes, “I do not know his beliefs but, as it stands, the poem wonderfully expresses what I believe.”

Blowing through the heaven and earth, and in our hearts and in the heart of every living thing, is a gigantic breath — a great Cry — which we call God. Plant life wished to continue its motionless sleep next to stagnant waters, but the Cry leaped up within it and violently shook its roots: ‘Away, let go of the earth, walk!’ Had the tree been able to think and judge, it would have cried, ‘I don’t want to. What are you urging me to do? You are demanding the impossible!’

But the Cry, without pity, kept shaking its roots and shouting, ‘Away! Let go of the earth, walk!’

It shouted in this way for thousands of eons; and lo, as a result of desire and struggle, life escaped the motionless tree and was liberated….

The poem continues, but my reflections remained with this first part. How timely it is in my own life as well as in the life of the Church as we approach the wonderful season of Lent!

Some thoughts …

What is the great Cry that I hear in my own life?
What might God be asking me to let go of?
In what ways am I tethered by roots that keep me from letting go and walking free?
Is there something that I’ve been putting off for “thousands of eons”, thinking it impossible, that actually is possible?

Prayer for Today

Sister Julie — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:06:34 +0000

Give me, if you will, prayer;
Or let me know dryness,
An abundance of devotion,
Or if not, then barrenness.
In you alone, Sovereign Majesty,
I find my peace,
What do you want of me?

Yours I am, for You I was born:
What do you want of me?

- Saint Teresa of Avila

Giving Thanks

Sister Julie — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:16:45 +0000

As Thanksgiving nears and Advent is just around the corner, I am filled with so much anticipation and joy. The words that keep running through my mind and heart right now are from the prayer of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego which they sang after being thrown into the white-hot furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar because they would not worship the King’s idols (Book of Daniel, Chapter 3).

Beginning in verse 52, the three Jewish men bless and glorify God for having saved them from death. What a sight it must have been to see these three walking around a burning, flaming furnace singing and praising the Lord! Their song of praise begins:

Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever.
Angels of the Lord, bless the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever.
You heavens, bless the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever.

They continue, calling on every bit of creation to “bless the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever”. This is one of my most favorite expressions of thanksgiving!

What are you thankful for in this wonderful season of Thanksgiving and anticipation of Advent?

The Secret Life of Bees and Images of Mary

Sister Julie — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:27:38 +0000

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 …

Listening to God in Prayer

Sister Julie — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:32:17 +0000

Question from Hayden …

Hi Sister Julie! First of all, I admire you so much! Nuns fascinate me so much. What an amazing spirit you have to lead a life totally for Christ. I am a Christian (Episcopal; raised Episcopal, Methodist, and went to a Church of Christ College), and desire to be closer to God every day! I do have a great relationship with Him, but sometimes think I have trouble hearing what He is telling me. Any advice? I want to learn how to really listen with an open heart and mind. I think it was fate that I even stumbled upon your blog! You are amazing!

Hayden, I’m so glad you came by for visit. Your question is an important one, one that many people including myself have wrestled with. Even Saint Teresa of Avila — a Doctor of the Church in the Roman Catholic tradition because of her teachings on prayer — struggled with prayer and listening to God.

The first thing I want to say is that your very desire to be closer to God is itself a clear indication that God is working within you, drawing you close. As Thomas Merton, the great spiritual writer and Cistercian monk, wrote in a prayer, “I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you and I hope that I have this desire in all that I am doing.” He continued, saying, “And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road although I may know nothing about it.” For me, that is one of the key things to listening to God and responding to God’s call — tapping into that God-inspired desire within yourself to please God, to respond to God in love, to reverence and stand in awe of God.

One of the best ways to do this is to spend time with God as much as you can. Practice Saint Paul’s injunction that we “pray without ceasing“. That means to have a spirit of prayer in all that you do, as you go about your daily life. It also means taking time just to be with God, alone and without distraction. This can be tough to do, and it is also a very intimate and vulnerable thing to do. But just as we would in a relationship with a loved one, we grow into these moments, we’re able to behold a sunset together without words or to gaze into one another’s eyes with great love. These experiences with God nurture us and help us be more in tuned with what God’s desire is for us, what God’s voice “sounds” or “feels” like.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola teaches that there are some other specific ways to get in tune with God’s call to you and to help you better listen to and respond to God. The overall term for this is “discernment”. Ignatius developed a simple method by which you can review each day in a way that will help you grow in self-understanding and free you to follow God’s will. This practice is called the Daily Examen.

Those are just a few of my thoughts as I pray with you, Hayden, and all of us who long to draw close to God.

What ideas or thoughts does this inspire in you? What helps you to listen to God’s call to you?

Wearing a Nun costume for Halloween

Sister Julie — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:45:07 +0000

Nun costumes. Good, bad, or ugly? I’ve received a few emails from people wondering if it is respectful to wear a nun costume for Halloween. As always, the answer is “it depends.”

First I’d like to just mention a little bit about Halloween itself. Though Halloween is “a mixture of pagan, Christian, civic, and cultural influences” it does hold opportunities to celebrate one’s faith and Christian values. See “Celebrating Your Values on Halloween” at FindingGod.org for more info and practical suggestions. Halloween (“hallow” as in “blessed” or “holy”) is also the eve of All Saints Day, a great day in the Church because we celebrate all of those saints of God, living or dead, who are part of our big family of faith through Jesus Christ. Traditionally children have dressed up as their favorite saint and today many continue this tradition. Today of course, we extend this tradition to children’s favorite heroes too.

So, in this context, it is perfectly acceptable for a child to wear a nun or monk costume because she or he is living the best of the tradition of Halloween. It is a chance for children to emulate the people around them (nuns that teach them at daycare or a friar helping out at the soup kitchen) or the saints they read about. This is also a great opportunity for parents to teach their children about these ways of life and explain the respect that the should have when dressed up as a nun, sister, monk, priest or saint. For example, be sure that rosaries aren’t slung at fellow trick-or-treaters. Parents could also teach their children how to say a prayer of blessing so that the children have concrete ways to really get into their character. As a Catholic nun, I personally would be honored to see children respectfully and joyfully wearing nun costumes!

Now, here’s the other side of nun costumes: adults wearing nun costumes. Pretty much all of the above information applies to adults. If you are going to a costume party and the wearing of a nun (or other religious) costume is done out of genuine respect, than I don’t think there is a problem with that.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of adults wearing religious costumes at Halloween are purely for pranks, shock value, and laughs. This is indeed offensive and unacceptable. Rarely are such costumes created or worn respectfully. Do a quick Internet search for “nun costume” and you’ll see that most of the image results are of nun costumes that look like lingerie and come with descriptors such as sexy or naughty. In addition, some pranksters wear nun costumes and pretend to be pregnant or they partner up with guys in priest costumes so as to look like a romantic couple. Others wield rulers or don boxing gloves. There is NOTHING respectful about these costumes. They participate in the worst of nun stereotypes and are offensive to Catholic nuns and the Church. I’d like to tell these people to “grow up” but even children have better sense and than these folks.

Now, for those of you whose children are dressing up in nun costumes or other religious or saintly garb, I’d LOVE to see pictures and post them on my blog for All Saints Day, November 1. Send them to me via email at “post(at)anunslife(dot)org” (no quotes).

Feast of Saint Teresa of Avila

Sister Julie — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 08:34:08 +0000

Good morning and happy feast day! Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Teresa of Avila. This is an especially important day in my IHM Congregation because Saint Teresa is one of our patron saints.

I write regularly about Teresa because she is awesome and has been an important person in my life and in the life of the Church. I wrote about her in the VISION 2009 Vocation Guide which you can read online.

Saint Teresa, church window, Convento de Sta Teresa
Ávila de los Caballeros, Spain

Novena in Honor of Saint Teresa of Avila – Day 9

Sister Julie — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 07:14:09 +0000

Today is Day 9 of the novena in honor of Saint Teresa of Avila. (Link to previous days and full text of the novena) Please keep these two intentions in your mind and heart as you pray this novena:

For all those who long to draw closer to God …

For all those who are poor and vulnerable …

You can pray via the audio (MP3) or the text or both.

Let us pray …

Audio - Novena in Honor of Saint Teresa of Avila – Day 9
(from Meditations from Carmel)

Opening Prayer
Lastly, O dearest Lord Jesus Christ! we thank Thee for the gift of the precious death which Thou didst grant to Thy beloved Teresa, making her sweetly to die of love; we pray Thee, by Thy merits, and by those of Thy most affectionate spouse, to grant us a good death; and if we do not die of love, yet, that we may at least die burning of love for Thee, that so dying, we may be able to go and love Thee for evermore with a more perfect love in heaven.

Our Father …

Hail Mary …

Glory Be …

Closing Prayer
Saint Teresa, pray for us: That we may become worthy of the promises of Jesus Christ.

Let us pray: Graciously hear us, O God of our salvation! that as we rejoice in the commemoration of the blessed virgin Teresa, so we may be nourished by her heavenly doctrine, and draw from thence the fervour of a tender devotion; through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

Novena in honor of Saint Teresa of Avila – Day 8

Sister Julie — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 07:09:20 +0000

Today is Day 8 of the novena in honor of Saint Teresa of Avila. (Link to previous days and full text of the novena) Please keep these two intentions in your mind and heart as you pray this novena:

For all those who long to draw closer to God …

For all those who are poor and vulnerable …

You can pray via the audio (MP3) or the text or both.

Let us pray …

Audio - Novena in Honor of Saint Teresa of Avila – Day 8
(from Meditations from Carmel)

Opening Prayer
O most beloved Lord Jesus Christ! we thank Thee for the eminent gift of the desire for death which Thou didst grant to Thy beloved Teresa; we pray Thee, by Thy merits, and by those of Thy most constant spouse, to grant us the grace of desiring death, in order to go and possess Thee eternally in the country of the blessed.

Our Father …

Hail Mary …

Glory Be …

Closing Prayer
Saint Teresa, pray for us: That we may become worthy of the promises of Jesus Christ.

Catholic Nun Becomes First Indian Female Saint

Sister Julie — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 18:22:23 +0000

Pope Benedict XVI canonized a Catholic nun as the first female Indian saint. Sister Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conceptiona is from Kerala, India. Here’s part of the Zenit.org article describing the Pope’s remarks at her canonization.

The Holy Father described the Indian religious as a woman “convinced that her cross was the very means of reaching the heavenly banquet prepared for her by the Father. By accepting the invitation to the wedding feast, and by adorning herself with the garment of God’s grace through prayer and penance, she conformed her life to Christ’s and now delights in the ‘rich fare and choice wines’ of the heavenly kingdom.”

Alphonsa (1910-1946), born Anna Muttathupadathu, was the last of five children born to a Christian family of noble origins. Left orphaned at only three months, she was raised by a maternal aunt and educated by an uncle who was a priest. But it was her maternal grandmother who helped her discover the faith and instilled a love of prayer in her already at a young age.

Her young life was marked not only by grave illnesses but also by ill-treatment from her aunt.

“Her heroic virtues of patience, fortitude and perseverance in the midst of profound suffering remind us that God always gives us the strength necessary to endure every trial,” the Pope said at the end of the Eucharistic celebration, after praying the Angelus.

“While the Christian faithful of India give thanks to God for their first daughter presented for public veneration, I would like to assure them of my prayer during this difficult time,” the Pontiff added.

According to reports from Indian bishops present at the synod on the Word of God underway in Rome, at least 80 Christians have been killed in the wave of religious persecution that the country is currently experiencing, especially in the state of Orissa.

Benedict XVI entrusted “those who seek peace and reconciliation to the providential care of almighty God.”

He also asked that the “authors of the violence renounce these acts and join with their brothers and sisters to work together in building a civilization of love.” (source: Zenit.org)

Check out the Zenit.org article for more on the three other people canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 12, 2008.

I think it’s pretty cool how Sister Alphonsa was canonized at a time when the people of India, especially Orissa, need some encouragement.

Novena in Honor of Saint Teresa of Avila – Day 7

Sister Julie — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 07:04:55 +0000

Today is Day 7 of the novena in honor of Saint Teresa of Avila. (Link to previous days and full text of the novena) Please keep these two intentions in your mind and heart as you pray this novena:

For all those who long to draw closer to God …

For all those who are poor and vulnerable …

You can pray via the audio (MP3) or the text or both.

Let us pray …

Audio - Novena in Honor of Saint Teresa of Avila – Day 7
(from Meditations from Carmel)

Opening Prayer
O most loving Lord Jesus Christ! we thank Thee for the wonderful gift of the wound in the heart which Thou didst grant to Thy beloved Teresa; we pray Thee, by Thy merits, and by those of Thy seraphic spouse, to grant us also a like wound of love, that, henceforth, we may love Thee and give our mind to the love of nothing but Thee.

Our Father …

Hail Mary …

Glory Be …

Closing Prayer
Saint Teresa, pray for us: That we may become worthy of the promises of Jesus Christ.

Novena in Honor of Saint Teresa of Avila – Day 6

Sister Julie — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 09:54:27 +0000

Today is Day 6 of the novena in honor of Saint Teresa of Avila. (Link to previous days and full text of the novena) Please keep these two intentions in your mind and heart as you pray this novena:

For all those who long to draw closer to God …

For all those who are poor and vulnerable …

You can pray via the audio (MP3) or the text or both.

Let us pray …

Audio - Novena in Honor of Saint Teresa of Avila – Day 6
(from Meditations from Carmel)

Opening Prayer

O most bountiful Lord Jesus Christ! we thank Thee for the gift of devotion towards Thy sweet mother, Mary and her holy spouse, Joseph, which Thou didst grant to Thy beloved Teresa; we pray Thee, by Thy merits, and by those of Thy most dear spouse, to give us the grace of a special and tender devotion towards Thy most holy mother, Mary, and towards Thy beloved foster-father, Joseph.

Our Father …

Hail Mary …

Glory Be …

Closing Prayer
Saint Teresa, pray for us: That we may become worthy of the promises of Jesus Christ.

Novena in Honor of Saint Teresa of Avila – Day 5

Sister Julie — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:17:41 +0000

Today is Day 5 of the novena in honor of Saint Teresa of Avila. (Link to previous days and full text of the novena) Please keep these two intentions in your mind and heart as you pray this novena:

For all those who long to draw closer to God …

For all those who are poor and vulnerable …

You can pray via the audio (MP3) or the text or both.

Let us pray …

Audio - Novena in Honor of Saint Teresa of Avila – Day 5
(from Meditations from Carmel)

Opening Prayer
O most kind Lord Jesus Christ! we thank Thee for the great gift of humility which Thou didst grant to Thy beloved Teresa; we pray Thee, by Thy merits, and by those of Thy most humble spouse, to grant us the grace of a true humility, which may make us ever find our joy in humiliation, and prefer contempt before every honour.

Our Father …

Hail Mary …

Glory Be …

Closing Prayer
Saint Teresa, pray for us: That we may become worthy of the promises of Jesus Christ.

Novena in honor of Saint Teresa of Avila – Day 4

Sister Julie — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:24:11 +0000

Today is Day 4 of the novena in honor of Saint Teresa of Avila. (Link to previous days and full text of the novena) Please keep these two intentions in your mind and heart as you pray this novena:

For all those who long to draw closer to God …

For all those who are poor and vulnerable …

You can pray via the audio (MP3) or the text or both.

Let us pray …

Audio - Novena in Honor of Saint Teresa of Avila – Day 4
(from Meditations from Carmel)

Opening Prayer
O most sweet Lord Jesus Christ! we thank Thee for the gift of great desire and resolution which Thou didst grant to Thy beloved Teresa, that she might love Thee perfectly; we pray Thee, by Thy merits, and by those of Thy most generous spouse, to give us a true desire, and a true resolution of pleasing Thee the utmost of our power.

Our Father …

Hail Mary …

Glory Be …

Closing Prayer
Saint Teresa, pray for us: That we may become worthy of the promises of Jesus Christ.

Novena in honor of Saint Teresa of Avila – Day 3

Sister Julie — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 07:12:51 +0000

Today is Day 3 of the novena in honor of Saint Teresa of Avila. (Link to previous days and full text of the novena) Please keep these two intentions in your mind and heart as you pray this novena:

For all those who long to draw closer to God …

For all those who are poor and vulnerable …

You can pray via the audio (MP3) or the text or both.

Let us pray …

Audio - Novena in Honor of Saint Teresa of Avila – Day 3
(from Meditations from Carmel)

Opening Prayer
O most loving Lord Jesus Christ! we thank Thee for the great gift of love which Thou didst grant to Thy beloved Teresa; we pray Thee, by Thy merits, and by those of Thy most loving spouse, to give us the great, the crowning gift of Thy perfect love.

Our Father …

Hail Mary …

Glory Be …

Closing Prayer
Saint Teresa, pray for us: That we may become worthy of the promises of Jesus Christ.

Novena in honor of Saint Teresa of Avila – Day 2

Sister Julie — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 10:11:26 +0000

Today is Day 2 of the novena in honor of Saint Teresa of Avila.
(Link to Day 1 and full explanation and text of the novena) Please keep these two intentions in your mind and heart as you pray this novena:

For all those who long to draw closer to God …

For all those who are poor and vulnerable …

You can pray via the audio (MP3) or the text or both.

Let us pray …

Audio - Novena in Honor of Saint Teresa of Avila – Day 2
(from Meditations from Carmel)

Opening Prayer
O most merciful Lord Jesus Christ! we thank Thee for the great gift of hope which Thou didst grant to Thy beloved Teresa; we pray Thee, by Thy merits, and by those of Thy holy spouse, to give us a great confidence in Thy goodness, by reason of Thy Precious Blood, which Thou hast shed to its last drop for our salvation.

Our Father …

Hail Mary …

Glory Be …

Closing Prayer
Saint Teresa, pray for us: That we may become worthy of the promises of Jesus Christ.

Novena in honor of Saint Teresa of Avila – Day 1

Sister Julie — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:15:24 +0000

Today is Day 1 of the novena in honor of Saint Teresa of Avila. A novena is a prayer that is prayed for nine days. “The origin of the idea of praying for a special intention for nine days is very attractive and worth thinking about – it comes from the alleged length of time that Mary and the eleven remaining disciples spent praying together in the upper room, waiting for the Spirit to come upon them at Pentecost.” (source: Sacred Space)

Please pray with me this Novena in honor of Saint Teresa of Avila. The novena is in her honor because it ends on October 15, her feast day. Please keep these two intentions in your mind and heart as you pray this novena:

For all those who long to draw closer to God … we pray to God with Saint Teresa of Avila because of her own experience in prayer and her desire to help others grow in prayer.

For all those who are poor and vulnerable … October 15, Saint Teresa’s feast day, also marks Blog Action Day which focuses on poverty.

The novena that we will be praying was written by Saint Alphonsus of Liguori. Both saints are dear to me and are the patrons of my IHM Congregation. You can pray via the audio (MP3) or the text or both.

Let us pray …

Audio - Novena in Honor of Saint Teresa of Avila – Day 1
(from Meditations from Carmel)

Opening Prayer
O most amiable Lord Jesus Christ! We thank Thee for the great gift of faith and of devotion to the Holy Sacrament, which Thou didst grant to Thy beloved Teresa; we pray Thee, by Thy merits and by those of Thy faithful spouse, to grant us the gift of a lively faith, and of a fervent devotion toward the most Holy Sacrament of the altar; where Thou, O infinite Majesty! hast obliged Thyself to abide with us even to the end of the world, and wherein Thou didst so lovingly give Thy whole Self to us.

Our Father
Our Father, Who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Hail Mary
Hail Mary, full of grace.
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Glory Be
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Closing Prayer
Saint Teresa, pray for us: That we may become worthy of the promises of Jesus Christ.

Wrapping up with Joan Wester Anderson

Sister Julie — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:48:31 +0000

Joan Wester Anderson has signed off for the day. It has been a pleasure to host her here at A Nun’s Life and to ponder questions with you. Thank you, Joan, for your presence here and for your ministry.

I encourage you to read Joan’s newest book, Angels and Wonders: True Stories of Heaven on Earth and to visit her website.

Everyone who has commented up to now on the conversation with Joan will be entered in a raffle for an autographed copy of Angels and Wonders. I will contact the winner by email tomorrow.

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.

Below are links to all the posts related to our conversation with Joan Wester Anderson. Enjoy!

Beginning the conversation with Joan:

Angels and Wonders – Introducing a day with Joan Wester Anderson
Angel Talk – Preparing for Joan’s visit to A Nun’s Life
Conversation with Joan Wester Anderson – Joan’s opening message

Questions to which Joan responded:

Does the presence of angels diminish the significance of the Holy Spirit?

Sister Julie — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:41:19 +0000

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.

Angels and “Coincidence”

Sister Julie — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:39:12 +0000

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.

How does one recognize and nurture a connection with an angel?

Sister Julie — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:41:39 +0000

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.

Angels and Nuns

Sister Julie — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:17:29 +0000

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.

Can we give names to our angels?

Sister Julie — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:53:35 +0000

Tom Cloutier, SFO: I was watching a Catholic program last evening and the subject was angels. An audience member asked about the rightness of naming your angel and the moderator said it was disrespectful toward the angel. I have always taught my students (I’m a junior high theology teacher for the last 19 years) that naming your angel was a good idea since we want to develop a loving relationship with this being that has been with us since our conception and will be with us into eternity. As human beings, it is easier to have a relationship with someone whose name we know, so to ask your angel to reveal their name to you, or give them a name that you feel comfortable with, will help you be more aware of them and more open to their guidance.

After all that…what are your views on this?

Peace,
Tom Cloutier, SFO

Joan: I’m as surprised as you are (about naming one’s angel being a sign of disrespect). I have heard this opinion recently, and I believe it may have its roots in Opus Angelorum, a group of Catholics who focus mainly on angels. They are very knowledgeable and I have just begun to get their bulletin so I can continue to educate myself. I have heard that they do not believe in naming one’s angel. (My apologies to them if I am misinterpreting this.)

I never thought about naming my angel until the first time I was a guest on Mother Angelica’s show (how I miss that lady!). She stated firmly that, just as you said, naming your angel was a great way of increasing one’s love and devotion. She also felt that the closer we were to our angel, the more easily it would be to recognize his promptings. Shortly after that, I met a woman who was very hesitant about telling me something….sometimes people are being prompted to say something to someone else but are afraid of being labeled as a kook; I’ve been in that position myself and certainly want to do God’s will if He is indeed prompting me, so I understood how she felt. Hesitantly she told me that she was being asked to tell me that my guardian angel was a warrior (due to my travels, etc) and that his name was Dominic. Honestly, I was thrilled. I have called him Dominic ever since. Can I prove this was the “real thing?” No, but we are told to look at the fruits, and I certainly have a closer relationship with Dominic than I did before learning what his name might be.

If it were up to me, Tom, I would continue to suggest that your students name their angels. They need all the help they can get in today’s world.

What exactly are Angels?

Sister Julie — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:19:30 +0000

Joan: It’s probably easier to explain what they aren’t. Angels are NOT the spirits of people who have died, nor are they “earning their wings….” Often you will hear people saying, “My dad is in heaven and now he’s our family’s guardian angel.” It’s a beautiful thought. However, angels have never been human, and human beings do not turn into angels when we die. The Bible says we will become “LIKE angels,” which usually is interpreted that we will become spirits.

Angels were the very first creation God ever made. They are pure spirits, although they can take on human form (our towtruck driver) when necessary to carry out God’s plan. They predate humans by however many years old the world is. In the Book of Job it says that angels sang and celebrated when they saw what God had made. And of course when the Garden of Eden was closed, God posted an angel at the entrance. In Revelations it explains that there was an enormous fight in heaven, long before anything else existed, and fully 1/3 of all the angels God had created were driven out of Paradise. These are the demons that “roam the world, seeking the ruin of souls.”

But… (there’s always a but) this does not mean that your loved ones in heaven can’t watch over you, and do beautiful things for you. The same God who made the angels made humans, and when we get to heaven, we are simply a different group than angels, and we are usually referred to as saints. I have tons of stories about little hugs from heaven and other comforting events that people have experienced from their loved ones in heaven. It’s just important to define our terms so we are all talking about the same thing.

Conversation with Joan Wester Anderson

Sister Julie — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 10:38:24 +0000

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.

Angel Talk: Preparing for Joan Wester Anderson’s Visit

Sister Julie — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 09:31:50 +0000

Angels are a popular subject. Just check out any “Inspiration” section of a bookstore. In preparation for Joan Wester Anderson’s visit tomorrow, I thought I’d surf around and see what other A Nun’s Life friends have said about angels.

Lisa Hendey, the tech-savvy mom behind CatholicMom.com, did an interview with J.D. Kamps, author of The Foxhole Angel.

Sister Susan Rose Francois, CSJP, writes about jail-busting angels on her blog Musings of a Discerning Woman.

Bill Howdle of Dying Man’s Daily Journal reprises one of his awesome posts on angels.

Sister Rose Hoover, RC, “cybernun”, writes about wrestling with the angel of God. Sister Rose blogs for Cenacle Sisters at Caught Up in God.

Julie D. of Happy Catholic blog recently hosted Joan Wester Anderson as well. But back in 2005 she wrote about her own guardian angel story.

Think about your own angel experiences and angel questions for Joan. Look forward to our conversation tomorrow in honor of the Feast of the Guardian Angels!

Angels and Wonders

Sister Julie — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:37:46 +0000

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.

A Nun's Life » saints and feasts

Game-show God

In Good Faith with author Jane Knuth

Lent: desert and/or dessert?

Feast of St. Scholastica

Feast Day Letter to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Adventure Nun

Mohawk and Nun to be Sainted

AS093 Ask Sister – Special Edition on Saints, holiness, and joy with guests Sister Sandra Schneiders and Father James Martin

Singing with Saint Cecilia

Day 9 Saints Novena – Saint Joseph

Day 8 Saints Novena – Father Augustus Tolton

Day 7 Saints Novena – Dorothy Day

Day 6 Saints Novena – The Latin American Martyrs

Day 5 Saints Novena – Saint Dominic Guzman

Day 4 Saints Novena – Saint Francis of Assisi

AS090 Ask Sister – Special Saintly Edition, with saints in a cave, saintly symbols-coffee and ice cream, decommissioned saints, saintliness in scripture

Day 3 Saints Novena – Theresa Maxis Duchemin and Louis Florent Gillet

Day 2 Saints Novena – Josephine Bakhita

Day 1 Saints Novena – Mary our Sister

Two saints walked into a bar…. LOL for a healthy spiritual life

O God, Your Creatures Fill the Earth – Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi

Looking to the Saints for Business Advice

Of fish and prayer and Magis: Walking with Ignatius of Loyola

Feast of Saint Alphonsus

Of cooks, pirates, and dragons: Saint Martha

Feasts of Saints Ann and Joachim: The First Holy Family of Nazareth

The Story of a Name: On the Feast of Mary Magdalene

“Along the Journey to Find What is Yours to Do”

AS078 Ask Sister – engineering nuns, total consecration, when the saints go marching off the General Roman Calendar, and more!

Who is the Little Flower?

Feast of Corpus Christi

Happy Birthday, Church

Feast of the Visitation of Mary and Elizabeth

Good Friday

Baking Communion Bread – recipe and reflection

Saint Genevieve

From Advent to Christmas

Sinless, but life is still not perfect…

Advent: Step 1 Read

Advent – A time to read, pray, reflect, and act

A thanksgiving prayer

AS049 Ask Sister – no desire for a vocation, saints and symbols, two Saint Theresas, exercise habits, putting the holy in holiday

All Souls – remember and pray

All Saints – miracles of unexpected blessedness

A Litany of Saints

Happy Feast of Saint Teresa of Avila

Feats and Feasts: Saint Michael

Feast of Saint Jeanne de Chantal

Honoring Mother Teresa of Calcutta

CP003 Community Podcast – Saints

Saints, Food, and Prayer

It’s the end of the year

Feast of Saint John of the Cross

CP002 Community Podcast – Advent & Christmas

Visit ANunsLife.org/live TODAY 8:30 p.m. Central Time (your timezone)

Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception!

3 Questions for Advent

Compassion

Blessings Stumbled Upon

Offer It Up

Books: Spiritual Companions

NNR008 Nun News Roundup

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

FP002 Feature Podcast – Saint Teresa of Avila

Join us for Saint Teresa of Avila podcast – LIVE!

Celebrate the Feast of Saint Teresa of Avila Visit aNunsLife.org/live October 15 7-8 p.m. Central Time

Teresa of Avila, trusting always in God

A leap of faith

Filled with a new joy

Trusting in God Always

Teresa of Avila’s desire to give her life to God

Doing Something Big for God

No substitute for real nuns

My BFF is a 16th century nun, Teresa of Avila

Introduction

Personal Connection to Teresa

Feast of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, Archangels

Happy Birthday to the BVM

Let Darkness be my Light

Visit ANunsLife.org/live
TODAY
8:30 p.m. Central Time (your timezone)

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

Celebrate the Feast of Saint Teresa of Avila
Visit aNunsLife.org/live
October 15
7-8 p.m. Central Time