Spring Training

It is a quiet peaceful winter day. This year, we do not have the deep snow that we had last year, but we have had frequent, although not deep snow storms, so we constantly live in the white all winter.

I may be a Religious Sister, but I love baseball and the Phillies will be starting spring training next month. I am looking forward to this season with four star starting pitchers, my only concern is will we have enough hitting. Time will tell.

Christmas season

The Christmas season officially ends today. Where did it go? I love this time of year and am sorry to see it end. On Christmas eve, I made my routine rounds. First, I visited my parents and grandparents at St. Dominic Cemetary. From there, I visited my nephew and his family. My nephew has three boys and they are truly a beautiful family. After a short visit with them, I went to visit my brother and his wife. I had dinner with them. My sister-in-law made a superb meal. At 7:00 p.m. in the evening, we went to my oldest niece's house. She always has a big celebration on Christmas eve, and I get to see that side of the family. I stayed over at my brother and sister-in-law's house when the party was over. The next morning, we all went out for breakfast. After a short visit in the morning, I returned to the convent to join the Sisters on the big meal of the day. I do enjoy the visiting and seeing parts of my family because I love them dearly. At the same time, it is always good to be back in the quiet of the convent, where there is more time to reflect and pray.

Christmas stories

I went to a spiritual workshop about reminiscing personal Christmas stories. Then, we connected our own stories with a reflection of the Incarnation, God among us.

A Christmas story I remember is gathering around my mother who played the piano.  My mother was an excellent pianist and singer.  Of all her six children, not too many of us had her talent for music.  We gathered around her on Christmas day, as she played the piano and we would sing Christmas carols (all off key, of course.)  What was so nice about that was we were together sharing the joy of Christmas in the intimacy of our home.  We felt vey close to one another with all our idiosyncrasies, with our lack of musical talent, (and good points, too.)


This reflected Incarnation because it reflected the intimacy of the Holy Family rejoicing at the birth of the God-Child in the intimacy of their family. Just the way we were off-key, the world seemed to be off-key in those days in not recognizing the magnificent event that was taking place in their time and place. I wonder where God is incarnate with us today in our own off-key world.

Cover Girl

This month I appeared on the cover of The Good News.  The Good News has won a number of awards.  It is the magazine put out by the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia.

The story was about part of my ministry.  I do both mental health and chemical dependency counseling.  That part of my ministry I cannot talk about it, because it is totally confidential.  However, the parenting classes are not confidential.  The article focuses on the parenting classes.  These are not ordinary parenting classes; they are for parents who have difficult children to raise.  These classes have helped many parents.  Our team are the only ones of them that do them in Spanish.  We also do them in English.

Sara

Recently, I introduced you to Simona, who recently entered into discernment about becoming a Sister of St. Francis of Philadelphia.  Now, I would like to introduce Sara.  Sara works at Neumann University as a campus minister.  She has her own blog.  I lifted this quote off her blog to give you an idea of who she is.

Living in a convent is much like living in a family . . . you have your responsibilities within the household: your nights to cook dinner, your chores, your days to lead prayers, etc. But along with those responsibilities also comes the fun things that keep you connected as a unit!

So please, take that decrepid image of "NUN" out of your head and replace it with the reality of living a life devoted to following God's will! I'll tell you, from what I have experienced from a number of the older sisters in the community, it's well worth it!

 So, religious sisters sitting alone all day praying is BUSTED by Faith-Busters! In place I wish to leave you all with this image, the image of the family. Living in a convent is much like living in a family . . . you have your responsibilities within the household: your nights to cook dinner, your chores, your days to lead prayers, etc. But along with those responsibilities also comes the fun things that keep you connected as a unit!

I would really encourage you to go to her blog at www.mascaraandprayer.blogspot.com to really get to know her well.  Her blog is very interesting and gives insight into one young person's adaptation to religious life in the 21st century.

Spiritual Autobiography

Image by drp via Flickr

I recently went to a workshop on writing your spiritual autobiography.  I have begun it.  I think if I gave it a title, I would call it "Conversion stories."  As I look back on my life, I realize how close God has been to me and has helped me grow spiritually through these different conversions.  When I speak of conversions, I am not speaking of from one religion to another, but of spiritual conversions which bring me close to God.  Perhaps in time, I will share some of these conversion snippets with you.

I am not sure who would read this autobiography when I finish or if anyone would be interested, but something in me tells me I have to write it, and perhaps I can share some of the stories here.  And perhaps you, dear reader, would like to share some of your own.

By the way, the picture above is not of me.  That is St. Therese de Lisieux who is my patroness and wrote her own spiritual auto-biography.

 Related articles

• Review: Spiritual Parenting (simuleustisetpecator.wordpress.com)

Our New Candidates

Our candidates have arrived.  One is Sara and the other is Simona.  I like to introduce them to you one at a time.  Simona is from Romania.  The following is an excerpt of an interview with Simona taken from our Community News.

"After a long journey that took me across two oceans and involvement in different ministries, one beautiful October day in 2007, I met Sr. Betsy Goodwin in Boston through a common passion of working toward the eradiction of human trafficking.  That was the beginning of a simple, quiet, and gentle relationship that little-by-little developed into a more profound relationship with the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia.  After one year of working with Sr. Betsy, I came to the motherhouse for a Mini-Sabbath, where from the hill coming up to the Glen, I fell in love with and was mesmerized by the beauty, simplicity, and serenity of the place.  When I first stepped into the motherhouse, I knew that something more powerful, gracefilled, and peaceful took over my whole being.  I knew from tht moment that this is the place where I belong and want to be for the rest of my life.

What I am most impressed with and love about the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia is their love for one another and their love for all creation, their faithfulness and continuous presence to each other and to those whom they serve, their honesty and mutual support, and their tremendous witness and inspiration-not so much by words and deeds but rather by their being and continuous dedication and passion for the love of God and his Living Word.  It seems to me that no matter the sister' ages, professional backgrounds, roles, and country of origin, they seem so much inflamed with the love and gratitude of and for God, the Gospel, people, creation, and all that sustains and surrounds us here on Earth and even beyond.