Why Did God Make You?

A lot has happened since I last posted, two weeks ago. Certainly, a lot has happened throughout our world. Riots, peaceful protests, an earthquake....If you are reading this from New Zealand, please know of the many prayers for you from me as well as the rest of the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity. We are well aware of the events of the world because we make the effort to know about them, and we carry them with us to prayer.

Within my personal life, I traveled with the postulants and other sisters to attend the First Annual Feminine Genius Conference at St. Pius X in Appleton, WI. It was based on Pope John Paul II's apostolic letter, "On the Dignity and Vocation of Women." It was a wonderful conference, and I just wanted to share some reflections based on the talks.

One of the first things they shared at the conference was that God created us for a purpose. They asked us a question from the Baltimore Catechism. It is the only question in that particular catechism that I actually know the answer by heart, so I was able to respond:

Question: Why did God make you?
Answer: God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next.
-Baltimore Catechism

The postulants and I were smiling because Sr. Judanne had taught us all that question and response. I think it is a crucial thing for everyone to know, because it helps to answer our search for meaning, and reminds us of the value of our own lives. What matters is not power, prestige, wealth, or "success" in the eyes of the world. Love is what matters.

One of our society's images of "success" is to look a certain way. As we are in the middle of "Love Your Body Week," I include a paragraph from the Catechism of the Catholic Church that helps us to see how obsession with our exteriors is unhealthy and is counterproductive to our purpose in life:

"If morality requires respect for the life of the body, it does not make it an absolute value. It rejects a neo-pagan notion that tends to promote the cult of the body, to sacrifice everything for it's sake, to idolize physical perfection and success at sports. By its selective preference of the strong over the weak, such a conception can lead to the perversion of human relationships" (CCC# 2289, emphasis mine).

Here is a Christian song that follows the same theme: "More Beautiful You" -Jonny Diaz


We need to love what God created and nurture it, because God loves us as we are. Do we call God a liar when He tells us that we are beautiful? What about when He tells us that He loves us no matter what?

Our "feeling" of God's love does not make it real or not real. God is love. God is goodness. That is His nature. He cannot act in contradiction to His nature, so there is NOTHING that will remove us from His love. Nothing!

"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." -Romans 8:38, NAB

"As far as the east is from the west, so far have our sins been removed from us." -Psalm 103:12, NAB

As Catholics we are blessed with the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We don't go to confession because God needs it. God doesn't need it. We go because we need it. There is something incredibly consoling about hearing the words, "I absolve you from your sins..." and something even better about the graces that come with the Sacrament! God desires to heal us; He desires to set us free!

Satan wants to hold us in slavery to sin. He manipulates us by saying, "I know what you did! I know who you really are!" And he is wrong. The Devil does not know you. No matter what you have done, whether it is lying, stealing, abortion; anything, you are a child of God, and God wants you to be free because he loves you more than you can imagine! We can find this freedom through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. (By the way, our sins are not as unique as we think they are. The priests have heard it all and they won't be surprised.)

There are no sins that are greater than the grace of God.

God bless you.

Finding Meaning; Finding God

It is COLD today! I am so thankful that my New Testament class is in the Motherhouse so I don't have to go outside. I hope people who are homeless have someplace warm to go to, but I know that generally they don't have warm places during the day. A couple of people I've met who are in this situation have told me that they cope with cold winter temperatures by "thinking warm thoughts" so they think about being by a fireplace, or being at the beach. It sounds like a good way to go.

Last weekend, those of us in formation watched an excellent movie called The Human Experience.
It is a very powerful documentary about finding the meaning of life in the midst of suffering. The preview for the film is below. (Disclaimer: there are some graphic images at the beginning of the trailer.)


Another thing that that has been enriching is the Franciscan Spirituality class that we are taking. It is kind of like a retreat, and I am really getting to understand Franciscan spirituality on a deeper level. It is also affirming, in that I can see more and more that I am in the right place.

May God bless you on your journey.

Ice and Snow, Bless the Lord!

Yesterday those of us in the formation program and a few of the other Sisters in our community started a Franciscan Spirituality class. We all loved the first class. I am looking forward to the rest of it. It is a month long; two afternoons a week. Our professor is a Franciscan, from the same order as one of our chaplains. They have a really cool habit...it looks like St. Francis' habit, well, before he had to get it patched up.

In other news, today was a Snow Day! What a blessing! Shoveling was kind of funny because Sister Pamela Catherine and I shoveled some steps that looked more like a hill. It's the priests' steps so I had this image in my head of them sledding down it...but we shoveled it anyway. We didn't want them to get hurt.

I hope and pray that your February is getting off to a good start!

While you are online, please check out this new video about our Community. It's great!
http://www.fhcm.org/heritage-of-hope.asp

Unity as a Convent; Unity as People

In case you didn't see the picture on Franciscanized World, here is the completed Warm Up America! afghan. (You can click on the picture to make it bigger.) Fr. Jadin blessed the afghan, and we gave it to the Manitowoc County Domestic Violence Center. It truly was a team effort, and it was nice to see the Motherhouse come together to provide warmth and comfort for the people who will use the afghan.



We also just had an initial formation weekend which was very nice. Everyone in initial formation, including our temporary professed Sisters all came together for it. It was good to see Sr. Elena again, because she is missioned in Arizona. Unfortunately, it was very cold this weekend, even for Wisconsin, but she didn't seem to mind too much.

Coming together and unity seem to be a theme right now....we are in the middle of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. It is a week that our community participates in through prayer and discussion, since prayer leads to discussion. I think it is more than a coincidence that it falls around the same time as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday. He is one of my heroes, and I try to model my life after his example. One thing that he really advocated for was unity among everyone. In honor of him and of Christian Unity, I am including a couple excerpts from his famous "I Have a Dream" speech:

"With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

"And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

"My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

"Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

"From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

"And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.


"... And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

"Free at last! Free at last!

"Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

I would also like to recommend that you read the blog entry that one of our Sisters, Sr. Kathleen, wrote for Franciscanized World. It is an excellent entry called "Are You Aware of a Catholic Pastoral Letter on Racism." You can read it by clicking here:
http://www.fscc-calledtobe.org/living/index.php/2011/01/11/are-you-aware-of-a-catholic-pastoral-letter-on-racism/.

The crucial beginning steps toward eradicating racism are: first, to realize our own racial prejudices, and second, to challenge them.

A Football Entry (why not?) :)

The following comic was taken from Holy Humor: Inspirational Wit and Cartoons by Cal and Rose Samra


The Packers have been in the playoffs for a couple weeks. I am a Packer fan as long as they aren't playing the Lions. The past few games have been pretty exciting, and next Sunday we go on to the NFC Championship Game against the Chicago Bears. I didn't know this before I came here, but the Chicago Bears are major rivals of the Packers, so it will be a pretty intense game. Whoever wins that one will go to the Super Bowl.

Joining the convent changes you. Holly (a postulant) and I both watch football now, and we like it! Who would have thought?

God's Own Open Road

Every month, my community's blog, "Franciscanized World", presents a new song to listen to, to reflect on, and many times, to download for free. Each month's "song of the month" is different from the others and thus appeal to a wide variety of musical tastes. I check back every month to listen to the songs. Regardless of the style of music, all present a challenge to me, and this one in particular challenges me.

The song is called "God's Own Open Road" and it is written and performed by Tish Hinojosa. The Sisters are asking us (FYI: this includes you) to reflect on discernment with the song, being that this week is Vocation Awareness Week. Well I was expecting to listen to a simple song about the open road we journey on in life...what I heard was the words of a poet, with each line prompting me to think deeper....and it's still morning! I was relieved to look in the "comments" section and find that one of the postulants, Leslie, already wrote a reflection:

This song is a beautiful use of everyday imagery to reach a deeper spiritual truth. As we walk through this world every person has moments of questioning. We are all called to be seekers of the truth.

Then Sister Julie Ann wrote:

These lyrics articulate that which is difficult to discern...I want to know about the outer reaches Everything that heartbreak teaches Questions of survival that in every soul exist...
If National Vocation Awareness Week 2011 moves even one person to dig deeply for answers to these kind of questions, it will be a celebration of real commitment.

Perhaps I was thinking too hard.

In any case, it prompted me to reflect on where I've been, where I am, and where I am going on "God's Own Open Road" since I can't egocentrically claim it as my own journey, my own road. God is the GPS that keeps leading me back to His direction for my life, announcing "recalculating" every time I deviate from the path He's lovingly marked for the welfare of everyone. (I cannot claim this analogy of God as a GPS, and unfortunately I can't remember who brought this analogy to my attention.)

To quote part of the song:

Walking on the streets I’ve known
A city that I once called home
A stranger now another time
That doesn’t want me back

Poems in my native tongue
Whisper where I used to run
The river brushing by a shore
That knew it all along

Here I stood and there I dreamed
A future bright as magazines
Without the shades of sorrow in between
Where we’ve been & what we’ve seen
Are we taught or are we teaching
Reaching seeking needing preaching
Pleading speeding screeching to a halt

As I listened, an image flashed before me of where I came from:


The sky line, the Grand River; the city lights, take me mentally back to the past, and where I thought I was headed in the future that is now the present. As I follow along this path, asking questions of God, I am conscious that He is guiding me to grow into a deeper relationship with Him and to lead others to do the same. Everything else will fall into place.

"He must increase; I must decrease" (John 3:30, NAB).

If you wish to also reflect on this song, please click here.

Happy National Vocation Awareness Week!

January 9-15, 2011 is a time that is being set aside in our country this year to pray for those who are being called by God to the priesthood or consecrated life. If you know a person who you think might be a good priest and/or religious, please don't be afraid to share this with him/her. They might resist it, but they will remember it. A number of people said this to me through the years, and here I am.

I have some links on the right side of my page under the heading "Related Websites." Click on "Register Online for Young Women's Discernment Retreats!" if you are thinking God may be calling you to be Sister. If you are a young man or woman who is considering the priesthood, religious life, or lay ecclesial ministry, click on "Catholics on Call- FREE In Person and Online Retreats for Catholic Young Men and Women ---worth doing! (I'm an alumna)." If you are a woman of any age considering a vocation to be a Sister, click on " A Nun's Life".

You can print out a holy card with a prayer for vocations by clicking here.

If you are a parent, you can click here for a helpful webpage.

Please know that countless people hold you in daily prayer.

In other news, I had a wonderful week for my mission experience in the U.P. (Upper Penninsula of Michigan)! I stayed in Marquette, and was amazed by all the welcoming, genuine people I met. I got to learn about and experience what it is like to minister in a parish. My week included visits with people in nursing homes and in their own homes, doing sacristy for masses, counting collection money for parish needs, visiting the preschool, spending time with our sisters in Republic, Champion, and Ishpeming, joining Northern Michigan University students for part of their retreat to start out the new semester in prayer, helping with communion services at nursing homes, helping with the Fish Bake, and so forth.... It was a really nice experience!

I have also been reading Three Cups of Tea, and I currently have two chapters left. As part of our community's special focus on social justice this year (it is always an important part of religious life but this year we are paying special attention to it), Three Cups of Tea was on the list of options for books that we can read. I had heard it was a good book, but it is actually even better than I thought it would be! It is an incredibly important book, too. As I read through the pages, I am reminded of a beautiful quote by Kahil Gibran: "I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the Spirit."

God bless you and your days ahead.