With Scars in His Hands

Throughout the Easter Triduum, I had a song going through my head as I contemplated the resurrected Christ. I thought of Jesus appearing to the disciples with scars in His hands, fully embodying the Paschal Mystery.

Paschal Mystery means that Jesus' Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension are all a single event.

Here is the song I was thinking of:


I thought that the song goes well with the following passages from scripture. I invite you to read and reflect on them:

"Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other disciples said to him, 'We have seen the Lord.' But he said to them, 'Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.' Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, 'Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.' Thomas answered and said to him, 'My Lord and my God!' Jesus said to him, 'Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.'
-John 20:24-29, NAB


"Then I saw between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered."
-Revelation 5:6a, NRSV
"After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, 'Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!'"
-Revelation 7:9-10, NRSV

Christ's suffering has been vindicated. So is/will our suffering! Alleluia!

I pray that your Easter is full of many blessings and insights into your relationship with our risen Lord!

A Lovely Day for Rollerblading!

Sister Pamela Catherine and I just came in from rollerblading. I don't have much experience on hills so she taught me how to do it and we went down some pretty cool ones. (Don't worry, Mom, I was able to put a helmet on over my veil.) I am looking forward to another trip out there!

I hope that you find time to do something fun, too!

A Lesson from a Flower

A few months ago, I inherited a flower. At the time, I thought it was pretty, but a little confused. Rather than growing up straight like other flowers, the stem curved up then down and back up again with little red flowers at the end. It was cute in a Charlie Brown sort of way. I even thought of Linus' line in A Charlie Brown Christmas: "It's not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love." So out of all the flowers that I got to choose from, I chose the Charlie Brown one.

Much to my amazement, with a "little love," water, and sunshine, my confused flower was not so confused after all! Other bunches of flowers along the stem, which turned out to be a vine, started to come up. They blossomed and bloomed and even the leaves grew plump. As it turns out, it is not supposed to stand up straight like the "other" flowers. If it did, it wouldn't be nearly as beautiful.



P.S. Does anyone know what kind of flower this is? Thanks!

Lent 2011, Take Two

Lent is a time to continually die to self and to begin anew every day. I have come to that understanding more and more over the years and even more so since I have been here at the convent.

I began this Lent full force with a Lenten promise I made to God and myself. It lasted a week and a half. With other pressures/"priorities" the past couple of days, it has fallen away. I pray before I go to bed at night, and last night I realized that I was going to have to recommit myself, fully relying on the strength of Christ.

Now imagine my excitement at mass today, when we sang "Ashes," a song typically used on Ash Wednesday. "We rise again from ashes, to create ourselves anew." I sang this two weeks ago, ready to begin Lent. Singing it again today, I was not only comforted by our merciful Father, but even more inspired to start again.

Then I had to smile, because the third verse was so perfect for our snowy/rainy weather that we are having in Spring:
Then rise again from ashes,
let healing come to pain;
Though spring has turned to winter,
and sunshine turned to rain.
The rain we'll use for growing,
and create the world anew,
From an offering of ashes,
An offering to You.

May your Lent be a time of renewal, growth, and rising everytime you fall.

The People of Japan are on Our Hearts and in Our Prayers

If you are reading this from Japan, please know that at the Motherhouse we have been watching the news and praying for all of you throughout the day. Intentions are offered at our community prayer times as well. It is heart wrenching to think about all the lives affected by this disaster. God bless you and your loved ones.

Psalm 42 seems like a good prayer for this situation.

Psalm 42, New American Bible
"As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God.
My being thirsts for God, the living God. When can I go and see the face of God?
My tears have been my food day and night, as they ask daily,"Where is your God?"
Those times I recall as I pour out my soul, When I went in procession with the crowd, I went with them to the house of God, Amid loud cries of thanksgiving, with the multitude keeping festival.
Why are you downcast, my soul; why do you groan within me? Wait for God, whom I shall praise again, my savior and my God.
My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you From the land of the Jordan and Hermon, from the land of Mount Mizar.
Here deep calls to deep in the roar of your torrents. All your waves and breakers sweep over me.
At dawn may the LORD bestow faithful love that I may sing praise through the night, praise to the God of my life.
I say to God, "My rock, why do you forget me? Why must I go about mourning with the enemy oppressing me?"
It shatters my bones, when my adversaries reproach me. They say to me daily: "Where is your God?"
Why are you downcast, my soul, why do you groan within me? Wait for God, whom I shall praise again, my savior and my God."

Spring Break at the Motherhouse

It is Spring Break at Silver Lake College! Since we have the week off of classes, we have been able to do a few extra fun things this week.

On Monday, everyone on the novitiate team went to the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help. "[The recent] declaration [of church approval] makes the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help at Champion the first and only Marian shrine in the United States that is on the site of an approved apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary" (http://www.shrineofourladyofgoodhelp.com/). It is now on the same level as Fatima, Lourdes, and Guadalupe. It was so nice to go there and have a holy hour. Everyone enjoyed it. There was even a dog there that I made friends with.

Last night, the postulants invited us over to their homeroom for a Mardi Gras party. We first had a Mardi Gras parade in St. Rita's (health care center/infirmary), and later that night we headed back the the homeroom. We played a quick game of Skip-Bo, a few of us danced to Mardi Gras music, we hit a piñata that Rose made, we did the Limbo (Sr. Pamela Catherine won!), and ate paczkis and chips and salsa. It was a lot of fun!

It snowed last night and this morning, and it is perfect packing snow, so in a little bit, Sr. Pamela Catherine, Sr. Therese, and I are going to make a snowman! It will be Sr. Therese's first snowman, because there isn't any snow in Vietnam. We have been waiting for snow like this so that she can experience this timeless activity for people in colder climates.

Since it is Ash Wednesday, tonight we will have an "atmosphere of quiet" at the Motherhouse. After evening prayer, we will grab our "bag suppers" and eat on our own. We can spend the evening in prayer and go to bed early if we wish. I am looking forward to the time of solitude.

I hope that you find time to do something fun this week, even if you are not on Spring Break!

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***Update: Here are the snowpeople that Sr. Therese, Sr. Pamela Catherine and I made! (Photo courtesy of Sr. Julie Ann)

Worth Viewing and Pondering

To continue last Wednesdays's reflection, I want to share with you all a powerful video that really says it all:



I have nothing more to add. God love you.