Vows for the 21st Century

http://ncronline.org/news/sisters-stories/poverty-chastity-obedience-traditional-vows-redefined-21st-century

The above is a link to an article in NCR which I highly recommend for anyone who wants to understand why a modern woman would seek to live a vowed life, and how she might view those vows. 

Love and prayer, Sr Patti+

"Prepared for Red Martyrdom"

A mind prepared for red martyrdom [that is death for the faith].

Do not hesitate to sacrifice your own comfort and security and even your life for the sake of your Faith, which is in Christ Jesus.

Reflection:    While this is not likely unless one travels to an Islamic land and tries to evangelize, we are nonetheless required to demonstrate the same level of commitment as the early martyrs.  We must speak truth to power; we must pray for the courage to take risks, to step out of our comfort zone.  For some of us the challenge may be to accept that we are doing the best we can and that it is in fact all right to be happy!  My faith in Christ Jesus tells me that I am deeply loved, and that there are no limits or conditions on that love.  Neither must I withhold the least thing from my Beloved.  Daily I grow more grateful for the Rule and for the Order.

(Note:  I am writing in a larger font so I can read it myself!)

Bullying

I can't believe we are still having this problem in the 21st century, especially among those who profess to follow the God of Love.

About bullies:  I am too old to stand by silently while anyone bullies anyone else.  I specifically refer to the way some men feel it incumbent upon themselves to win every argument and be the smartest guy in the room by being condescending and rude to women or to those who have less status or education.  Anger is my besetting sin, but there is anger and there is speaking truth to self-appointed power!

 I am also sick of being told to grow up because some man can’t handle hearing the truth of how he comes across.  “It’s not about your feelings,” is an inadequate response and a distancing, detached, arrogant thing to say.  One who says such a thing is deliberately attempting to get away with less evolved behavior by appealing to the stereotype of hysterical woman.  It also changes the point of the discussion from what was being discussed to posturing. 

 If you want to talk with me, we can even disagree, but not if you start coming at me with delusions of superiority.  Not to mention the arrogance to assume that you know me and that I must have come from money…me!  My Dad drove a taxi.  My Mom worked for a doctor as a receptionist.  Not a dollar between them for college for us kids.   

 I worked my way through to a degree in my sixties because I wanted to be a priest; believed I had been called to minister to gangsters, prostitutes, drug addicts and other poor persons.  I am going to go for a Master’s in Theology and then a Ph.D. in Peace Studies.  I will pay for this out of my pittance of Social Security and do without vacations and new clothes and trips to visit my kids.  And if I don’t live that long, so what?  I don’t base my self-worth on my education.  I don’t denigrate it, but my real legacy is in the people I’ve helped over the years.

Thanks for letting me rant.  Whew!  Now I feel better. 

Criminalizing Homelessness

I have been thinking about a recent horrible decision in North Carolina (the latest of several places) to criminalize homelessness.  It has been said that, “The poor are driven into hiding and the rich lay waste to the land.”  Nothing ever changes, eh?

 

I would be willing to bet there is a shareholder of a for-profit prison in there somewhere.  I would also be willing to bet he or  she thinks of him/herself as a Christian.  So when the time comes, and Jesus says, “I was homeless and you put me in jail,” will that be a shock, do you think?  I remind myself that Jesus spoke truth to power.  For me at my age that means letter and blog writing.  I see our country drifting blissfully into a police state that could make Soviet Russia look like an anarchist’s dream.  

Aside from the above rant, how can I humbly imitate Christ?  By being the message, which is more important than any amount of words…to be the love that I wish to see in the world, I must be “transformed by the renewing of [my] mind.”  I must put on the mind of Christ and live from the ground of my being.  When I do that, I can even love the ones I’d like to shake silly.  What they do is not all right, and I won’t sit by and not speak up.  But I can pray for God to strike them holy!  

If I were a minister in that town, I hope I would close my church and post a notice that it was “For Lack of Christians in this Town.”  Then I hope that I would join the homeless in refusing to move on and get arrested with them.  

Since I am too old and crippled to do that, I can dwell in the silence with the One Who loves us all, and pray for the world that is so cruel.  And for myself, who is so judgmental.  And for all of us who suffer in a world that is increasingly dedicated to profit and the destruction of community.

Mercy Upon Mercy

I was praying this evening, and was reminded of this fragment of a poem-prayer by Thomas Merton, which I thought I would share with you today.

“Have you had sight of Me, Jonas My child?

Mercy within mercy within mercy.

I have forgiven the universe without end because I have never known sin.”

Mercy is our special vow and the particular charism of our Order.  God created the universe, and it was and is good.  God’s mercy sees only that which God is, which is good.  Let us pour out mercy upon the world and walk humbly by the gift of His mercy into the Kingdom.   Amen.

The Exercise of Authority

•Let thy servant be a discreet, religious, not tale-telling man, who is to attend continually on thee, with moderate labour of course, but always ready.

 

If you are placed in authority over another, whether those in your employ or in business choose them wisely, seek persons who are trustworthy and if possible spiritual, and honest in their service.  Treat all under your authority with Charity.

Reflection:  I have no one over whom I have authority, but I have experienced being a supervisor, and I have raised children (well, one child and one grandchild), with varying success.  The one thing I have come to know is that it is critical to be honest, kind and firm as regards rules, and to be utterly profligate as regards love.  We are told to do justice, have mercy and walk humbly – these practices dictate our behavior towards anyone over whom we might have authority.  (Cait, I am too tired to check whether this usage of “whom” is correct.  Feel fee to edit!)