God's Great Love: Simple and Beautiful

YEAR OF CONSECRATED LIFE: 
Dorothy Pilkington, ssj

Several months ago while reading HOPE AGAINST DARKNESS by Richard Rohr, OSF, I was awestruck by Einstein’s statement,

 “All I know is, the great truth – when we discover it – will be simple and it will be beautiful.”  

Reflecting on his insight, I began to reflect on the seven women who came to pray at the Little Kitchen in LePuy, France.  In this little village, these women saw the great poverty, horrific violence and oppression of the people.  God’s Spirit moved their hearts to pray, to reflect on the Gospel message and to go forth to meet the needs of their time.

Le Puy Kitchen by Carol Hebert, ssj 

During their kitchen gatherings, these women prayed.  

Prayer gave them the courage to go forth with loving, caring and compassionate hearts and bring Jesus’ presence to their people.  All was given in utter simplicity but with the great beauty of love.

All was not easy for them.  Certain groups reacted violently toward them – trying to suppress their good works.  But with courage, fortitude, trust and faith in their God and the Gospel message, these women simply and beautifully served their neighbors.

With time the number of women increased.  Vowed members, associates, agregrees and partners shared the same vision of uniting neighbor with neighbor and neighbor with God.  Eventually we became known as the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph with a vision and never-ending charism of the Great Love of God – to be ever present to our dear neighbor as Jesus was in His time.

As years turned into centuries, the needs of the people and the violence of our day are ever present to us.  Like the seven women of 1650, we face the challenges of standing tall and walking with Jesus in and with love to all we meet.  Our ministries are simple and beautiful but also challenging.  It is the grace of God that guides us daily.

Like our first sisters, each of us in the Community of Saint Joseph is discovering as Einstein did “All I know is the great truth – when we discover it – will be simple and it will be beautiful.”  Through our charism, we try to bring love to our dear neighbor.  And as Einstein wrote, we are discovering God’s Great Love to be simple and beautiful!

    

Wake the World

We are surrounded with signs of a world waking up.  After a long winter, though slow in coming, Resurrection is on the move. Appearances are on the horizon.

Pope Francis urges us to wake the world with the good news that women religious are alive and well. He presents us with three aims in this Year of Consecrated life: to look to the past with gratitude, to live the present with passion, and to embrace the future with hope.

In the coming weeks we will share gifts of gratitude that have emerged from our reflecting on our past.

As Sisters of St. Joseph our beginnings go back to 1650. We span 5 centuries, the 17th through the 21st.

A key blessing for me emerged from the call of Vatican II to return to the fountainhead of our beginnings in order to reawaken our charism. The result has been the transformation of my life as a Sister of St. Joseph.  Recognizing our charism of unity as a call to active inclusive love in a world in which we are one with all that is, has expanded my horizons beyond anything I would have imagined when I “entered the convent”.  

The opportunities in community for spiritual growth, ministry and study have connected me with amazing people who have influenced me in a whole variety of ways. I am continually growing into a new being, alive with an energy that enables me to appreciate and welcome changing circumstances. It is clear to me that I see with new eyes, hear with an open heart and have a capacity to love in ways I once thought impossible.

On the day professing our first vows, we said in unison to the Bishop that our hearts were filled with joy. My capacity for experiencing that joy, which is indeed the joy of living the Gospel, continues to transform my way of living from the source of the charism reignited for these times.

A New Day is Dawning

Wake up the world with good tidings of great joy!

How often have we joined with others in singing:
" Let us build the the City of God… may our tears be turned into dancing"
with conviction in our hearts that we are in this great work together!  When we sing our song in communion with others, it seems to break forth into an Act of Hope, as we proclaim:
"A New Day is dawning for all those who weep."

As we enter into a New Year in the cycle of our lives within the Church this Advent, Pope Francis invites the whole Church to see the light that religious life has been, continues to be and will be in this Christed world which is breaking through as this New Day is Dawning.

Pope Francis has written a letter to all members of religious communities inviting deep reflection on the prophetic role religious life will play in waking up the whole Church, as we move forward 50 years after the second Vatican Council.

"Dear Brothers and Sisters in Consecrated Life.
I am writing to you as the Successor of Peter, to whom the Lord entrusted the task of confirming his brothers and sisters in faith (Luke 22:32). But I am also writing to you as a brother who, like yourselves, is consecrated to God. 
Together let us thank the Father, who called us to follow Jesus by fully embracing the Gospel and serving the Church, and poured into our hearts the Holy Spirit, the source of our joy and our witness to God's love and mercy before the world".

Throughout the coming year we will reflect with you on the challenges of this letter.

Wisps of Glory

"I believe that each of us comes from the creator trailing wisps of glory"
Maya Angelou

Today is the feast of the Ascension. We celebrate the completion of Jesus' Resurrection appearances to those who came to know him during his human life on this earth. They had some graced time after Jesus' death. They experienced more about living on in his love by letting God's Love live on in them. It was time for Jesus to leave again. He gave his life away, returning to the glory of God, leaving us the capacity for sacred communion with him. He offered us the gift of community and commissioned us to be love to one another

In the next ten days we focus on the in-between time of opening ourselves to recognizing the presence  of the Holy Spirit in our lives, in our world.  Our vocation is to love.  This is every one's vocation.

We live in a world that has been impregnated through the centuries with compassion, creativity, renewal, and love ever ancient, ever new. Our capacity to love one another shows up in so many ways. We too are agents of the love which Jesus manifested and passed on to us.

"Live on on my love. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you."

Today we are hearing about the passing of Maya Angelou, a woman whose life embraced and empowered so many through her presence and her writing. Her last words to us are a great message as we await another Pentecost.

"Listen to yourself and in that quietude you might hear the voice of God" 

May we all have the courage to listen and to follow the guidance of the Spirit of Love.

Dare to Doubt

During this Easter season our scripture readings

tell of the resurrection appearances of Jesus. After spending time with Doubting Thomas, I offer the following reflection.

Dear Thomas,

How grateful we are to you for your gift of doubt;

         for questioning appearances;

         for taking the time you needed with your grief.

Grief at the great disruption

            of your heart’s desire to be moving forward in life with your friend, Jesus.

Grief at his disappearance in such a bloody and brutal manner.

It appears that as you were longing for belonging,

Separated from the experience of your companions;

So was your Beloved One,

            The One you knew,

            Who knew you knew… knew you,

            Longing for you to know

            You were still known

And so a new invitation came to you:

Come, draw near, touch the place of my wounds.

Let go of anything that keeps you afraid.

Place your hand in my side and

Know me from the inside out, as I know you, still.

In to me, see.

Nothing has changed, except  everything.

As I have been transformed, so have you.

Believe in yourself.

Believe in me.

Believe in life.

I have known you from of old.

I know you now, and

I hold with you a future memory.

My life flows into you and through you

And through you into all you desire to be part of with me.

Dear Thomas,

Thank you for letting your doubt out.

           

           

            

Joseph Our Brother

Be transparent to others so they can see through you, the qualities of God.

Joseph, Our Brother

Joseph our brother, friend of the night,

In the midst of darkness, you lived from the light.

You journeyed within to uncover insight,

Trusting God and the angels to guide you in flight.

Today in the darkness throughout much of our land,

As we journey with neighbors, please take our hand.

May we recognize Christ within each person we meet,

Be it in newspaper, house or out on the street.

Break open our hearts to see and bring light,

Dear Joseph our brother, friend of the night.

This image of Joseph the Carpenter is from the artist Georges de La Tours and is displayed in the Louvre Museum in Paris. It reflects the light of God coming through the Christ Child reflecting on Joseph. 

I am the Light of the World.

You are the Light of the World.

We are the Light o the World.

We offer a Maxim for the Community of St. Joseph:

Be transparent to others so they can see through you, the qualities of God.

We offer a poem prayer to Joseph our Brother.

On this St. Joseph's Day, we celebrate with the Universal Church the first year anniversary of Pope Francis. 

May each of us shine our light this day and every day on our world so much in need of our lives.