“They shall come back
rejoicing, carrying seeds to be sown”
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| Live out your life with one desire only... |
In this year of my golden jubilee, I gifted myself with a
study and retreat time at Manna House in Concordia ,
Kansas Janet Lander , nine of us have spent concentrated
time deepening our understanding and awareness of the gift we have been given
in our vocation to embrace this charism of loving union with all that is.
Through the films The
Way, Avatar, Of Gods and Men, and I
Am, our consciousness of the core elements of our spirituality were right
there before us, inviting us to see how it is lived out in our present
circumstances. Our mission today is to continue to join with others in
unfolding this awareness that in God, We are all One.
We spent our time in contemplative reflection and
conversation on mysticism, our faith journey and the dynamism of desire. Our
skilled guides broke open for us Medaille’s understanding of the
Trinitarian relationships of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and Jesus, Mary
and Joseph and our human response to living out of these relationships in our
world today and into the future.
During our retreat we are walking through the Maxims,
focusing each day on one of these six precious relationships.
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| To be always what God wants you to be, in nature,grace and glory for time and eternity. Maxim 73 |
This morning as I was walking the labyrinth here at Manna
House, I entered, aware of having received these Maxims as a young postulant 50
years ago. We were told to memorize them. I smiled as I pictured us walking side by side
and behind Sr. Catherine Mary, our dear Kate, as she patiently listened to us
recite them from heart. She was like a mother duck and we her ducklings. Daily,
at meal time, we heard one of them recited. We were given a formulary of prayers and in the back were those 100 maxims.
As I walked, I became aware of how I have seen them lived
out in myself and others. I forgave the many times we failed to live them. I
recalled faces of sisters I have known, some alive and others deceased, who
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particular ones..
I came to the Center and paused a long while, giving thanks
for the past 50 years and the gift of community. I hold as a treasure these 100
maxims and the potential they have for renewed love that is being called forth
from us today.
As I turned, to return I was conscious that I still have
some time left to live out my vocation and that I was once again offering my
life to God. As I walked, I could hear myself singing, they shall some back
rejoicing, carrying the seeds to be sown.
So I return carrying the 100 seeds of the Maxims.
My intention for continuing this blog is to offer the seeds
of these maxims. My hope is that you, the reader, will receive them and
respond so that we can continue to nurture one another in living out our
mission in the Community of St. Joseph, day by day.
