EspeciallyThose Most in Need of Your Mercy

 
For National Sisters Week we invited members of the Community of Joseph to share a reflection on Mercy.

Denise Granger in her simple office

Denise Granger,ssj, coordinates the Office of Justice and Peace for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield. She shares with us her reflection on Mercy.

Some things in life are exquisitely simple – love is better than hate, sharing is better than hoarding, generosity is better than selfishness, kindness is better than meanness – you can fill in a lot more.  Yet, we complicate even these seemingly simple things, often to justify behavior we know is not worthy of us.  Hanging on to small (or big) hurts, letting our insecurities get the best of us, allowing our “we’re number one,” materialistic, consumer driven culture entice us to satisfy our every little whim clouds our judgment and impedes the day when “all will be one.”

Living our lives believing that there is a God who knows us and loves us allows us to reveal God’s face and heart to the people we share life with and all of our brothers and sisters whose lives are affected by every decision we make. Living from a grounded set of beliefs gives us a frame of reference to live by. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” comes to mind - and is this not “mercy?”

Everyone guided by mercy and even a few of its synonyms – compassion, charity, tenderness, forgiveness – cannot but help to make life better all around – and isn’t that why we are here?

In this year of mercy, let us, like God, hear the cry of the poor.  We pray to be alert, eyes and ears open, sleeves rolled up, to the encounter with Jesus offered to us every day in the disguise of those most in need of mercy.

 

 

Mercy Droppeth as Gentle Rain

Mercy droppeth as gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath.

The quality of mercy is not strained...It droppeth as gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath….  It is twice blest ….. It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.                 Shakespeare                  The Merchant of Venice

In his wisdom, Pope Francis invites every one of us to take a good long loving look at the quality of mercy.  As a matter of fact, he has called forth a whole year for us to wrestle with this notion of mercy. What does mercy invoke in us? What are other names for mercy? What faces come to us when we take the time to reflect on occasions in our own lives when mercy made a difference?
Wrestle best describes my recent experience in coming to a fresh new place within me where I can befriend mercy. First I sat with the Kyrie, “Lord have Mercy”, that we pray at every Mass. It is never comforting for me to have to ask for mercy. It brings up feelings of messing up and falling short of being my better self. Opening up to qualities such as loving kindness, forgiveness, compassion, gentleness, courage, patience and reaching out have allowed space for mercy to come closer. How many times have I received mercy from so many people in such a variety of circumstances!  To count them would be like counting the stars or the grains of salt in a salt shaker.
One revelation is that the response to “Lord Have Mercy” has come through the agency of a multitude of people in my life. Every act of mercy has a face. Mercy received leaves an impression one never forgets even if it cannot named or acknowledged.
Another insight is that we are all agents of mercy time and time again. Mercy is as, Shakespeare well knew, a blessing to the one who gives as well as the one who receives. When asked what mercy means to me, I recalled a time when without realizing it, I was an agent of mercy. Here I share the story.

I invite you to please share what mercy means to you and a story with a face.

I expect that as we all  continue to wrestle with the place mercy is calling us to this year, that we will have many surprises.

 

Epiphany in the Sun

Epiphany Visit Somewhere New England 2016

Elements
   Play
      In
         Perfect       
            Harmony
               Announcing (a)
                  New
                     Year 

                  May the blessing of search

and the blessing of find

impel you

and surprise you

this new year.

May you have epiphanies

 in all of your seeking,

and may you find

God

shining

through your days and

in each of your nights.

 

 



Blessings of Beauty

December Sunset on Cheshire Lake                                               Wendy Krom

May the blessings of the winter sky take you by surprise
revealing scenes of beauty
that cause you to stop and notice
magnificence.
And may your soul be magnified
in such a way
that you too reflect a unique beauty
inviting another to stop and know the power of presence.

Africa, Part IV

Guest blog by Sister Maxyne Schneider, President of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield, who is currently visiting missioning Sisters in Africa.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

If you look closely, you can see the donkey cart that is not an uncommon sight in the Rift Valley.

There are so many things that can be said further, even by someone who has been here just over a week. It is time to touch the surface of many things, realizing that the reality is deeper, broader, and more complex than what meets a visitor's eye. This is true of the Kenyan geography, flora and fauna, political and social interactions, the  ministries of all our sisters who have served in East Africa, and Pat's gifts that she has used here. Here are a few random observations in no special order:

Pat speaks fluent Kiswahili and is an amazing bargainer in the marketplaces, which are filled with scores of stalls and tarps laden with goods, mostly secondhand materials from the West. 

Everywhere we have gone we have seen remarkably beautiful fresh produce -- fruits, vegetables and tea from the plantations close to Kisii -- being sold from roadside stalls or in special marketplaces.

Not just the young sisters in formation, but older sisters, brothers, priests and other laypersons spoke to me of how Pat has accompanied them spiritually, sometimes through hard times.

Security measures are evident everywhere, including at the Nairobi supermarket, where security guards check car trunks and the underneath part of the car and where handbags are searched upon entry. This follows upon terrorist incidents of the past few years.

Pat has spoken often of the violence that occurred after the 2008 Presidential election and how deeply people have been effected by it. She herself needed to remain for some days at the Jesuit retreat house where she had just finished directing a retreat. The Divine Word sisters at the conference and retreat center where we were this past weekend sheltered workers and others from the region amid the violence. Effects of the violence linger.

On Sunday, as we moved back towards Nairobi, we went to the Nakuru National Park, where we saw many of East Africa's beautiful animals. On Monday during our final leg of the journey home we saw herds of zebra and Thompson's gazelles just grazing in fields that bordered the highway.

The natural beauty of the portion of Kenya that I have seen this week is stunning.

The extent of poverty and the rigors of life for the poor can weigh on the soul even from a distance. Pope Francis will visit one of Nairobi's largest slums during his upcoming visit.

Today we visited Tangaza University here in Nairobi, established with the collaboration of 22 religious congregations. We met Sr. Pat Kane's former student, Jeff, who now heads the communication department that Pat established. On the wall hangs a picture of Pat as first Director, sent by Sr. Mary Quinn in 2010 after she visited here and received a request for it from Jeff. With this visit today Pat Smith and I completed our pilgrimage to at least one site where each of our sisters has served.

It has been a remarkable privilege to be with Pat as she completes this mission that has encompassed most of her adult life and has fulfilled the early sense of God's call that she felt for the African mission. It has likewise been a gift to visit most of the places where our sisters have lived and ministered in Kenya, being reminded of what richness they have brought to our Congregation as well as to the people of Kenya. I have been aware all through this time here that, much like my predecessors in such visits, my purposes are to express congregational support for those who are here, to honor the past ministries of our sisters, and to be "eyes and ears" on behalf of the congregation in relating what I have experienced.

I leave with a sense of gratitude and admiration -- for Pat, for our sisters who have been in East Africa before her, and for the many people I have met in these past several days. There is a vibrancy in their faith that, to use Pat's words, appears to be integrated with the whole of their lives. Among the missioners, lay and religious, I feel a sense of warm community and an almost palpable sense of mission. Is it the urgency of the needs that are here in Kenya as well as in neighboring countries like South Sudan?

I have been enriched by this experience and will need time to let its effects deepen in me. We in the Community of St. Joseph are all enriched through the ministry of our sisters who have been here, knowing that where they have been, there we are. Let us welcome Pat back to her U.S. home after 42 years of mission in Africa and support her in her time of transition. Let us thank her and all those who preceded or  accompanied her in ministry here. We are blessed.

Sister Maxyne Schneider

Africa, Part III

Guest blog by Sister Maxyne Schneider, President of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield, who is currently visiting missioning Sisters in Africa.

October 12, 2015

During the past eight days as we visited community after community, some small part of Pat's very extensive ministry in the formation programs of both women's and men's congregations became very clear to me. Pat has been retreat director, spiritual director, presenter of programs that have been important parts in the formation of sisters, brothers and priests in many places in Kenya and other countries, as well. The novices, postulants, temporary professed and the now fully professed whom I met spoke with warm affection and great enthusiasm of her.

Pat with Sr. Mary McHale, CCVI, THE CCVI postulants
and the novices from the Franciscan Sisters and Franciscan brothers.

On Saturday, October 10, we were in Molo, Kenya at the very beautiful retreat and conference center run by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word (the same congregation whose sisters were good to our sisters in Louisiana). There Pat was feted at two farewell parties. The first was hosted by Sr. Mary McHale, CCVI, the postulants of her congregation, the novices from the Franciscan Brothers and the novices from the Franciscan Sisters. All of these young people had been together for the workshops and programs that Pat led for them over the past year. They included, not just spiritual sessions, but also a workshop on communication and craft sessions on baking, candle making, creating greeting cards and knitting hats and scarves on the circular frames that some of our sisters use.

As we were enjoying refreshments, one after another the young people left the room. They returned as a group with a song they composed for her and wearing or holding the various items that they had created with Pat. They were quite funny, and they clearly loved both honoring her and spoofing her. It was the kind of presentation that people do only for those they really love and enjoy. They presented Pat at the end with a scarf that one of them knitted for her using all the colors of the Kenyan flag.

In the evening it was the School Sisters of Notre Dame, with whom Pat has lived for many years, who honored her and their own Sr. Maris, who is also returning home to the States for good this month, too. Again it was the young congregational members, all natives of Africa, who gave tribute to and roasted both of these women who played such an important role in their formation. It was truly an African party with dancing, singing and much spontaneity. Gifts were given, hugs exchanged, and, as has been true at each place we have visited, I was asked if Pat might stay in Kenya just a little longer.

The novices of the Srs. of Loretto

Today, Monday, October 12, on our way back to Nairobi we stopped at the Sisters of Loretto, where Pat needed to return a book, say farewell to missioned friends, and fulfill a promise to the novices that she would come to say goodbye. One young novice, preparing for first vows in late  November, told me how good it was that Pat had directed her 30-day retreat earlier in her novitiate and how she had hoped that she might be her director for the shorter retreat just before her vow date. She was just one of many, many religious and lay persons who have spoken to me of Pat's impact on them in spiritual direction or retreat. Pat may physically be leaving Kenya, but her influence will clearly live on in the lives of individuals and of congregations.

Some photos will capture a tiny bit of the spirit of these farewell gatherings with some of Africa's congregations' young African members.

Sister Maxyne Schneider