Home Alone?

This weekend my companions, Sisters Carol Schmit and Paula Pohlmann, are in Milwaukee attending the Franciscan Federation annual conference with other Franciscans from across the U.S.  It is a special event this year as we honor past presidents of this organization.  These past presidents include Sister Paula and Sister Rose Mae Rausch of our Little Falls community.  They will be honored for encouragement, leadership and guidance provided by them personally over the years.

Many Little Falls, Minnesota sisters have made wonderful contributions to this Federation -- in addition to Sisters Paula and Rose Mae, I think of Sister Maristell Schannan who helped author the document, Go To My Brethren, a transitional guide for Franciscans around the changes called for by  theVatican II Council. Sister Elise Saggau authored a history of the Federation, taught Franciscan theology at St. Bonaventure's University and edited numerous publications to uncover more early Franciscan writings.  We have always had active representation, such as Sister Joanne Klinnert, in planning and guiding Federation activities for the past number of  years.

I would have enjoyed attending, especially to celebrate Sisters Paula and Rose Mae.  I am home for two reasons:  #1.  I already spent two weeks of travel and spiritual nourishment this year when I attended the Hesychia School of Spiritual Direction in Tucson this spring. We need to share our resources for these kinds of experiences.   #2.  One of us should be here with you know who pictured below.

Being home with Roxy is a blessing for me, especially during this time of the summer when everything is beautiful and green around our house.  Caring for a dog encourages a caregiver to get outdoors and receive lessons on enjoying all there is out there.  Roxy doesn't miss a thing and you can see how beautiful she is.  What a gift.

Being home alone is much like being on retreat.  The quiet and unstructured days offer time and quiet for prayer and reading.  I just finished David Brooks, The Road to Character.  Brook's examination of the lives of 8 men and women uncovers qualities and moral values shaped through years to provide lives with finished products of "character" suitable for handing over to God in their final days.

I am particularly nourished by Brook's final comments on vocation.  He says, "No good life is possible unless it is organized around a vocation. . . . A vocation is found by looking within and finding your passion.  It is found by looking without and asking what life is asking of us.  What problem is addressed by an activity you intrinsically enjoy?"  This is food for thought while home alone with God and a dog.                              

Sisters Vow for Life

"Llamo a los que El quiso, yellos vinieron a El" - "Jesus called those He wanted and they came to Him."  So stated the theme of Profession for our newest Sisters:  Aurora Tovar Rodriguez and Maria Isabel (Isa)  Berrones Morales. Aurora and Isa heard the voice of Jesus while living with our U.S. members in San Raphael Galeana Nuevo Leon Mexico a number of years ago.  On Friday, May 27, 2016 the rafters of our Sacred Heart Chapel in Little Falls, Minnesota U.S.A. rattled with joy and gratitude in celebration as these two women vowed to live as Franciscan Sisters all the days of their lives.

As is customary, our Community Minister receives the vows of Sisters.  Here Sister Bea Eichten stands with her commitment of support after the Mass and vow ceremony with Sisters Aurora and Isa.

Behind them is the portrait of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of Mexico.  Indeed the chapel was filled with images familiar to Sisters Isa and Aurora:

These dancers are just some of the many friends who now live in central Minnesota.  Before returning to live and minister in Nuevo Leon, Mexico, our newest members lived a year or more with our Minnesota Sisters and served as teachers and social workers among the immigrants living in communities around Little Falls.  These families grew to love the Sisters and turned out in large numbers for their celebration of vows at the Convent.  You can't imagine the joy filling all of our hearts!  We are One Body.  We are One Spirit.

Catholic?

Next week we Sisters will gather in Little Falls from all the towns, states, and countries where we live and serve to share the gospel of Jesus.  We are missioned to these many places as  members of a Franciscan Catholic community and many, though not all, of the people we serve are Catholic.  I've taken for granted that I know what "Catholic" means -- the other night I was confronted with the fact that many Catholics have pretty different understandings of what Catholic means.

We have a Catholic pope in Pope Francis.  I think most people would say he is Catholic.  Since coming to know him we see how consistent he is in modeling the gospel of Jesus--reaching out to those on the margins of society, teaching mercy, peace, unity of all people in one God no matter what their ethnic background or what religion they practice. He leads Catholic Christians in fidelity to the Church we are a part of, weak and sinful though it be.  So I would use Pope Francis to illustrate my understanding of what Catholic means.

On the other hand, the PBS News Hour the other night shared a situation in what the reporter described as "mostly Catholic St. Cloud, Minnesota."  I grew up on the outskirts of St. Cloud and it's true that I hadn't met a "non-Catholic" all through grade school.  Driving through the countryside around St. Cloud one sees the prominently positioned Catholic churches in most small towns.  So, what was this story-making situation in Catholic St. Cloud?  Can you guess? 

St. Cloud has one of the largest populations of Somali immigrants.  This PBS News Hour spoke of intense persecution of immigrants in St. Cloud.  Somali students described being bullied in school.  The reporter spoke with Somali adults who meet with harassment in neighborhoods and are denied recognition as educated, skilled workers.  It appears that the Christians, Catholic included, want to keep St. Cloud for themselves.

And Jesus says, "Welcome the stranger."  I am grateful for all who welcome immigrants and for the immigrants I've been privileged to be with.  My world continues to need to be enlarged.  Thanks especially to Hands Across the World in St. Cloud and to those providing leadership in the Christian/Muslim Dialog in this area.  We "Catholics" need you.

All the Help I Can Get!

Amanda from our Communications Staff in Little Falls just answered  a n o t h e r   request from me :  my cry for help with blogging.  After a visit in her office, after several emails, and now a phone call:  here I am.  Thanks, God, for Amanda.  Thanks, too, dear God, for all the many other ways You help all of us each day.

I have been in touch with my classmates from the Hesychia School of Spiritual Direction.  The bonds created through our soulfilled sharing in those classes continue to be strengthened.  There is a saying that "You can always make new friends, but you can't make old friends."  I have the feeling that if we live long enough, we will have made more "old" friends.  In the meantime, I am now sharing this gift of spiritual direction with members of our parish here in Annandale. "Thank You, God," for this opportunity.

On another note from our parish, St. Ignatius here in Annandale, we will be celebrating a healing Mass with the sacrament of healing on Sunday afternoon, 2:00 p.m. May 22nd.  Everyone is invited.  We usually think to pray for healing from physical illnesses; however, there are many other reasons t for Christ to lay a healing hand on us:  grief for the death of a loved one. ( my heart went out to a special family on Mothers Day-- a mother and a grandmother were missing in the pew behind me.)   We all know people with financial anxieties and concerns for so many other reasons.  This sacrament of healing is for all. There will be hospitality in our Gathering Space following Mass.

In the meantime, enjoy the greening of this May day and the blooming of tulips and dandelions and lilacs, etc. etc.  I have one more request:  may the Indigo Bunting who came to our bird feeder yesterday return and stay with us.

Oh, well.  One more thing I need some help with. . . . .

Lakota Friends

This past weekend my local community spent Saturday with Basil and Charlotte Brave Heart. Basil and Char are Lakota friends from the Pine Ridge reservation. They generously give of themselves to share healing ceremonies at the Lutheran Church of the Nativity in Golden Valley each spring and fall.

Lakota healing ceremonies pre date Western medicine and in many ways surpass it. The setting involves all of creation with expressed acknowledgement that we are all one with our Creator and everything/everyone. Many of our ills arise from a sense of isolation. Sitting all together in a circle, repeatedly experiencing circling rounds of blessings with sage, immersed in vibrations of the circle of drummers, voices of singers, and dancing feet, every fiber of my being felt connected.

We joined in prayer with a circle of men and one woman combat vets who came forward for cleansing of scars of war and PTSD in their lives. Minds, hearts and hands of the spiritually and physically wounded vets were touched with a sacred eagle feather as we all stood with them in song and drumming dance. In another moving ritual, anyone who mourned the loss of loved ones stepped into the center for Wiping of Tears. Each one, again with drumming, song and dance was wiped with the sacred eagle feather. Each also made an offering of blessed tobacco and drank from a bowl of sacred water. (What is 'sacred' water? All water is sacred because all water comes from a divine source.) Basil almost always retells us about his grandmother teaching him to step outside first thing each morning with an offering of water in thanksgiving to our sacred creator.

A friend of ours e-mailed the next day: "Thanks for friends to share a wonderful day. I woke up early and was sitting on the deck with a cup of coffee, the first light is coming and the birds are singing. I thought of Basil's message, just listen to the birds, see the light, feel the wind, and let that be your prayer to the Creator -- when we start saying words, our ego gets in the way." I so agree. No wonder my favorite prayer is to simply center myself in God's presence and "just be."

I sometimes think St. Francis was Lakota - Basil is so like him. We are all one. Healing comes through acknowledgement of who we really are.

Jesus has checked out of his tomb. So, why am I still in mine?

I’ve been reading post-Easter accounts of women and men who were around to experience Jesus’ death and his new life first hand. Just thinking about their experience shakes me out of my deadening familiarity with those accounts. I have to give credit to the Collegeville publication Give Us This Day and James Martin, S.J. for reminding me of Father Daniel Harrington’s 4 steps to sacred reading, Lexio Divina. Answering Harrington's four questions while meditating with recent scriptures, I see how I have held back from writing this blog for our community. How many times I've been asked to write again and refused! Too much work . . . etc.

Harrington reads and reflects on a sacred passage taking time with it in these steps:

·  What does this text say? (What’s going on here?)

·  What does that say to me? (What relevance does this text have for my daily life?)

·  What is it I want to say to God about this text? (Begin honest conversation with God.)

·  What difference will this text make in my life? (Encountering the Spirit in scripture always means some conversion and transformation if we are open to it.)

My answers made me listen to hear God’s Word and open my heart in prayer. That is the reason I am coming out of hiding and picking up writing this blog again. I say "yes", I will give.

I'm open to doing something that takes effort and "my precious time." And you know what? The air outside of that tomb is pretty refreshing.

Sister Jan Kilian

Here and Now

Welcome to the present moment, wherever you are; whatever is on your plate at this time may you receive it with open hands and heart. Our morning prayer this Lenten Friday brought some reality home to me: it doesn’t work to try to live in some ideal way. The first two days of Lent knocked me flat for trying to get up earlier to have extra prayer time along with fasting. Today we read from Jean-Pierre de Caussade, “Every moment we live through is like an ambassador who declares the will of God.” The path to holiness lies in everyday tasks and duties, not in heroics.

Christ arrives now carrying eternal riches. Christ arrives NOW carrying eternal riches. I was pondering the incomprehensible riches of Christ’s presence here and now. As this awareness came to light, I suddenly I saw the acronym formed by the first letters of this little meditation; it reads “cancer.” I was quite startled. I didn’t figure that out; it was just there. Christ IS present in every experience so, of course, the experience of cancer is no exception.

In recent months, we Sisters have learned numerous persons very dear to us have been diagnosed with cancer. Many of the prayer requests we receive are for people with a diagnosis of cancer. Sometimes the intent of the person requesting prayer is to help the individual “battle” cancer. “God, help me beat this!” Can I pray to “win this war?” I’d rather pray that instead of preparing for battle, we enlist the healing energies of courage and grace to face whatever lies ahead. I pray we all stay in touch with Christ’s eternal riches of immeasurable compassion here and now.

SAVE DATE: June 9, 2013

Life moves in moments that somehow turn into years, and somehow turn into whole lives.  None of this happens without the "moments," which we so take for granted and unfortunately can't begin to pay due attention.  In the moment captured above, Clare's Well staff, (Sister Paula, Carol, and I with Roxanne Wagner (taking the photo) met with Joan Pauly-Schneider (center) and Ginny Belden-Charles (far right) to consider how we might pause, pay attention to and celebrate 25 years of quite amazing moments at Clare's Well. 

June 9, 2013 marks the actual anniversary of Sisters Carol Schmit and Aggie Soenneker moving into the farmhouse on this land, June 9, 1988.  How can we best gather the energy of guests who will come to an open house June 9th?  It is one thing to review the past; it is something else to open the present moment as a door to the future.  This is the threshold of the coming quarter century.  We call the celebration an "open house."  So . . . .? ? ?  Come cross the threshold with us.

Free At Last

Free at Last was an eye-opening half day on Human Trafficking in Minnesota.  Most startling was the FBI statistic ranking Minnesota as 13th in trafficking of children.  Children from all social classes are at risk.  Rich children have as much access to internet as anyone, though families in poverty are at higher risk with parents sometimes selling daughters -- the average age of entry into trafficking for sex is 8 to 11 years old. 

A large problem is the stigma of being a victim, a "prostitute."  With our values and priorities selling and purchasing sex carries less shame than being sold for sex.  Young girls are damaged for life and fear speaking up because of shame.  Parents need to learn the signs of abuse and realize "it can happen in our family."  Religious families are not exempt:  one 10 year old was invited by a 14 year old to a "prayer group" where she was gang raped a block and a half from home.  Shame and fear kept the secret.  One therapist told me that 80% of her drug addicted clients were sexually abused as children.

Interim St. Cloud Chief of Police, Richard Wilson, discussed the difficulty of prosecuting crimes of trafficking either for sex or labor because of the many agencies involved.  Usually perpetrators are working in multiple states and sometimes across national borders.  Homeland Security, Drug and Alcohol agencies may also be involved and the investigations are long.  It is important for law enforcement personnel to develop trusting relationships with communities and for friends and family members to report any suspicious activitity to intervene on behalf of victims.

Human trafficking is based on economics.  A pimp with 5 girls doing 15 $100.00  'tricks' a day can make $7,500.00 a day.  They have ways of keeping their girls loyal to them.  Minnesota has a higher than average level of income and there are more buyers available here.  Our port city of Duluth serves users on incoming ships.  There is no stigma on the users.  "Boys will be boys!" 

How much longer will we take it???   Free At Last was a program sponsored by Hands Across the World in St. Cloud, MN to begin the dialog and to educate.    Multiple local organizations partnered to make this possible.  I pray it will make a large difference.

What Is New Life

Everyone is talking about the resurrection taking place outdoors now with green grass in March and even the lilacs budding! Sister Carol brought some apple tree branches into our meditation chapel and we are enjoying blossoms. The willow tree looks so green and the tulips are 6 inches high. I love the predictability of the seasons -- they do make their statements faithfully every year -- even though they don't necessarily follow any of our calendars.

We talk about the "new life" all around us and within us. I even cleaned my room today! (That's something to mark on the calendar.) What is this burst of new life? Whatever it is, I'm grateful. I hope you are enjoying it too. Happy preparation for Easter.

Joy in Pain?

This week Bill Moyers interviewed poet, Christian Wiman, who held us spell-bound as he shared his experience of deepening faith since receiving a fatal diagnosis. ". . . faith is folded into change, is the mutable and messy process of our lives rather than any fixed, mental product," he said. My current experience of being with family as my niece lives into her third week on a ventilator, opened me to hear Christian's description of how God's Incarnate life with us is terrible in pain as well as in exquisite joy. "We grieve the reality of our loss, not the loss of our reality." "This is why," Christian continues, "even in moments of joy, part of that joy is the seams of ore that are our sorrow." "For many people God is simply a gauze applied to the wound of not knowing, when in fact that wound has bled into every part of the world, is bleeding now in a way that is life if we acknowledge it, death if we don't." "Christ is contingency." (Those are challenging words.) "Christ's life is right now," not by any necessity other than who he is and who we are.

More on Gratitude

Here is the poem I had sent to June.
It doesn't fit into what she was looking for.
So, I can share it with you:
Thank you God,
for the seed of gratitude which
an innocuously tiny act of kindness
planted in my heart.
Sown so secretly, by surprise
it rooted beneath my awareness.
Now, a tree of thanks spreads
limbs of potential
for a harvest of friendship.

Gratitude is, indeed, a very powerful gift with infinite potential.

A Week of Gratitude Thoughts

Or, a week of thoughts about gratitude. This week I received an invitation to write a prayer of gratitude.


This prayer would be for possible inclusion in a book author, June Cotner, is preparing. June previously published a book of "Graces." We sometimes page through that book before a meal to find a grace prayer that might open new doors of awareness of the gifts which surround us.

As I am thinking about gratitude, I am more aware than ever of interactions that arouse grateful feelings in my heart. I notice that when I'm busy doing whatever I think is so important, I let kind words pass right by! Today, for example, another guest said some very lovely words about her stay at Clare's Well. Instead of, "Yes, I know what you mean," I made myself really listen to her. This might not sound like much, but it was quite profound for me. I saw her and heard her on a level that I usually let pass under my conscious radar. I noticed not only her gratitude, but also mine. What a lovely, lovely shared moment I almost missed.

Bonding Through Retreat

Here are women who would lay down

their lives for each other, and

for you, too.

Want to nuture such relationships?

Spend a retreat together.

These five Sisters - Ruth Lentner, Carolyn Law, Michelle L'Allier, Ange Mayers, and Isabel Berrones Morales began 2012 with Paula, Carol and Jan at Clare's Well for a week of prayer and sharing materials on Franciscan Discernment: how do we hear the will of God in our lives? The three of us 'elders' couldn't have appreciated this experience more.

I look at this photo of five of our younger members seeking the voice of God in their Franciscan lives, and I see God's face and heart. The evident love and commitment, joy in each other, hope and faith in an unknown future can only come from the impossible, non-practical Spirit we all share. None of us has clarity about what and where our community will be twenty years from now; we don't need to know the details. We know the heart and spirit.

Preparing for Christmas

Sisters Carol and Paula have been at it: decorating Clare's Well living room. The new LED lights on our "tree" reflect in the windows and on the ceiling adding new dimensions of beauty for the corner of plants that we have traditionally grouped together to make up our tree the last twenty-some years. The mantel crib set is new this year. It is a gift Carol purchased from artistsans in Nicaragua when she was there on one of the mission trips she and a group make to Father Teddy Niehaus' parish down there each January.

I am touched by the extent of the world represented in Christmas each year. We not only have Bethlehem and Nicaragua but also friends and family from years and years of gifting in the ornaments on the tree. It is wonderful to remember persons like Julia Barkley who painted some of the bulbs, Connie Lacher who gave us bells from a Lorie Line concert, and beautiful 'antique' ornaments we received from our Sisters who had them many years ago at our school mission in Osakis and passed them on to us. We treasure items from Mary Kranz Odendahl who is no longer on earth. The list goes on and on.

I pray your Christmas decorations bring warm memories of treasured experiences, friends and family. Merry Christmas.

Call of the Cellar

We have used short meditative readings on the nature of the season of fall before our meals these days. The season's natural movement is from outer activities to inner reflection and renewal. I notice our trees -- how can I help but notice! Their leaves are very much underfoot all over our yard even though we've had one significant picking-up-leaves-day. Letting go of showy productions, tree energy retreats to rest. Walking out of doors today, I feel the trees calling me to follow their example.

As sunlight is lessened in our northern hemisphere, I pray to own my own and the Divine light within. I'm happy to let go of harvesting and canning -- filling the cellar shelves -- and to take hold of more time to be in my own inner cellar. I pray with growing gratitude and praise for the earthy quiet of this restful, waiting, trusting soul space.

Associate Franciscan Life Group Celebrated Francis

The feast of Francis of Assisi on October 4th brings out the spirit of celebration in us Franciscans. I was privileged to mark the feastday with two communities this year, the first one being the St. Cloud Franciscan Life group with 8 of our Franciscan Associates. We met on October 3rd at the Welcoming House in St. Cloud, where we shared a pot-luck lunch and an indepth sharing on a chapter in the life of our patron, St. Francis.

The story of Francis' painful separation from his earthly father was a point of discussion. Growth in inner freedom and spiritual maturity requires fidelity to God's call in difficult experiences. Francis found it necessary to turn his back on his father's wealth and the security of his business. Each of us could remember something in our own lives which, painful though it was, brought us to a new levels of relationship with God.

The second celebration was with Sisters Carol Schmit, Paula Pohlmann, and Janice Wiechman of the Clare's Well staff. We chose to spend the day traveling from neighbor to neighbor, spending some quality time with each, and sharing homemade cookies. I can't tell you what a pleasure it was for us to do this together. We ended with a picnic and a walk in a county park on a simply gorgeous day.

IDENTITY

Welcome back! It has been a busy summer for me, as it probably has been for all of you. I want to go back to August 6th feast of the Transfiguration for this sharing. (The story of the Transfiguration of Jesus is recorded in Matthew 17:1-9.)

The scene is a mountain where Jesus frequently retreated. On this particular occasion the writer tells us that as he prayed Jesus heard the voice of God reminding him, "You are my loved son and I am pleased with you." (Put yourself there and allow God to say that to you -- son or daughter of God.)

I (and Sisters Bernice Rieland, Joanne Heim and Jeanne Schwieters - not pictured) were privileged to make a retreat in July with Jesuit priest, John Dear. This scripture which describes God's confirmation of Jesus' identity is one that John treasures. One of many books John has authored is titled Transfiguration. Early in his life, John Dear came to realize on a gut level that Jesus is his brother. He says a conscious awareness of this relationship fuels the demand that he give his life for peace and justice.

Awareness of his identity also demanded that Jesus choose to walk through the suffering he knew fidelity as a son of God required of him. One of the demands of this retreat was that we reclaim our own identity as intimately related to God, and thus to each other. Allowing ourselves to be conscious of this, we, too, will be compelled to make choices only for the common good no matter what the personal cost to us.

Father John Dear is a peace activist from the marrow in his bones. His faith that Jesus is his brother demands that he protest war no matter what ridicule and imprisonment his non-violent demonstrations against war, especially nuclear weapons, bring to him. On this day when we again contemplate the meaning of Jesus' Transfiguration, I pray for faith to know who I am and to live my live from that core identity.

Celebrating Franciscan Style

We had three celebrations at our Motherhouse in Little Falls the weekend of June 10 - 12, 2011. We blessed the 4 members of our outgoing leadership team with gratitude for their 5 years of selfless service; we welcomed the new foursome with lighted lamps on the feast of Pentecost. We laughed and cried with all 8 of these truly great and dear women.

The 3rd celebration was quite unique: 2011 marks the 25th anniversary of our Sisters and Associates relationship. Pictured above is one of our current Associate Ministers, Geri Dietz, giving out bouquets to 8 others who have served in Associate Leadership since the onset of this adventure in 1986. It was that year that S. Aggie Soenneker helped to open the door to lay men and women who wanted to live the gospel more fully in community with the Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls. As Aggie said then, "We don't know what it will look like or where it will lead." No one could have imagined today's spirited partnership with 240-plus Associate members from coast to coast and in many states inbetween in the U.S. plus members in Ecuador, Columbia, Venezuela and Nicaragua. See the Associates website under http://www.fslf.org/

Is Rhubarb Franciscan?

It is rhubarb season in Minnesota! Recipes for rhubarb desserts are abundant in Franciscan cookbooks. Here is my favorite Rhubarb recipe (which I've prepared twice already this week.) This comes from a cookbook Sister Pat Zangs facilitated when she served as Administrator at St. Francis Hospital in Breckenridge, a hospital known for its excellent cooks. S. Pat is one of the reasons I love our Franciscan Community; Sisters Janice Wiechman and Paula Pohlmann are two other reasons: here they are preparing rhubarb from our garden. Here is the recipe by an anonymous baker:

RHUBARB DESSERT

CRUST: 1/2 cup butter, 2 cups sifted flour, 2 tablespoons sugar. Mix like pie crust. Pack in 9 x 13 or 10 x 14 pan and bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

FILLING:

5 cups chopped rhubarb

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 egg yolks

1 cup cream of evaporated milk

4 tablespoons flour

2 cups sugar (too much for me - use 1 2/3 or less)

Place rhubarb on hot crust. Mix other ingredients well with beater and pour over rhubarb.

Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

TOPPING: Beat 6 egg whites with 1/4 teaspoon salt until stiff. Slowly add 12 tablespoons (that is 3/4 cup) sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat well. Spread on top of baked filling and bake an additional 15 minutes at 350 degrees.