Love's Response to Suffering

"There is hunger for ordinary bread, and there is hunger for love, for kindness, for thoughtfulness; and this is the great poverty that makes people suffer so much."

I read this quote of Mother Teresa of Calcutta while hearing daily reports of the soccer players and their leader trapped in a cave awaiting rescue from the rising waters around them. Their anguish-filled suffering and lack of basic nutrition must have been intense.

As they were being rescued, this quote in some way described the power of love to ultimately provide a path to health and safety. The courageous creative love required to end this fearful condition was remarkable. Their love slaked the hunger and quieted the fears of those waiting to be rescued. Their actions released them from the poverty of their helplessness and gifted them with a return to health and safety.

These days, when I look at those around me and see those who seem to be hurting and trapped by physical and emotional wounds which diminish their access to health, I’m again reminded of Mother Teresa’s quote. Then, I find myself taking a deep breath and inviting God to let those in poor health experience the healing anointing of God’s unconditional love within and around them. While my breath is a silent prayer for their healing, I, too, am reminded that that same healing love is within and around me. I smile as I sense that love-breaths seem to create their own chain reactions and expansion of love, energy and healing.

Mary Rachel Kuebelbeck, OSB

Seek Me With Your Whole Heart

Photo: Sister Eilish Ryan

Sarah Young, in her daily reflection book, uses the first-person pronoun as she opens a dialogue between Jesus and a reader. Today’s message was surely meant for me...and perhaps for you who hear Him speaking in your heart, too. Jesus says to us:

I speak to you continually. My nature is to communicate, though not always in words. I fling glorious sunsets across the sky, day after day after day. I speak in the faces and voices of loved ones. I caress you with a gentle breeze that refreshes and delights you. I speak softly in the depths of your spirit, where I have taken up residence.

You can find Me in each moment, when you have eyes that see and ears that hear. Ask My spirit to sharpen your spiritual eyesight and hearing. I rejoice each time you discover My Presence. Practice looking and listening for Me during quiet intervals. Gradually you will find Me in more and more of your moments. You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me above all else. (Jesus Calling, p. 179).

What do I, a lover of words, hear in this message? That God never stops speaking, God is relational not only within the Trinity of persons, but with Creation. Yes, the sunrise this a.m. was breathtaking, breath-given to me but not only to me, but to the awakening birds, the small blades of grass and the 4 o’clocks who knew it was time to open their petals and sing, too. God smiled through a sister with whom I ate a 5 a.m. breakfast purposefully in silence so as to watch the sun peer out of the horizon. We had it all: sunlight, silence, gently moving leaves, expectancy, quiet space and time! Trucks and horns, talking and movement, my calendar and other faces would soon be my experience. I wonder how God will touch my heart through them. I know I will find you, my Lord, if I long for you with all my heart!

Renée Domeier, OSB

Dialogue

S. Renée Domeier welcomes an immigrant
 family to dinner at the monastery.

Recently when I heard angry, distancing, exclusionary words coming from the mouth of our president with reference to our Latino immigrants, I also read the exact opposite sentiments coming from our Pope Francis. In fact, the latter presents saving words, backed by his own example, instead of the incendiary words or decisions made by some worldly potentates today. Pope Francis says: “Start the beautiful adventure of dialogue...Becoming acquainted with other people and other cultures is always good for us, it makes us grow. And why does this happen? It is because if we isolate ourselves, we have only what we have, we cannot develop culturally. But, if we seek out other people, other cultures, other ways of thinking, other religions, we go out of ourselves and start that most beautiful adventure which is called ‘dialogue.’ Dialogue is very important for our own maturity, because in confronting another person, confronting other cultures and also confronting other religions in the right way, we grow - we develop and mature...This dialogue is what creates peace. It is impossible for peace to exist without dialogue.”

These were his words to students and teachers from a junior high school in Tokyo on August 21, 2013. His words ring true today, June 2018. Let us listen to him and act!

Renée Domeier, OSB

Wanton Acts

I cannot "shut off" my mind or heart from what is happening these days to our brother/sister immigrants. Twenty-five email messages daily reveal no significant change in the status quo. Every newspaper photo depicts crying, confused children, as well as crying, confused parents, who remain incredulous about our heartless treatment. Not only the U.S., but the E.U. has dug in its heels while brutally shutting out, even refugees.

Photo provided by Pexels.com

Cardinal Cupich of Chicago says it like it is: "There is nothing remotely Christian, American or morally defensible about a policy that takes children away from their parents and warehouses them in cages. This is being carried out in our name and the shame is on us all." Pope Francis follows suit: "I am on the side of the bishops’ conference in their calling this practice 'contrary to our catholic values and immoral.'"

Although we are told that family separations are required by the law or court decisions, "that is not true," writes Cardinal Cupich. "The administration could, if it so desired, end these wanton acts of cruelty, today. We are told, too, that this policy is supported by Scripture. That too is false. There is no biblical justification for building internment camps for children torn away from their parents."

"The administration could, if it so desired, end these wanton acts of cruelty, today...Every day it doesn’t deepens the stain on America’s soul and reputation."

What will we do to be clean of sin?

Renée Domeier, OSB

Loiter with Intent

Sisters Dorothy Manuel (left) and Margaret Maus share a laugh.

As I was reading an article on the value of time, the words "loiter with intent" jumped out at me. I had to pause and ask myself, "What does this mean?" As I thought about the saying, the words became a more positive phrase than the more common one I often catch myself saying: “I am wasting time.” Loitering with intent and wasting time seem to be the same thing. Yet in all honesty, the phrase "loiter with intent" gives me a chance to look at how I use my time and to see loitering as an adventure or openness to whatever happens next. Another thought that comes to mind is that it also allows me to see the loitering time as a time of prayer. Therefore, as I encounter people during the day, and if I loiter with them for a moment, I am actually encountering the God within each of us. Moreover, in our conversation together, we have an experience of prayer. With my new insight, as I walk around the monastery or on campus, I still may be loitering, or wasting time, yet I now recognize the time as sacred. As I recognize the time as sacred, I am developing a greater appreciation of what is happening in the moment.

If you would like more information about our community, please contact Sister Lisa Rose at lrose@csbsju.edu.

Lisa Rose, OSB