News & Notes: April 27, 2010

April 27, 2010

Dear Parents,

God’s peace!

While attending a recent spirituality seminar I was touched by a story told by Fr. Michaels Himes, a professor of theology at Boston College. He spoke of his mother who suffers from Alzheimer’s and of his evening visits with her in a nearby nursing home . As time passed, he noticed that she recognized him less and less. On some visits she thought he was her husband, or a friend, or simply someone with whom she found herself in conversation. On a particular evening, Fr. Himes sat in the presence of his mother and asked her, “Do you know who I am?” Her eyes searched his face and she smiled, “I don’t know who you are, but I know I loved you.”

The power of love… to pull us back from any experience…any fear…any suffering. In this case, it was not the power of being loved, but rather the power of loving that drew someone from darkness into the light. Fr. Himes love for his mother brought him into her presence most evenings. He no doubt had other things he could have done with this time…after all…evening after evening it seemed as if his visits were futile, for his own mother didn’t recognize him… or so it seemed. Neither Fr. Himes nor his mother were focused on being loved…but rather on loving.

Where is my focus? Do I look outward to see what it is I can be doing for another? Perhaps there seems little I can do for another in the face of pain, disappointment or despair… perhaps my presence in prayer, my “being-with” is the greatest gift I can share.

There is a powerful scene from the film, Marvin’s Room, where two sisters stand in the kitchen of the sister who is dying of cancer. Bad news is delivered to the sister regarding her cancer and as she hangs up the phone, she turns and knocks dozens of pill containers to the floor spilling medications everywhere. As both she and her sister bend to pick them up, she sighs and shares with her sister, “Oh, I have been so blessed to have so much love in my life.” Her sister responds, “Yes, dad and others love you so much…” “Oh no,” her sister responds, “It is I who have been lucky to have loved them.”

So often our focus is on “what’s in it for me?” I have found in my own life, that when I feel most “down” or “out of sorts” it is because my focus in large part is on whether I am loved/accepted, rather than how much I love another. Paul’s well known reflection on love calls us to be for others… patient, kind, not jealous, not boastful… Paul defines love as powerful because we give it to others… We may well forget those who loved us…but we shall never forget those we have loved.

Let us reflect this week on those we love… on those we are blessed to have in our lives…

In prayer,

Sr. Maureen

News & Notes for April 20, 2010

April 20, 2010

Dear Parents,

God’s peace!

While in Reynosa those building met each morning and evening for prayer. During one of those prayer experiences one of the students read the following story:

A man is being tailgated by a woman who’s in a hurry. He comes to an intersection and when the light turns yellow he hits the brakes. The woman behind him goes ballistic. She honks her horn and yells profanities. As she’s ranting and raving someone taps on her window. To her horror she looks up and sees a policeman. He invites her out of her car and takes her to the station where she is searched, fingerprinted and put in a cell. After a couple of hours she’s released and the arresting officer gives her her personal effects and says to her, “I’m very sorry for the mistake, ma’am. I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn and using foul language. I noticed the ‘What would Jesus do?’ bumper sticker, the ‘Choose life’ license plate holder, the ‘Follow me to Sunday School’ window sign and the peace emblem on your trunk, so I naturally assumed you had stolen the car.”

The story’s end caught all of us by surprise. The reflection that followed centered on how each of us does not often “walk the talk.” How do we live what we believe in? How do others know what is most important to us? How do we reflect God to others?

As the week progressed I witnessed God in our midst in those who built and in those for whom we built. Each person there was focused on “the other.” No one thought very long about themselves…they always found themselves reaching out…doing for…and anticipating the needs of someone else. We didn’t have any bumper stickers on the back of our vans that proclaimed that God was near…but the message that each person carried was evident in how they lived and worked and played.

On my return flight I found myself in prayer. “Help me Lord… Help me to live what I know to be true…that there is only one way to know true life… to love You, my Lord, and to love all people. Give me the grace to be for others…and to forget myself…”

May each of us be graced to live what we believe…to be courageous enough to forget ourselves so that we may look to the needs of others…

In prayer,

Sr. Maureen

News & Notes: April 6, 2010

April 6, 2010

Dear Parents,

God’s peace!

I pray that your Easter was blessed with deep joy!

This past week I found myself in Reynosa, Mexico working among some 200+ Catholic High School area students, parents and faculty members from St. Louis, MO. This was my fifth mission trip to the Reynosa colonia and it was, indeed, an experience that was heart wrenching and heart uplifting at the same time. I have never seen so much poverty. As we walked along the garbage strewn streets, we witnessed makeshift dwellings that house families who have little. We built for a family of six: a young mother and father with two sons and two daughters. Our days started with prayer and breakfast at 6:30AM and we were on our way to the colonia by 8:00 AM. The structures we built were only 12×18 ft dwellings, but they would provide shelter from the rains, wind and hot sun.

As we came to know the people for whom we built, we also grew close to those with whom we built. Community was formed among all those who were a part of this mission experience. On the last day each of the fourteen groups gathered with their families…prayed a blessing over them and their new homes…and shared with them what it meant to be a part of their family. There was no shortage of tears.

Although there are many experiences and stories to share, I thought I would reflect on our Good Friday experience of praying the Stations of the Cross in the colonia. We began on a dusty street in the colonia where the temperature reached 96 degrees. Some 100 people walked behind a cross we made from an old tree branch dragged from a garbage heap. One of the dads lovingly fashioned the limb into a cross that was carried by one student at a time through the colonia. We announced the name of the station in English and Spanish and then began the long hot walk down the dusty road. At each station we stood in silence…students, parents, faculty and people who lived in the colonia. As we walked slowly behind the cross people from the colonia joined our group: mothers with their infants, children, old people. As old cars and donkey drawn carts headed toward us we moved to the side of the road, but instead of passing us, the cars and carts pulled to the side and waited in reverence for the cross and each of us to pass. It became apparent to each of us that these people experienced the death and resurrection of Christ in a very real way each and every day. They were surrounded by the greatest of needs and yet they possessed an incredible resiliency and deep joy. This was a paradox that always surprises me… I found myself often wondering how they could find life in the midst of so much filth, but as the days passed, it was easy to recognize that what was most important to them was not material possessions, but rather relationships that they built with each other…and now with us.

I have much to learn about truly living life, but the people of the colonia are incredibly patient teachers. Their concerns were centered on providing the very basics for their children: food, clothing, shelter. Food was often scarce, shelter makeshift, and clothing always handed down…but they shared generously with anyone in need even though they had so little themselves.

Upon returning from these trips people often applaud our efforts to help these people. Our efforts are not the ones to be recognized; however, for it is so much a gift to return to this sacred place and be a part of the people of this colonia. What we give is so little compared to what we receive. We have been truly graced to recognize the face of God in the faces of those who live in the midst of such devastating poverty every day.

Thanks to each of you who supported our efforts through prayer and through your generous donations to the Reynosa house building project during Lent last year. Because of you, two more families know the benefit of a place they can truly call home. In addition to the St. Rita School donations, other schools raised funds to build twelve additional homes last week.

God is good…and so are each of you. May the risen Christ bless you and your families.

In prayer,

Sr. Maureen