April Prayer

Here are the Pope's special intentions for prayer for the month of April, courtesy of the Vatican Information Service:

The Holy Father's general prayer intention is: "That the individual, social and political rights of women may be respected in every nation."  His mission intention is: "That the Church in China may carry out its evangelizing mission serenely and in full freedom."                                                 VIS 060331 (60)

 

 

The First Spring Day

Remarkable weather in Chicago today. At first the community prognosis was not too good, because we were going to be stuck inside having meetings while outside the sun was shining and the temperature was moving toward 70... So we elected to hold our meeting in Millennium Park! Trotting over with a couple of folding chairs, we chose a spot in the Lurie Gardens that was somewhat off the main path, in a kind of alcove, and settled in. Only a few people came upon us, mostly park staff. In one case, one of the security personnel started by on a Segway and, seeing us, turned so as not to disturb what must have appeared to be a prayer gathering. (Well, we were talking about prayer, among other things!) Another group walked by and very pointedly took photos of us. (As if we were one of Chicago's tourist attractions!) Two hours went by, and we finished our tasks. Walking back toward home, I was struck at how colorful the park was: not that there are leaves on the trees, and none of the flowers have so much as shown their first green sprigs--it was the people, freed from their winter coats and jackets, having their lunch outside.

Now I am about to type up our minutes, so we can present them to the two Sr. Margarets tomorrow. We still need prayers for the other discussions to come, and then for the two parish exhibits this weekend: at Our Lady of the Woods (Lemont) and St. Jude's (South Holland). St. Jude's is starting a "parish media center" where people will be able to have easy access to Catholic material.

Chelsea: the two Margarets are Sr. Margaret Christopher and Sr. Margaret Charles. Sr. Margaret Michael is still in Boston! (We have lots of Margarets besides these three!)

Community stuff

We are having community meetings all week with our provincial and one of the counselors (both of our visitors are named Sr. Margaret). The Sr. Margarets are delightful people, so we are enjoying their company, and they have a lot of interesting material for us to cover together, but we definitely need prayers for the guidance of the Holy Spirit! Thanks so much...

more news

An interesting (if exceedingly gross) article in yesterday's New York Times looked at a parasite problem in Nigeria. Jimmy Carter's foundation has been working to eradicate "guinea worm," which, once it enters (as a miniscule larva) into the body, grows wherever it lands, and then creates a kind of acid to burn its way out when breeding time comes. The pain is intense, and many people die as a result of unwise attempts to kill the worm. Anyway, all it takes to prevent infestation is that drinking water be filtered, but it is slow going to reach entire populations, many of them still following ancestral taboos, and there were still 12,000 cases of infection last year (a great improvement over the millions in the 80's). What perked my interest in yesterday's article was that there are some who believe that this parasitic worm (which looks no wider than suture, and grows to 3 feet long) may be the "fiery serpents" of the book of Numbers--referred to in yesterday's Gospel. ("Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up...") In fact, the sufferers say that the burning of the worm when it works its way out of the body is just like fire.

news reflections

The Tribune had an article on Saturday commenting on a housing crunch in Chicagoland. It seems that upper-income people are not buying "appropriately priced" housing, but are surprising the entire industry by choosing homes marketed to the middle-income bracket. This means that the housing-supply in the middle and lower-priced ranges is having a real crunch, as families who cannot afford to buy "upwards" more or less compete for the lower-priced homes. Needless to say, this leaves some families simply priced out of home ownership.

The funny thing, I thought, was that the "blame" was assigned to the upper-income crowd. They started it, the article insinuated, by not buying the homes that were priced for them. Nobody seemed to suspect that it could be that the houses might be overpriced.

Welcome, Adeline!

My brother and his wife, along with our rather large extended family, welcomed Adeline into the world today. She was born at 7:45 this morning, 7 pounds, 15.4 ounces, 19 inches long. She joins Kate, age two.

Laetare!

Since I won't be blogging tomorrow (Sunday rest and all that), blessings for Laetare Sunday. And I'm rejoicing (laetare) because my book is finally available! Think about how many you'd like to order and distribute....(!)
If you are attending the Chicago Charismatic Conference, please stop by our book table and pick up a copy of "Come to Jesus."

Feast-day supper

Meatloaf muffins.

What a day!

I mean, first of all, what a great FEAST day: the Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord; the Feast of "ecce ancilla domini" and of "et Incarnatus est" ("behold the handmaid of the Lord" and "was made flesh" for those who don't have ready access to the Angelus in Latin). The prayers in the Liturgy for today are fabulous, and the reading from Hebrews 10 is up there with my favorite Scriptures.

But the day started out a little weird. First, it was my own alarm clock, going off an hour earlier than I expected (or needed). But that was providential because... our burglar alarm went off (Sr. Helen "sleeps in" until 6 on Saturday and hadn't turned it off before Sr. Susan needed to leave for an exhibit). I figured God was inviting me (I'm the one who ran out to reset the thing) to get up early and get some extra morning prayer in. But first comes... COFFEE! So I reached into the cupboard and pulled out a mug full of... water... which splashed all over me and soaked through a few parts of my sleeve. I still don't know what a mug of cold water was doing in the cupboard. Maybe I won't ask.

Anyway, I dried off, I made it to prayers and Mass, and even got some work done (!). So now I am going to take a walk in the sunshine (!) and get some groceries for the community.

What a day!

Greetings from Milwaukee!

For Sr. Susan's first-ever trip to Wisconsin (we spend the night at the family home of one of our sisters), we had a lovely morning blanket of snow that graciously melted by 2:00 for our drive back to Chicago.

Sports fan(atic)

Who knew? Sr. Susan is a sports fanatic: Basketball (Spurs) and baseball (Padres). This is the first time in years I've cleaned up the community room and found the sports pages all opened and folded out. I'll have to change my custom on Sunday morning... I love the Sunday paper (all those sections!), and generally sort out the "good" stuff (News, Opinions, Books, Art, Culture) from the "boring" stuff (Real Estate, Car Stuff, Sports...). Actually, I put the boring stuff in the recycle pile. Better be on my toes now with the Sports section!

Recipe

For all you Giddy Gourmets out there, I had a successful experiment with pork chops today that you might like to try. This morning I put the chops in a zipper bag with chopped onion and garlic and a good cup or so of Chardonnay. Then this afternoon, after preparing carrots, celery (added the chopped leaves to my marinade bag while chopping the other stuff), a bit of green pepper and yet more onion, I dredged the chops in flour and then browned them. As they browned, I dumped the veggies in a dutch oven and poured in a can of coconut milk and a can of pineapple pieces. Meat on top, baked at 350 for hours. (I don't know how long, actually.) Then I poured the marinade into the frying pan and reduced it, adding dried apricots at some point. I can't say how that turned out exactly, because someone "ate the whole thing" for dinner. But the pork chops with coconut milk turned out really, really delicious.

In case you're hungry for pork chops.

Welcome to Chicago!

Today was Sr. Susan Miriam's first day in the Chicago community, and boy were we glad to welcome her! We have been ultra-short handed since Christmas, and still are (technically) too few to be a community (according to the Rule), so her arrival was a festive event, even if the poor soul was trading in 5 years in Southern California for Chicago's "spring" weather (snow flurries!). I have an extra reason to celebrate: Sr. Susan and I made our novitiate together (some decades in the past), but we have never been stationed together, except for the times when "all the novices" or "all the juniors" were transferred together. It is like a 30-year reunion of sorts...

Please welcome Sr. Susan to this new mission territory (I don't believe she's even been stationed in the Midwest before!), and pray for all the souls she will be serving. We go to Milwaukee together at the end of the week for a book display for Catholic educators; hope it will be a wonderful event for all involved.

St. Joseph

I'm really glad that the feast of St. Joseph is a solemnity so that even when it falls on Sunday, it won't just be skipped over. Our Founder took the name "Joseph" when he made his religious vows, and for decades (until maybe 1960 or so), St. Joseph's Day was when our sisters made their vows. So there were a lot of jubilees celebrated this weekend. My favorite prayer to St. Joseph is one by our Founder, which "blesses the Lord" for Joseph's "intimate communication with Jesus during his infancy and youth."

Today I prayed a "St. Joseph Rosary" with mysteries drawn from Matthew and Luke--everything we have in the Bible about St. Joseph. In case you'd like to do that, too, the mysteries are:

1. The Angelic annunciation to Joseph (Mt. 1:18-25)

2. The Census and the Birth of Jesus (Lk. 2:1-21)

3. The Presentation in the Temple (Simeon's prayer seems so utterly suited to St. Joseph, too) (Lk. 2: 22-40)

4. The Flight into Egypt (which strikes me as being Matthew's version of Simeon's "sign of contradiction") (Mt. 2:13-23)

5. The Losing and Finding of Jesus in the Temple (Lk. 2:41-52)

The Mystery of the Father

I was reading an article that touched on the theme of yesterday's Gospel (then parable of the murderous vineyard tenants), and it raised the question of why on earth the vineyard owner would ever think to send his only Son to a group that had already beaten, stoned and killed earlier messengers. The article went on to consider the intra-Trinitarian activity involved in creation and redemption, suggesting that the "character" of the Eternal Word is such that, in the very notion of creation, when humanity's rebellion against God was clearly foreseen, the Word, as it were, rose up beforehand to repair the wound this would cause in the Father's heart. (The article was much more articulate and theological than that, but you get the idea.) Then I was reflecting on today's Gospel of the Prodigal Son--in a way, you can even interpret this parable in terms of the Eternal Son's "prodigality" in wasting all he had from the Father (emptying himself and taking the form of a slave) to immerse himself in what is ours, and then to bring it all back to the Father--and the Father running to meet him in the Resurrection.

Anyway, that line from St. Paul, "The Son of God loved me and gave himself for me," seemed like something that not only we, but even the Eternal Father can say.

Wearin' of the Green

Once a year I pull out this sweater I crocheted in the days when we wore baby blue summer habits. I always found the chapel too cold, so I made a sweater that complemented the unusual shade of our habit. (Karen, do you see the St. Ignatius picture you gave me in Rome?)

Please keep praying for Angela, the young woman with aplastic anemia. Her situation is quite critical.

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick is one of my favorite saints, really up there with St. Ignatius and St. John the Baptist. I think of Patrick as a Father of the Church, the St. Paul of Ireland. So to honor him on his feast day, here are a few special links to Ireland:

The Armagh Archdiocese (Patrick's own)

Catholic Ireland website

The Shrine of Our Lady of Knock (in County Mayo, where my Dad's forebears lived)

And if you haven't read them, "The Confessions of St. Patrick"

prayer request

One of Jane's co-workers has an urgent prayer request for her niece, age 27, just married ten months. She started hemorrhaging the other day and was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia. Without a bone-marrow transplant right away, she has no hope of survival. Even sadder, she has no insurance, and all of her family members lost their homes in Katrina. There are only two siblings, so the chances of finding a marrow donor are limited. I promised to put her on the "big list" for prayers.

Came to serve

I'm reading Von Balthasar's "Mysterium Paschale" right now, and it correlates magnificently with today's Gospel. "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life..."

You would think that when God, the Lord of the Universe, came into his own creation, it would be to make demands on us for his honor, etc. Instead, his nature is such that he came as a servant. This is what he considers "honor." (How did we ever get things so wrong?)

Katrina update

As of this week, Mom and Dad have (some) flooring and even (some) kitchen cabinets! They are way ahead of most of the family. They can't wait to move their "pantry" (presently boxes on the floor of an upstairs bedroom) to the real thing. When the workmen finish here, Mom will surrender them to the next one lined up in the family, but until then, she says, "They're married to me." (Better not tell Dad!)

Prayer for a Missionary

Our superior's sister is also a Daughter of St. Paul and tomorrow she will be flying off to Russia. Please pray for Sr. Patricia as she begins this tremendously new undertaking after more than 25 years of service here in the U.S. The challenges are enormous, but our sisters in Moscow are doing an admirable service. (Me, I'd be scared. And very cold. But Sr. Patricia and Sr. Helen are from Alaska, so the cold part is not so bad for them.)

If you post your prayers and messages in the comments section, I will gather them together to send to Sr. Patricia as a farewell promise of support.

View from a swing

View from a swing

Not what I've become used to--different sound effects, too: robin (it's spring here!)., wood thrush, woodpecker...

Greetings from Moo-souri

Greetings from Moo-souri

Ya gotta love Chicago

Ya gotta love Chicago

The wearin' of the green...

Jonah

I especially like the little clip from Jonah that we get in today's liturgy. Notice that it says that Jonah "went a single day's journey preaching... when the people of Nineveh believed God."

They skipped right over the prophet, as if they didn't even hear him preach. It was God they believed.

St. Paul would say, "It is not ourselves we preach, but Jesus Christ and him crucified." "Who am I?" he asked, "Only a worker through whom you came to believe."

 

Isaiah's rain and snow

Love that first reading from today's liturgy--just as the rain and snow come down (it's raining now) and do not return to heaven until they have watered the earth...giving seed to sow and bread to eat, so shall my Word be.

I was thinking about how God's Word came down and did not return to heaven in his Ascension until he had given us the Gospel (for us to sow across the earth) and the Eucharist for us to eat.

And since there are Gospel and Eucharist on the earth, he still hasn't really left.

As our Lord assured Fr. Alberione, "Do not be afraid; I am with you."

Prison Ministry Opportunity

A wonderful couple who are Pauline cooperators run a support group in the Philadelphia area for families of the incarcerated, and also have a pen pal program (with rules for participant security) that could be a wonderful way of making a positive contribution to people's lives. As their recent newsletter points out, some prisoners have been in confinement so long, they have lost their own families and friends. Contact Jack and Sophie of "Mary, Mother of Captives" if you'd like to collaborate, or if you are in need of some support and encouragement in facing a loved one's incarceration.

Oscar, take a bow!

I'm not a big movie person. It's just too big a field for me to keep up with, not to mention too expensive! I didn't even see any of the nominated movies (yet), except for Chronicles of Narnia. (There are others on my list, though.) Mostly I just read the reviews. But I live with a movie person, and our culture is greatly influenced by movies, so I made it a point to catch a bit of the Oscars broadcast last night.

The first thing that struck me was that the Academy was really trying to sell itself (over and over again) as the major force for Truth, Justice and the American Way. Yes, my brothers and sisters, we all owe Hollywood a big debt because of its courageous and prophetic stance in leading our society forward in the promotion of human rights and the overcoming of hypocrisy. (I admit I also thought they were setting us up to be accepting and open-minded in case "Brokeback Mountain" got the Best Picture award.)

Okay. 

And then the second big push was for all us cheapo members of the populace to swear off DVDs and other limited forms of media and go for the big screen experience!

Tell me, did they convince you to change your ways?

 

Saturday

Just updated our computer (Office Service Pack 3) and am finding some huge problems with AOL. And earlier this week, a different computer kept crashing (really scary, ugly crashes, too) when I tried to use Powerpoint after installing the AOL security software which I cannot seem to uninstall... Has anyone else encountered similar conflicts?

 

This weekend being the First Sunday of the month (and of Lent!), we make our monthly day of recollection. I will still go to Mt. Carmel to sing (praying twice), but I bid you "arrivederci a lunedi" (see you again on Monday) here at nunblog.

vittles

Today's earworm is Allegri's "Miserere." Not the entire Psalm 51, but just the last verse, about the restoration of the Temple and the sacrifices on the altar. The final word is, if my earworm is correct, "victuos," or victim (maybe it's plural, I don't know that much Latin; it looks like a singular to me). It struck me that this is the origin of the term "victuals" (hence my title "vittles")--a forceful reminder of the relationship of meals with sacrificial worship.

Just a thought for a day of Lenten penance.

Isaiah

Meditating on today's first reading, I began to think that the book of the prophet Isaiah represents the high water mark of all human civilization.

War and Peace

I am reading an advance copy of a book by Charles Scribner (yes, of the publishing family). The book is really a kind of "New York read," but since Mr. Scribner is a Catholic (from age 19), and a daily Mass person to boot, there is a lot of faith resonance in it. Well, I found a fabulous reference in a passage I looked at today. Scribner is reminiscing about a sermon Bishop Sheen gave at Princeton, in which he commented on Jesus' enigmatic statement about his not bringing peace but a sword. According to Scribner, Sheen "explained that people who were not at war with the sinwithin themselves invariably turned their swords outward to strike at others."

What a thought for Lent.

Dirt on Your Face

That was the title of a story I wrote for a Lenten issue of our children's magazine, My Friend, about a decade ago. In it, a little boy and his mom go to Church for ashes before school (public school) and all along the way to school, some people look at the two of them and gesture or say something to the effect of "excuse me, there's dirt on your forehead" or they point to their own foreheads and say something edifying about the Catholic faith.

Here in Chicago, not quite 50% of the foreheads seem to bear ashes. But that is better than in Italy. Here, people wear their ashes as a PSA, a public service announcement: "Hey, it's Lent!" And it is a wonderful opportunity for the less-than-practicing ones, the ones who only go to Church for special occasions, to (maybe this year) get back to a regular Church life. But in Italy, ashes get rubbed off before you hit the vestibule. I had a priest motion to me exactly the way I described in my kids' story, to indicate that I had ashes on my forehead. My reply, to the effect of, "Of course, it's Ash Wednesday," made no sense to him.

Any "dirt on your face" reactions today?

 

Cold Feet on Ash Wednesday

Okay, you're probably expecting something somber and pious for Ash Wednesday, and you're not going to get it in this post. Maybe later. I just thought this was rather comical and suitable for Ash Wednesday in an offbeat way.

As you know, my birthday is Halloween. And one year for my birthday, the community surprised me with a little bundle of novelty socks (no kidding!): black socks with candy corn; socks with orange cats; black socks with little skeletons... I loved them. And they get a lot of use (even outside the Halloween season), because I wear socks every night. Can't sleep with cold feet, you know.

So which socks did I wear for Ash Wednesday? Hint: Dust you are and to dust you shall return.