Remembering the Saints and Souls in Our Lives

Dear Friends,

It’s a healthy and life-giving practice to celebrate All Saints/All Souls Day with people throughout our Church. We celebrate our loved ones, people whose faithfulness to God we admire, on a day apart from their own day of death with its lingering sadness. In Mexico, the Day of the Dead finds people building altars in their homes on which to place mementoes of their beloved dead. Family and friends gather to celebrate the loved ones who have died. The celebrations spill out into neighborhoods.

In this way of looking at death, victory has been achieved.

For Jesus on the cross on Good Friday, the victory is also achieved.

Among His last words in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says,
“It is finished.”

Most of the time, readers interpret that phrase as,
“It is over. I am done.”

There seems to be a tone of overwhelming pain in those words.

But a woodworker, having lovingly created, let’s say a table, rubs it with polishing powders and pastes, waxes and oils to bring out the texture of the wood, its deep colors and essential patterns. When the woodworker is satisfied, s/he says:
“It is finished.”

That means it has achieved its maximum gloss, its beauty has been revealed. It is complete.

On the cross, as death winged its way toward Him, Jesus could say, “it is finished.” He realized He was complete. This side of death, His fullness had been achieved.

Today, find some mementoes of your beloved dead around the house – a photo, a gift given to you, something that was in your household growing up which you claimed for your own. Put these pieces in a prominent place where you can see them for the next week or two and relish the life of the one whose memory they represent.

In the words of today’s psalm, we also pray for our own hope for eternal life:

One thing I ask of the Lord, this I seek To live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life…I believe I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

~ Sister Joan Sobala

One of Us

Dear Friends,

I am old enough to remember some of the lyrics for Joan Osborne’s 1995 hit, One of Us.

What if God was one of us
Just a stranger on the bus?

If God had a name
What would it be?

What would you ask if you
had just one question?

What if God was one of us?
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home.

The Gospel faith of Christians answers that question with the revelation of Jesus, God and human. Paul preaches that Jesus is indeed like us in all things, save sin. Our artists and poets, theologians and preachers, and, yes, songwriters and singers, keep this mystery alive for us.

What if God is the stranger on the bus? During my late twenties, into my thirties, I was a grad student and rode the bus daily. I saw the kindness of strangers. I witnessed the fidelity of commuters, the patience of parents, the loneliness of those who reached out for conversation. I heard drivers use names of regulars and cheerfully comment on weather and traffic. I watched other passengers offer a seat to an elder or a person with physical challenges. I saw fellow travelers progress through illness and aging.

I was a seminary student on my way to class. I learned from other passengers that the heart of Jesus beats on the bus. I learned to listen graciously to a talkative old man. I watched a kind woman help to calm a young man in distress. With two other passengers, I attended a funeral of a woman who was a regular on the Lake Avenue route. Each day we commuted, Jesus was on that bus. We travelers witnessed and received and shared his merciful attention. He rode with us and there were days when we were not really strangers.

~ Susan Schantz, SSJ

The Power of Persistence

Dear Friends,

Today’s Gospel offers us as a model of prayer a woman who comes before the judge with her request, repeatedly until he relents, lest he be exhausted by her persistence. As I thought about her more, it became clear to me that this woman is one of a group of feisty women in the Gospel who are also persistent in their requests of Jesus. Persistence means not letting go, realizing there is more effort to be made, and that the effort goes on until the time is right for resolving the need.

Stand this woman next to the woman with the hemorrhage that flowed for 18 years. Talk about a healing a long time coming! Jesus was on his way to cure a little girl at the time that the woman touched Jesus.  She didn’t ask Jesus to touch him. In fact, she didn’t ask anyone if she could touch Jesus. This woman mingled in the crowd, put out her hand to touch the tassel of his garment and felt healing course through her. He felt it too. (Mark 5.28-33) She was persistent in her belief she would find the healer whether he knew it or not, however long it took, and she did.

On another occasion, Jesus was in a foreign place, when a woman - a foreigner herself - approached him. Her daughter needed healing. At first, Jesus said no, that he was sent to heal the broken of Israel. But she persisted. The woman and Jesus did some verbal sparring, probably more playful than the solemn interpretation we put on it. In the end, her persistence won out. (Matt.15.21-28)

In John’s Gospel, Jesus was at a wedding with his disciples. His mother was there as well and she noticed a social disaster in the making. The wine was running out. She went to her son and said: “Son, they have no wine.” Jesus seemed to put her off, but with the persistence of a mother, she said no more to him but turned to the steward. “Do whatever he tells you.” (John 2.5) Sometimes persistence needs to involve others in fulfilling the need, with only a few words.

Thinking about Mary Magdalen offers us another aspect of perseverance. When she went out to the garden on Easter morning, Mary Magdalen expected to find Jesus behind the stone in the tomb. But the stone was rolled away, and the tomb was empty. (John 20.11 ff) Where was Jesus? She persevered in looking for him until she found him. He was not what she expected. When we dare to look for Jesus to pursue our desires, we find him, not as we expected, not where we expected but he is there, ready to speak our name and engage us.

Are we like this group of women who pray and do not lose heart? Personal, thorny issues sap our energy, and we want to give up. National and international crises as well as local problems beat on us. These biblical women encourage us to go on: stay the course and not lose heart. God stands with outstretched arms at the end of our persistence.

~ Sister Joan Sobala

Three Hopeful Moments

Dear Friends,

My hope is challenged these rough months. You can probably relate. Here are three of my moments of hope from the past month.

September 20, 2025
Last month, the Rochester, NY, Sisters of Saint Joseph gathered with partners and friends to celebrate the anniversaries of women and men seasoned in ministry, faith, and life experience. Together the community of Joseph reminisced about call, ministry journeys and beloved companions. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, they recognized Jesus in the word and in the breaking of the bread.

October 8, 2025
At his general audience, Pope Leo spoke to more than 60,000 pilgrims. Among them was a group of students from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy in Chicago, IL. The children wore robes and uniforms from their springtime performance of a papal conclave. The excited young pilgrims visited with Pope Leo, who had been elected two days after their performance. Their joy was evident and infectious. What will be the future challenges for these young disciples?

October 9,2025
This morning’s news announced a tentative peace plan for Hamas and Israel. There are celebrations in Israel and Gaza. There is cautious hope and continuing prayers for a permanent peace accord. Images of death, ruins, and famine call out to the world’s believers to respond: What sort of peace will follow this war?

Those are my three moments. Printed below, some words of Pope Leo from that October 8 general audience.

In hope,
Susan Schantz SSJ

This is the greatest surprise: to discover that beneath the ashes of disenchantment and weariness there is always a living ember, waiting only to be rekindled…Christ's resurrection teaches us that no history is so marked by disappointment or sin that it cannot be visited by hope. However distant, lost or unworthy we may feel, there is no distance that can extinguish the unfailing power of God's love.

Embracing the Light

Dear Friends,

In our part of the world, darkness already falls before 7:00 PM. By December, travelers will be surrounded by darkness at 4:30 PM. This annual phenomenon nonetheless catches us off guard. So, let’s poise our minds and hearts and imaginations to embrace the light – enough to see us through the darkening times ahead.  

In the book of Genesis, the first act of God’s creation is light. Chapter One. Verses 3-4: the sun for the day and the moon for the night. Let there be light, God said. Evening came and morning followed the first day.

Our world has never been without the light, a daily image of the God who created it. Centuries later, Hildegarde of Bingen would pray to “the Living Light” – God, the source and model of all the light we know. 

True, in the deep, cold north and south, daylight gives way to seemingly endless night. Since the invention of sunlamps, parents in the Nordic countries have their children spend a portion of the day in artificial sunlight, lest their growth be stunted. Depression and substance abuse also threaten adults in such darkness. Artificial light, a replica of divinely generated light, helps.

Light is the daily companion of the world.

In the Scriptures, the word light is used over 300 times. In the Old Testament, long before Hildegarde, God is identified with the light. “The Lord is my Light and my Salvation,” we sing in Psalm 27.1. “The Lord will be a light to me,” Micah proclaims (7.8).

Jesus refers to himself as the light of the world (Jn 8.12) and in Mt. 5.14 he tells us “you are the light of the world.” 

In Luke 8.16, Jesus tells the crowd, “No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel or sets it under the bed; rather he places it on a lampstand so that those who enter may see the light.” In the time of Jesus, houses consisted of one room. One lamp was enough for all to see. The light was not for the people inside, but for those coming in. Hospitality requires light. 

It is said of some people that “they light up a room when they come in.” What an incisive remark! People light up the environment for one another. Is that you? Is it I? 

Paul in Romans 13.13. encourages his readers to “cast off the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” 

Unless we do all the things that our faith encourages us to do as darkness in its various forms encroaches on our lives we will lose our desire for the light. Our taste for the light fades and we become satisfied with shadows and full darkness.

Here’s a prayer for you to use or to modify to embody your own personal need for the light:

Creator of unfailing light, give that same light to all of us who recognize that we need you and call upon you. May our lips praise you for creating light; our lives proclaim your goodness, our works give you honor, and our voices celebrate you forever.

~ Sister Joan Sobala

Tangled Prayers

Dear Friends,

How is your prayer this autumn? When I begin to pray, I am a woman with a tangle of yarn in her lap. Each strand, each knot, each bright unraveling is a concern I bring to God. 

A family friend is critically ill. The world - Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan - is at war. Some abuse survivors finally received a monetary settlement. US bishops work on behalf of migrants. Our family excitedly awaits a new baby. The patriarchy is thriving. This autumn day is gloriously blue and gold.

In this quiet, sacred time, I pray joy and lament, petition and peace. The colored threads clash and blend as I hold them. I ask for courage to walk with God and the neighbor. I hope and let go. 

Praying with you,

Susan Schantz SSJ

Praying Out Loud in the Presence of Others

Dear Friends.

Each person has a secret spiritual life. I have come to believe this is a closely guarded secret for many, but over the years, I have experienced unplanned leaks of this human truth.

One day last week, Fr. Jim Lawlor and I took Communion with us as we went for a pastoral visit to a long-time friend who was recovering from a fall. After Communion, Fr. Jim was about to offer a closing prayer, when our friend began to pray out loud. Hers was a prayer that was warm and personal. It embraced God, expressed gratitude, and was marked by peacefulness, and openness to the future. This was a profound moment for all of us, including the woman’s caregiver who was with us. Our friend wondered afterwards why we always left the prayers to the priest. I wonder that too. There is nothing in Jesus’ words or ministry that limited who could pray in public or private moments.

I can think of my grandparents who surrounded themselves with icons or who made time to pray after lunch or supper. Many are the times I found my mother’s rosary in her bed in the morning. My father was one of the early Communion ministers in his parish, invited for who he was to people.

Whom do you recall seeing, hearing pray, in unexpected moments? Have you revealed these blessings out loud yourself?

It takes a certain confidence in God to pray out loud or to stand in a place where your ministry of prayer is seen. We might think, “Lord, I am not worthy,” but that was also the thought of the centurion who came to Jesus seeking healing for his boy (Matthew 8.8). Jesus did not judge the centurion’s worthiness, nor does the prayer that wells up inside us have to do with our worthiness. Instead, everything depends on God, who holds each of us close – without exception. At times, when we are talking with someone who is stressed or sad or at a loss to know what to do next, ask that person if you could pray together for a few moments. If the person says yes, let the words roll out of you. They are a gift of the Holy Spirit, who pray in us when we do not know how to pray.

Through Baptism, believers have been given many gifts, including the gift of articulating prayer in the presence of others. Let’s not be afraid to do that.

~ Sister Joan Sobala