The Attic of Your Mind

Dear Friends,

Talking with friends and family about how they spent these 100-plus days of pandemic isolation, a number of people said they hoed out various parts of their homes, including their attics. That made me remember a phrase I learned many years ago – “look for it in the attic of your mind.”

We all have nooks and shelves and niches in our mind where we have stored ideas, memories, unfinished tasks, things we learned in classes or from life situations. This Father’s Day weekend, I find myself recalling songs my father, Connie, sang to me, how he taught me to read a road map, how he prayed, and his stance at the tee as he played golf. Do dust off the memories of your Dad this weekend, and share them with your family.

But there is something more precious that is somewhere in our minds: something Paul in Philippians 2.5 encourages us to have within us, namely “the same attitude/mind that is in Christ Jesus.” I would hope that the mind of Christ is active in you during these days when the pandemic is mixed with the aftermath of George Floyd’s untimely death. These two realities, plus the economic downturn the pandemic caused, have absorbed us whether we want them to do so or not.

But where will we go for wisdom and understanding about the meaning and implications of these interwoven realities? Gurus from many spheres of influence tell us what to fix, how to proceed, what the most important thing to do might be. Still others remind us that we can’t honestly say these problems have nothing to do with us. We cannot claim we are out of the loop.

This is where the mind of Christ comes in. Most especially, the mind of Christ, His attitude toward people, which we have been taught since our youth, is where we are to go for courage, insight,  determination to seek truth and follow after it and set people free of illness, poverty and racism/sexism. Life today can be so full of absorbing things that we forget God, Jesus, the mind of Christ, the call we said “yes” to as His disciples at our Baptism and repeated at our Confirmation. These life-giving realities may well be in the niches, corners, shelves in the deep recesses of our own minds. Go hunting. Find what Jesus reminded his hearers, his disciples: “love God with your whole heart, your whole mind, your whole soul and your whole strength and your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12.30-31). Remember his story of the Good Samaritan, the ways he healed the blind, lame, and deaf. He treated women and children with respect. Some commentators believe that Simon the Cyrenean, who helped carry the cross, was black. Race, gender, age made no difference to Jesus who served all.

In the weighty matters before us today, neutrality is not an option. Our participation in the reshaping of our decimated world will make a difference. So, put on the mind of Christ. Let your own heart be shaped by Christ’s desire for a world that keeps coming closer and closer to heaven on earth. As one of the encouraging ads on TV says: “Together we can” – which we edit “Together with Christ, we can.”

~Sister Joan Sobala

Finding the Holy Spirit in Turbulent Times

Dear Friends,

Two weeks ago, our Church celebrated Pentecost – the coming of the Holy Spirit. The wind and fire transformed the lives of Christ’s disciples. It’s easy to forget the presence of the Holy Spirit now, given the pandemic with its continuing destruction of human life, the violent death of George Floyd and its aftermath, and the misery of the economy. So today, let’s pause to ask, “Where is the Holy Spirit in all of this?”

That’s a good and proper question – one to ask in silent prayer when we take time to focus on our oneness with God. But we should ask it in public as well, ask it of neighbors, friends, strangers with whom we work or with whom we are thrown together in a variety of circumstances. “Where is the Holy Spirit in all of this?”

The Spirit is not in the killing of people by virus or by human hands. The Spirit is not in the self-serving destructiveness and violence of looters masking as protesters. The Spirit is not in people in power who use these turbulent times for their own advancement.

It was a knee on the throat of George Floyd that took his life away from him. Across the country, high-ranking police officers “took the knee” in the midst of heartbroken protesters to express solidarity. Two different ways in which people used their knees: Derek Chauvin took the breath from George Floyd for some nefarious reason. Chief Vincent Tavalero in Brooklyn used his knee to express solidarity with the powerless in the face of police action. Maya Angelou writes, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” To build on the blessedness that Jesus offers, blessed are those who suffer with the suffering.

In ambulances, emergency rooms, ICU's, clinics and long lines of people waiting, the Holy Spirit is in the capable hands of medical personnel, bringing healing, and where healing was not possible, bringing comfort. The Spirit of God has been everywhere essential workers did what they were committed to do, giving them energy and courage to stay the course. Blessed are those who take their work seriously.

In our homes, the Holy Spirit has been present as parents attempt to continue their children’s education, and generations care for one another in whatever way they can. The Holy Spirit is with those who mourn separation from loved ones by service, sickness, dying or death. It is hard and maybe even devastating to experience loss. Do we recognize others who speak or act in ways that convey the Spirit’s unique and abiding presence wherever people live and move and breathe, weep, and find new strength to go on? Blessed are those who become aware of the Spirit.

Pope Francis urges Americans to work toward national reconciliation, to expunge the sin of racism from every corner of our life as a nation. “We cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to any kind of racism or discrimination and pretend to claim to defend the sacredness of human life.” Another Vatican official describes racism as like a virus that worms into people’s hearts and destroys them and everyone else besides. The Holy Spirit is in every attempt at reconciliation. It’s hard work, but then, the Holy Spirit is used to hard work.

~Sister Joan Sobala

Becoming One with God

Dear Friends,

Today is the feast of the Trinity – Life-Giver, Pain-Bearer, Love-Maker. We celebrate the fullness of God – “God who gives us sun, when we expect rain, dreams when we expect a storm…God, who plays with us, turns us sideways and around. (Michael Leunig, A Common Prayer)”

Throughout Christian history, people shared visual images of the Trinity. Patrick used the shamrock. The German monks developed the pretzel with three twist. Each caught an aspect of the mystery of the Trinity.

The image above is a copy of an icon created by the Russian monk Andrei Rublev (d.1430). The figures are obviously related. They have the same look. They are ageless.

The Father is represented by the figure (looks like an angel) on the left. We know this because behind the Father is a house. In my Father’s house there is room for everyone.

The Word Incarnate, Jesus is in the middle. There is a tree behind him. An old hymn tells us that Jesus died for us on a tree. Jesus has two fingers on the table, perhaps to signify the two natures in Christ, perhaps to point to the bread and cup.

The third figure is the Holy Spirit, whom we invoke in every Eucharistic Prayer: “Let your Spirit come upon these gifts to make them holy that they may become for us the Body and Blood of Christ.” A community of love – united around the table.

Most of us, looking at this icon, are so engrossed in these figures that we fail to see an additional important feature of the icon. There, between the feet of the Father and Holy Spirit is a stool, drawn up to the table – an invitation to you and me to come, sit at the table of God’s very intimate life. Come and sit. Be one with God.

Even as we celebrate the God who has created, redeemed and sustains us, we are invited to be one with God.

These days when the world suffers immensely because of the coronavirus, science, technology, medicine and every other good human construct we can name are in a battle to conquer the beast who threatens life so relentlessly. In the days and months ahead, aspects of life will be uncertain. We will know instability and unrest. Episcopal priest Cynthia Bourgeaux says, “this is a time of profound planetary adjustment.”

Going forward, we will have to depend on every resource possible and on one another to not only survive, but to love and grow. But more than that, let’s remember to rely on God, no stranger to love and intimacy, who invites us to the very family table of God. For centuries, in good times and bad, the words of St. Athanasius (296 – 373) have resonated in the believing community: “God became human so that humans might become God.” We are at the table of God.

Today, let’s act on that belief and nor despair. We are becoming one with God in a profound way in these turbulent times.

~Sister Joan Sobala

Standing Together

Dear Friends,

I remember the first time I saw Les Miserables. It was memorable. The singers were inspired, the dancing energetic, the pathos heart-wrenching.

       “Red, the world about to dawn,
        Red, the color of desire,
       Red, I feel my soul on fire.”

This was what the students sang before they made their stand before their foes. And as Jean Valjean lay dying he sang to his adopted daughter, Cosette, “To love another person is to see the face of God.”

At the end of this electric production, the whole cast came to the apron of the stage. They reached their arms toward the audience and sang, “Will you join in our crusade? Will you be strong and stand with me?”

Like one person, the audience surged to its feet, cheering and singing with the cast, saying with our bodies and voices, “Yes! We will join you! We will stand with you!” Even now, I cry when I remember how I felt as we were invited with such direct and poignant words.

Today, Pentecost, the liturgical color is red. That day, the world of the ancient Church was about to be born. Caught up in the moment, the disciples desired that it be so. Their souls were on fire. To this day, right now, the early disciples invite us to join them, be strong with them. The Holy Spirit has been given and it will never desert the followers of the Word Made Flesh.

In this pandemic time, when we can grow irritated at the absence of the ordinary in our lives, when jobs, money and food are scarce for many, will we still turn to the Spirit of God, be faithful to the Risen Christ and find ways to encourage others to “keep the faith?” This is the day that renews in us the companionship of the Holy Spirit who is our helper, advocate, strength, comfort and healer.

After Pentecost, the disciples were able to face and resolve difficult questions, stand up to the authorities that would crush them. They could do these things and more. Because their belief in the Risen Christ had become conviction. All they said and did depended on their conviction.

Conviction means I will. I will be. I will join my efforts to those of others. I will hold fast to belief even though naysayers will challenge me. I will go. I will do. I will minister to others in whatever way I can in Christ’s name.

We see reflected in the daily news, people’s hardships because of this pandemic, but we also see examples of others who want what they want without regard for the virus which they might receive or carry to one another without knowing it. If we let it, Pentecost can be for us also a feast of conviction – the conviction that when we treat one another lovingly, we see the face of God.

~Sister Joan Sobala

Recognizing Our Part in Renewing Earth

Dear Friends,

If nothing else, this devastating COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down the pace of human life. We find ourselves at home most of the time, and unless we are essential workers, we are out for only exercise or errands. The creatures of the world notice our absence. In Llandudno, Wales, wild mountain goats came into town and sampled the bushes, garden vegetables and trees. In a photograph from Nigeria, lions are resting comfortably in the blazing sun on a paved, untraveled highway. And the storks whose migratory pattern takes them over an Albanian lagoon have settled there in large numbers.

At the same time that nature and clear air levels have changed for the better, we have experienced the collapse of our economy, devastating illness and the noble attempt to find ways of addressing COVID-19 and the human need for the basics of life.

May 24 marks the fifth anniversary of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ “bold bid to help humanity to love the earth, to glimpse its sacredness and be moved by its plight” (Austen Ivereigh, Wounded Shepherd, p.195).

What’s the connection between the Pope’s message and our virus-induced misery? For one thing, the ecological crisis is deeply connected with our human and political crises. To come through all of these crises requires new ways of thinking and acting. Begone competitiveness and selfishness! Welcome cooperation, compassion and awareness!

Create a new heart in us, O God – new heart to save what Pope Francis calls our common home. A new heart can happen only through conversion – seeing with the eyes of God, listening with the heart of God and acting with the tender heart of Jesus. This will take work on our part and a cooperation with our attentive God.

If you haven’t read Laudato Si’, Google it and spend time absorbing Francis’ insights. He himself, when he was the archbishop of Buenos Aires, experienced an ecological conversion. It became abundantly clear to him that human beings were not meant to dominate the earth but to live compatibly with other creatures.

As we suffer through the pain of this pandemic, the time is right for us to awaken to our shared responsibilities in bringing forth a massive renewal of the planet, which Francis calls our homeland – “one world with a common plan.”

Among steps to take, consider our “throwaway culture” with its emphasis on production and consumption. These pandemic days have shown us that we can do with less. We can also teach our children by our actions more than our words to value the earth. We can also pay attention and support the efforts of young people who are the conscience which calls adults to ecological conviction and action.

The Swedish teenager, Greta Thunberg, and Pope Francis met one day in April 2019 in St. Peter’s Square. With delight, Pope Francis told her “Go on, go on, continue!” And she in turn exuded joy at his caring: “Thank you for standing up for the climate, for speaking the truth. It means a lot.”

~Sister Joan Sobala

We Are Never Alone

Dear Friends,

Today’s section of John’s Gospel reminds me of a poignant story a woman told me.

Her mother, up in years, lived in Philadelphia, in the family home where my friend had grown up. One night, the phone call came. My friend’s mother had suffered a massive stroke. She was gone. When my friend arrived home, her only sister hugged her. “We’re orphans!” she wept. Here they were, mature women with families of their own, yet the word orphan came to mind as they characterized their new state in life.

Competent, functioning adults feel vulnerable and abandoned when the protective canopy of an older generation is torn from them. The orphan is plunged into an experience of greater responsibility with fewer resources, compelled to provide for self without the luxury of being provided for. At whatever age, the orphan yearns for the intimacy which now seems irreplaceable – an intimacy of relationship where identity is derived from belonging rather than achievement. From the perspective of the bereaved, the one enduring personal loss, death is never timely. As adults, however, we are not comfortable admitting our own adult perception of having been abandoned.

Likewise, as people of faith, we suffer the acute absence of God or meaning in our lives. Somehow, we have been shaken loose – maybe because we went off to college, lost a loved one or experienced a crisis like this pandemic. We can’t seem to put our life into a larger context. Maybe we feel we have no life story at all that means anything to anyone.

Even if we search for meaning somewhere other than the Christian community, we might nonetheless hear a small voice nudging us to Sunday worship. We might get as far as a back pew, well away from others who clearly have a sense of belonging, but relax. There will be no thunderbolts.

Going back to today’s Gospel, Jesus assures us “the Father will give you another Advocate to be with you always…who remains with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you” (John 14.16 -18).

If we let the poetic, mystical message of this Gospel seep into us, it can make us realize that we, well and truly, are never orphans. God’s promise has been given to us. The Spirit has come to us and will continue to abide with us.

We are not orphans.

We are never alone.

        We are always in the company of the Spirit of God. That’s God’s promise to us.

        Belonging is the door of our own eternity. We have only to cross the threshold.

~Sister Joan Sobala

The "Yeses" in Life

Dear Friends,

Tomorrow is my 80^th birthday. Birthdays are like the parables of Jesus. They seem like simple stories but they admit of a multitude of meanings that keep coming to us as our lives go on. Today, I would like to hold up an abbreviated parable of these 80 years as a mirror for reflecting on your own experiences.

On this Mother’s Day, how can we resist some thoughts about our mothers – the first carriers of our lives. From my childhood, my mother, Celia, had trouble with me. I was a contrarian who didn’t want to follow her directions. One day, when my mother was talking to a neighbor across the front fence, she called out to me “Joanie, don’t go into the street.” I stood on the curb and looked at her as I stuck my toe into the street. She turned away and laughed. That’s how life was. For better or for worse, I have put my toe into many streets of life. Did you do that?

There were tough moments when I was attacked, literally by neighborhood thugs and once by a boy in my class at school. My mother taught me courage and resilience. She stood by me just as Mary stood by Jesus throughout his life and never turned away. Maybe your mother stood by you as you grew or maybe she didn’t or couldn’t. Who stood by you at critical times of your life?

Later, when I wanted to respond to God’s call to religious life, she resisted. Celia reasoned that I would be locked away forever and not be able to taste the options of life. Years later, my mother admitted to the richness of my life, and hers as a result. What choices have you made in response to God’s call that your family could value only in retrospect?

Over the years, I have learned that the journey of my adult life is more than the first commitment I made as a Sister of Saint Joseph. That choice was certainly foundational but it swelled with other calls to welcome, accompany, discern with and integrate others into faith, other times to say “Yes.” Thinking again of Mary, the mother of Jesus, we remember her "yes" to the invitation of God to bear her son. That "yes" took her to stand on the shores of his life as he preached, taught, healed. It took her to stand beneath the cross and to experience the terrible pain of holding his dead body in her arms. Mothers never want to experience the death of their children. But she also experienced his Risen from the dead and she experienced the Pentecost coming of the Holy Spirit (for the second time for her). What has the first “Yes” and other “Yeses” of your life meant to you and others?

Here we are today – threatened by a virus we can’t see or hear or touch, but one which could overwhelm us as individuals, families, and as a church and nation. Often the cable networks carry pictures of people who have died from complications of COVID-19. Many of them were young – serving the community with their talents and desires. Why did they die and why, at 80, am I still here? What does God want of me? Why are you still here? What does God want of you?  

What does faithfulness to God and to my treasured commitments mean to me in this new context? Shall I put my toe into the street again? To borrow the question of Mary to the angel: “How will this be?” What does it mean to say “Yes” to God at my age – and you at yours?

~Sister Joan Sobala