Putting Fear in Perspective

Dear Friends,

The marks of Ebola on Americans are fear of the unknown, ignorance of the facts, terror of succumbing ourselves, and the desire for a protective wall around our borders, our children. We are still gathering information, pointing fingers of blame. We are angry because people in charge don’t see it our way. Once, we experienced 9/11. We did all the same things then as now – the catalog listed above, and more. We mourned the dead then and now. We named and treasured heroic action. Immediately after 9/11, our churches were full. People needed to acknowledge God in the midst of this unprecedented attack. Little by little, we began to talk about these attacks, not just in their political and international dimensions; we began to wonder together out loud about the spiritual meaning/ implications of 9/11.

We will eventually do the same with this crisis. Here are some thoughts to use as you begin to work through the evolving crisis with the various groups with whom you interact. I will do the same.
The Ebola virus existed long before this moment. It was hosted by unknown forest animals of West Africa, and lay dormant until humans, hunting for food, awakened it. What dangerous food lays dormant in our world until humans awaken it? What cautions do we exert? How do we serve the neighbor by supporting their lives with essential human needs so they won’t have to go back to hunting for dangerous food?

This worldwide crisis requires a worldwide response. Can sickness unto death unify a dispirited, sick world? In the face of this scourge, we do well to turn to the love and lessons of God. Why bring God into it?  Because God is already here, in the suffering and fearful, as well as in those willing to help. “It is I who come to you, though you know me not (Is 45.4-6.).” We pray to our compassionate God not just for ourselves, but in solidarity with one another. Still, I admit, the God- part is the hardest.

If there is any silver lining in this continuing tragedy, it may be that God casts the shadow of the cross over this time, this misery. And where there is the cross, Resurrection following. Jesus was raised up. Faith says, we will be, too.  I think of Martha after the death of Lazarus.  Jesus wanted the tomb opened.  “Lord, by now there will be a stench (John 11.39)” That did not dissuade Jesus. After Jesus prayed, he called out “Lazarus, come out (11.43).” and finally, to the bystanders, Jesus said “Untie him and let him go free (11.44)” That’s the call to us. Acknowledge death and its stench. But be aware that Jesus is praying and working here and now with us, in us. Dare to be the ones who unbind the newly alive and let him/her go free. This is a mentality, a way of thinking which leads to a way of acting. Talk with one another about positive, world-embracing, life-embracing ways to grow. Form small communities of support to do this - communities in which prayer is integral. Send love out into a hurting world.

As we place before Jesus the pain of this time, our God says something like this back to us:  “I cannot prepare you for every choice you’ll need to make or every situation you’ll encounter along the way, but remember that I am the Lord. There is none beside me. Without me, there is no resolution of ill, no growth in humanness, no happiness. With me, the world and you will move closer to wholeness. You are never apart from me. You are never alone. Choose to be with me and you will live.”

~Joan Sobala, SSJ

Choose to be a "Blesser!"

Dear Friends,

                The deacon had just finished his homily when, into the silence… he sneezed. The response came back, as one voice,  from the whole congregation: “God bless you!”  We typically say that when someone sneezes. The mother held up her child over the font as they entered  church.  “Bless  yourself,” Mama said. The operative word in both of these scenarios is bless.

                People from Genesis onward through religious  history have blessed themselves and one another. Noah blessed God for safety through the flood. We read the story of how Jacob stole his father Isaac’s blessing from his brother Esau in Genesis 27.  The psalms have us bless God, too, as in Psalm 33.1: “I will bless the Lord at all times…” At the Last Supper, Jesus took the bread, blessed, broke it  and , gave it to his disciples (Mark 14.22). In 1 Corinthians 10.16 Paul admonishes his readers  to treasure the Eucharist. ”The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not participation in the blood of Christ?” Our history, as a believing people, is a lifetime of blessing  given and received.

                At least, it should be. The liturgical blessings at Mass and other ritual occasions are rightly the prerogative of the ordained – the priest or deacon.  In many of our parishes, we raise our hands to participate in these official blessings.

                John O’Donohue, whose name give him away as Irish, draws on his cultural heritage to remind us that you and I are to give as well as receive blessings. We can bless our children aloud with some encouraging words as well as a sign of the cross before they go to sleep or leave for  school. Spouses can bless each other when decisions need to be made or the future is uncertain, or sometimes, ”just because.”

                Lord, we can say,  bless these ingredients that will go into my family’s meal. May what we share at the table bring us closer to you and one another. Lord, bless me as I put on these new clothes. May I wear them with thankfulness.  Lord, bless the person being cared for in the ambulance going by. Lord, bless the EMTs.

                “A blessing,”   says John O’Donohue “is a circle of light drawn around a person to protect, heal and strengthen… The beauty of a blessing is its belief that it can effect what unfolds… A blessing is different from a greeting, a hug, a salute, or an affirmation; it opens a different door in human encounter…When you invoke a blessing, you are creating a ‘sheltering wall’ of rest and peace around a person.” (John  O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us,  pp198-203)

                So don’t be bashful, as though others may laugh or think you strange, when you sign off by saying “Blessings!” Do not relinquish your baptismal right to bless.  Choose to be a “blesser”  in life, if you not already.  Use your own words, or someone else’s:      

                                                                                                                  

May neighbors respect you

Trouble neglect you. 

The angels protect you..

And heaven accept you.   Amen.

Do come to our motherhouse for these events!

Wed. Oct. 22^nd, 7 to 8.30 pm  

  Lisa Scata   “So Your Children Don’t Want to Come to Mass with You?

And / or

3 consecutive Mondays beginning Oct 27  

 ‘Freshen Your  Thinking About Catholic Essentials”

I’ll be guiding that discussion. No test afterwards!

Ode to The Church

Dear Friends,

                Have you ever come across a poem ,essay, article  or letter and said “I wish I had written that!”

Here’s one such piece I wish I had written.

Ode to the Church

How baffling you are, oh Church, and yet how I love you!

How you have made me suffer, and yet how much I owe you!

I would like to see you destroyed, and yet I need your presence.

You have given me so much scandal,

And yet you have made me understand what sanctity is.

I have seen nothing in the world more devoted to obscurity, more compromised, more false,

And yet I have touched nothing more pure, more generous, more  beautiful.

How often I have wanted to shut the doors of my soul in your face.

And yet how often I have prayed to die in the safety of your arms!

No, I cannot free myself from you, because I am you, though not completely.

And besides, where would I go? Would I establish another church?

I would not be able to establish it without the same  faults, for they are the same faults I carry in me.

And if I did establish another, it would be my church, not the Church of Christ.

I am old enough to know I am no better than anyone else.

                Who wrote this, anyway?  A contemporary of some of us, not someone who left the church , but rather a believer who moved from place to place within the church as he followed Christ , teacher and redeemer, let go and embraced as needed for growth in God.   The Italian Carlo Carretto  (1910-1988) was a lay leader in Catholic Action before he joined the Little Brothers of Jesus, a community of desert contemplatives in Algeria. Eventually, he returned to Italy and published his thoughts in Letters from the Desert, for people struggling with their spiritual lives. Writing about Carlo Carreto, the American hagiographer Robert Ellsberg  says : “Essentially, {Carreto} showed how to live a contemplative life in the midst of the world, in the desert that is ultimately everywhere. The challenge of the Gospel, according to Carreto, was to create in this desert an oasis of love. He died on the feast of St. Francis, October 4, 1988.”

                The mentality and tenacity of Carreto is a help when we make judgments against the church and want to go away. Instead, Carreto is a friend who invites us, each in our own everyday live, to move toward a fuller life with Christ .

Cradle Catholics or longtime Catholics , even those of us who worship on a regular basis, sometimes get stale in our thinking about God and other significant figures:  God, Jesus, Mary, the saints, the community,. Moreover, what has history contributed to our relationship to all of these significant others?  For a conversation about these topics that stretch our minds as we stay the course of faith (or not), join me on three successive Monday nights at the SSJ Motherhouse: Oct 27, Nov. 3 and Nov. 10,7 to 8.30 pm. 

Call the Fresh Wind phone to say you are coming. 641-8184.

In my daily life, let there be light.

Dear Friends,

                Did you ever go to switch on a light in a dark room, only to find that the bulb was out, or worse that a household member has stolen the bulb in question to use in another room? With incandescent bulbs, the problem was more frequent, but stealing LEDs for another room is still irritating.

You and I live in the household of God’s family. The first biblical word our God has ever said to us is

Let there be light. (Genesis 1.3  )

                To live in darkness is not what God desires for us. We are called to live in the light. Daylight. Sunlight.  Moonlight.   Artificial light. Light from without. Light from within.

                What illumination has God given us (gifts or light bulbs, if you will ) has God given us to help us in our movements  as we  inch along  or leap toward fully human lives.

v  the gift of consciousness. Sometimes we blunder through a day without even being aware of what is happening. Be present to the day, the moment. Save daydreams for another time. Be aware.

v  the gift of openhandedness. Open hands give away or receive, don’t clutch and are sometimes empty.

v  the gift of singleheartedness. The opposite of singleheartedness is dupliciousness, speaking with a forked tongue, lacking in integrity.  Jesus was singlehearted.  He looked for a  kernel  or well-grown singleheartedness in the people he called. Think of Nathaniel,  a man in whom Jesus saw is no guile.( John 1.47 )

v  the gift of being able to initiate.  Conversartions, relationships, work, To initiate is to invite into oneself, to enter into.

v  the gift of responsiveness. To respond, not ignore. To respond  requires that the other initiates. The back and forth of human interaction requires that we respond. First responders is a term coined in our day, but history is full of first responders. Jesus was the first responder above and beyond all others.

v  the gift of staying power. I can’t. “I won’t”  gives way to “I think I can.” “I think I can” gives way to “I want to . I will.” To what in our daily lives do we make these responses?

                Using these gifts, we can develop life giving patterns, Habits of the Heart, as Steve Covey puts it. But also habits of the mind, spirit, and body.  Habits can become rote. That’s not God’s gift. Repetition becomes life giving when it continues to be conscious, wholehearted and singlehearted. Here’s an  example of a life giving habit: Yesterday I found inside of me a prayer of praise for our God. Is it there today. Can I repeat it with my heart? Build on it?                                       In my daily life, let there be light.

Supporting Family Life

Dear Friends,

We’ve grown accustomed to seeing photos of Pope Francis holding a child’s hand as they walk along together. That’s only one of many images of Francis that crowd our computer screens and magazines. 

People claim a kinship with Pope Francis, calling him Papa Bergoglio, at times. Last August, at a meeting of African theologians at the Hekima Institute for Peace Studies, and International Relations in Nairobi, Kenya, Papa Bergoglio and the wealth of his message to the world caused one participant to exclaim: “We have our first African Pope.” Of course, he isn’t, but then he is, for Pope Francis belongs to every continent and family. People sense it, and are grateful for this surprising  gift of God to our world.

Recently, Pope Francis presided at the marriage of 20 couples at Saint Peter’s – not necessarily couples who lived by the norms of the church for marrying in the church. Papa Bergoglio  sent a message to the world. God loves everyone and the Church is for all its members.  These marriages at Saint Peter’s were certainly a celebration in themselves, but they were also prelude to the Extraordinary Synod on the Family that will take place in October. Watch for it in the news. 

Meanwhile, we need to do our share in supporting family life.

In speaking to the world and acting on behalf of people’s growth in love with God, Papa Bergoglio is also speaking to us in our very homes, where we share life, rest, meals, good times and bad. He says to us:

Let everyone be themselves. Live and let live.
Give yourself tirelessly to others. If one gets tired, one runs the risk of being egoistic.
Walk softly. … Move with kindness and humility, calmness of life.
Be available to your kids and family. Consumerism .. has pushed people to spend less time at home and more time pursuing wealth.
Spend Sundays (or a day of rest) with family. Make the intention to set time aside for loved ones, despite the pressure of work.
Work toward empowering young people.
Care for the environment.
Move on. Find ways to more quickly move forward after negative experiences. Forgiveness is key for this, as is having the willingness to let the next moment be better than the last.
Respect others’ opinions.
          

These are all so simple to say, but require daily motivation to do. You and I together can help shape the world in harmony with Pope Francis and committed people in our day if we join him in these challenges.

~Sister Joan Sobala

Waves of Life

 Dear Friends, I write this week’s blog from Mercy Center at Madison, CT, where I am spending a week’s retreat. ( Mercy Center is a warm, welcoming place, if you are keeping a bucket list.) The room where I am writing overlooks Long Island Sound, and not too far offshore is a cluster of small islands – actually more like oversized boulders. Every day, every six hours or so, I watch them give way to the incoming tide, only to reappear in due time.

What in our life is like these islands? What gets submerged in us, only to resurface later?

A whole eco-system of interior feelings, self understandings, hopes and aspirations are buffeted by the waves of life and become so submerged in us that we wonder if we had misunderstood ourselves, and we are not really the way we think we were. What submerges these tender parts of us? The unkind word, the scornful laugh., failure in some sort of test, self doubt, the challenge of the culture, the negatively critical attitude  that we cultivate in in ourselves, sometimes inadvertantly? All of these, and more.

The danger in us, unlike these off shore sturdy islands, is that the good, the true, the holy can stay submerged in us. But the good, true and holy in us are like these islands which are embedded, and while they are worn away over the centuries, they are here now and in the foreseeable future. That ought to give us heart.

As the islands are embedded in the deep recesses beneath the water, we are embedded in God. When we are threatened by forces within ourselves or from the outside  to disown, disclaim, dismiss these life-inspiring qualities in us, our culture bids us to seek help from one of the many good professionals in the psycho/social  fields. That’s a good idea. Do it, if you need to. But before you do, start in another place.

Make room in your life for being with God in the great outdoors, with its many lessons of endurance, acceptance, growth, multiplication and just plain being.

Young Anne Frank wrote in her much read diary: “The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy amidst the simple beauties of nature.”

God, our shelter in a storm, our foundation is there. Here too, of course, but there in intimate, surprising ways We deny ourselves healing and deepening when we are too busy to go to these not-so-secret places where God awaits us, eager for our company.

The Cross: One Symbol With Many Different Meanings

Dear Friends,

Do you have a cross in your house?   Is it somewhere prominent, for you and all to see? Do your children and grandchildren know the true meaning of the cross in the scheme of life? When you are miserable with pain or grief, do you ever hold the cross in your hands? Kiss it?

Next Sunday, our Church celebrates the Triumph of the Cross. The only other time during the year that the cross is highlighted is Good  Friday, when it is solemnly carried through the church during the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion and the cantor sings:

Behold! Behold! The wood of the cross, on which is hung our salvation.

And the congregation responds:

O, Come let us adore.

To be sure, the cross is one of the most universally recognized religious symbols. At the same time, the cross is one of the most widely misunderstood of all symbols. On the one hand, some groups in society have adopted the cross as part of the shock jewelry they wear. For others, the cross is an instrument of execution. Sometimes, it makes people squirm. It might make us squirm, too. Maybe we would rather skip Good Friday and the cross altogether.  

For Christians who try to deepen and embrace faith in Jesus the Word made flesh, the cross is more than a symbol of execution. It is a symbol of redemption. The triumph of the cross is the triumph of love over hate, the triumph of faith over cynicism, the triumph of life over death.

Christians do a risky thing when we see this death of Jesus on the cross as an act of liberation, of deliverance, of conquest over the forces of bondage and death. Christians believe against all evidence that death is not the final word. Yet the cross reminds us suffering  and  death  were necessary to Jesus if Christ’s resurrection and our faith are to have any meaning.

The cross reminds us that God’s love does not protect us from all suffering. Rather, God’s love is a shelter in all suffering. In Syria, Iraq, the Ukraine, the Ebola ridden countries of Africa, maybe in our own neighborhood – wherever there is darkness, futility and meaninglessness, the God of the lost reaches out from the cross, inviting suffering people to dare to hope.  These women and men, boys and girls, who have no apparent advocates, are, in fact, sustained by God.

 If the purpose of Jesus’ life is to demonstrate God’s unconditional love for us, is there a more dramatic way than the cross?