A Fall Bouquet for the Soul

Dear Friends,

The fall season is deepening in our northern part of the world. The oak leaves, beech tree leaves, the many kinds of foliage are changing, drying up, falling off to expose the surprisingly beautiful skeletal structure of the trees and bushes that have been hidden all summer. The leaves themselves offer a meditation on change.

In this season of new things coming into sight, we might find new ideas or new renditions of old ideas seeking entrance into our minds and hearts. What follows here is a set of eight unconnected thoughts that have brought me up short this summer – ideas about God, faith, our own potential, to mull over, relish and maybe make my own. I offer them to you as a fall bouquet to use in your inner room where you go to be with God and to grow. You may not find all of them helpful. Choose one or two to concentrate on. Have a conversation with others about the meaning of a thought that eludes you.

The banquet table of the Lord is open to you if it is open to everyone. (John Shea)

Grace is when God gives us something we do not deserve. Mercy is when God does not give us what we deserve.

Paradise is surrounded by a wall, guarded by reason. Until you overcome reason, you cannot enter paradise.

Celebrate what’s right with the world, when faced with life and death. Be ready. Surprise awaits you.

The best and most wonderful thing that can happen to you in this life is that you should be silent and let God work and speak. (Dag Hammarskjold)

Never go anywhere without the angels

Who watch God’s face and listen to be sought.

Greater than you, yet they have joy to serve you.

Never go blundering through the jungle,

Without a clear-eyed one to part the branches,

shout snake or swamp hole, cry a rock beware.

The angels of the Lord encamp around you

In any place you pitch your tents for prayer. (Jessica Powers)

We can’t desire something unless we have tasted it. (Father James Martin)

Develop an emotional resilience to live with hanging issues. (Sister Jean Bellini, SSJ)

Blessings for October!

~ Sister Joan Sobala

Catholic and catholic

Dear Friends,

References to Catholicism have made their way into 2026 social media, print journalism, and conversations. Political advertising and speeches often note the ethics and religious beliefs of candidates. Some US citizens are analyzing whether there is or should be a clear Catholic voting bloc. The immigration crisis sparks discussion of morality and responsibility of citizens and their leaders. Some Catholic bishops initiate conversations about Catholic social teaching. And, oh yes, a former Rochester bishop is named a Catholic Blessed and the ceremony and veneration of relics prompt reminiscence and questions and reflection.

What does the word catholic mean? Its Greek roots point to a concern for the whole, a universal perspective. When second century bishop Ignatius of Antioch used the adjective catholic to describe the early church, he was celebrating its missionary communities of many locations, languages, and traditions. 

During the years of the protestant reformation, catholic began to denote the Christian churches loyal to Rome. The word’s use to refer to one Christian denomination weakened its rich message of mission and universality. 

This fall I am preoccupied with being Catholic and with the meaning of this affiliation. Returning to the earliest meaning of the word catholic helps me gain some perspective on the many issues and events I mention above. I attempt to think and pray as a member of a church that encompasses many eras and many cultures. I want to vote and behave as a citizen with a global and inclusive perspective. 

Catholic and catholic, 

Susan Schantz SSJ

Following St. Francis' Enduring Call to Love Creation

Dear Friends,

This year marks the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi. Francis resembled Jesus as completely as any person could. Francis, in an age that did not think in these terms, gave us a totally new way of looking at and loving creation. In this love of his, Francis showed us that we are kin to all creation and creation to us. We are not simply to use creation, or master it or dominate it. Instead, we are to look upon all creation as our beloved friends, family and neighbors.

In his “Canticle of the Creatures,” Francis taught us to embrace in our prayer brother sun, wind, air and fire. He honors moon, water, earth, and the stars as our sisters.

Swimming out into Canandaigua Lake a few weeks ago, sister water snake crossed my path, her head held high. A few moments later, baby water snake hurried along to catch up. We shared the lake. Sisters all.

In this month leading up to Francis’ feast, let’s read scripture in a new way. In answer to the question, “Who is my neighbor?” let us turn to all creation, which today, seems to be suffering all over the world from floods, famine, drought, and frequent storms of great magnitude. Let us honor creation with our careful use of its gifts and let it blossom in whatever way it can.

Theologian Elizabeth Johnson, in her book “Come, Have Breakfast,” encourages us to develop this way of thinking and living. “Give God credit for loving the earth. Loving God with all your heart and soul, mind and strength, be converted to your own self as part of creation. Love your neighbor as yourself. Ponder how you can make the world a more compassionate place for all living beings." (P.158)

The American author, poet, activist and farmer, Wendell Berry had a love affair with nature, much as Francis of Assisi did, though from a more humanist perspective. In his poem, “The Peace of Wild Things,” Berry, who died in August of this year at the age of 92, offers us a soothing place to grow stronger in our sense of oneness with creation. He says:

            When despair for the world grows in me
            and I wake in the night at the least sound
            in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
            I go and lie down where the wood drake
            rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
            I come into the peace of wild things
            who do not tax their lives with forethought
            of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
            And I feel above me the day-blind stars
            waiting with their light. For a time
            I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

~ Sister Joan Sobala

Samaritan Voting

Dear Friends,

Do you need inspiration for participation in this year’s midterm elections? Here’s an approach I read about last week: Vote like a Samaritan!

Julia Maskivker is a professor at Rollins College who writes on the ethics of citizenship. She argues that voting is a citizen’s ethical obligation. She works in philosophical, not religious ethics, but finds a model in the bible story of the Good Samaritan. The traveling Samaritan sees the injured man at the side of the road. Acting on behalf of this stranger, he finances lodging and care. He does what is in his power to do. Maskivker posits that the Samaritan’s choice to help the neighbor is a model for the citizen voter.

Whether one believes voting to be a right, a responsibility, a privilege or a burden, the Good Samaritan model is a useful way to approach this year’s elections. Voters will select leaders for various levels of local, state, and federal government. A given candidate may not appear to affect an individual voter’s welfare, but a Good Samaritan voter would consider the good of the neighbor. The Good Samaritan voter looks at the neighbor’s need as well as her own when casting a ballot.

A Good Samaritan voter will cast a ballot in every election. If more voters are Good Samaritans, turnout will increase. Leaders might more thoroughly understand their constituents’ values and priorities. Leaders might more effectively develop pathways to a peaceful nation and world.

Susan Schantz SSJ

New York State Voter Registration Deadline October 24
https://elections.ny.gov/register-vote

The Duty to Vote. Julia Maskivker, Oxford University Press (2019).

A Heart Full of Names

Dear Friends,

This September, print, broadcast and social media have featured stories about September 11 attacks. Twenty-five years later, we still share the names and stories of the lost. We hear the words of the bereaved and accompany them in this anniversary commemoration. Names of the dead are engraved in memorials, hearts, memory, and United States history.

A Brazilian bishop, Dom Pedro Casaldáliga, spoke powerfully about this obligation to hold dear the names and stories of others. Before his death in 2020, he wrote a poem that includes these lines:

        At the end of the road
        They will ask me
        Have you lived?
        Have you loved?
        And I, without saying anything,
        Will open my heart full of names.

Reflecting on those lines, I imagine the names of those who died on September 11. And as I pray, I realize my heart must welcome the names of all who are dying in military conflict. International disputes and violent actions offer to our attention names from battles in Ukraine and Russia, Gaza and Israel, Iran and Sudan. The dead are civilians, journalists, soldiers, travelers, relief workers, and children. Here are just a few of the first names published since 2021.

Swarna
Kevin Patrick
Vladimir
Joshua Ruben
Sadie
Cortez
Shoshana
Yugi
Jimmie
Melanie Lamar
Ghaidaa
Siraj
Cory
Suhelah
Kateryna
Eliyahu
Shiri
Carmel
Sonthaya
Tyler
Ashley
Ali
Lyuba
Aziz
Natasha
Oleg
Miriam
Leonid
Mykola
Amal
Fatima
Ivan
Roxana

Remembering these and all the war dead,

Susan Schantz SSJ

Remembering 9/11, Twenty-Five Years Later

Dear Friends,

Friday will be the 25th anniversary of the infamous 9/11. Every year since then, this horrific event is commemorated. Twenty-five years of the bells ringing at the memorial sites in New York, Shanksville, PA and at the Pentagon. Stories of heroism and loss are intertwined in the telling of the events of that day. Children of the fallen have grown up, experienced positive peak moments in their lives, but without that special someone by their side. Churches were full immediately after 9/11, at least for a while.

The media will be full of memories and reflections as we approach the 25th.

Americans are very different today than we were in 2001. Cell phones are our constant companions. AI sneaks in to shape our thinking. We have moved on.

Today I turn to silence and the poetry of David Whyte to give us space to encounter the depth of what happened on September 11, 2001:

LOAVES AND FISHES

This is not
the age of information.

This is not
the age of information.

Forget the news,
and the radio,
and the blurred screen.

This is the time
of loaves
and fishes.

People are hungry,
and one good word is bread
for a thousand.

~ Sister Joan Sobala

Words About Work

Dear Friends,

What work did you do? A new neighbor asked me this question some weeks ago. Like any octogenarian Catholic Sister, I drew my response from quite a long list.

Since that conversation, I have been continuing to reflect on work and what it all means. I still work every day. For any person of any age, each day is a workday since we are made in the image of a creator God. As Labor Day 2026 approaches, I offer these random insights gleaned in the past weeks.

Work connects us with each other. Consider the work of a grocery cashier or a farmer, a maintenance tech or a teacher, a fast-food worker or bus driver.

When we work, we are part of imperfect systems, and we experience personal and societal struggle. Consider the work of a police officer or a social worker, a pastor or a union organizer, a nursing assistant or a stockbroker. 

Work is our response to the dear neighbor. Consider the work of parents and Little League coaches, hospital volunteers and bake sale donors, ambulance volunteers and grandparents who care for their children’s children.

Creative work is restorative and healing. Consider the work of the home cook who brings color and flavor to the table, the songwriter who gives words to joy and pain, the muralist who transforms a building’s gray wall. 

On September 6, the United States celebration of Labor Day will call us to reflect on human labor and the rights and responsibilities of workers. During these days leading up to the holiday, join me in reflecting on our lives’ ongoing and meaningful work. 

~ Susan Schantz SSJ