Looking for Words

Dear Friends,

The second lectionary reading for this Sunday drew me to reflection, especially on these words from Paul:

The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness;
for we do not know how to pray as we ought,
but the Spirit … intercedes with inexpressible groanings.

Romans 8:26

There is a time in my daily prayer circle when the day’s leader invites us to share intercessions for prayer. Some days I am ready with the name of a sick friend or a job seeking relative. Many days, though, I can’t immediately put into words what personal, Church, or world concerns I am carrying.  

This experience reminds me of my days teaching religion to middle schoolers. Each forty-five-minute class included time to pray. We teachers coached the students to state their concerns and worries at prayer. We challenged them to hear and respect others’ spoken prayer. We taught them the discipline of reaching outside the classroom to pray for our families, the school community, our neighborhoods, and wider church and civic community. We prayed for pets and sports teams. We named areas of war or famine. We reminded them that God was present, all days and all ways.

I need to do some self-coaching in intercessory prayer. Instead of searching for my own words, I can listen to my friends’ intercessions at daily prayer. When I pray alone, I can simply speak aloud the names of family members and dear friends. When I read world and local news, I can offer my attention as a prayer for peace and healing. When I feel pain, I can pray for those who share that experience.

Paul speaks of our not knowing how to pray and urges us to join the Spirit’s inexpressible groanings. I imagine Jesus praying in the desert or Gethsemane. I see Kiev soldiers searching for bodies. I watch mourners at a Congolese funeral. I see an online friend ring the bell after completing cancer treatment. Our prayer circles do not always have the words. Some days, with the spirit, we intercede with inexpressible groanings. 

In hope,
Susan Schantz SSJ

The Gift of Childlike Wonder

Dear Friends,

Children across the USA are well into their two-month summer vacation. Some are enrolled in camps of all kinds; others will be in sports programs. Still, others will spend time on neighborhood playgrounds or play in the streets. There will be some who have no one with whom to play.

This summer, befriend a child or group of children. Talk with them – or better still listen to their views about life and their questions. Get down on the grass with them (if you can) and peer into the eyes of a ladybug. You’ll never experience a ladybug again in such an intimate way.

Too often, we organize children’s lives to an adult degree: sports uniforms, rules of play, and a dressing down when a child has let down a success-driven parent. Too much too soon.

Instead, play with children.

Sing with them.

Be silly together.

Learn to be a child all over again. Don’t forget how much Jesus loved children who were the disregarded, the throwaways in the society of Jesus’ time. Don’t keep them away, Jesus cautioned his disciples, for too such as these belongs the kingdom of God.

Maybe if we recaptured our child-like qualities we might find God and life so much more appealing.

In fact, we are encouraged by the world around us to subdue or abdicate our childlike qualities in favor of adult characteristics. Adult characteristics are not bad, but when mixed with child-like qualities, we enlarge the scope and delight of our lives. Like what?

Among these child-like characteristics are wonder, awe, fantasy, secret places and secret friends, curiosity, candor, silliness, mischief, being impulsive, risk-taking and playfulness. These are only some of a sparkling array of children’s ways of approaching life.

I remember visiting a kibbutz in the occupied West Bank many years ago. Among the families who lived there were Ethiopian Jews. They were Black and experienced racial discrimination. A couple of the Ethiopian children stood quietly looking at us. Would we ignore them too? Without thinking, I stepped forward, extended my hands to them, motioning them to come and dance with me. They did and others joined them. For a few moments, we were like Lady Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs 8.27-31.

Playing on the surface of the earth.
Playing before the Creator,
all the while finding delight in the children of earth.

We won’t start engaging children any younger. So, this summer, let’s go for it.

~ Sister Joan Sobala

Citizenship

Dear Friends, 

As Americans celebrate the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding, I have been reflecting on the ways my understanding of citizenship has deepened in the past year. Local, national, and international events call for US citizens to consider what it means to be a United States citizen. Here are some questions for reflection during this anniversary season:

• In what ways do I act with respect for the liberty of others?
• How do I exercise freedom of speech? What are the ways I support others’ freedom of speech? 
• How do I work with other citizens to demonstrate respect for the lives of others? 
• Do I prepare carefully for voting in both local and national elections?
• What people, groups, or activities nourish my energy to work for justice?

I have rights and responsibilities as a citizen of a nation, a citizen of the world community, and a member of a worldwide faith community. Do these rights and responsibilities influence each other? Do conflicts arise? 

In hope for our world and nation,
Susan Schantz SSJ

From America's Founding to Our Shared Future

Dear Friends, 

At the end of the week, our nation celebrates 250 years since the Declaration of Independence. Two-hundred-and-fifty years of striving, growing, taking chances, making mistakes, being heroic, believing in God’s guiding Presence, questioning faith:  

America! America! 
God mend thine every flaw…
May God thy gold refine 
Till all success be nobleness and every gain divine. 

Not all of us have worked to gain freedom for everyone or welcome for all who came to settle in our land. The mean-spirited among us ripped security and hope from Native Americans, immigrants and former slaves. But the mean-spirited did not gain the day or the future. Among us have been and are the clear-headed and the warm-hearted, the compassionate and those who share the bounty of life – these are Americans  

who more than self their country loved
and mercy more than life. 

Take time this week, and even next weekend, to pray for our homeland, that we honor and use for good the talents, dreams and aspirations of all Americans. Talk with others about the nobleness of this venture. 

From the inspired words of Katherine Lee Bates, who wrote “America the Beautiful" in 1895, to Amanda Gorman, who read her poem “The Hill We Climb” at President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021, Americans have been inspired to become the best we can be. “Our nation isn’t broken,” Amanda Gorman tells us. “It is only unfinished.” 

Let’s continue the work of finishing it together. Happy 250th 4th.  

~ Sister Joan Sobala

Read: Katherine Lee Bates' lyrics and original poem of "America the Beautiful"

Watch: Amanda Gorman reads inauguration poem "The Hill We Climb" on January 20, 2021

Cardinal John Fisher: Patron Saint for Church of Rochester

sketch by Hans Holbein, c. 1532-34 

Dear Friends, 

In 1935, a young Salt Lake City bishop, James E. Kearney, attended the canonization of Cardinal John Fisher, bishop of Rochester, England. Two years later Kearney was appointed Bishop of Rochester, New York. Soon after his arrival he named Fisher the diocesan patron saint. Kearney then recruited the Basilian Fathers to lead a diocesan men’s college, now known as St. John Fisher University.

Beyond these Rochester connections, some facets of Fisher’s life and ministry speak to me as we celebrate his June 22 feast day. Fisher was an extraordinary leader in the English Reformation period.  He had a lifelong affiliation with Cambridge University, as student, lecturer, and chancellor. He wrote and published responses to European theologians of the Protestant Reformation. He publicly engaged with contemporary writers and political leaders. Theologians and bishops who write and speak on today’s issues can look to him as a role model of respectful and rigorous conversation.

Fisher was a brilliant attorney and theologian and was not afraid to respond to royal requests for approval. Henry VIII announced his intended divorce from Catherine of Aragon. Citing law and theology, Fisher argued for the validity of their marriage. When Henry later declared himself Supreme Head of the Church of England, Fisher disapproved. Fisher was executed for his criticism of the king. 

What impresses me is Fisher’s understanding of a bishop’s responsibility to engage with contemporary issues, leading believers in discerning just action. Today questions are raised about religious believers’ and leaders’ engagement in dialogue on social issues. Pope Leo XIV spoke on the Church’s mission during a recent trip to Spain (posted below). I believe he and John Fisher would agree.

In hope,
Susan Schantz SSJ

Pope Leo XIV's address to members of Spanish Parliament June 8, 2026:
…when the Church addresses anything concerning public life, she does so while respecting the proper mission of institutions and the legitimate responsibility of those who have received the mandate to legislate. She recognizes “the autonomy of earthly realities” and “the distinction between the ecclesial community and the political community”; and, precisely from this awareness, the Church offers a reflection born of the desire to serve the common good and to recall what makes human coexistence truly human (cf. Magnifica Humanitas, 18, 19, 22).

Meeting God in the Ordinary: An Examen for Daily Life

Dear Friends, 

Growing up, many of us who are Christian were taught to pray every morning and night, beginning and ending each day close to God. 

Depending on what kind of faith formation we had, we might have been given an examination of conscience to use, as we prayed at night and thought back on our day. Often, these examens were focused on calling to mind our sins and the examen topics may have left us cold. Sometimes, they simply did not apply to our lives, or if they did, the topics were bland or made us squirm without containing any valuable thoughts to build on the next day. We may have given up the examen, or if we continued to practice it, we developed our own way of assessing our days as faithful to God or not. 

What follows here is an examen designed by Sister Joan Roccasalvo of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Brentwood, NY, and is circulating nationally. It’s a spiritual practice that asks where and how did we meet and recognize God throughout the day. This practice reaches into the core belief of our congregation that we are called to love and serve the dear neighbor without distinction. If you find it potentially enlarging for you, please use it to pray yourself into a future full of grace. 

Neighbor 
Whom did I meet throughout the day? Who met me? Was there relationship, service, good and love in the meeting? 

Love 
How did love come to me today -- or the opposite? How did I love? What moved my heart? The heart of another? 

God 
What will/does/did God call me to today? What happened between us? With others? 

Summation 
Was there something of this ordinary/extraordinary day that I cherish regret, aim to carry into tomorrow/my future? 

                ***With whom and how can I share the fruits/results of this experience? ***

~ Sister Joan Sobala

A Gift on a Detour

 

Dear Friends,

On the last Saturday of May, I drove to Rochester’s Durand Eastman Park to walk along the lake shore. There’s a wonderful string of beach walkways there. I love this stretch of shore, the breezes, the sound of the water, and the sky and lake views of blue and gray. 

As I drove into the park, I was disappointed to see a large yellow detour sign. Soap Box Derby preparations had closed part of Lakeshore Boulevard. Reluctantly, I followed signs to a twisting park road. Looking for an alternate walking path, I stopped at a small field of gnarly old fruit trees, just past their flowering. I walked around the sunny field, visiting each tree and reading any remaining faded metal tags. 

The sun was quite warm. At the edge of the orchard clearing was an attractive shady glen of tangled trees and bushes. I approached the tree pictured above. Standing in its cool shade, I was inside a world of dappled liquid green. After a while, I resumed my orchard walk, but returned twice to stand in the shade of this glowing green tree. 

The photo lives on my phone screen and I smile each time I see it. I imagine that you, too, have memories of gifts received on a life detour. Join me in praying that we keep recognizing these gifts. Even on a path unchosen or a road that’s painful there are visions that bring refreshment and joy.

In hope,
Susan Schantz SSJ