The
following is a reflection that I offered on the reading for this Sunday at a Congregational Assembly
(see:big meeting of my nuns). While many of you who read this aren't Sisters of
St. Joseph, I believe there is something for each one of us in the message of
the reflection- our calling is to discover who we are and to live out of that
discovery. That's what "being your vocation" is all about. I
was graced to be able to offer these words to my sister, I hope that you will
be graced by the Spirit that dwells within them.
At the beginning of February, a letter came for me in the mail at
a convent I don't live at. It
was addressed to Colleen Gibson, Novice, care of Mother Superior, St. Joseph’s
Novitiate and had a return address of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
I don’t know
anyone in Albuquerque and I didn’t know anyone who would send me mail via
Mother Superior, so you can imagine my intrigue as I opened it. It began- “Miss Gibson, Never having
written to someone in the Novitiate Program, I am at a loss for what might be
the proper salutation, so I will leave it as is.” The writer, Bill* had read something
that I had written and seeing in the by-line that I was a novice with the
Sisters of St. Joseph of Philadelphia had felt the need to write to me.
Bill’s story
is older than I am… older than many of us in this room. It begins in 1936. That
is when Bill became a Homey, as he affectionately refers to himself; that is to
say, that that is when, at age 7, he entered St. John’s Orphanage and came
under the care of our sisters. Bill explained that the sisters became
substitutes for his deceased mother, they were the ones who cared for him and
his siblings, the ones who worked in the laundry and struck up a relationship
with the young boy and they were the ones who walked up and down the dormitory
after 60 boys had knelt on their pillows to say night prayers, going from bed
to bed to kiss each child ‘goodnight’. He would go on to join the Air Force and
raise a family of eight, but he never forgot our sisters.
As he
brought his letter to a close, Bill left me with these words: “I cannot know
how you chose to enter your present path, but I wish you to know that you are
associated with those who taught me what Faith is all about… a group that this
Homey includes in his Daily Morning Offering.”
It might
seem strange to talk about Bill’s story in connection with today’s readings.
After all, Isaiah tells us not to remember the things of the past, not to dwell
on the things of long ago, for God is doing something new. And Paul in his letter to the
Philippians speaks of “forgetting what lies behind” so that we might strain
“forward to what lies ahead” in pursuit of “the prize of God’s upward
calling.” Add to that the
woman caught in adultery and Bill’s story seems irrelevant (I guess that’s
why you shouldn’t ask the novice to give the reflection at Assembly.)
But really,
Bill’s story- our story- has everything to do with these things. In order to
move forward, we need to look back. Look back. Observe. Learn. NOT dwell, reminisce, or recreate. Stories
like Bill’s make us feel good, they show us that what we’ve done has made and
continues to make a difference. More so though, through the Love that our
sisters embodied and the Faith they lived out, Bill’s story speaks to who we
are. That’s the question
that we need to be asking: Who are we as Sisters of Saint Joseph of
Philadelphia?
Everything
that we do flows out of the answer to that question. We can talk about ministry and Cape
May and a whole score of other things but if our conversation (and ultimately
the lives we are living) aren’t grounded in the tangible understanding of who
we are… not who we say we are or the words we use to describe ourselves, but
the radical hope, faith, and love lived out authentically in intentional
poverty, obedience, and chastity in Love with our God and our neighbors- if we
don’t have a handle on that, then we have missed the point.
That is the
upward calling Paul is talking about. It is the call we said ‘yes’ to; the call
that surrenders all to Christ. It comes from an unshakable encounter with the
Divine, an encounter that reduces all else to rubbish in its midst. Our ‘yes’
makes us realize that God will take everything if we are free enough to give
it. It is a call that hurts. And yet, it is this call that we embrace. We come to it with a willingness to
lose everything- all that we know and all that we love- so that we might be
united to the One whom we would be lost without.
This is the
One who looks with love upon us, even in times of pain; The One who nourishes
us so we might live lives of praise; The One who sees our past, but does not
condemn…does not cast stones, choosing rather to send us forth with the
opportunity for new life.
We are being
given that opportunity right now. We are being called to perceive the movement
of the Spirit. We
need to focus on what matters, not how much money we make, what we have been,
how we do things, or what makes us comfortable; we need to listen to one
another and to the Spirit in our midst as we ask:
Who are we
and who is Jesus calling us to be?
Are we
living our lives with authenticity?
Are we challenging each other on a personal level to do so?
Are we actively working to foster
our membership in every
generation?
Does the way we live pose a
challenge and an invitation to women to share in our way of life?
And ultimately, what are we
willing to lose and what would we be lost without?
These are
the questions that accompany us as we move forward. As we prepare to celebrate
Eucharist around this table, we pause, we know that the One who sustains us
joins with us on this journey, and we acclaim ::sung::
You are all we have,
You give us what we need,
Our lives are in your hands, Oh Lord
Our lives are in your hands.
