Moon Dance

These pictures do not do justice to the beauty of the moon with the clouds rolling by.

Well, its a marvelous night for a moondance with the stars up above in my eyes

A fantabulous night for a moondance neath the cover of October skies

And all the leaves on the trees are falling to the sound of the breezes that blow

And I'm trying to please to the calling of the heart-strings that play soft and low

And all the nights magic seems to whisper and hush

And all the soft moonlight seems to shine in the blush

As I returned home to the monastery last night, I was overwhelmed by the amazing beauty of this gorgeous moon. As I stood there in the field looking up, my first thought was of the song Moondance by Van Morrison and what a wonderful night it was for a "moondance."

I decided it was so beautiful that I couldn't pass up the opportunity to just spend some time in the cool quiet night air, listening to the rustling of the leaves and watching the clouds roll by this amazing moon. (I really love night!)

As I sat there in the quiet, watching the clouds roll by the beautiful moon, I began to think of the wondrous gifts that God gives to us each day and how often I don't take the time to notice or to enjoy the gifts of God's creation. As my thoughts continued to progress, I soon began to think about Psalm 8 and not only the gifts from God but our responsibility to care for that great creation!

O Lord, our Lord, how awesome is your name through all the earth! You have set your majesty above the heavens!

Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have drawn a defense against your foes, to silence enemy and avenger

When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars that you set in place--

What are humans that you are mindful of them, mere mortals that you care for them?

Yet you have made them little less than a god, crowned them with glory and honor

You have given them rule over the works of your hands, put all things at their feet:

All sheep and oxen, even the beasts of the field,

The birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and whatever swims the paths of the seas.

O LORD, our Lord, how awesome is your name through all the earth!

What amazing gifts God gives to each of us each day if we only take the time to notice!

Angels

Liturgically, this is the week for angels. On Tuesday we celebrated the feast of the Archangels. Today we are celebrating the Feast of Guardian Angels.

Now as funny as it may sound - guardian angels (my guardian angel in particular) have been a part of my every day life as long as I can remember. When I was younger, I was given lots of advice about dealing with my guardian angel. This advice included leaving room on my chair for my guardian angel, asking my angel its name before I go to bed at night and it would reveal it to me as I slept, saying my guardian angel prayer each morning when I awoke, and thanking my angel when it saved me from mortal danger.

At various times in my life, I have to admit, all of these "customs" were a part of my life - sometimes for a short time, sometimes longer. But one habit has curiously remained with me to this day. That is the habit of thanking my guardian angel. In fact, thanking my guardian angel has become such a natural part of my life that I probably say thanks about 20 times a day. While I am sure my guardian angel has saved me from mortal danger on more than one occasion, I am more grateful for all the "little saves" that I am sure have happened on my behalf because my angel is so diligently looking out for me.

• There are those times I am driving along and slow down for no apparent reason only to have an animal cross the road a short time later or a police officer pull over the car ahead of me for speeding.
• There are the times I changed lanes or take a different route only to witness or hear about an accident where I would have been had I not changed.
• There are the times my alarm fails to go off or I fall asleep and suddenly I wake up for no apparent reason right when I need to.
• There are those times I am feeling down and completely out of the blue, I hear from someone with just the right words of encouragement or love.
• There are those times when I am internally nudged to call someone - only to find they were in need of a friend right at that moment.
• There are times I may trip or stumble, only to catch myself at the last minute and avoid injury.
• There are those times someone suddenly pops into my mind and I add them to prayer, only to learn later they really needed prayers right at that moment.
• There are those ideas or inspirations that suddenly pop into my head from out of the blue when I am trying to design a retreat or class.
• There are those "aha moments" when the problem I am trying to solve becomes clear and I know just how I need to proceed.

While some may chalk these moments up to fate, luck or skill - I am certain that my guardian angel has a hand in them and so I quietly whisper a thank you for the help.

So my question becomes, "Have you thanked your guardian angel today?"

Partner in Prayer Opening Blessing

Tonight was the beginning of Partners in Prayer for this school year. Partners in Prayer is a ministry where college students sign up to partner with a Sister from our community for the year. The partners agree to pray for each other all year and each week the student joins our community for Vespers and Supper. This year we have over 80 students participating in the program! What a blessing these partners are to our community. Below are a few photos from the evening.

The gathering begins

Our youngest partner

Meeting for the first time

Reconnecting with partners from last year

Gathering in the dining room for introductions

Prayer begins

A moment of silence

Many are chanting for the first time

Prayers are offered for a blessed year

Final blessing of all the partners

Kansas State Fair

Today and tomorrow I am spending all day and night at the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson. Several communities are co-sponsoring a booth "The Catholic Sisters of Kansas". It is always a wonderful chance to meet a wide variety of people, pass out some pencils and holy cards and offer a book for people to write prayer requests that are passed on to all the different communities. Each community has two full days that they are in charge of the booth. Sr. Rosann and I have gone together the past several years and have a really lovely time. Above is a photo of me standing next to the wheel that people spin for a holy card or pencil.

This is a live owl that was at one of the booths in a nearby building. This is a sculpture made completely out of butter. The theme this year was "Check Out the Stud" Finally, I thought I would attach a couple little video clips of the pig races I attended - who would have thought those little guys could run so fast! The winner received an oreo cookie so I guess that was great motivation.

I can't wait for what tomorrow brings!

Pelicans

This weekend I spent some time out at our lake house. The house is about 7 miles outside of Atchison and has a wonderful picture window that overlooks a very little lake . While it is always wonderful to have a relaxing weekend and enjoy the nature that wanders by, this weekend was particularly wonderful in that there was a flock of about 40 pelicans that were hanging out on the lake.

Now for those of you who may be confused (as I was my first fall in Atchison) apparently American white pelicans spend their summers in wet prairies and marshes and Atchison is right on the migration path of a group of pelicans as they head to their winter lodgings. Every year they stop on by for a rest on our little lake. They were quite a wonder to behold.

This morning at prayers, the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross, I started thinking about what an appropriate weekend for the pelicans to show up. The pelican, for those of you who don't know, is a common Christian symbol. Legend has it that, in times of famine, a mother pelican will pluck her own breast and feed her young with her blood, resulting in her death. The pelican is thus an apt symbol for the crucifixion of Christ, which he suffered willingly for the sake of the church.

How interesting that on this Feast Day the pelican should show up to remind us the beauty in giving of ourselves for others. A great reminder for us all.

Interrupted Lives

Over the weekend, our community had the opportunity to preview a documentary that will be shown on September 13 on ABC (this may vary according to your location). The documentary is called "Interrupted Lives: Catholic Sisters Under European Communism" It was a powerful documentary on the situation faced by many women religious after WWII in the Communist occupied countries. Here is a description taken from their website:

Interrupted Lives: Catholic Sisters Under European Communism is a one-hour TV documentary that explores the oppression of Catholic Sisters in Eastern Europe under Soviet domination. This period began in 1948 after World War 2 ended and lasted roughly until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

During this 40-year period, the Catholic Church as well as other religions were harassed, suppressed and driven underground by the atheistic Soviet regimes across various European countries. However, this documentary will focus specifically on the plight of Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic Sisters whose schools, hospitals and motherhouses were seized; who were forbidden to meet publicly or privately and accept new members; who were forced to work on farms or factories when they were no longer allowed to serve as teachers or nurses for fear of “contaminating” others with their beliefs; who were imprisoned or sent in exile to Siberia and other camps as political punishment for resistance; who were forbidden to wear their community habits and veils; whose convents were seized by the state; who were forced to live secretly in ones and twos in apartments as laywomen; and who were kept segregated in “concentration convents” with limited access to family and friends. Many Sisters suffered imprisonment, exile, torture, deportations and surveillance during this period.

The program will make extensive use of interviews with the Sisters who endured this treatment for over 40 years. Many of these “Sisters Survivors” (now in their 80s and 90s) offer amazing stories of courage and fidelity in the face of this bleak political repression. The producers have made two trips to Eastern Europe, visiting Lithuania, Ukraine, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia to conduct interviews and shoot video footage at the convents, monasteries, schools, motherhouses, prisons and concentration convents where the experiences took place.

Concordia, Kansas Sisters of St. Joseph Margaret Nacke, CSJ and Mary Savoie, CSJ, who have been collecting testimonies and researching the experiences of Eastern European Sisters for about 5 years, serve as executive producers of the program. Sylvania, OH Franciscan Sister Judy Zielinski, a documentary filmmaker on staff at NewGroup Media in South Bend, IN, is writing and producing the program.

Interrupted Lives has been selected by the US Catholic Bishops’ Communications Department as one of its 2009 programs for the Interfaith Broadcast Commission TV series and is slated to air on ABC affiliates in the fall. Dates and air times have not yet been announced.

It is a difficult subject to watch but the story is one I am sure many people are completely unfamiliar with.

Office Companion

Well I am not one who usually likes spiders. OK to be perfectly honest I really don't like spiders at all. They are the one thing that really creeps me out. But one morning early this summer, I walked into my office to find this really cool spider web between my screen and my window. If you can not tell from the photos, it is this wonderfully beautiful tunnel that is in an interesting "V" shape.

Since I really admired the beauty of the web, I had a little chat with the spider (through the glass of course) that if it stayed in that designated location, I would allow it to stay. Well throughout the summer the web has changed and grown in many different ways and it is always one of the first things I notice as I walk into my office. I believe the spider has enjoyed the location as well for there seems to be quite a few bugs that fly outside my second story window.

But as we all know time moves on and with fall creeping into our weather in Atchison, I am to the point of opening up my windows to let the cool breeze in my office, which means my little office companion will have to find a new home. So this afternoon, Sr. Elizabeth is going to relocate my office companion to a new location. (She is good at things involving spiders and other creepy crawly things). So in tribute to my spider and the unique beauty it has brought to my world, I have returned to the world of the blog with a new determination to blog weekly. Feel free to remind me if I forget.

How good God is to bring beauty into our lives in many unexpected ways!