On Mustard: the call to be pesty weeds for God

This Sunday's Gospel story includes the parable about mustard seed. The best reflection I have ever heard on this comes from Sister Pat Farrell's 2012 address at LCWR:

Joyful hope is the hallmark of genuine discipleship. We look forward to a future full of hope, in the face of all evidence to the contrary. Hope makes us attentive to signs of the inbreaking of the Reign of God. Jesus describes that coming reign in the parable of the mustard seed.

Let us consider for a moment what we know about mustard. Though it can also be cultivated, mustard is an invasive plant, essentially a weed. The image you see is a variety of mustard that grows in the Midwest. Some exegetes tell us that when Jesus talks about the tiny mustard seed growing into a tree so large that the birds of the air come and build their nest in it, he is probably joking. To imagine birds building nests in the floppy little mustard plant is laughable. It is likely that Jesus’ real meaning is something like Look, don’t imagine that in following me you’re going to look like some lofty tree. Don’t expect to be Cedars of Lebanon or anything that looks like a large and respectable empire. But even the floppy little mustard plant can support life. Mustard, more often than not, is a weed. Granted, it’s a beautiful and medicinal weed. Mustard is flavorful and has wonderful healing properties. It can be harvested for healing, and its greatest value is in that. But mustard is usually a weed. It crops up anywhere, without permission. And most notably of all, it is uncontainable. It spreads prolifically and can
take over whole fields of cultivated crops. You could even say that this little nuisance of a weed was illegal in the time of Jesus. There were laws about where to plant it in an effort to keep it under control.

Now, what does it say to us that Jesus uses this image to describe the Reign of God? Think about it. We can, indeed, live in joyful hope because there is no political or ecclesiastical herbicide that can wipe out the movement of God’s Spirit. Our hope is in the absolutely uncontainable power of God. We who pledge our lives to a radical following of Jesus can expect to be seen as pesty weeds that need to be fenced in. If the weeds of God’s Reign are stomped out in one place they will crop up in another. I can hear, in that, the words of Archbishop Oscar Romero “If I am killed, I will arise in the Salvadoran people.”

And so, we live in joyful hope, willing to be weeds one and all. We stand in the power of the dying and rising of Jesus. I hold forever in my heart an expression of that from the days of the dictatorship in Chile: “Pueden aplastar algunas flores, pero no pueden detener la primavera.” “They can crush a few flowers but they can’t hold back the springtime.” 

How/where are you called to be a pesty weed for the reign of God?

Coming home and Celebrations

I've spent the past week or so with my Sisters at our western regional center, St. Mary on the Lake (aka "groovy sister hq) on the shores of Lake Washington. It is always such a joy to return to St. Mary on the Lake, which more and more I consider in my heart to be "home." There is nothing quite like praying in the chapel with my Sisters (and one day last week we even had an eagle sitting on a tree outside the window during morning prayer!) or laughing and trading stories around the table in the dining room.

For the first part of my visit, I was alone on the guest room floor of one of our residence buildings. But as our Jubilee celebrations approach (they are this afternoon), Sister by Sister the rooms filled up. Last night I came home to hear raucous laughter in the hallway as Sisters who have come home for Jubilee from various places took time to catch up with one another.

Today we will be celebrating three women who have collectively lived 170 years of love and service as Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace. Sister Louise is celebrating an amazing 70 years (and still going strong!), while Sisters Alexandra and Pauline are celebrating 50 years.

I am returning to my favorite jubilee "job" as photographer ... so stay tuned for some photographs of the joyous celebration.

Silly Blog Quiz ... Trees

It's been almost a week since my last post. For those of you who actually check this page expecting to see something new, my apologies.  School is busy and my course content is rather intense this semester, with courses in topics such as the ethics of power and racial justice, spirituality of human rights abuse survivors, and sexual ethics.  Hence, on this snowy Saturday morning before I dive into my homework I give you a silly blog quiz on trees. That's about all my brain can handle.

You Are Smart and Reflective

You are a brilliant and independent thinker. Ideas are important to you. You need a lot of alone time to develop your theories and views. You are an introvert. You get along with anyone who likes to think and learn. You are never superficial. You spend a lot of time thinking about morality. You try to do what's right, even if most of society disagrees.

The Tree Test

Blogthings: Learn Something Surprising About Yourself

Why did I pick a blog quiz about trees?  Because this transplanted Pacific Northwesterner who is sojourning in the Mid West for her graduate studies misses trees.  Don't get me wrong, I'm looking out the window on this March morning and looking at trees.  But they are bare of any green leaves, standing strong in the midst of snow flurries, with no sign of green in the near future.  Meanwhile, my inner sense of seasons, trained from 20+ years in the PNW, is yearning for green.  Tall green cedars and lush green forests, nourished by a light gentle mist.

So I picked this quiz.  I picked this tree.  And discovered that this is apparently where I am supposed to be right now. I don't know that I'm brilliant, but I do enjoy playing with the world of ideas and how they apply to the world at large.  I need to remind myself that this is why I am here, this is why my community encouraged me to engage in academic studies, so that I could have some time and the resources to learn more, delve into theology and ethics, and develop some of these ideas. 

And while I still miss green and forests, I know where to find them.  Our reading week coincides with Holy Week, and I will be heading back to Seattle to spend some time in the forest with our Sisters. By the time I come back to Chicago, it will be April and surely signs of spring will be visible here as well.

In the meantime, back to my studies!

Peace Out.

All Saints Week - Narcisa de Jesús Martillo

One of my favorite aspects of Catholic Spirituality is the communion of Saints, holy men and women who have walked the Christian path before us. Models, spiritual friends, intercessors. Pretty groovy. So, this week in honor of the Feast of All Saints I thought I'd feature some new-to-me Saints here on Musings of a Discerning woman.

Today's Saint ... Narcisa de Jesús Martillo was born in 1832 in a small Ecuadorian village.  Her mother died when she was 6 and Narcisa was called to help with domestic chores.  She used to take her spare moments in the woods near her house, praying near a guyabo tree. Her father died when she was 19 and she moved to Guayaquil.  This is when she began her mission of helping people who were poor, the sick, and abandoned children.  She funded her mission by taking a job as a seamstress.  She also supported her eight brothers and sisters. Eventually, she moved to Lima and lived as a lay person in a Dominican convent. She died on December 8, 1869. She was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008.

Read more about her here and here.

Merton on Peace: Spirituality & Practice of Nonviolence

Facing our spiritual and moral crisis, Thomas Merton sought authentic spiritual roots for a Christian spirituality of nonviolence.  He found them in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's Gospel:

“The chief place in which this new mode of life is set forth in detail is the Sermon on the Mount." (Blessed are the Meek: the Christian Roots of Nonviolence)

“The Beatitudes indeed convey a profound existential understanding of the dynamic of the Kingdom of God—a dynamic made clear in the parables of the mustard seed and the yeast.  This is the dynamism of patient and secret growth, in belief that out of the smallest, weakest, and most insignificant seed the greatest tree will come. This is not merely a matter of blind and arbitrary faith. The early history of the Church, the record of the apostles and martyrs remains to testify to this inherent and mysterious dynamism of the ecclesial ‘event’ in the world of history and time  Christian nonviolence is rooted in this consciousness of faith.”  (Blessed are the Meet: the Christian Roots of Nonviolence).                                

He was profoundly challenged by some acts of resistance to the Vietnam war which he felt went too far in the wrong direction away from this alternative vision of the Beatitudes.  In particular he was shaken when Roger Laporte, a former Cistertian novice, poured gasoline to burn himself in front of the US mission to the UN.  No doubt this led to some deep prayer and soul searching.  What resulted were 7 conditions that Merton felt were required for honesty in the practice of Christian Nonviolence:

1. “Nonviolence must be aimed above all at the transformation of the present state of the world . . .”
2. For Christians in powerful nations, nonviolent resistance “will have to be clearly not for [themselves] but for others, that is the poor and underprivileged.”
3. Given the threat of nuclear war, “above all nonviolence must avoid a facile and fanatical self-righteousness and refrain from being satisfied with dramatic self-justifying gestures.”
4. “[T]he Christian humility of nonviolent action must establish itself in the minds and memories of [the] modern [human person] not only as conceivable and possible, but as a desirable alternative.”
5. “The absolute refusal of evil or suspect means is a necessary element in the witness of nonviolence.”
6. “This mission of Christian humility in social life is not merely to edify, but to keep minds open to many alternatives.”
7. “Christian hope and Christian humility are inseparable.  The quality of nonviolence is decided largely by the purity of the Christian hope behind it.”
   (Blessed are the Meek: The Christian Roots of Nonviolence)

[This is the fourth post in a series.  Click on these links for the first, second and third posts.]

safe landings

This evening was filled with an annoyance that, while it seemed rather big at the time, in the grand scheme of things is not that big of a deal.  My car died ... and had to be towed to the mechanics where it is now waiting to be diagnosed.

But let me step back a bit.  This evening after work, I drove over to the home of one of our CSJP Associates who joins my house every few weeks, along with another Sister and Associate, for dinner, conversation and prayer.  In the parlance of religious life, this is often known as "community night," a sacred time.

I was picking her up because driving isn't so easy for her anymore, but she still enjoys our time together.  She lives close to Seattle Center and what Seattleites know as the "Mercer Mess," a mess of streets that is notorious for icky traffic.  They've been reconfiguring the mess so the construction has made it even worse.  There was lots of stop and go.  Mostly stop, not much go.  We had plenty of time before we needed to be at Grace House for the scrumptious meal prepared by one of the other Sisters I live with, so we took the time to catch up.

Eventually we made it very close to Grace House.  At the bottom of the particularly steep Seattle hill where we live, my car felt a little funny, almost like it skipped a gear.  It was drizzling so I had the windshield wipers running.  We made it up the hill, but the car felt strange and the wipers started to m-o-v-e  v-e--r---r---y  s-l-o----w--l---y.

Whew.  Top of the hill achieved, I pulled to the corner so she could get out easily, across the street from our house, with the toe of the car in the intersection.  Stupidly, or smartly, I turned the car off after she was safely on the sidewalk, thinking turning it off and on might fix it.  Of course, I was thinking computers not cars.  I turned the key.  The car was having none of it.  It was done.  Finished.  No go.

So I encouraged my friend to go into the house.  I pulled out the cell phone, called AAA, and arranged a tow which was "expedited" because having the toe of my car in the intersection meant I was partly blocking traffic.  Expedited of course meant 40 minutes.

I waited in the car with the hazzards on, hoping folks didn't hit me as they turned the corner--there were a few near misses--while community night started inside.  They offered to bring me food, but I figured the whole enterprise wouldn't take too long.  I did ask one of my community members to bring me the book I've been reading.

Sure enough, eventually the tow truck came, along with a very dark cloud and a gigantic bucket full of rain. I pulled out my phone to call one of my housemates who was going to follow the tow truck with me to the mechanic so I could leave my keys and car there.  Her cell phone was on silent so she missed the call.  I then pulled up the house number on the screen and was ready to call when the rain made my smart phone start thinking for itself.  I saw the number of the house, but before my finger could hit the touch screen a rain drop would touch the screen and it would make another of my contacts a "favorite."  This went on for what seemed like hours while the tow truck driver hooked up the car, mere seconds in reality I am sure.  So I went across the street, up the steps to the house, and rang the door bell until one of my housemates came to the rescue.  In the meantime, the buckets of rain had made swift business of my water resistant rain coat.

To speed up the story, we made it to the mechanics behind the tow truck who was obviously following his GPS directions and went up and down very scary roads, corners and bumps in the night that I wouldn't want to do while towing a little hyundai accent.  I closed my eyes a few times (thankfully Chero was driving.) We made it, and he got my car into the corner of the mechanic's parking lot by driving backwards with great skill.  (Read, I again closed my eyes).  I filled out the form, put my keys in the envelope and dropped it in the slot before getting into Chero's car and driving back with her to our house where I put on dry clothes, helped myself to a heaping bowl of warm chilli and joined the end of a great conversation.

Whew.  So that's the story of my evening.  Thanks for allowing me to backtrack, but here's the main point.  Yes, this is a slight annoyance.  But I have community to support me.  Just as the car miraculously made a soft landing up the hill almost to the door of the house before it died, my post-car-dying experience in the next few days, while inconvenient, will also be a soft landing.  I know of what I speak.  When I was a singleton, I dealt with multiple car issues.  When an uninsured driver side swiped me, or when a tree came out of nowhere to knock my side mirror off to name a few. I remember thinking ... how am I going to afford the repairs?  How will I get where I need to go in the meantime?  I have walked the path of having to sort all this out by my lonesome.

Now I have what I sometimes think of, parodoxically, as the luxury of poverty.  It's not all up to me to sort this out.  Yes, I will still need to walk through all the steps.  First thing tomorrow I need to call the mechanic and ask them to diagnose the problem.  I need to call our community car folks to let them know about the problem, check to see whether we want to fix this car or not, then confer with the mechanic again, and eventually ask the community to transfer the money to our house account so I can pay the bill.  In the meantime I need to call groovy sister hq and see if there is another community car I can use this weekend.  The last one is the stickiest part of the inconvenience, as I'm planning to drive down to Portland this weekend for my god-daughter's first communion on Saturday before driving back to Seattle in time to give a presentation at a local parish on Sunday.

Ultimately however, I have the safe landing of community in many ways.  Sometimes when people find out I am a Sister, they look wistfully at me and make some comment about all I've given up.  But I look at my life, at the members of my community who I can celebrate or commiserate with, at the wealth of experience and opportunity that comes from sharing our resources, at the web of relationships that enliven and support me, and I think of all that I've gained.

Still, I would be a much happier camper if none of this happened and if we'd just been able to park the car, head into the house, and had our regular community night.  But life is just a wee bit messier than that!

Decorating Grace House

Grace House is decorated for Christmas!  One of my housemates is on retreat this week but my other housemate and I had fun this morning decorating the house while we listened to Christmas music (including Sufjan Stevens of the video clip below).

I put out my manger set this year.  Past years I haven't put it out because one of my housemates had her own quite substantial collection of nativity sets and it just seemed like to much to add one more.  She's moved though, so I put mine out.  It's simple and reminds me of my mom's.  I'm going to be in California with my sister's family on Christmas day so I had to tell my housemate where I was hiding baby Jesus and ask her to put him out next Sunday.  The 3 Kings and their 2 camels are starting their long trek through the dining room. They should make it to the manger by Epiphany I think.  That was always my job as a kid, walking the kings through the house, every day a little closer.  Yes, I'm a grown up now but it's still a fun tradition.

Lastly, I set up my little mini Christmas tree.  When I closed up my apartment, I gave away the majority of my Christmas decorations. I kept the manger, and I kept a small collection of ornaments that mean something to me.  I have a little artificial tree that is just big enough for my few ornaments. It's cute and keeps me connected to Christmas memories past.  However, it already has lights on it so I couldn't put the lights on the tree.  But I could sing this song!

Happy last week of Advent everyone.  May your preparations be merry.

deepening and being still

This afternoon I took a break from my ministry to head to west coast groovy sister hq. The Sisters were welcoming a special guest for liturgy and lunch ... our new Arcbhishop. This was the second time I have met Archbishop Sartain. He seems to be a deeply prayerful man, kind and simple in the best way possible. It said volumes for who he is as a pastor to see him with our frail Sisters after lunch, kneeling down to speak one-on-one with them.

Liturgy was memorable. For one thing, the Archbishop's homily was what I needed to hear in the midst of my busy-ness. He remarked that many people might be surprised to hear that women religious and clergy are busy. "Some might think we just sit around until Sunday!" He recognized the reality of our busy schedules, but invited us to go into the deep, to be still, and to find our root in Jesus who is everything. He of course said all that much more eloquently, but that I think was the core message.

The other reason liturgy was memorable was on account of what was happening outside. Our chapel at St. Mary-on-the-Lake, as the name implies, looks out on Lake Washington. We sometimes have other special visitors on our grounds, namely eagles. You can occasionally hear their cries and see them perched in the high reaches of the magnificent evergreens.

This morning however, just as the Archbishop was beginning the Eucharistic prayer, one of our feathered friends swooped down from the sky and perched on the top of a tree near the water. Sitting very still, he or she sat there, on top of the tree, through the rest of the liturgy. From our perspective, it appeared as if the bird was looking directly into the Chapel. At the close of liturgy, I saw a number of the Sisters urge the Archbishop to the window to see the bird, still perching high on the top of the tree.

All in all, it was a nice break from my day. I'm glad I was able to break away from the office and join our Sisters in welcoming our new Archbishop for what I hope was the first of many visits.

Tree Blessing

We have two new community members here at Grace House ... of the arboreal variety. We decided to plant two Japanese Maples both to beautify our not very beautiful parking strip, and as a concrete way of living out our CSJP commitment to care for creation.

After our house meeting this afternoon--during which we calculated our carbon footprint and talked about ways to reduce our footprint--we went outside for a simple tree blessing.

May these Japanese Maple trees
be trees of life to all the earth.
May their leaves breathe forth
the life-breath of oxygen.
May they give to all who look upon them
the gift of life-renewing beauty.
May these trees be a reminder to us
of our commitment to be peacemakers
and support the integrity of creation.

God of all creation, we give you thanks for the gift of Earth, our home. Bless our efforts to cherish and protect your creation. We ask this in the name of Jesus our brother and the Spirit who gives us life. Amen.

a view from my bed

I am not a morning person, by any stretch of the imagination. During my novitiate experience I spent 3 months in London working at a homeless day center. Our house was about an hour out the the central city by bus, and I had to be there between 6:30 and 6:45 am to begin serving coffee at 7. Do the math and you can see that I had to get up VERY early. The only way I managed to make it work was to shift my internal clock, going to bed at 8pm.

For some people, of course, that is normal - going to be at 8pm and waking up at 4am. For me, not so much. But sometimes, like this morning, I have early morning commitments and need to be out the door by 7. It's out of the norm and so I am usually, like last night, unable to go to bed early, and end up feeling a bit groggy in the morning. Groggy, but manageable once in a while.

Why do I bring this up? Only because in part of my struggle to wake up and get out of bed in the morning, I open my window blinds which I can pull from the bed and look outside. Our house is in a city neighborhood, and so mainly I see our neighbor's house, and a glimpse of our cherry tree. I also see the power lines, and in particular the t-type structure where the power lines come together.

This morning, when I opened my eyes (after earlier opening them to open the blinds and then closing my eyes to catch another little snooze), I saw the t-type structure, which looked decidedly like a cross or crucifix. Obviously, the shape is the same. But this morning, without my glasses, and with the way the light was playing on the power line structure, I found myself thinking of Jesus. Thinking of the people with crosses to bear in their daily lives, struggles far deeper and wider than my own 7:30 am meeting. And I prayed. A nice way to wake up in the morning.

nice christmas

I had a very nice community Christmas. A good mixture of fun and laughter, prayer and celebration, good food and conversation. This is my 5th CSJP Community Christmas, celebrated in my 4th house (I had one with my Candidate house, 2 in the Novitiate Community, 1 at St. Mary-on the Lake, and 1 at Grace House which included a visit at St. Mary-on-the-lake). Each celebration has been a little different, based on the personalities and traditions. It's always fun to find the best way to celebrate this amazing feast together. I think our local community did a great job of deciding how we'd like to spend the day together this year.

I was also able to connect with family via phone and email. I used to go home for Christmas every other year, although these days there isn't really a "home" anymore anyway since we sold the family house after my mom died. Still, it's important to share the day with them too, even if by distance. Entering a religious community doesn't mean that you close off connections with family and friends. Instead, you find new ways to keep those connections strong as you build new memories with your religious community.

I'm looking forward to the post-Christmas weekend, which is a 3 day weekend for me. I'm planning to see a few movies and work on an almost over due project. I've also got a new book that was under the tree for me which I might try to start reading tonight before bed.

I hope your Christmas was filled with fun, laughter and celebration!

Decorating Grace House

We decorated our house today! Up until now we've been an oasis of Advent in a sea of Christmas (our neighbors have gone all out!). We put aside most of the day to decorate our house as a house today. It was fun and reminded me of this song by Sufjan Stevens:



Actually, the tree already had lights on it. We used the little mini artificial Christmas tree that I brought with me. When I closed up my apartment prior to entering, I gave away most of my Christmas decorations. I figured (rightly) that any communities I would live with would have more than enough decorations. But there were some ornaments that meant a lot to me. The 3 Kings that my parents bought on a trip to Puerto Rico when I was a baby. Ornaments given to me by my mom and other family members. So I pared down and kept a smattering of ornaments and got a mini tree that they'd fit on. This was the tree I had in my apartment my last Christmas in Portland. And now it's here!

I also had a few other additions to our community decorations -- including a wreath my mother made years ago that is now on the door to our living room. It may be the last Sunday of Advent tomorrow, but in my house it looks a lot like Christmas!

It was a good community day! Now off to a cookie exchange!

4th thoughts

I've never really liked the fourth of July ... well, mostly I've never enjoyed the whole blowing up of things to celebrate our independence concept. When I was little, we'd go to Allens Pond to watch the fireworks ... and I'd end up hiding under the blanket till they were over. In college and my single girl years in Portland, I'd go to the Blues Festival on the Waterfront with people to be socialable ... and enjoy the fireworks, but NOT the crowds! In later years, I'd spend the night of the 4th at home. But that brought problems of it own, as my neighbors insisted on lighting off their own fireworks and almost burning down the neighborhood. Seriously, a tree once caught fire. Eventually, I came up with my own solitary 4th of July ritual. About 9:45 PM, I'd get in my car and drive to Safeway to go grocery shopping. I'd have the store almost entirely by myself, and by the time I got home the smoke would still be hanging around but the fireworks would be over.

Tonight I sat on a bench in our meditation garden here at St. Mary-on-the-lake and listened to the firework shows in Downtown Bellevue and in the distance in Renton and Seattle's Gas Works Park. I could see the Seattle ones poking through the trees, as well as assorted home-blown fireworks here and there. I found myself praying ....

... for all those people in the world for whom the sound of "rockets red glare, bombs bursting in air" mean, quite literally, those things. We celebrate our independence by fireworks. But I think we forget the reality of people in war. I know animals have a hard time on the 4th, but I've often wondered what the day is like for veterans and refugees of war. I'd imagine it brings thoughts and memories to heart and mind.

We have exported our wars. They are no longer on our own soil so we don't know what it sounds like. But I imagine it might sound a little bit like what I heard on the bench this evening ... but without all the fanfare and with much more devestation.

Please join me in taking a moment to pray for peace. To pray for the safety of those called to serve their countries in the military. To pray for courage and wisdom for world leaders to follow the nonviolent path. To pray for the safety and security of civilians caught in the crossfires of war. To pray for the day when we all may realize the reality that we are one family and live together, in peace.

Christmas Eve at St. Mary on the Lake

This was my first Christmas Eve here with the Sisters at St. Mary-on-the-Lake. The house is beautifully decorated by Sr. Noreen and her many helpers. We have fewer visitors than we normally would, because of the snow, but there is a festive feel in the air!

We have a tradition that our most elder Sister has the privilege of carrying the baby Jesus into the crib on Christmas Eve. Sr. Loretta (in white) carried him in on her walker and placed him ever so carefully in the manger while everyone watched. We had blessed the crib first, and then sang Silent Night.

After our evening meal we gathered in our community room for a little Christmas party. My father had sent a beautiful plant arrangement last week, which decorated the table perfectly!

Our party had the usual features ... we gathered around our beautiful Christmas tree, gifts and cards were distributed, and Santa made an appearance!




Tomorrow morning, my friend Fr. Steve will be coming to celebrate mass with us. He's in town visiting his brother and we're lucky that he'll be visiting us as well! It's always a treat when he presides at liturgy.

In the afternoon we're having Christmas dinner, and it looks like the friend I'd invited will be able to come after all! It should be a wonderful celebration.

Peace to you all this Christmas Eve and tomorrow and always.

Put the Lights on the Tree

I've got a case of snow induced lethargy - clever blog posts are hard to come by. So instead, I thought I'd share a newish favorite Christmas song. It's actually a few years old - "Put the Lights on the Tree" by Sufjan Stevens. We have several beautifully decorated Christmas trees here at groovy sister hq. Sister Noreen and her helpers have done an amazing job making everything super Christmasy. I cannot believe that tomorrow is Christmas Eve! Where exactly did Advent go?

snowy adventure and mysterious music

This afternoon I spent some quiet time in our Chapel. Normally our Chapel looks out on Lake Washington - today it looked out on a winter wonderland. It was getting dark on this shortest day of the year as I sat there, and it was quite beautiful to sit there in prayer watching it all.

After my Chapel time, I joined folks in our community room. They were watching the The Priests sing on PBS. There I was, enjoying the music and admiring our beautiful Christmas tree when .... POOF ... utter darkness! Luckily my cell phone worked really well as a flashlight in the darkness. Our generator came on, and I helped some of the Sisters find their way to the dining room. Apparently in the case of power failure, our generator provides some light - mostly in the hallways, dining room and kitchen.

I was heading to my room to get my real flashlight before dinner, when someone said I had a phone call. One of our Sisters who lives up the hill in a little hermitage type house was calling to ask if I could come and get her. It made sense since our house had some heat and light and her house had none. So I headed up to my room anyway to get my flashlight and put on my snow gear. Then I headed out in the snowy darkness up the hill to find my car.

The car that I was assigned is the only all wheel drive vehicle in the house - and I have snow tires. I parked it up in the overflow parking lot at the top of the hill in case I needed to go somewhere in an emergency. Yesterday I'd picked up someone who was coming for Christmas. The car had been clear of snow then, and tonight it had at least 6 inches that I needed to clear off. It all worked out fine, although I did have to stop a few times to shake tree branches that were heavy with snow and blocking the driveway. I got safely to her house, picked her up, dropped her off at the main house, and took my car back up to the overflow parking lot.

As I was walking carefully back down the hill through the snowy darkness, I heard music. Sweet music. "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas," the music said. No kidding I said back. The music continued. It was amplified, and I was mystified. How is this possible I thought, the power is out! Then it dawned on me .... The Christmas Ships* must be sailing by our part of the shoreline this snowy evening.

I made it safely back in inside, had a nice hot bowl of soup and PB&J in the company of my sisters, and then (obviously as I am now writing this down for posterity using an electronic computing device) the power came back on.

May it stay on - they lost power here for 10 days a few years ago!

Pray for all those affected by these adverse weather conditions.
Help out when you can.
And stay safe, warm and dry.

*For those of you wondering what a "Christmas Ship" is, it's a Seattle tradition. Every night in December a ship sails on Lake Washington or Lake Union with Christmas music performers on board. They make two stops - usually near a park on the shore - and blast the concert to the shore using loud speakers. I actually went on the Christmas Ship earlier this month with a group of Sisters. It was a lot of fun!

Odd Shots Monday: To Climb or Not to Climb

I've never been one for tree climbing, so when I saw this sign at Topsmead State Forest in Connecticut last month, I wasn't fazed. It's enough for me to simply enjoy the company of my arboreal friends.

That's not the odd shot. The odd shot is this conversation on the comments and suggestion board at the park.


It's a little hard to read the handwriting in the photo, so I'll transcribe it below:

Comment: Yah-Hoo! Let us climb trees!! bye

Response: The trees are old and tired. Many have rotted limbs. For your safety - please stay out of trees!

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prayer with a tree theme

I've been re-reading my journal entries for the past couple of years. This is an old habit of mine. Periodically I will take a few days to reread all of my diaries and journals from childhood to today. Sadly, most of my journals are in storage in Portland. The farthest back I can go on this trip down memory lane is back to the spring before I entered the novitiate.

Today I found a little prayer I wrote during my first weeks of the Novitiate.

Root me in your love
Plant seeds of hope
of patience
of love
of joy
of compassion.
Nourish these seeds
so that I may grow strong and tall
in faith, hope and love.
Let my fruits fall freely
to feed and nourish body and soul.
Bend my branches.
Blow my leaves in the wind,
so that I will know and experience
the constancy of your love.
In all. Through all. With all.
Amen

It's amazing to me how much trees have played a part of my spiritual journey these two years!

As to the prayer, all I have to say is be careful what you pray for! ;)

Anne Frank

Today is the birthday of Anne Frank. If she were alive today, she'd be 79 years old.

You can read the story of Anne Frank here. There's also an interactive monument where you can "leave a leaf" in her tree ...

One of my novice-housemates shared this quote from the teenage Anne Frank during morning prayer today:

I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness; I hear the ever approaching thunder, which will destroy us too; I can feel the sufferings of millions; and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will become right, that this cruelty will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again. ... I must uphold my ideals, for perhaps the time will come when I shall be able to carry them out.

Powerful.

RevGalBlogPal Friday Five with a View

It's been a while since I've played the RevGalBlogPal Friday Five, so here goes ...

1. How important is the "big picture" to you, do you need a glimpse of the possibilities or are you a details person?

This is such an interesting Friday Five, because this morning during morning mass I found myself contemplating the idea of vision, and especially the vision needed to be a leader. I was thinking that the "great leaders" were able to think big, to glimpse the possibilities. But they also had room for how to get there and invited other people to participate in both the vision and the details. Most important, I think, is that instinctively they knew not to get so lost in the vision that they missed out on the human bits. At the same time, they realized that the vision is bigger than us. God's the master dreamer.

2. If the big picture is important to you how do you hold onto it in the nitty gritty details of life?

I'd say I'm a big picture person, but my brain is also always thinking of the details of how you get there. I get lost in the details sometimes, or rather I get "married" to "my" details or "my vision" of the big picture. So for me, the key is to hold the two in balance as well as to remind myself to remain open to other possibilities and broader participation. This is something I'm working on, and most likely will be working on my entire life!

3. Name a book, poem, psalm, piece of music that transports to to another dimension ( one....what am I thinking....)

A scripture quote isn't one of the options, but this one comes to mind: "For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment and will not disappoint; If it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late." (Habakuk 2:3)

It reminds me that whatever vision I, or the community I'm a part of, might have, really it's God's vision and God's time that matters. We're just part of how that all unfolds.

Which reminds me of this quote I came across the other day from Dom Helder Camera: "When we are dreaming alone it is only a dream. When we are dreaming with others, it is a beginning of reality."

(So I cheated and had two!)

4.Thinking of physical views, is there somewhere that inspires you, somewhere that you breathe more easily?

Forests. Me alone, on a trail, surrounded by tall trees up above and lush green mossy things on the ground. Birds chirping, little (non-scary) creatures going about their daily tasks. A little bit of blue sky peaking through the tree canopy. Breathe deeply, take in the smell, breathe out slowly. Aaahhh....

5. A picture opportunity... post one if you can ( or a link to one!)

(Taken on the grounds of west coast groovy sister hq)