In the silence ...

Something special happens when we spend time in silence. Surely this has been always true, but I think it is especially so in our post modern world which is full of just so much noise.

I never made a silent retreat until I entered religious life. Although come to think of it, my mother was a contemplative at heart and I spent many an hour sitting with her on the screened in porch on a summer evening, or watching the ocean during summer vacations.

Making an annual retreat is one of the committments/invitations of religious life that have really become essential to my being. When the time roles around on the calendar, by body and spirit knows!

Our CSJP Constitutions put it this way:

We nurture our life of prayer
by reflective reading, particularly Scripture,
by periods of solitude and silence,
and by an annual retreat.

22 simple words. 7 days out of 365. But so very important.

Silence nurtures our spirit and helps us to quiet our own minds enough to really listen and be aware of God's presence which is always around us, within us, and among us.

Enveloped in Bird Song

Normally I live on the south side of Chicago where I hear city noises outside my window: cars driving by, stereos, airplanes overhead, the train clanking on the nearby tracks, and the incessant noise of the car alarm in the middle of the night.

I spent a week on a silent retreat, meaning I was silent and didn't have anyone to talk to. But it was by no means silent. You see, I was enveloped in bird song. So many birds: cardinals, bluejays, orioles (yes, I know those birds because of the sports teams), some wood peckers and so many other beautiful winged creatures with names that remain a mystery to me.

I am not normally a bird aficionado, but this crowd caught my heart.  They also were the soundtrack for my prayers. And an inspiration. I'd like to share with you a poem that I wrote, called "Enveloped in Bird Song," and then share a video of morning prayer with the birds so you can enjoy the experience as well.  First the poem.

"Enveloped in Bird Song"
Morning coffee and prayer
enveloped in bird song, I read:

'Did your heart never fill with wordless
wonder when you heard a bird sing?' [Anthony DeMello, SJ]

Enveloped in bird song, I read:

'Let all the earth cry out to God
with joy! [Psalm 100]

Enveloped in bird song,

I sit,
eyes closed,
ears wide open,
heart softened.

So much joy.
So much wonder.
So much love.

Enveloped in bird song.
Enveloped in bird song.
Enveloped in bird song.
Amen.

And, here's a video for your own morning prayer with the birds!

letting yourself be loved

I read a biography of Pope Francis on retreat (one I borrowed from my Dad whose name is also Francis, my original "Papa Francisco). I found myself touched again reflecting on the simple gestures of his first days.

I also came across this quote from Pope Francis. I read this on the first full day of my retreat, and it really became an invitation to me:

Look, there is someone who wants what is good for you, who calls you by name, who has chosen you. The one thing that is asked of you is that you let yourself be loved. - Pope Francis

The one thing that is asked of me is that I let myself be loved. How simple, yet how powerful is that? God is love, yes, but how often do we really relish in being God's beloved?

As I said, I took this as an invitation, to let myself be loved during my week long hermitage retreat. In prayer. Sitting in the sun. Watching the birds. Using my body to hike up steep hills and then bask in the beauty of the meadow. Enjoying a sunset. Love.

I was also inspired by this quote to create a little video prayer reflection which I'd like to share with you.



Where would you be without God's love?

How do you let yourself be loved?

Plugging In ...

Howdy world. After spending an incredible week with God in the wilderness (literally, I was on a hermitage retreat at Christ in the Wilderness in rural Illinois), I am plugging back in. Checking email, doing laundry, and spending one night in my own bed in Chicago before I fly to Seattle in the morning to spend 10 days with my CSJP Sisters.

This was my first hermitage retreat, and it was an amazing heart opening experience. I took lots of pictures during the week, made a few prayer videos and wrote a few poems that I'll be sharing over the next few days here on the blog. But for now, here's a 3 minute video recap of my week unplugged.

Peace

Gone Hermitaging

Sign from day-use hermitage at Santa Sabina
Retreat Center, San Rafael, CA

In the morning I'm headed to spend a week in silence at a new-to-me retreat center (Christ in the Wilderness). This will be my first hermitage retreat and I am very excited.

To spend time alone with my loving God

To listen, watch, and connect with nature--whistling winds, chirping birds, and who knows what else

To take long walks in the woods, finding my way as I go

To take photographs, draw, and color - if the Spirit moves

Who knows what else will be in store?  I took this photo on retreat a few years ago at Santa Sabina in San Rafael, California. That was not a hermitage retreat, but they had a small hermitage on the campus where you could spend some time during the day and even overnight if you wanted to.

I feel very blessed to have the opportunity for time away. The annual retreat is one of my favorite "have-to's" as a Sister. I sent an email to the nurse at my Dad's assisted living to let her know I'd be away. Her response:  "Enjoy the peace and quiet. I have no idea what that feels like but it sounds lovely."

And so I enter into this week of rest and renewal of my relationship with God, myself and creation in a spirit of deep gratitude and blessing.

Peace

Final Week

It is the final week of the semester, my final week of courses for my MA degree (still have comprehensive exams and thesis to look forward to next year so not yet finished). That means that this final paper for my last MA class that I made myself stop researching for last night must get written this week, preferably before Thursday.

Which means that this is what I should look like for the next two days (If I looked like Jim Carey that is):

But I'm afraid the experience is going to be more like this:

Peaceful Mother's Day

It is hard to believe that my Mom passed away more than ten years ago.  In addition to being an awesome Mom and a great friend, she inspired me by her love and concern for all God's creatures. In her honor, today I continue my bloggy tradition with this re-post.

How many of you know about the original pre-hallmark meaning of the day? Read Julia Ward Howe's Original Mother's Day Proclamation from 1870. Here's a teaser:

"Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts, whether our baptism be that of water or of fears! ... We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own. It says "Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."

Somehow that meaning has gotten lost over the years.  But it is so very important and needed today in a world where so many families are torn apart by violence.  Domestic Violence.  Street Violence.  Violence of war, poverty and oppression.

So, in the midst of final paper writing, I will be spending some time in prayer this Mother's Day in thanksgiving for my own mother who rests in eternal peace, but also in solidarity and love with mothers in war torn countries and the mothers of those serving in the military. This continues to seem to be the most appropriate way to mark the day.

Tweet the Midwife

Tonight at 7PM Central I will be watching (and live-tweeting ... more on that below) Call the Midwife.

For those not in the know, Call the Midwife is a British television show broadcast in the US on PBS which tells the stories of a community of Anglican Sisters and lay midwives who minister to the people of London's East End in the late 1950s. The current series ends on May 18th.

It is an excellent period piece, in my humble opinion, painting a vivid picture of life on the margins in this particular neighborhood in London and the very real women who sought to meet the needs of people living in or near poverty. It also delves into the cultural shifts of this era, in particular for women. The situations and people depicted are very real, not caricatures, but with real depth and complexity.

While the show features a community of Anglican Sisters, I will admit to being particularly fascinated by the series because it causes me to imagine what it must have been for my own Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace living in the UK at this time in history, some of whom were in fact midwives or nurses.

Flash forward to the 21st Century ... inspired by my friend Julie Vieira, IHM of A Nun's Life Ministry, I've started live-tweeting Call the Midwife. That is, as I watch the show, I use the hashtag #callthemidwife on my personal twitter account (@susanfrancois) to comment on the show. In particular, I find myself commenting on aspects of the Sisters lives which are depicted so very well.  For example, here are a few tweets from last week's episode!

Last week, my tweets (along with a few other Sisters who were tweeting) received a bit of attention in the twitterverse!

In the end, it's just a bit of good fun and a way to be a witness and share the fact that not only do vowed women religious still exist today, we can even be a little bit silly.

.

New Adventure ... Global Sisters Report

So, I have some exciting news to share! I've been invited to share a regular column as part of the Global Sisters Report, a project of the National Catholic Reporter funded by the Conrad Hilton Foundation. The column I am contributing to is called "Horizons," in which younger women religious will share about their lives, ministries, spirituality, and world.

My first column was posted today, a reflection on living into the experience of my religious community's chapter act on nonviolence.  Here's a snippet.

“The lens of nonviolence brings new insights and commitments to all aspects of our lives together.” These words come from my religious congregation’s chapter commitment to grow in nonviolence. Over the past six years, this commitment has been both a gift and a challenge to me in my life as a Sister of St. Joseph of Peace, as a daughter of an aging parent, as a friend and colleague – in all of my relationships really. It has become my touchstone and an accountability partner.

Visit the Global Sisters Report to read the rest and lots of other great stuff. I am humbled to be in the virtual company of amazing women such as Elizabeth Johnson and Nancy Sylvester on the GSR website.

I am also excited to be a part of this project because of the NCR connection and my own CSJP Sister, Dorothy Vidulich who passed away almost two years ago. I got to know Dorothy during my years in New Jersey for the Novitiate. She was an amazing woman, writer, advocate, sister, and friend. And, as it happens, she spent many happy years as a correspondent for NCR. I know she is smiling and cheering us on with this new online venture!