Spiritual guides

As we journey through life the Lord uses people to lead us to Him.  Pope Benedict XVI comments on the role of spiritual guides in our life, especially in discerning God's call.  Others often help us "to recognize the voice of God and follow it."  Let us, like Samuel, respond with "Speak Lord, your servant is listening." 

When Loves Sees You

Each one of us has a story.  It is unique just to you, to me.  No one is a like.  My story, your story, is what makes you you.           

What do you think Jesus sees when He looks at you?  What's the first thing that comes to mind?  Weakness? Sin?  Faults?  He doesn't want to look at me?

And yet, HE IS GOD!  He loves you and created you.  Do you trust Him enough to let Him look at you?  Do you trust enough to let Him show you what He really sees?  To let go of what you think He sees? 

Listen to this song and then take some time to be with Him.  He simply wants to be with you.  To love you.  To show you the beauty He sees in you.  Trust Him!

Here are a few lines:

When Love Sees You

Tell me your story
Show me your wounds
And I'll show you what Love sees
When Love looks at you

Hand me the pieces
Broken and bruised
And I'll show what Love sees
When Love looks at you

....now is the time to let Him show you...Love...True Love...Pure Love...His Love...for you...

Time Away with the Lord

Fear, Trust, Love.  What motivates you to respond to God's Will?

This past weekend seven women joined us for our Veni Si Amas Retreat.  What a beautiful weekend of much grace!  Bishop Thomas John Paprocki joined us for Mass and lunch on Saturday to encourage and support these women in their discernment. It was a blessing to have his presence with us. Please keep all young women in your prayers as they seek God's Will! 

Light Has Come

As some of you may know, we have the tradition of doing what we call candle dances.  If you are not familiar, what we do is hold candles and choreograph movements to a song.  It is done in the dark and it is the movement of the light that is watched.   Each year we do one for our Christmas parties for our hospital mission partners, day care center staff and fellow Sisters.  This year we chose the song, Hallelujah (Light Has Come).  It is sung from the perspective of Mary. 

As you enter into this Fourth Week of Advent, may your heart be open and attentive to the Light that comes to set you free.  Let His Light shine in and through you.  He is near.

Veni Si Amas

Veni Si Amas!  What does that mean?  "Come if You Love!" 

Are you a single, young Catholic woman who is seeking God's Will?  Are you in need of a retreat?  You are invited to join us for our next Veni Si Amas Retreat this January 5-8, 2012.  We've added a day to the weekend just for you.  Check out the details:

Who: Single, Catholic women ages 17-30
When: January 5-8, 2012
Arrive Thursday at 6:30/7:00pm and Depart Sunday at 9:00am
Where: St. Francis Convent, Alton, IL
Registration: Fill out this adult or teen form
Questions:  Please contact Sr. M. Consolata at 618.463.2757 or vocations@altonfranciscans.org

Come spend a weekend with the Lord and let Him speak to you! 

Introducing another novice!

I am Sister Mary Francis.  I am 21 years old and originally from St. Louis.
On August 15th of this year, the Feast of the Assumption, I, along with my fellow postulants, received the habit and new religious name, becoming a novice in our community.  The joy I had as the bishop gave me my name is unexplainable.  This name, given to me by Christ, calls me to be set apart totally for Him for "It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me."  I hope to live this life under the guidance and example of our Blessed Mother and St. Francis of Assisi.

When the idea first came up to take my name after such a saint I was more than a little hesitant.  St. Francis had a deep love for our Crucified Lord.  When he gazed upon the cross he saw more than anything else the total, self-emptying love of Christ for a broken and fallen humanity.  He longed to return that love, emptying himself of all earthly desires and clinging to the Gospel.  He desired that the world around him also know of this love, a love seemingly lost in a world of chaos, "that Love may again be loved."

I was hesitant because here was this great saint and there was little me.  The more I read and reflected the more I began to see bits and pieces of how I could begin to imitate such an exemplary saint.  Simply put, I have come to give my life to the God who first loved me.

Now as a novice, I am deepening my understanding of my vocation, striving to answer the question, "What does it mean to be a Sister, a spouse of Christ, rooted in the heart of His bride, the Church, and devoted to the service of His people?"

Roman Missal Review

After people line up for the midnight shows and new releases, newspapers, blogs and magazines abound with reviews.  In keeping with my theory that we should meet the new Roman Missal with even greater energy and enthusiasm, what follows is my ‘review’ of my first experience of praying with the New Roman Missal.

I’ve been Catholic all of my life, attending Sunday Mass from the womb and daily Mass for over ten years, but yesterday felt like the first time.  Even the priest who was celebrating the Mass noted that he was nervous and felt the same way that he did when he celebrated his first mass almost 20 years ago.

This weekend, we all met the new English translation of the Third Edition of the Roman Missal head on.  No more practice and preparation sessions…this was the real deal and will be the real deal for generations to come.  I have been more excited than most people (some would even say I bordered on fanatical) and have spent a great deal of time in study and preparation not only for myself, but also to bring my students deeper into the celebration of the Mass.  But nothing could prepare me for the first run!  It was a matter of jumping in with both feet.  Overall, I’d have to give myself a B since I tripped over the Creed in a few spots and had a lapse back into ‘and also with you.’

It was striking for me to recognize as I prayed the Mass with this translation for the first time last night how automatic my participation in the Liturgy had become over the years.  I’m not sure that ‘automatic’ is the right word as much as ‘imbedded.’  The Mass is so much a part of me, that the responses hardly took thought not because I’m a robot, but because I am Catholic.  This is the language that I was taught from a young age.  It is the language that I speak.  Doctors, lawyers, and sports casters have a language all their own, and so do Catholics.  But ours is the language of the Incarnational God who comes to meet us in these mysteries.  It is not just a collection of any old words, but echoes THE WORD who ‘became flesh and dwelt among us.’  We use this language to meet Him.

Praying the Mass now requires more concentration with each response and thus leads us deeper into the riches of our faith.  While the elevated language may seem awkward at first, it serves its purpose in elevating our minds and hearts to God in a new way.  Despite my occasional stumbles, there were a few points in the Mass that I was moved to tears.  The new translation of the Confiteor stirred my heart with a more concrete sense of sin, and hearing the entire congregation profess Christ as ‘consubstantial’ with the Father and becoming ‘incarnate’ reminded me of the great mystery that we are now preparing for in this Advent season.  I was reminded of the Fathers of the Church who wrote extensively on the beauty of these terms and the martyrs of the early Church who were willing to die in defense of the fullness of the truth. 

The words may have changed, but THE WORD remains and will always remain the same “yesterday, today, and forever.”

For its precision in language, valuable use the transcendental (truth, beauty, goodness, communio), and transformational effects, I give the Roman Missal Third Edition five stars!

-Sister M. Karolyn, FSGM