These hands are the Lord's hands

As we all know “the Lord has in everything He does a good intention”. To begin an apostolate of serving priests in the year of the priest makes this intention very easy to find. On first glance, these are holy men of God who have spent their lives in his service, and are in fact still spending them. The more I get to know them, I find this is true, but there is more to it than that.

While they stand in the place of Christ, they are also quite human, they struggle with growing older. The failing sight, impaired hearing and unsteady gait that goes along with this part of the journey. Most of them have lived by themselves and are now “living in community” as we know this has its own trials and tribulations. Each has his own personality and way of doing things, yet everyday they come together as one to celebrate the Eucharist, to be Christ who gave himself to the world.

Watching them has taught me that in order to “be Christ” one has to be able to see past our own opinions and reach the person right in front of us who is in need of seeing the Christ we have vowed to make visible. These priests have spent fifty or more years forgiving sins, baptizing, leading lives to heaven and bringing the Eucharist to hungry souls. They have indeed been the hands of Christ. While as Sisters we are called to be his heart to bring his love to the world. Our own hearts must be set on fire with his love, that the flame may be seen by others.

Every day during Mass as I see the aged hands, twisted with arthritis, spotted and wrinkled, stretched over the chalice that brings my divine spouse nearer to me, I will thank God that I have seen his hands.


The priests of Bonacum house left to right:
Top row, Fr. Gadient, Fr. Zastrow, Msgr. Hain, Fr. Kalin, Msgr. Herbek, Msgr. Dawson
Bottom row, Msgr. Murrary, Fr. Rutten, Fr. Lyons, Msgr. Pohl.

- Sister M. Judith, FSGM

It's Lent, Lent, time to repent.

“It’s Lent, Lent, time to repent. It’s Lent, Lent, our wills they get bent by what we’ve done and failed to do. Ask for mercy; He’ll give it to you.”

Thank you, Dogma Dogs! That’s right it’s the fourth week of the Penitential Season we all love. We four second-year novices returned to Alton from 6 months of our Apostolic Mission just in time to start the season of penance and self denial. Lent is a time in which we strive to be more conformed to Christ crucified, and as His disciples, daily taking up our cross and following Him, and yet most of us seem to wince a bit at the start of Lent. We go from Fat Tuesday, getting rid of all our sweets and goodies, to Ash Wednesday, getting a visible reminder that we are dust and to dust we shall return.

This being my third year living the life of a religious sister, preparing to make my first profession of vows, Lent has come to mean so much more to me than a 40-day religious weight loss program, more than giving things up, and even more than doing extra acts of charity. Of course those things are important, (sans the focus on calorie cutting) but truly the deeper meaning of Lent has become much more clear to me these past few years.

Although Lent has yet to be my favorite Liturgical Season, I do, in a sense look forward to it. Do I find penance and self denial easy and enjoyable? No, I must confess that those things will always be a challenge for me, as they are for most of us. But I’ve come to realize, especially as I worked with high school students in New Jersey, that there’s something in each of us that wants a challenge. We want to go higher, strive for the greater, accomplish trivial tasks, and reach the goal. We long for more, we are made for more. The students I worked with in New Jersey, and all young people, want desperately to give of themselves and know that they have what it takes to be the saints they were created to be.

Lent, I told the students while I was on mission, is more than giving things up, more than fasting and penance. Lent, I’ve come to learn, is a great gift given to us from God, through the Church. It allows us to become one with Jesus Christ, who humbled Himself, emptied Himself of His glory so that we might live for ever in that Glory that is Himself.

Lent is a time that, if we enter in fully, can transform us from the inside out, should unite us to the One who makes all things new, and can fill us with a peace and joy the world cannot give.

So this is the challenge – all of you who are made from dust and are returning to dust – allow this Lenten season to begin to transform you into the saint you are created to be. Be joyful in the knowledge that He produces all the good in you through His grace and only through His cross can we experience the Resurrection. Remember that those Lenten resolutions are for, with, and through a person: JESUS CHRIST. So, do not lose heart, the dawn is breaking. You are in our prayers as we strive to do the same!

Pax et bonum!

Sr. Mariela, FSGM

Important Message from the CMSWR

Dear Visitors of our 1 Franciscan Way Blog!

The Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious, to which our provincial superior and vicaress belong, have issued a statement about the Health Care Reform Bill which is under consideration by Congress.

It is provided here.

You may also want to read the weekly column of Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas, who also has addressed the urgent situation.

Mission Accomplished

Like the special agents before me (or should I say Sisters), I have accomplished my mission! My special assignment from the head agent (Mother M. Regina Pacis) was to help Sister M. Stephania. Six months ago, I left the Novitiate to begin my mission in LaCrosse, Wisconsin after completing my canonical year training in Alton, Illinois. I quickly learned however, that it was not "my"mission. I had been sent! As Blessed Mother Teresa said, "It is His work. I am like a little pencil in His hand."

For me, mission has been an experience of being that pencil. I knew that I would work in the Office of Consecrated Life in the morning, and then in the convent in the afternoon usually. Besides that general schedule, I had no idea of what I would be doing exactly. I began with a few organization projects in the Office of Consecrated Life. This suddenly progressed into planning the vocation event, Called By Name, working on the Vocations website, and other tasks. As I became involved in these projects, I experienced being "the pencil in God's hand" and letting Him lead me to accomplish things I had never done before.

Then there were the weekends, which were full of different activities like Come and See days, Nun Runs, and Vocation Talks to name a few. During these events and trips across the state, I met so many great people and visited cute little towns that I had never heard of before. Through simply being a Sister, God brought me to all these different places and into people's lives. I am grateful to be "the pencil in His hands". Mission Accomplished!

- Sister M. Chiara, second-year novice