MINISTRY AND RETREAT

Hello Everyone. I arrived back in Erie on Friday. My trip driving to and from New Jersey was good with not too much construction and great weather.

My first five days at St. Mary's-by-the-Sea, located on the Jersey Shore, I was part of the staff. For the past eight years I have been cooking for those who are on vacation. Usually, there are about one hundred to one hundred and twenty people. This year, however, I was assigned to salads. Brother Dennis from Jamaica, NY and I were a good team. He had all the vegetables lined up with cutting boards and knives so that anyone who would volunteer to come and help chop them would know exactly what to do. I helped at this task when needed. While that was being done, Bro. Dennis and I worked on the special salad. There was always a regular salad bar and something special that Bro. Dennis would create. One evening it was tomato with fresh basil and oil, and another evening was a zucchini salad. We did fruit salads also. Our job was to get it all out before supper and clean it all up and put it away afterward.

I have been going down to this retreat house for fifteen years. For me these five days each year is way for me to give back for the generosity of the staff and the many graces I have received there while on retreat. It is a chance for me to meet new people and catch up with friends I have made while being there these many years. When I was finished with salads, I would go over to help dry pots and pans or put them away. With all the people working in the pantry, the cooking, and the salads, there is always a lot to clean before and after each meal. Two of my friends came down early on the day retreat was to begin so that we would have time to catch up with each others' lives. Then, that evening retreat began.

I am delighted to tell you that my gift from the sea was a Remembering Heart. During those eight days of silence and prayer my heart was drawn to the many different moments of my adult life when God touched me, called me, and was present to me. I was so aware of how my heart was filled with so much gratitude as I would share my prayer and reflection with the director each day. Like Ann Morrow-Lindberg I also collected small shells or stones to mark special moments of grace. I only brought one home.

On the evening before the Feast of the Assumption, candles are placed around the huge statue of the Blessed Mother that stands in the court yard facing the ocean. Many of us quietly sat out on the porches in awe of the beauty of the statue with the candles flickering in the dark. The candles were also lit on the evening of the feast. On that feast day, my director asked me to spend the day in prayer and reflection with the Blessed Mother. The day was filled with graces as I remembered significant moments of my past and Mary showing me how blessed I am.

As the graces of retreat continue to unfold, God continues to touch me, call me, and as He promised, is always present to me.

It would be an honor for me to hear about your retreat experience. Write me or e-mail me at s.lfusco@ssjerie.org if you wish to share.

HOMECOMING

On Sunday, August 1st our congregation held a homecoming event as part of our 150th year celebration. It was an event to welcome and celebrate women who were once members of our congregation. It was a time of remembering, healing, sharing, and reconnecting. About sixty-seven women returned for this celebration

As soon as I walked toward the entrance of our Community Living Center, I could feel the excitement, energy and joy that came from sisters and former members greeting one another. There was hugging and laughing, bonding of members of a "crowd", and for me a great sense of awe in what was happening. The chapel was filled and the liturgy expressed the joy that was evident. Our chaplain was also touched by the excitement and joy that he heard and saw.

After the liturgy, we continued the celebration with a brunch. During this time, people continued to move around and reconnect. Pictures were taken of some of the crowds. Some of the women took a tour of our Community Living Center and Administration Building. Some even went down to 819, our old Motherhouse, to see how it has been transformed into apartments and to once again walk the hallowed halls which held so many memories for them. The celebration continued into the late afternoon.

It was wonderful to me to share in this event. I did know a few women and I also got to meet women whose names I had heard whenever one of our sisters would share a story. It was a day that all of us will remember for a while.

I am leaving tomorrow morning for retreat, so I will not be posting for a couple of weeks. I will be by the ocean looking for my own gift from the sea. Please keep me in prayer and know that I will be praying for all of you.

More on Solitude

In my last posting I wrote about taking time for quiet and quoted a section from the book, "Gifts From the Sea" by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. A few pages later, she talks about how taking time for quiet reflection is helpful preparation to attend mass. Here is what she says.

"The church is still a great centering force for men and women, more needed than ever before...But are those who attend as ready to give themselves to receive its message as they used to be? Our daily life does not prepare us for contemplation. How can a single weekly hour of church, helpful as it may be, counteract the many daily hours of distraction that surround it? If we had our contemplative hour at home we might be readier to give ourselves at church and find ourselves more completely renewed."

Have you ever been distracted by all the things you need to do while you are sitting at mass? If you do, you are not alone. I find it helpful to look at the readings for Sunday ahead of time, so that I feel a little more prepared when I go to mass. It also helps me to stay focused because I want to hear what the pastor says about the readings during his homily.

During these past two months our sisters have been coming and going to and from retreat. We have also had other people, not from our community, at our Community Living Center making retreat. We know how important it is for us to make retreat not only for our relationship with Christ, but also to strengthen us to continue serving the people to whom we minister. I know that many people do not have the opportunity to be able to make retreats yearly. However, perhaps the opportunity is there for an hour each day, or one day here and there during the year to spend some quiet, reflective time.

BALANCE

The Gospel reading for yesterday was the passage of Jesus' visit to the home of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus in Bethany. We heard about Martha's busyness in preparing the meal and how Jesus told her she is "anxious about many things." We also heard how Mary sat at the feet of Jesus to listen to his teaching. Which one can you identify with?

In his homily yesterday our chaplain for our Community Living Center preached about balance. During the day, I picked up the book, "Gift From the Sea" by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. I had read this book many years ago and thought I would see what it may have for me to reflect on now. She describes what a woman's life is like with distractions always present. She wrote, "For to be a woman is to have interests and duties, raying out in all directions from the central mother-core, like spokes from the hub of a wheel. The pattern of our lives is essentially circular. We must be open to all points of the compass; husband, children, friends, home, community; stretched out, exposed, sensitive like a spider's web to each breeze that blows, to each call that comes. How difficult for us, then, to achieve a balance in the midst of these contradictory tensions, and yet how necessary for the proper functioning of our lives."

I find this to be an excellent description of how many of our lives look. We are pulled in many directions. I especially like the image of the hub and spokes of a wheel. It might be interesting to take some time to draw this image and name the spokes of our busyness.

The author continues to talk about getting rid of distractions and what different kinds of seashells teach her throughout the book. Although published in 1955, I think it has a lot of wisdom for us today. As I continue to read and pray with this book, I hope I will be able to share with you more thoughts and reflections.

VOCATION DIRECTORS

Vocation Directors are the first people contacted by someone who is interested in entering a religious community. They are the "gate keepers" of the congregation. It is a very serious position. There is much screening, meeting, testing that needs to be done with the applicant. The Vocation Director needs to know about the congregation's mission, ministry, spirituality, and history.

In addition to the many duties that need to be done is the attitude of the Vocation Director. This person has to have a big heart. The heart of a Vocation Director is filled with joy, faith, love for God and her/his congregation, passion, and most of all hope.

Why do I think hope is so important? Hope along with faith is what the Vocation Director needs to continue praying and working in this ministry. They pray daily to the Holy Spirit that more young men and women will respond to God's call to follow as a woman religious or brother. They know that there are people out there who are searching. They try to find ways to help these people to find what they are looking for in terms of spiritual direction, discernment, communities. Hope keeps them passionate about who they are and what they are doing. When I attended a week-long orientation for Vocation Directors, we were told that many sisters or brothers who leave community are former Vocation Directors. They left because they no longer had hope.

Let me tell you about a little group of Vocation Directors who meet monthly in our diocese. One is a Sister of Mercy. Another is a Sister of Saint Benedict. Then there is the Vicar of Religious for our diocese and myself who are Sisters of Saint Joseph. Each month we get together to pray, talk and plan how to make people aware of who we are. We also have put together a booklet of speakers available to talk on vocations or religious life. We have a website for vocations. We have been working on an idea to have articles in one of our diocesan publications. We view dvd's that are put out. We have planned Holy Hours for vocations along with the Serrans. None of us have crowds of women entering, however our hope keeps us on task.

So, while you are praying for vocations to the priesthood or religious life, remember to pray a little prayer for Vocation Directors. By the way, don't worry, I'm not leaving.

A QUOTE TO THINK ABOUT

I saw this quote when recently visiting one of our sisters.

"God loves each of us as if there were only one of us."
St. Augustine

LOVE AS GOD LOVES

Yesterday I was taking some time for prayer out on Presque Isle. It was a beautiful, sunny day, warm temperature, and a cool breeze. I found a quiet spot away from the families on the beach. I reflected on the line from Jeremiah, "I have loved you with an everlasting love."

The first part of my reflection was focused on how much I am loved by God and will always be loved by God. That was easy. Then my thoughts went to the gospel reading for next Sunday about the Good Samaritan.

I don't need to go through the whole story. Jesus wanted to get across to "...love your neighbor as yourself." However, my reflection invited me to love my neighbor as God loves me. Wow! God's love is everlasting and God loves us beyond what we could ever ask or imagine. Can I love like that? Can you love like that?

I think it is important for us to keep our humanity in perspective. God never asks more of us than we can handle. Therefore, we can only love to the best of our ability. It can begin with those with whom we live and work. Sometimes, they do not get the love we have. We need to reach out to those outside who are less fortunate; the poor, the hungry, the homeless, the marginalized, etc. Jesus said that as often as we do unto one of his least people, we do it unto him. That is loving God and neighbor. There are so many good people doing many good works, but as St. Paul says, if you have not love, you gain nothing.

There are many places in scripture where we can learn about love. As we do so, we can pray for the grace to have a heart that is open and compassionate.