Benedictine Sisters of FL

Holy Name Monastery
Founded 1889

Gospel

Who is Family?

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A crowd so large has gathered that Jesus and his disciples are not even able to eat their bread.  His family comes to take him away because they think he is beside himself.  This gives Jesus the opportunity to point out that family for him is not based on results from a search on Ancestry.com.

Have you ever accused someone of being out of their mind?  Probably…. but then you might remind yourself, you can’t judge a book by its cover.   And, remember the ancient American Indian proverb: “Before you judge another person, walk a mile in that person’s moccasins.”  If you lived in that person’s head, if you had the identical life-experiences you’d really have no other choice than to do exactly what she did.  It’s advisable to refrain from statements that begin: she “coulda, woulda, shoulda….”  And, obey the maxim “thou shalt not should upon thyself.”  Crazy is how some people viewed Jesus during his early ministry.

The evangelists tell us that some people were quite alarmed by Jesus’ behavior.  His family was certainly alarmed.  Mark reports that when his family and friends heard about his preaching and behavior they went out to seize him: for they said, “He is insane.”

We might take a benevolent interpretation of their action and suggest that the family was taking an intervention action out of loving concern and support for him.  They wanted to make sure he was eating right, getting enough sleep and not working too hard.  But, it seems unlikely that was the honest motivation for the intervention.

In his youth, most of the time his family probably thought of Jesus as a normal boy.  His cousins and friends accepted him as one of the neighborhood kids, just one of them.

I suspect he might have tried to keep their nonsense under control and lead them down the right path.  So, they were not overly surprised when he began street preaching, but now he had gone overboard.  He was so often in the public eye, things were getting a little out of control and they urged him to quit.

In the instance reported in his Gospel reading, several of them came as a group ready to distract and get him away from the crowds.  But, their attempt at an intervention wasn’t working.  They tried sending him a message that his family was waiting to talk to him.  He left them standing on the outside.  He seemed to dummy up; he threw the messengers a zinger with the question:  “Who are my mother and my brothers?”

His family is frustrated with him, or just plain worried about him.  They hear that Jesus is drawing crowds again, and they go to rescue him — because people are talking about “our boy.”  Some of the people think he’s loony.   His family is embarrassed and worried of what might become of him.  But, Jesus doesn’t seem to mind at all.  After all, he knows how badly it’s all going to turn out.

He tells the crowd, and us, mine is an extended family – everyone is welcome.  I embrace anyone and everyone.  These people may look like a group of misfits, but they’re family.

So, I wonder: who might be at our door, looking to get in, to speak to us?   Be a part of our family, preserve our reputation and tell the world what a great place we have here and what a pleasant group of people we are?

Our oblates come immediately to mind.  You probably realize this, there are more Benedictine Oblates in the U.S. than the combined number of professed Benedictine men and women living in communities.  Worldwide there are currently 25,000 oblates compared to 21,000 Benedictine monks and sisters.

You see it here on Oblate Sunday.  We could have upwards of 30 Oblates gather for the day.  That’s almost 3 times the size of our community.  In the interim between meetings, they are reaching out into the greater community, telling our story, often better than we do.  They are immersed in “the world,” living out the values and mission of our community.  It’s true that they come to us to get refueled, to learn more about the Benedictine charism, but it’s equally true, as Joan Chittister says in the recent issue of BENEDICTINES, “Oblates are the hope in this century that the life and values of the Benedictine vision can be born … again and anewed.”

So, when we hear the summons, “Your family is outside asking for you,” how shall we respond, what shall we do?

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress
First Reading Genesis 3:9–15   Second Reading  2 Corinthians 4:13—5:1
Gospel Mark 3:20–35
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A Particular Kind of Love

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The theme of this Gospel is clearly love but not the kind of love we see a film or television program, or hear on the radio or a CD.  Even in church hymns, we speak frequently about love.  But, as Oliver sings in the musical based on Charles Dickens’ story, “Where is love?”  We ask: what is love?

First, let’s look for a minute at where John places this reading.  It fits squarely between the Gospel readings from this morning (Saturday) and yesterday (Friday) and immediately after the Gospel proclaimed last Sunday: the vine and branches wherein we were reminded that it is only in our union with Jesus that we can render fruitful service.  Today’s reading, then, extends this teaching to the kind of service that we are called upon to offer: a particular kind of love, sacrificial love.

In the Greek, there are two words for love that are used interchangeably in this passage.  The first is agape. It is understood as the highest and most perfect kind of love and is used to describe love for persons and for God. The second is philia and is used to describe the affection of friendship.  John appears to use these words as synonyms so that we understand our relationship with God is based on friendship.  Sometimes we hear this word “love” used in such a way that we degrade, lessen or weaken its significance.  The way Jesus, or in this case John, uses the word for love just doesn’t apply to chocolate, a long drink or an afternoon nap.  We may like and enjoy those things a lot, but we don’t “love” them in the way we love our neighbor.

It is notable, I think, that Jesus gives us just one love commandment.  He does not say, “Love me, love my father or love God as I have loved you”. No, he says, “If you want to be my disciple, then you must love one another.” If we really love our brothers and sisters we do not have to worry if we love God. But, if we do not love everyone unconditionally, then there is no other way we can claim to love Jesus.  We need to love like God loves: without exception.

So we do not really have to ask or worry, “Is it a sin to do or say or think such and such a thing?”  The important thing to worry about or ask is: “When I do, say or think such and such, am I really a loving person?”  As our relationship with our Redeemer grows, the less and less we are hung up on rules and regulations.  We know in our heart what is the appropriate, loving thing to do or say.

In practice, of course, it’s easier said than done.  We are slow learners …some slower than others.  Some have a family history that promotes love in action; others struggle with a history of abuse in the home.  In addition, the prevailing culture thinks and acts differently.  Rough, raunchy, abusive language and tone of voice; behavioral violence can invade our homes every day on televised news.  The sounds of fictionalized gun and interpersonal violence may come into our living spaces.  Our blood pressure rises unnoticed, we flinch and blink our eyes not realizing that we are desensitizing ourselves to what we say we want controlled and petition lawmakers to protect us against.

Deep down, we all want to love people.  We like people to be our friends.  Yet, because of our past experiences, the influence of parents and other people around us, the pressures of our society and our traditions, we often do not know how to love, do not know how to forgive, do not know how to be reconciled, we do not practice the skills that promote healthy relationships.

Sometimes people will love us back; sometimes they will not.  Sometimes, even though we want to love people, they may reject us.  If they do reject us, we need not necessarily think that we have done wrong.  When people cannot return genuine love, it is they who have the problem.  Sad to say, due to past experiences not everyone is capable of loving.  All the more reason why we need to pray for and reach out to them.  People learn to love by being loved.

The most important thing is not that I am very clever, very successful, very rich, very famous… The most important thing is that I am someone who really loves.  When I genuinely love others, there will always be some who cannot love me back but there will be others who will really respond in love.  And it may be that my love has empowered them to be loving too.

Recall last evening reading from the Prologue of the Rule (of Benedict): “See how the Lord in his love shows us the way of life.  Let us set out on this way, with the Gospel for our guide,that we may deserve to see him who has called us to his kingdom.”

You’ve heard the saying, when in doubt, don’t!  But maybe a better point to ponder is:  WWJD – what would Jesus do?

 Our rose garden is in full bloom – certainly an example of “April showers bring May flowers!”

Next Sunday, Mother’s Day, our Sisters and volunteers will be serving the area’s monthly free Sunday meal for the homeless and needy.

First Reading   Acts of the Apostles 10:25-26,34-35,44-48
Second Reading   1 John 4:7-10    Gospel John 15:9-17
~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress
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“I should have known” experiences

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On this third Sunday of Easter, we continue to hear Gospel accounts of Jesus’ appearances to his disciples following his Resurrection.  In each account Jesus greets his disciples with the words, “Peace be with you.”  Peace is their most obvious and pressing need.  They have witnessed the death of someone they loved dearly.

Two of the disciples recounted this touching story of PEACE invading their lives.  They had been pondering, exchanging views when suddenly a stranger slipped into their midst.  Now the Jewish custom of the day required that they invite the stranger, whom we know is Jesus, to join them for a meal.  In this case, the invitation included an overnight’s rest.  Later they realized Who had broken bread in their company.  Can’t you see Jesus’ delight in revealing himself.  He’d kept His identity hidden for a time.  Now the friends realized that their hearts had been afire as they listened to him break open the Scriptures with him.  What a Lectio experience!

We believe God is all around us: God is in nature, God is here with me now.  But do we really believe that God – in the person of Jesus – will drop into our company and chat with us…  in the person who is walking toward us?  How interesting that two people can be in the same circumstances but have two distinct “I should have known” experiences.

Once upon a time a child delivered something to me from her kindergarten teacher.  As I thanked her, she stepped back and politely said: “May I ask what you are going to use that wrapping paper for?”  From there the conversation went like this:  “Well, I am planning a prayer service for the Sisters at our chapel and I want to make a pretend well.”  “For the Sisters?”  “Yes.”  “Are you a Sister?”  (Now this was Lent and she had known me since August.)  When I answered, “Yes, that’s why you call me SISTER Roberta.” She slapped herself aside her head … “I should have known!”  Like the disciples’ AH-HA moment – they knew later if they had listened to their heart that they would have known Jesus in the breaking of the bread!

I am reminded of another story that the author calls:  The Best Sermon I Never Heard (By Frederick Hermann)  [Adapted here to fit our time constraints.]  Perhaps you will identify with one or the other of the players in the story.  I’ll relate it as if it happened to me …

“As soon as he started, I knew it was going to be bad.  The old priest began his sermon with a faltering voice, and proceeded to tell an obscure story that made no sense to me at all. I was quickly lost and bored.  This was not the church I usually attended but I was traveling, and went to a local church for evening Mass. The priest seemed unprepared, vague, and detached.  So I tuned him out, and started fuming inside my head – why hadn’t I pushed it to drive home tonight to the monastery?”

“Why didn’t he prepare better?  Didn’t he take a homiletics course (like Father Mike) in the seminary”   I felt like I had endured an eternity when finally the priest ended his sermon.

After Mass, I walked to the car in the parking lot. No longer able to contain my irritation, I complained out loud to a stranger walking beside me – and you know that’s like me to speak to a perfect stranger.   “So, what did you think of that sermon?”  She walked in silence beside me, lost in thought.  Actually I thought maybe she was deaf or that I hadn’t really spoken aloud.  Then she softly and gently spoke; “That was the most beautiful sermon I have ever heard.”

I was stunned, and looked up at her, expecting to see her grinning sarcastically. To my astonishment, I saw that tears were streaming down her cheeks …  her eyes glistened in the evening sunlight.  Finally she spoke: “I’ve spent most of my life estranged from God, going my own way, and doing my own thing. Last year I found God, or rather he found me.  Now I find him speaking to me in the most unusual ways. Like that sermon we just heard. It was all about waking up, and listening, and hearing God in new ways. That describes my life, and the love I have found.”  I was speechless!

As I drove away, I marveled at how God could use such a dull and ordinary priest to speak in such an extraordinary way to one of his beloved.  What is meaningless for me to hear, and a cross for me to bear, may be the fruitful words of life to a person sitting nearby – who may be hearing the voice of God speaking directly into their heart.

In the words of Job:  “God thunders with His voice wondrously, doing great things which we cannot comprehend.” (Job 37:5).  And, in the words of our Responsorial Psalm: “Know that the Lord does wonders for his faithful ones; and puts gladness into my heart.”

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress
First Reading  Acts of the Apostles 3:13-15,17-19  Second Reading 1 John 2:1-5a
Gospel Luke 24:35-48    Intention Mentally Ill
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Four Weeks Suspended in Kairos

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In her book, THE LITURGICAL YEAR, Joan Chittister makes the comment: “Advent, more than any other season of the church year, calls us to live simultaneously in the past, the present, and the future.  She elaborates: “We learn in Advent to stay in the present, knowing that only the present well-lived can possibly lead us to the fullness of life.  It takes an overview of the three-year cycle of Advent readings to make clear the multiple meanings of Advent.  Many of our Advent hymns keep this idea before us when we sing “Mara – natha – two words – The Lord has come … God of, and in, our) past, present and future are all lived together … soul.” (Chittister)

We eagerly await the coming of Christ as a baby in Bethlehem (the past), we are invited to welcome him into our hearts now (the present), and we look forward to his future coming as king of glory.  For four weeks of Advent we are suspended in kairos — God’s time — when expectations and reality are held in tension with each other.  We must hold on to a vision of what challenges the church (that’s all of us) should be dealing with today.  Dwelling in the past or wishing for a perfect future can keep us from hearing the will of God in our today.  Many recognize in Pope Francis a voice that is, like John the Baptist, crying in the wilderness … urging us forward in the present to mend the past as we confront the ills of today.

This Gospel introduces us to the man: John.  The opening lines in Mark’s gospel are “the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ” but the first character he introducers is not Jesus, but John the Baptist, the fiery preacher who came out of the desert where he lived on honey and locusts.  And, he is no fashion plate, with his camel’s hair clothes, leather sandals, and leather girdle around his waist — very much like Elijah.  His diet was very simple: locusts (grasshoppers) and wild honey.  This is important, or it would not be here.  It is symbolic. But what does it symbolize?  Well, you cannot wear anything more fundamental in the way of clothing, or eat a more basic diet, than John did.  In other words, it is representative of his ministry — one of simple beginnings.  It is not the end; it is the beginning.  The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God is all about repentance.  This is the place to begin.  Even John’s clothing and his diet helped convey that message.

His diet, by the way, was balanced.  Food fanatics will quickly recognize that grasshoppers are protein, and honey is carb.  John’s diet was in perfect balance, so that he was a healthy man.  It was a simple sort of diet, just as his ministry was – nothing elaborate.  Furthermore, he’s very honest.  He says, “Don’t look to me for answers beyond what I have already told you.  Anything beyond that must come from Another, who is coming right after me.  He is so much greater than I that I am not even worthy to untie his shoes.  Remember, this was his cousin he was talking about!  John could bring people to God, but he could not take them beyond that.  John began his ministry in the wilderness, the worst possible place. But it worked!

The people of Jerusalem and Judea left their cities, their recreations and pleasures, and trekked through a howling wilderness to listen to a man preach.  They probably had to walk twenty or thirty miles to hear John, but did so willingly and in such increasing numbers that Mark records, in only slight exaggeration, that “all the country of Judea, and all the people of Jerusalem” came out to hear him.  Something drew these people into the desert to listen to this strange and rugged young preacher proclaim good news.  That is all he did!  He never told how it worked, or why; he just announced it.

How fitting it is that we have this message of forgiveness and repentance as a prologue to our Penance Service on Tuesday evening.  Then, as now, people need to know they can begin again.  God offers us, once again, an opportunity to truly repent.  We can change our attitude and stop defending ourselves and trying to blame everything on others.  There’s a saying: the whole world’s a critic.  Tuesday’s reconciliation service gives us a chance to be our own critic and say, “You know what, God?  I’ve finally realized it’s not those others, it is just me.  This is just the way I am — and I need help.”  In the quiet of your own heart, where God alone hears, you can say, “I repent, send me your Spirit.”

But keep in mind what the prophet Isaiah said about John’s message – this business of reconciliation will resemble a great bulldozer, building a highway in the desert.  John was God’s bulldozer to build that highway.  You know how roads are built – we see the process almost any direction we go on the highway.  Isaiah says: “Every mountain shall be brought low, and every valley shall be lifted up; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places plain.”  And, that is what repentance does.  It bulldozes down all the high peaks of pride that we stand on and refuse to admit we’re wrong.  It takes the depressed areas of our life, where we beat and torture and punish ourselves, and lifts them up.  It takes the crooked places, where we have lied and deceived, and straightens them out.  And it makes the rough places plain.  Then, there is God!  God comes to us so that we can come to God.

Our hope is in the promise of God, and God of the Promise… a promise that was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  It is a hope that will not be disappointed because God may delay, He may tarry but He will not forget His promise.  He will not let us down.  Praise be God!

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress

 

Readings:      Isaiah 40: 1-5, 9-11               2 Peter 3:8-14              Mark 1:1-8
Intention:       Peoples of Central America
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Actions speak louder than words

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The overriding theme of all of the Mass readings, it seems to me, is “honest sincerity.”  In the Gospel account we just heard the younger brother tell his father: “Yes, I’ll go and work” while the older brother said: “No, not me.” Both used words contrary to their actions.

This an age-old story.  The dynamic happens in families, between friends, in the work force and in monastic community.   The situation Jesus poses is rather straightforward. Two sons are given the same task by their father: one asserts his objection, his intent to disobey right up front, but then in the end obeys his father’s wish.  The second son obeys in his words, but disobeys in his actions. For both, what they say with their words is not in their hearts – the head said one thing; the heart another.

The story reminds us that talk is cheap and actions speak louder than words.  You’ve all heard the phrase: “Don’t just talk the talk; walk the walk.”  Be slow to dismiss these truisms.  We’ve all been hurt by promises given and then broken.  Or, on occasions we have been given words that have hurt us, really hurt us, not because they were nasty but because we relied on them and were later betrayed. Intentions are too often little more than wishful thinking; appearances are deceptive. Being honest and then acting in honesty are sometimes tough things to do. You know where the path of good intentions leads, right?

The question that Jesus poses is pointed and direct: Which son did what the father wanted?  Jesus could ask us the same question. Do our words indicate our obedience to God? If not our words, do our actions? God desires a full conversion of heart, that our actions (and our words as well) will give evidence of our love for God.  The older brother had no intention of working and had the honesty of saying so. He was wrong, but he was honest. The younger brother was the opposite. He said the expedient thing knowing what his father wanted to hear but he had no integrity.

Yes, talk can be cheap. The younger brother simply didn’t live up to his words; the older brother changed his mind. The older brother had integrity; the younger brother gave valueless words to his father while having no intention at all of working.   With which brother do your words or actions identify?

For Benedictines obedience is central – we’ve come to the monastery to hear, to listen, to seek God but to do that we have to be willing to listen and then obey God’s voice as heard in your personal prayer, in the voice of the superior and spiritual guide and in communal discernments and in our interactions with each other.  As Benedict describes it, for those who have chosen to live in cenobitic community, our obedience must be open, prompt and positive, (even if it is painful) and given without murmuring.

We would do well to recall both this gospel story, and Benedict’s words about obeying with alacrity when we are asked to do a favor for one of our sisters or a co-worker.  Do we mumble OK and then put it on the back burner so far back that the pot boils away and the need goes up in the waves of evaporation?  Do you say YES and honestly add “but not right now” and make a sincere effort to perform the action when we said we would?  Are you like the son who said “no can do” but later realize your selfish response and go back to do the favor after all?  Or, do you render the favor but tell the neighborhood about the unfairness of what you had to do?  We know that for Benedict, murmuring was an abomination, anathema, a curse in community and any sign of murmuring was to be censured.

In one of her first books on the Rule, Joan Chittister suggests: “Say to the member who signs up for a task but then complains, please don’t sign up.  Kindly give the community the gift of not murmuring about it.  The rest of the community will get the job done.  Please just stay home and keep a smile on your face.  Don’t do the work and then poison the environment of the house with murmuring.”

Oh, you may think: it’s easy for you to talk about obedience – you’re the prioress, who do you have to obey?   But, think about it, for the monastic leader, actually, any leader, may have some authority with her position, but the power lies in the hands and will of the membership.  Obedience in monastic life is mutual – it springs from the bloom of mutual respect.  Without both there is no community – there is just a group of women living under the same roof.

So, what enables us to mature to a higher level of obedience?   First how do you know what level of obedience is operating in your life?  You may recall Piaget’s and Kohlberg’s stages of moral development – moving from obedience for fear of punishment to the highest stage which some never reach and those who do rarely can consistently operate at that level.  We are at the level of moral maturity where we cease to fully comprehend what the stage description is talking about.  Another insight is how you work on a committee.  How we function in community is also based on our level of moral development.  How you believe a thing ought to be done will say a great deal about where you are on the scale.

Thankfully for all of us, in life growth is always possible – “It isn’t over, til it’s over!”   Another expression may pop to mind: “it ain’t over til the fat lady sings.”    It isn’t how we start that matters, it’s how we finish!

~Reflection by S. Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress

 

Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A   October 1, 2017
First Reading  Ezekiel 18:25-28               Second Reading  Philippians 2:1-Be like
Gospel Matthew 21:28-32        

 

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What is the Astuteness of the Christian?

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3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

 Right to Life (January 23)  St. Paul (January 25)

First Reading   Isaiah 8:23-9:3          Second Reading  1 Corinthians 1:10-13,17
Gospel Reading  Matthew 4:12-23

In this Gospel the power of Jesus’ call is immediately evident – Peter, Andrew, James and John dropped everything to follow Jesus immediately.  Jesus doesn’t have to pitch the idea to these individuals nor does he need to persuade them.  Each has little reason to leave their current way of life.    Each seemingly has a steady job.  Most importantly they have familial ties to their vocations as family men and fishermen.  Now, in the new lifestyle they were inaugurating, their security would come from life in a mutually supporting community, where the needs of each one were taken care of.

Having begun to assemble his company of companions, Jesus turns to his ministry, as the Gospel describes it: teaching in the synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people.   He moved quickly and determinedly from one place to another … planting dreams, raising expectations, and opens doors of possibility.  His followers witnessed a dramatic alternative to the emptiness and despair that filled the lives of the people immersed in an atmosphere devoid off their trust and hope.

Whether man or a woman, when one joyfully responded to Jesus’ call to follow, and entered Jesus enterprise, their lives were dramatically changed.  They became agents of new possibility for all who came into contact with them – beacons of encouragement for the discouraged – inviting the stranger to faith in God and purpose in life.

The late Speaker of the House “Tip” O’Neill loved to relate a valuable lesson he’d learned early in his career. During his first political campaign, one of O’Neill’s neighbors told him: I am going to vote for you tomorrow, even though you didn’t ask me to! O’Neill was surprised and said: Why, Mrs. O’Brien, I have lived across from you for eighteen years, I cut your grass in the summer, I shoveled your walk in the winter; I didn’t think I had to ask for your vote! Mrs. O’Brien replied: Oh, Tommy, let me tell you something … people like to be asked!

A vital faith community will always be asking … inviting followers just as Jesus did.
It is never enough to simply welcome people when they happen to visit, we must also invite them to join us in our worship and ministries.  Without a direct “ask” a vocation may be stifled or a prayer-partner lost.  My mother spoke with great admiration for the Benedictine Sisters who were her teachers in elementary school.  I asked her once when she didn’t become a Sister – she replied “None of them asked me – so I figured I was not worthy.”  Of course, I would not be here telling you this story if she’d been asked and said YES.

Tomorrow (Monday, January 23) the church leads us in prayer for the sanctity of all life: for an end to abortion, euthanasia and the death penalty.  And more than that: to honor, respect and love all God’s people without reservation.  I invite you to listen to these words of Pope Francis (adapted slightly to be gender inclusion):

The Christian cannot allow her/himself the luxury to be an idiot, that’s clear. We don’t have the luxury to be fools because we have a very beautiful message of life and we’re not permitted to be fools.  For that reason, Jesus says, “Be astute, be careful.”  What is the astuteness of the Christian?  In knowing how to discern who is a wolf and who is a sheep. 

And when … a wolf disguises itself as a sheep, (the Christian) knows how they smell. “Look, you have the skin of a sheep but the smell of a wolf.” And this, this mandate that Jesus gives us is very important. It’s for something very great.  Jesus tells us something that attracts our attention, when someone asks him: “Well, why did you come into the world?” “Look, I come to bring life and for that life to be in abundance, and I am sending you so that you can advance that life, and so that it will be abundant.”

Jesus didn’t come to bring death (of the body), but rather, the death of hatred, the death of fighting, the death of slander, that is, killing with the tongue.  Jesus came to bring life and to bring the abundant life, and he sends us out, carrying that life, but he tells us: “Care for it!” Because there are people bringing us today the culture of death.  That is, life interests them insofar as it is useful, insofar as it has some kind of utility and if not, it doesn’t interest them.  And throughout the world, this weed has been planted, of the culture of death.

How beautiful is caring for life, allowing life to grow, to give life like Jesus, and to give it abundantly, not to permit that even one of these smallest ones be lost.  That is what Jesus asked of the Father: “that none of those whom You have given me be lost, that all of the life that You gave me to care for, might be cared for, that it might not be lost.”  And we care for life, because He cares for our life from the womb.

Caring for life from the beginning to the end. What a simple thing, what a beautiful thing.  Father, is that why there are so many wolves who want to eat us?  Is that why, tell me?  Who did Jesus kill? No one.  He did good things. And how did he end up?  If we go down the road of life ugly things can happen to us, but it doesn’t matter. It’s worth it.  He first opened the way.

So, go forth and don’t be discouraged.  Don’t be fools, remember, a Christian doesn’t have the luxury of being foolish, I’m going to repeat this: an idiot, a fool – you can’t give yourself that luxury.  You have to be clever, be astute!     Care for life. It’s worth it! “

~ Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress
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