Humility Must Be Practical

A quote from Catherine McAuley:

Humility does not consist in words, but in acts; to be real it must be practical.

Humility, a word about which we do not hear too much today. I think that it is a virtue that is as important as patience, maybe even more because true humility remembers the Source of All and gives acknowledgement and glory to our very Source of being-God. Humility may even be more important because as we become more humble and not placing our wants and desires ahead of others and by honoring the God within the other we will become more patient. Humility is in our actions. words are important, but our actions belie our soul and our interior being. To act with humility is hard to do if you don't already have it.

Now just what is humility? It is not humiliation. It is being humble in the face of our God. It is knowing where our gifts and talents come from and giving glory to the One who created us. "It is not I, but you, O Lord who are doing all things within me." That is what humility is for me. And for you?...

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Journey Connections

This is the first of new series of reflections that I hope to share with you. Many of these will be in the form of poetry. Enjoy...

We come to this earth
connected to our souls
in touch with the eternal
until the moment of our birth.

Journey quest,
remove the barriers.
Where is my soul?
Stumble through the day,
part of the mystery.
What does the soul say?

Learning to love fully,
lavishing soulness,
erasing the blocks,
moving us to a new journey,
cycles and seasons,
ride out the storms
trust in the soul's movement.

Overcoming challenges
fears, angers,
the great disappointments
or the anguish of deep grief
where the journey may flow,
to bring us again to the dance
of the universe where
there is abundance.

It is not in doing,
but in being,
embracing life
with openness
to all that is,
the adventure of the soul
a journey of the heart.
Listen! trust!

Spiritual Advancement

A quote from Catherine McAuley;

Perhaps silence is wearying to us,
and yet our spiritual advancement is generally most promoted in the hours of silence.

Here it is a desert day, one the days we have each week on this sabbatical. It's a day of not talking, food set out for breakfast, lunch and snacks if we want. No one needs to talk, to be anywhere, or do anything. Just to be is a great blessing. This silence is not wearying. It is in fact, welcomed. We have had so many different speakers and schedules to which we must attend,it is so freeing to just take a long hour or two in prayer and reflection, take a walk or just do laundry.

Today I worked on a poetry book I am creating. It was very reflective, connected to God and to my creative side. Our desert day ends with liturgy which is a quiet liturgy, no music, no homily, just moments of silence so that we can close our day in deeper prayer. Dinner, then is a festive time as is the time afterwards.

I hope that you can have some experience of silence which is not wearying. It's the best way for God to connect to you and you to God, and it is not all that much of a task. Try it sometime. Set aside a half day of not doing anything but resting in the silence. It's great.

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Gratitude

Today I am not reflecting upon a quote from Catherine McAuley; rather since it is Thanksgiving day, here are a few nuggets of thought.



Gratitude is an attitude... I think this is one of the most important pieces of ideals to live by because it reminds us that all of life is a gift, starting with life itself. as someone once said, 'Consider the alternative." We have life, not matter how good or how bad it is. There are people in this world who have it worse than we do. Sometimes that is hard to imagine if one has gone through a loss,or live in pain or depression. our pain is real, and yet we can rise above it with an attitude of gratitude.

"If the only prayer you say is 'Thank you', that is enough." (Meister Ekhart)... We have said our prayers for years. we have asked for many things, praised God and even now and then said we were sorry. but the prayer of gratitude brings us to the realization that we have everything as gift and that God is the ultimate giver, the source of all that we have and all that we are. what a wonderful way to simply acknowledge it-thank you!.

And what are you thankful for this Thanksgiving? I started a list which we presented at out liturgy this morning filling the cornucopia with list of thanks...family, friends, community, God, health,,skills and talents, and many other things. Today make a list of 20 thing for which you you are thankful.

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Speak of God

A quote from Catherine McAuley:

Speak of God, for God and with God.

Catherine, in her practical sensibility, again says the obvious and the challenging. Speak of God; be a witness to God in your life. Speak for God; be aware of God in your life and make it known by the way you live. Speak with God; take time each day to speak with God in prayer.

To do this one has to have a relationship with God. That can only come when you have taken the time to listen, to speak and to be silent before God. You cannot speak of God if you do not know God. you cannot be a witness to God if you have not had a "God experience", something that has changed your life.
Today I will take stock of how I speak for God and of God since I already speak to God each day. I still have a long way to go to be that witness by my very words and actions. And how about you?

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Are You Carrying or Pushing the Cross?

A quote from Catherine McAuley:

The promise:"My yoke is sweet and My burden light." is a conditional one; it is not made to those who drag the Cross after them, who almost push it from them.

Sometimes we do not like talking about the crosses we are burdened with and we certainly do not like carrying them! Yet, because we are human, we do have crosses to carry. The question is, are we dragging or pushing it instead of carrying it? If we think about this for a moment, there are some subtle differences.

If we drag it, it becomes our ball and chain or drudge, one we hold onto and do not lift high. If we push it, we are trying to escape it, keep it away from us as much as possible. Sometimes in pushing it we push it into the far recesses of our consciousness where it will emerge some day. If we carry it, we accept it, know it is there, lift it high in prayer and know that the Lord is taking the other end of it. The burden is so much lighter!

So today, I am going to look at the crosses in my life. Just to name them, gives me hold over them and then I will ask the Lord to carry part of then with me. Together I know we can go on, for He promised that the burden would be lighter.

What about you?

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Receiving the Ungrateful

A quote from Catherine McAuley:

Mercy receives the ungrateful again and again, and is never weary in pardoning them.

I've been a teacher for a good number of years and I know that many times I have ungrateful students in my classes. Some do not care to receive correction, others do not seem to respond to kind words, others do not see the hard work put into creating a warm and caring classroom, neat and decorative. They just assume it will be there. In some ways the assuming is a good thing be cause it is a place of safety. But sometimes I have wondered if it is worth all the effort.

There are spats, words said that have been not necessarily rude, but bordering on them and yet we continue to minister to the children. As I share my philosophy, "Each day is a new day", it helps those who need a new start to have it.
I wonder, though how it is in my personal life. Do I do the same for the Sisters with whom I live? Do I do the same for my peers or co-workers or the annoying person in my life? This gives me something to ponder today as I go about the day. and what about you?

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Unseen Mortifications

A quote from Catherine McAuley:

Little unseen mortifications practiced habitually, being unknown save to God, have a great advantage over those which excite vanity by their very arduousness.


This is a quote that seems to resonate with me very easily. I am of the mind that perfection is not found in doing everything so perfectly-all the virtues- and then some, but rather in doing what you can with great love. Let God perfect it!

By doing little things, little mortifications we begin to detach ourselves from all sorts of things that can get in the way of growing in relationship with God. I don't think God is really concerned about how many time you have been impatient. I think God is more interested in how you have been patient and how you are growing in love for the other through patience. It's just a bit of a different mindset, but one with which we can connect, without guilt.

Catherine was way ahead of her time. She saw that doing the little thing was of greater benefit than the larger showy thing. Of course the showier it is, the more people notice. That in itself is a red flag that there are other motivations involved.

So today I will look at how I just do the little deprivations for a greater love-like using lukewarm water to wash my face instead of letting the water run until it is perfectly hot, or drinking the water from the tap even it if is not ice cold. There are numerous ways you could act on this if you are creative.

What can you do today to practice small mortification without being noticed? Beware, though of trying to practice them to escape people's notice only to chalk them up in some sort of competition. There is no competition, only love's higher motive.

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Politeness Begets Politeness

A quote from Catherine McAuley:

As love begets love, politeness begets politeness.

As my mother would say, "If you are nice to people. people are usually nice to you." Catherine's saying certainly has its practical side! When you expend yourself in good conduct, then you usually receive good conduct back. If you don't receive it, you still have given it and it will somehow change the person, if all it does is make them feel respected or conversely, guilty for treating you so poorly.

We don't know what goes on in the hearts and minds of a person. Just because someone is rude to you, does not mean they are terrible people, though we might think so at the time. We don't know if they have been up with a sick child all night, have a loved one dying of cancer, just come from a disturbing meeting with the boss, or just got a failing mark on a paper. If we are unfailingly polite, others will return the same to you. If not, you still have made the world a better place.

It reminds me of a saying attributed to St. Francis, "Preach the Gospel always and if necessary, use words."

Today I am going to check my "politeness factor" and see if I need to be a little more aware of how I interact with people. I am also going to give people the benefit of the doubt and if I am treated poorly, I will pray for them and their worries. What about you?

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Spend this Day in His Service

A quote from Catherine McAuley:
Often in this day raise your heart to God and beg grace to spend this day in His service.

Today we want to lift our hearts and minds to God in praise. it's so hard to do this if we are too
scattered in what we are doing. Being very busy is not necessarily lacking in raising our hearts and minds to God, but being scattered is!

We can use each activity in intention to bring us to the presence of God. For instance, while driving, I use each stop light as a "marker" to remind me to pray. For green,I start with 'thank you God", for red, I pause to pray a quick prayer for safely or to remind me to stay in the moment of quiet.

Since I am on sabbatical and do not often get to drive, I use other "markers" in my day. I am blessed with being able to take long hikes most days. the trees, the hills, the times when I stop to catch my breath, I use these as times to stop, reflect,pause in my constant thinking to be in awe of God's nature. That silent being in awe is a prayer.

As we take laundry out of the washer, slow down and allow your heart and mind to lift to the Lord. Washing dishes can be another moment as can vacuuming when you can't hear anything else anyway. Today find some "markers" in your everyday life so that you can make more and more moments sacred.

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Study Simplicity

A quote from Catherine McAuley:

Use the most correct and suitable words to express your opinions and sentiments,
but at the same time, study simplicity.

As a writer, I try to concisely write words to convey the message in a clear and articulate way without being a person who uses obtuse or verbose language. I learned that form teaching the lower elementary grades. Even in Theology study I was called a deconstructionist.

It's not that I don't have to words, but I do want to be understood. Catherine had somewhat of the same idea. Her sisters came from well-educated families, but in their work with the poor, they needed to simplify their vocabulary without be condescending.

When dealing with each other, their words were well modulated as befitting their education and style of learning, something we could do with in our society today. To me the use of profanity, though expressive of one's feeling and opinions, does not articulate well further dialogue. it actually cuts off dialogue with others.

The use of a large vocabulary is wonderful in many settings, but one does need to take care to not use words to impress or to make others feel inferior. I think that is what Catherine was trying to tell her sisters.

Today I think I will see how I use vocabulary. I am living with a well-educated group of people during this sabbatical, but I must remember that English is the second language for some of them. I can put this adage into practice even here.
And you? How about your language habits? Do they need to be more correct and suitable?

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Attention to Temptations

A quote from Catherine McAuley:

Let us pay particular attention to the duties in which we experience
temptations to sloth or weariness.

Catherine is so practical!! She does it again! What we need to do to be better is to pay attention to those jobs we hate-like dusting, ironing, sweeping the stairs, dusting or correcting a ream of papers! We also have those tedious tasks of sewing (for those of us who still do it), peeling potatoes or washing windows. I am glad to hear that her early sisters also had to have care in the tedious work they did. They were saints in the making, not saints at work. Temptation to sloth, putting off what we need to get done or those things that weary us just by thinking of having to do them are real temptations today.

I guess I will have to go clean my room and take the clothes out of the dryer before too long and get them ironed. I have a couple of bills to pay and two letters to write. The temptation to put them off is great, but I won't. This is too 'in my face" for me to put it off. I'd feel guilty. and what about you? What are you putting off today that still could be done?

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Be ever Ready to Praise

A quote from Catherine McAuley;

Be ever ready to praise, to encourage, to stimulate, but slow to censure
and still more slow to condemn.

Catherine certainly had a way to make most things quite practical! these words are quite good for us to remember 175 years later. As a teacher in lower elementary school, I have tried to live by them in my professional work. what I don't often do is live by them in my personal life. Even in my spiritual life, I find that I use them. I guess I need to practice this even more today.

As I finish my retreat this week (today is the last day), it gives me pause to see how I could be better at this and to work on it one day at a time. The political situation is just one area that I need to practice this , as are the areas of relating to the Church and to social justice issues. As the saying goes; "You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar."

today, check to see if your words are honey or vinegar. Maybe you need, like I do, an attitude change in some aspects of your life.

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