The Grace of the Fluidity of Prayer

-
Rest easy, friend.
(Tanya and Dillon at Camp We-Ha-Kee) 
Today is Sunday. Morning routine: woke early, made coffee, took a shower, and settled into my prayer corner, ready to enter into contemplative silence. God had other ideas regarding structure. I was sad, missing my Dominican sister and friend, Tanya Williams, who had herself settled into God’s loving, eternal embrace just a few short days ago. Tanya was so vibrant, so full of life, her personality and integrity so large, that her absence feels both surreal and impossible. So, rather than contemplative silence, I opened my computer to email correspondence to/from Tanya that began in April, 2011 when I was discerning a call to religious life. Tanya quickly became a friend who was willing, even eager, to explore with me matters of faith and justice and ‘later-life’ transformation and call. Her email are full of wisdom and wit and perspectives that challenge me even to this day. They also reflect personal and spiritual growth that I may not have been able to see on a day-to-day basis. It was as if Tanya was sitting with me this morning, engaging me in wonderful conversation and deep sharing. If that is not prayer, I don’t know what is. I know I’m not unique...this prayer, the prayer of her life, is one that Tanya shared with many, many people. The relationships she cultivated were as vast as her spacious heart.
Two lessons learned that I’d like to pass on:
  1. 1)  If you have saved email from people you treasure, read them. You’re likely in for a treat;
  2. 2)  Prayer is conversation with God. Often it is an expression of gratitude for gifts God has freely
    given. Rote, ritualized prayer can be superficial while ‘ordinary’ day-to-day activities can hold profound space for conversation with God. When our relationships with each other and all of Creation are authentic, sincere, and not superficial, we are connecting with the Divine at our very core. Isn’t that prayer?
God of Love and Compassion, thank you for the gift of Tanya Williams. Tanya, thank you for being you.

 Kathy Flynn, OP
Sinsinawa, WI

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nuns can have nose rings? (and other frequently asked questions)

-
Image
One of my favorite things about being a young sister-in-formation is allowing people to ask me their burning (and sometimes silly) questions about religious life.   Questions like: Do nuns have jobs?   Can you still go dancing and swimming?   You mean you get to keep that nose ring? Becoming a sister right now is an interesting thing: religious life has changed drastically in the past fifty years, but many people’s stereotypes about it haven’t.   Many of these stereotypes seem superficial (ie- all nuns wear habits; nuns don’t dance) but they may reflect deeper misconceptions about religious life… like the idea that sisters are somehow more holy or less human than “normal” people.   For a long time, my own misconceptions kept me from really considering religious life. And so I enjoy the questions.   I love making people feel free to ask them, and I love surprising them with the answers.   After all, they aren’t really asking about my nose ring;...
Read more

Happiness and Joy in Religious Life?

-
Image
I never wanted to be a religious sister (nun) because I felt I would never be happy.     This calls me to reflect on what is happiness.     Some say that happiness is a feeling.     It is when you feel good and cheerful about something that happened or is happening in your life.     However, I think that true happiness comes from when you make others happy.     After I went out of my way to assist someone and they unexpectedly tell me how much my helping meant to them.     I experience an unexpected warm feeling inside.     True happiness I think is a sense of fulfilment you feel even if what you did was not acknowledged, yet you know that deep down inside you did and gave of your best to help someone without any conscious ulterior motive.     You did it because it was the right and necessary thing to do at the time. Everyone searches for happiness and many know that true happiness cannot be found in things,...
Read more

HOME

-
Image
  I am fortunate to have an iPhone and I use the maps feature regularly when I travel to different places. What I like best is that on my return journey all I need to do is hit the HOME button and  no matter where I am it routes me safely home. I’ve been thinking about the significance of HOME lately especially as I and so many of our sisters have recently moved and settled into new spaces.  Can you find yourself at home in the gift of this day? Do you find yourself at home in your heart? I have returned to live at Sinsinawa mound and feel deeply at home. It is the space from which our sisters are sent out on mission and to which they return for their final resting place. I think of all who have been forced or bombed out of their homes. All the millions of displaced people searching for a place to call home, all the unhomed peopled on our own city streets especially veterans and those with mental health problems who have no place to call home. How am I called to respond o...
Read more