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Glimpses of God hidden in plain sight

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I bet like most people, you appreciate beauty. I have found myself startled by beauty this Fall. I turn the corner and am dazzled by a gloriously red leaved Maple tree. It seems lit up from within. I turn again and my  breathe is taken away by tiny bright yellow leaves hanging on the tips of bare branches and arranged like ornaments.  If we only open our eyes to the magnificence of our natural environment, we can appreciate these manifestations of the Divine and take a moment to appreciate and give thanks for such beauty. The other night I looked up and was stopped in my tracks by the beauty of the crescent moon juxtaposed by Venus, a bright jewel in the dark sky.    And then there is the freshness of dawn, beautifully painted every morning, fleeting but truly glorious. So even though we humans have caused and are causing so much damage to our environment we are still held in mercy and beauty. May we work towards truly appreciating and giving thanks. Doing a better job of caring for su
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Who Am I Becoming?

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As I was trying to decide on what to write for this blog my mind took to me to the book some of us sisters are presently reading. Ted Dunn’s book,   Graced Crossroads .     In his book Ted writes about religious life today in U.S women congregations.     Ted shares about the “Great Turning.”     In one chapter in which he is considering all that is happening and changing in the world today.     In the book he examines how U.S. women religious congregations are fearing and are they going to survive or not with all the challenges they are facing today.     I see religious life like a living and breathing organic system that is an organization and like many organisms it goes through various changes and how it handles those changes will decide if it survives, dies, or thrive.     This living organism goes through mountain tops and valley experiences.     Now we appear to be in a valley experience.     What are we becoming in religious life especially, namely, in our various congregations?
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NATIONAL VOCATION AWARENESS WEEK November 7-13, 2021

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One hundred years from now, I hope people will remember this about our community: We were people who spent our lives advocating for the rights of women, people of color, native peoples, immigrants... all the while treating each person we encountered with profound dignity.   Carol Fox, OP
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NATIONAL VOCATION AWARENESS WEEK November 7-13, 2021

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  The Quest Never Loses Its Savor   Who was this young student-sister whose final essay in English comp at Rosary College she titled “The Image of Man in Western Civilization” (Sister Julie said, “Let Christopher Dawson do this.”) And whose final paper for her MA she titled “Man in Search.” (inclusive language had not yet been invented.)   It could only be the daughter of a mother and father, Third Order Dominicans, whose daily reading as she grew up was publications like  America ,  Commonweal ,  Integrity , and  The Catholic Worker . Not that I understood a word of it--though I did try, once…   But I did catch the Dominican quest-bug, even as we children crouched near the radio for “Nick Carter Master Detective” and “The Shadow” while our parents went off on Sunday afternoons to Marquette Poetry Teas and meetings of the Thomist Association they started for the theological education of laity.   Thus, I found myself, three years after my sister Monica, joining the Sisters at Sinsinawa,
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Soon and very soon we will be stepping into the Advent Season. I love this time of year when the whole universe waits in tingling anticipation for the birth of our Savior. Of course, you might say, He was born already a long time ago. He entered into the human race at a specific moment in time and in a specific place – of course! Our time is here and now and our challenge and gift is to trust that He is being born again in us. Our Dominican brother Meister Eckhart says, “What good is it that Christ was born in a stable in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago if he is not also born in me?”   When Mary was invited to give birth to Jesus her response was, “How can this be?” and we might also respond in kind. Let us remind ourselves that the power is in God and not in us and with God all things are possible. For our part, we are being invited to open our whole being to that power in order to cultivate a spirit of gratitude and a heart filled with compassion. “We are all meant to be mothers of Go
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NATIONAL VOCATION AWARENESS WEEK November 7-13, 2021

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One hundred years from now, I hope people will remember this about our community: that we used our talents and time to reach out to people in need. Sheila Griffin, OP 
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NATIONAL VOCATION AWARENESS WEEK November 7-13, 2021

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When I was a sophomore in high school a sister invited me for a walk, and we sat down together at a shrine of the Sacred Heart. She began to talk about her relationship with Jesus and shared her deep faith with me. Later she continued to invite me for more walks and her sharing encouraged me to want to know Jesus as a person in my life. This eventually opened me to the desire to become a religious and give my life to God.     Helen Marie Raycraft , OP
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