Reflection by Margaret Dempsey, RSM, on Thursday, July 10, A future full of hope! How will we achieve this goal of the Convocation?

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1 Reflection by Margaret Dempsey, RSM, on Thursday, July 10, 2014 A future full of hope! How will we achieve this goal of the Convocation? Matthew spells it out loud and clear. The gift you have received, give as a gift. What a gift we have received: a God who does not abandon us but one who Hosea tells us is a God who taught us to walk and who stooped to feed us. Yet sometimes we do not see or hear or feel this God who has been given as a gift. Rather we, like the Israelites of old, seek other gods: the God of Control, the God of Money, and the God of Corporateness. Today at this time in the history of the Mid Atlantic Sisters of Mercy, the true God in whose mission we participate, draws us with human cords with bonds of love, says Hosea. No matter what, our God is with us, and no matter how many times we may forget, God does not forget. The great Eucharistic scholar Edward Schillebeeck reminded us, Man/woman cannot sever themselves from God because God will not let them go. The Kindom of God is at hand. In Matthew we are told, proclaim the kindom and how will we do it? Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons, aha the Works of

2 Mercy proclaimed by Jesus and reiterated by Catherine McAuley. The Kindom of Heaven is at hand. Participating in God s Mission we share the gift that has been given with everyone we meet. On the journey we do not need gold or silver or copper for our belts, for the Holy one is present and will provide so that the gift which has been given can be given as a gift, and make the kindom come, for the laborers are worthy of their pay. We are to be like the apostles in Acts. Silver and gold I have not but what I have I give, in the name of Jesus the Nazarene Get up and walk. We must get up and walk. Walk with the women and children and help them to find justice, walk with the ignorant and teach them about their worth, walk with the immigrants and make them welcome, walk the earth and care for it, walk with the homeless and offer them home and hope. Get up and walk and make Mercy and Compassion the way we treat all people and especially each other in Community. The Kindom road is sometimes bumpy we lose our way making sacrifices and burning incense to the false gods that rise up. Sometimes the peace we seek to share is not accepted like say by the Hierarchical church and its understanding of our Religious life, but we shake the dust from our feet and give the gift we have been given, the gift of mercy. We give the gift of the knowledge of a God that

3 Hosea reminds us loves us so that God fosters us like one who raises an infant to the cheek. Yes, the Kindom of Heaven is at hand. My sisters, brothers, associates, companions and friends let us have the courage of the Apostles and let it be said that wherever God s mission takes us, the sick are cured, the dead are raised, the lepers are cleansed and the demons are driven out because the gift of Mercy we have been given, we gave as a gift. The kindom of Heaven is at hand.

4 Reflection by Eileen Sizer, RSM, on Friday, July 11, 2014 Upon receiving the invitation to offer this reflection and knowing that one of our goals is to embrace a future full of hope, I immediately gathered around the scriptures with several wisdom figures of mine. Their wisdom is rooted in lives broken by homelessness, illness, and isolation. But because of their deep faith and inner strength they are true to the name of the home in which they live they are Women of Hope, a name so wisely chosen by Mary Scullion many years ago. They are living proof of why we don t need to worry about how we are to speak or what we are to say.since we all have the capacity of being as wise as serpents and as simple as doves. For many years this community of Mercy has been growing into those roles and as with all processes it has been gradual. The words of Sister Baptist Russell probably still ring true, You are not yet done. You are now only beginning. So Margie, Jen, and Danielle please know there is a wide future ahead!

5 As the Apostles fled from one town to the next, we too have fled for these days to Dallas, PA. to learn the lessons of Benedict, whose feast we celebrate today. lessons of unity, relationship, empowerment for ourselves and others. So let us be brave, honest, and clear of where we are going and why. There are a multitude of persons in need of becoming empowered. We look into their eyes every day no matter where we live or how we minister. Today we are called to work on what those multitudes see in our eyes. Do others see an intuitive wisdom and a compassionate sensitivity which enriches our relationships and deepens our unity? Have we taken the Catherine McAuley type of risks to be shrewd and wise while daily growing in the mercy of Christ? We need both qualities at the same time in order to be those sheep that are a part of Jesus flock. Oh what a shepherd of inclusion we have not one is left out of the fold not even one in all our world. No doubt we are being led on the right path. as Mary Sullivan so lovingly names it, The Path of Mercy.

6 So when we are doubtful or tired or challenged to find meaning. just think, not symbolically but in real life, to be called companions of Jesus Christ and Catherine McAuley It doesn t get any better than that! Shouldn t this realization get us out of bed in the morning? Shouldn t this realization turn us inside out from those perfectionists to prophets? from those managers to martyrs? from our ways of maintenance to mission? And shouldn t this realization bring such joy to our hearts knowing the company we keep here in this room and all of our dear sisters waiting anxiously at home to hear the fruits of these days? And an even wider circle of co-workers, family, friends and our fragile but strong wisdom figures whose prayers and support are with us. Oh how blessed are we! Let us prepare to return those blessings! Let us prepare to return them in JOY!

7 Reflection at the Rite of Reception for Margie, Jen and Danielle by Elizabeth Scanlon, RSM, on Friday, July 11, 2014 What a wonderful gift to celebrate the reception of Margie, Jen and Danielle at our Convocation: Embracing A Future Full of Hope; we may be tempted to consider 3 new novices as representing in some way our hopeful future but I d like to suggest that on this occasion, possibly more significant is that they invite us to notice in a personal way what is God s activity in the minds and hearts of so many throughout our world. And they grace us with their desire to share in the discernment of call and journey in Mercy as sisters our sisters in community. The reading for our reflection this evening is not the result of a committee selection or liturgical calendar, but was especially chosen for us by Margie, Jen and Danielle and borrowed from the book so aptly named Tender Courage. So to what are they inviting our gaze and deeper reflection? On this occasion of reception, the reading provides a framework for understanding how God s call uniquely expressed in the life of Catherine resonates among us in us who are animated by the gift of Mercy.the mercy we have received and mercy that we are compelled to tend in ourselves and share in our world. More than 180 years since Catherine recognized the call of the spirit to do something new to take uncommon initiative in her society in response to need; our Mercy community is blessed with the tender courage of Margie, Jen and Danielle to discern that same gift of mercy as their lives and history intersect with ours as sisters in community. Histories that include for them being professionally engaged in caring for the sick and elderly, in advocating for immigrant rights in the practice of public interest law and in nonprofit development connecting those who are rich with those who are most in need and vulnerable. As for Catherine and for each of us here Mercy compelled and invited a new sense of identity, and a future full of hope in Gods loving providence. Our Critical Concerns were and are the meeting place where just as for Catherine and each of us the Call of Mercy and the Gospel is awakened in the imagination and spirit. A few weeks ago while on retreat, I was introduced to the poet, Naomi Shihab Nye through a poem entitled: Red Brocade. She is of Palestinian descent and has a collection of work that depicts the culture and life in the Middle East. It is not what I expected.in this poem she grapples with simple presence and profound encounter in the world.with compassion in ordinary life. Please listen to her words: Red Brocade The Arabs used to say, When a stranger appears at your door, Feed him for three days before asking him who he is,

8 Where he s come from, where s he headed. That way he ll have strength enough to answer. Or, by then you ll be such good friends you don t care. Let s go back to that. Rice? Pine nuts? Here, take the red brocade pillow. My child will serve water to your horse. No, I was not busy when you came! I was not preparing to be busy. That s the armor everyone puts on To pretend they had a purpose in the world. I refuse to be claimed, your plate is waiting. We will snip fresh mint into your tea. Naomi Shihab Nye, 19 Varieties of Gazelle This poem, in the scene it paints, feels almost tactile to me as it reflects a contemplative life stance. I can relate to both the stranger and the host. I can see the red brocade pillow; I can taste the tea with fresh snipped mint. I imagine Catherine: Direct and practical in her response gifts given were gifts for others She had discovered that her charism, her gift for others, was Mercy.

9 Vespers Reflection by Rose Martin, RSM, on Saturday, July 12, 2014 Two weeks ago today I was visiting family in Sea Isle City, NJ. I took a walk down to our vacation house where I met one of our sisters who had just finished Retreat. (Just an aside to this person don t worry, I m not going to name you). I had shared ministry with this sister almost twenty years ago and since that time I had missed some significant events in her life. We stood and talked for about fifteen minutes and connected in a way that was holy. As I left that encounter I knew the spark of communitas a realization of this grace in which we stand. This person met me, my strengths and weaknesses wholly exposed, in a way so true to our charism that, in a phrase learned from Mary Sullivan, invites us to be the presence of tenderness in this world. I know that many of you have experienced this same spark during these past few days and isn t it wondrous that now we can hear names that were unfamiliar eight short years ago and connect them with creativity, passion, humor, integrity, joy. Hope does not disappoint. When we open the newspaper today or turn on the news we hear of violence, of poverty, of prolonged and institutionalized racism, of abuse of women, of children suffering, of the degradation of our earth, of the woeful plight of immigrants was it nine years ago that we enumerated our critical concerns and since then have worked and prayed and recommitted ourselves to a passionate response to these very issues. Who can doubt that the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Hope does not disappoint. The gift of communitas the yearning for integrity of word and deed are experiences that we share. At the core of our charism of Mercy again using words from Mary Sullivan.is a consciousness of our redeemed condition and so we have available

10 to us a special sensitivity to suffering. This sensitivity to suffering is the Calvary upon which our Institute was founded but we are women of the Resurrection knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, Hope and Hope does not disappoint. While preparing for this Convocation we read the words, if the art of the possible has become more practiced than the virtue of hope/ what right have we to expect the Holy Spirit to renew the face of the earth. We know that Hope does not disappoint and that with God, all things are possible.

11 Reflection by Pat McDermott, RSM, on Sunday, July 13, 2014 I m well aware that even with the best of meetings or gatherings, there does come that point when, as the letter to the Romans says, all of creation is groaning! I recognize that so many words have been shared during these days and so I will try to be selective as I offer a few reflections on today s gospel. *** Even though I m from Nebraska, I don t have any real experience of farming of working the land of watching fields turn from seed time to harvest time. But the people Jesus was addressing in today s gospel were quite familiar with that experience. And so naming the possibilities of what could happen to seeds was the very stuff of life that they faced on a daily and yearly basis: the birds and other animals sabotage the growing process; the soil is full of rocks or not deep enough to supply the environment the seeds need to come to fruition; weeds and thorns choke the seeds and thus no growth will occur. And, yes, there is the possibility that some seeds will find rich soil and produce fruit. So, if the crowd already knows what is happening, why is Jesus telling this story? And, when Jesus comes to his closing line and says Listen, anyone who has ears to hear, what were they and we to listen for? As I ve sat with this story, I wonder if Jesus is asking us to listen to a story about a farmer God who is totally indiscriminate about where seed is sown. For in God there is no condition no landscape of nature or of heart that is outside the potential of God life. Jesus is masterful in using the familiar, the commonplace, the concrete to engage his followers. He s all about nature and food stuff like bread and wine and cleaning the house and building barns and somehow it s all about the reign of God the presence of sacred energy in all things simple and concrete divine activity at work in that which looks mundane and sometimes void of possibilities.

12 The stories of Jesus are invitations for each of us to put aside boundaries and assumptions and to sow seeds freely and without caution for all of life is ripe in potential for newness and freshness of deeper life. We gathered for these days under the umbrella of transformation: embracing a future full of hope. Jesus asks us today if we really believe those words. It really is a rather simple invitation and a profound engagement. In very real ways, Jesus is calling his hearers us to a discernment about making choices and setting priorities on the side of the abundance of God life. What in my life in our common life will nurture the sacred presence that is already ours the seed of God life that is within and around us, perhaps awaiting our energy and attentiveness? On Friday evening, we witnessed three of our own women Danielle, Jen and Margie express rather clearly that they are about following Jesus as women of Mercy. They believe that the seed of God life within them can be nurtured and enhanced in this community. We, too, committed to honor their choice, not just by being supportive to and of them but more radically by living our own commitment to follow Jesus and to nurture God life among, within and around us. Each of us finds ourselves wondering I m sure at times whether we are really on the path toward deeper life in God toward richer expressions of making God known to one another toward discovering God life among those who seem to be for us the briars, the rocky paths, the desolate soil. Yet, that seems to be the call of the gospel: to engage life in its limits and its fragility and to trust that abundance of God life awaits us. It is a process of trusting the one who sows the seed. Thomas Aquinas, saint and theologian and at times a poet wrote: We are fields before each other. How can we live in harmony? First we need to know we are all madly in love with the same God.

13 A sower went out to sow the seeds. That s all Jesus wants us to know be attentive to the seeds of God life within and around you. Nurture those seeds by listening to the landscape of our own individual fields and by engaging the fields of love that we find in one another and in our world. Trust the energy of hope and transformation that awaits us as we make our journey. We gather at this table to be nurtured for our seeding of life. We gather to remind one another that we are willing and bold enough to say yes to becoming the very expression of God life that Jesus was. Let us draw strength from one another s commitment as we go forth, trusting that abundant God life awaits our merciful attentiveness and care.