Faith and Hope

By: Tara Lane

How does your faith inform your actions?  Inform, an odd use of the word.  Merriam-Webster Dictionary noted, “transitive verb  1 obsolete:  to give material form to.”  How does your faith give material form to  your actions?  How do your actions manifest your faith?   “In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” James 2:17, New International Version.

An inspirational quote:

Deep within us

Is the power to change our lives

Heal the broken

Loose the bound

Live welcoming to all.

(author unknown)

Sisters of Providence, Spiritual Integration Units,

Unit 7 by Sister Kathleen Desautels, Page 9-2

In the 1960’s and 70’s the women’s movement came into its own.  The oppression of women was not limited to secular society.  It was, and still is, an issue in religious organizations as well.  For women that challenged the norms of women in laity and clergy, there were consequences to be paid.  I was one of those women.   Reconciling the personal mystery of God experience and the dogma of religion has been a lifelong conflict.  Seeking deeper spirituality rather than religious integration has reframed and diminished the struggle.  However, the result has been more solitude than necessary and less community than required.

More solitude culminated into unpretentious acts of kindness to circumvent traditional tithing and church work.  To be quite honest, it’s great fun to provide an unexpected gift to an unsuspecting person for no good reason, to pick up the check at lunch, to offer humble resources at the point of need.  It’s even more fun to make a successful delivery without being found out. 

The inspiring quote became real to me in community of the Sisters of Providence.  That community has resolved a great deal of personal conflict.  Deep within us is the power to change our lives.  That “power” can be called by diverse names.  That same power, spirit, indwelling, spark of life, etc. is the unity the community, the Providence that mysteriously connects us, empowering us in that continuous electrical circuit to change.

Let go.  Think big.  Change our lives, not just individually, you or me but collectively.  Deep within us, plural, WE, together, have the Power, THE Mystery to change OUR collective lives.  With that collective power WE, through the mystery with Providence heal the broken, loose the bound and live welcoming at all.

In that humble surrender, allowing our individual sparks to be exponentially changed within the closed circuit of community.  That radiant Power in THE miraculous is the change life often yearns for.

How does my faith inform my life?  It hopes.  It believes our world can change.

How Lent Looks at The Woods

By: Andrea Beyke

The Church all over the world marked the beginning of Lent this week with Ash Wednesday, and it was no different here at The Woods…indoors, at least.  The word “Lent” comes from an Old English word in the 13^th Century that means “spring” or “springtime.”  In this way, it looks nothing like Lent here…outdoors.  

Photo Credit: Sisters of Providence

Yesterday, some students and the campus minister gathered for a faith-sharing group during dinner.  The planned activity was to pray the labyrinth.  Upon waking up on Thursday morning, this was the feared outcome…

Needless to say, we decided to try finger labyrinths and paper labyrinths instead. Therefore, we were able to stay indoors and warm, and we were also able to write on the paper labyrinths the baggage we wanted to drop on the way toward the center and then write the virtues we wanted to pick up on the way back into the world with God.  This exercise was just as effective, if not more so.  

With this amended group sharing, I discovered how Lent looks on the inside of The Woods.  Lent looks like a pilgrim journey, bending and curving around the obstacles.  Lent is naming the obstacles and what we can do to remove them.  Lent is finding and following the path that makes us our best selves.  This is exactly what’s happening here. 

On Ash Wednesday, the student body gathered with some Sisters of Providence for prayer and to receive ashes.  The beautiful service, led by Sister Jan Craven, SP, brought students together: Catholic and non-Catholic alike.  One student posted later Wednesday evening, “Even though I myself am not Catholic, I am very thankful for all the opportunities I have at St. Mary's to learn and participate! Tonight I attended my first Ash Wednesday service and I gained a new perspective on what it and Lent itself are all about thanks to Sister Jan. Never miss an opportunity to broaden your perspective and have new experiences.”

Snow on the ground, grey days, frigid temperatures, and slippery sidewalks have nothing on us here at The Woods!  I’m reminded of the old saying, “When it is dark outside, the light that makes the stained glass window beautiful comes from the inside.”  Lent may have a snowy beginning per the natural world, but from where I stand, the warmth within the walls carries us through this journey.   Before we know it, the outside will follow suit, bringing spring, and the growth that we experience on the inside will manifest itself.

So, how does Lent look at The Woods?  Like this…

Photo Credit: Sydney Wilderman

"So let us be marked not for sorrow. And let us be marked not for shame. Let us be marked not for false humility or for thinking we are less than we are but for claiming what God can do within the dust, within the dirt, within the stuff of which the world is made, and the stars that blaze in our bones, and the galaxies that spiral inside the smudge we bear." Jan Richardson

Lent: Beyond the Cliché

By: Andrea Beyke

Lent is a season in the Church that is part of a whole year of liturgical seasons; these seasons allow us to experience Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection by associating our lives with different parts of his.   During Lent, we take the time to repent, like Jesus did in the desert.  Repent seems like such an awful word – as though we’ve done something awful and we have to feel bad about it.  That’s not the whole story.  Repent simply means “to turn.”  To repent during Lent means to do things that turn us back to God, aligning our lives with Jesus’ so we can prepare ourselves to celebrate the greatest feast: the Resurrection.  As we approach Ash Wednesday, think about what you can do to turn to God.  Challenge yourself this year, and go beyond the clichés of “giving up” something. Now is a great time to take stock of your spiritual life, and to grow in it.

Below are a few suggestions for this Lent:

1) Spread the Love.  Take a few minutes each day and write a note full of kind words to a friend or acquaintance.  It will make his/her day!

2) Make a commitment to reading the Sunday readings before you go to Mass. In the same way that reading up on football players, opposing teams, and coaching strategies will help you experience a game more fully, familiarizing yourself with the readings ahead of time can allow you to experience them in a deeper way on Sunday. (Find the Sunday readings here.)

3) Don’t have time to read all three readings? Then just read the Gospel.

4) Make a commitment to trying something new spiritually. Never tried an hour of Eucharistic adoration? Find a parish where you can try it. Never attended Mass at a parish of an ethnic group that’s different than yours? Give it a try.  Wondered what Taize prayer is?  Join the Sisters on March 10^th at 7:00 in the Church of the Immaculate Conception.  

5) Think about what you usually spend your money on. Do you buy a few too many clothes? Spend a few too many bucks on iTunes? Eating out? Pick one type of expenditure that you’ll “fast” from during Lent, and give the money you would usually spend to a great local charity…or put it in your CRS Rice Bowl.   Get your Rice Bowl at SMWC’s Ash Wednesday service or in the Campus Ministry office.  There will also be some available in Sacred Heart Chapel.  

6) Go to a weekday Mass one day during the week. The Sisters of Providence offer Daily Mass at 11:30 in the Church of Immaculate Conception, and SMWC Campus Ministry offers a Wednesday Night Worship at 7:30 in Sacred Heart Chapel.  Daily Masses are often more intimate and informal than Sunday Mass.

7) Read the entire Gospel of Mark in one sitting. As the shortest Gospel, it is the most concise story of Jesus’ life, and the cross, a central Lenten symbol, plays an even more prominent role than in the other Gospels.

8) Attend the Stations of the Cross somewhere — SMWC Campus Ministry will offer a “Stations on Location” around the city during Lent.  Stay tuned for day and time!

9) Turn off your iPod or your car radio on your commute or don’t walk to class with earphones. The silence may be jarring at first, but you may find that you are able to concentrate better and will be more observant of your surroundings.

10) Buy a book of daily reflections (or borrow one from your campus minister) and keep it by your bed. Local parishes often offer these for purchase during Lent, and there are some good ones available online. 

11) Think about a habit that has kept you from being whom God is calling you to be. Consciously give up that habit for Lent.

12) Make a commitment to “fast” from cruel comments about others. So, no gossiping or reading celebrity tabloids.

13) As a part of your Lenten almsgiving, make a point to learn as much about a particular social issue (immigration, human trafficking, racism, AIDS victims, child poverty) as possible. Give money to an organization, related to your chosen issue that supports the dignity of the human person.

14) Pray for somebody. As you’re walking across campus, driving home, sitting at your desk, or going to a movie, pick out a person who appears to be in need, and pray for that person. Be mindful of the words of Philo of Alexandria, who said, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.”

15) Read the Works of Mercy as Jesus describes them in Matthew 25. “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink…in prison and you visited me.” There are plenty of opportunities available in your own community to put this teaching into practice. Choose an act of service you can perform throughout Lent.

16) Make a list of all the excesses in your life. Think about which ones you could do without.

17) Journal each night about the blessings of the day. 

18) Wake up 5 minutes earlier in the morning to say your prayers.

19)  Make an effort to call your parents/caregivers/grandparents more often.  They love to hear from you!

20)  Connect with someone new each day.  Take the time to start a conversation with someone you don’t normally talk to.