A Return to Nazareth

Today ends the year of Consecrated Life in the Church (November 30, 2014-February 2, 2016).  It has been a year of many graces and beautiful opportunities.  As consecrated religious, we were invited by Pope Francis to focus on three things during this year:

to look to the past with gratitude, live the present with passion, and to embrace the future with hope.

Throughout the year we reflected on our past by having Days of Renewal dedicated to prayer on specific themes relating to our charisms and the vows.

One of the ways we embraced the future was by attending the National Symposium hosted by the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious (CMSWR) where we heard speakers present on "Religious Life as a Prophetic Witness".  There were over 500 women religious in attendance from all over the country. Religious life is alive and growing in the Church!

But what about "living the present with passion"?  Pope Francis asked us to ask ourselves this question:

 "Is Jesus really our first and only love?" 

This is a question that I was able to reflect on in a profound way by professing perpetual vows in July of 2015, during the year of Consecrated Life.

Sr. Sophia Grace (right) during her perpetual vow ceremony

As I was preparing, I was led to reflect on my preparation before professing my vows for the 1st time, nearly 5 years ago.  Our motherhouse complex and Father of Mercy Chapel was nearing the end of construction.  The building was scheduled to be completed in June but as we moved into July we were still having work parties to help clean, paint, and clean some more!

July happened to be when my classmates and I began a more intentional reflection on each of the vows, praying with one of them each week.

The first vow we took was chastity.  It happened to be the week that I would walk through the cloister and see men, young attractive men, right outside my bedroom window as they were re-siding the existing house.

It made me stop and think.  

For almost a year our property had been bustling with all kinds of carpenters, masons, plumbers, and electricians (a good portion of them men) and I never experienced any major temptations against the vow of chastity.

 Why?  Because THE Man, Jesus Christ, had wooed my heart and I desired to belong only to him!

The next week we began cleaning and setting up bedrooms on the new side of the house so they could be part of the tour on the day of the Chapel dedication.  It was a bit of a sneak peek for our guests before we started living in the rooms and they became part of the cloister (where only sisters are allowed to go).

That particular week a sister came to me with a plea, "Sister, we don't have enough bed spreads for the rooms.  Can I use yours?"  To which I responded, "Sure, why not." It was shortly after this exchange that I recalled we were reflecting on poverty that week!  The Lord is so good in helping me concretely live it out and, at least in this instance, be more attached to Him than to things!

Week #3.  Obedience.  Hearing the will of God through my superiors.

My assignment at the time was co-coordinating the kitchen, which during the month of July became a small catering business as we provided lunch for the volunteers who came to help us at our work parties.  I began experiencing the busyness and stress of it all during this final stretch of preparation and finishing the building.

I was trying to do what was asked of me in the kitchen but I didn't feel like I could fully enter into my preparation for 1st vows with all of the chaos that was happening around me.  I went to my formator in tears and she encouraged me that my human emotions were normal and expected.  She gave me tips to help with the demands and encouraged me to see God in the midst of it.

What was God saying in all of this?  What was his will?

The revelation of His particular love for me!  In preparation for vows I was also praying with the ancient Jewish wedding feast, basically what a proposal, engagement, and marriage celebration would have looked like in Jesus' time.

Our chapel under construction

Part of the process is that after the bridegroom and bride are engaged the bridegroom went back to his father's house and began to build the bridal chamber.  Meanwhile, the bride prepared herself and waited for the bridegroom's return, which was when the bridal chamber was complete, and always at an unknown hour.  Then the marriage would take place.

The day before first profession, as we were just beginning the rehearsal in our new chapel, a sister came through excitedly waving a paper in her hand.  "It's official!  We just got the final permit!  We can move in!"  The building had passed all necessary inspections.

As I stood there listening to her words what I experienced the Lord saying to me was, "The bridal chamber is complete and now I am coming for you at this unexpected hour, to be married the following day."

In Our Lord's providence and passionate love for me, He allowed me to experience my own preparation to give myself to Him alongside His building the bridal chamber, our new chapel.

Yes!  Jesus is my first love!  And in the ups and downs of the last five years the Lord has taken me deeper into his passionate love.  In professing perpetual vows I freely gave my heart to him and desire Him even more to be my ONLY love!

I pray that this passion between the Lord and I leads and guides my interactions with each person, as I desire everyone to experience that same depth of love in their lives!
-Sr. Sophia Grace Huschka, T.O.R.

Sr. Sophia Grace recieving commnion during her perpetual vow ceremony

Sr. Mary Gemma with Tavien, a young woman from Seaford Town, Jamaica

Tavien's niece and nephew: Lisandre and Leon

"As contemplatives in the world, we esteem the value of prayer in itself for love of God and give ourselves wholeheartedly to the mission of Christ through the spiritual and corporal works of mercy" (Constitutions #1).

Works of Mercy: Praying for the Living and the Dead

One of those works of mercy, a spiritual work of mercy, is to pray for the living and the dead.

Right now two of our sisters are having what we call a "hermitage experience", a more concentrated time of silence, solitude, contemplative work, and prayer.  In these two weeks after Christmas they are each praying for a special intention.

Sr. Agnes Therese is praying for peace throughout the world while Sr. Teresa is offering her prayer, work, and fasting for those who do not know or believe in God's mercy and for those for whom God's heart breaks.

Prayer and intercession are considered one of our main ministries and it is a gift for us to be able to life up to the Lord the dying, deceased, addicted, lost, priests, and families, and to pray for peace and reconciliation, and for a culture of life and the list goes on and on.

The two-week "hermitage experience" is but a taste of an aspect of our way of life that we are not yet fully living.  In the next couple of years, we hope to have 2-3 sisters begin living in a hermitage setting where they will live in a house together and more fully embrace the contemplative life.

"By embracing a more intense living of our prayer and penance, we seek to offer ourselves as a sacrifice of praise and adoration of God who is supremely loved, and to offer ourselves as a sacrifice of love and intercession for all of God's people" (Constitutions #62).

Last Christmas I had the incredible gift of doing my own "hermitage experience".

During those two weeks I offered my work, prayers, and other daily activities for the intention of those who are in darkness- that they would come to know the light of Christ.  I prayed especially for those who, in their own woundedness and brokenness (because of past hurts), can't even imagine a God who loves them.

Throughout my time, the Lord allowed my to see His faithfulness and goodness.  Through scripture, the Liturgy of the Hours, the Mass and many other ways, God spoke to my heart and showed me over and over again that He was answering my prayers and accepting the small offering of my simple, hidden work.

A couple of weeks later many of the sisters, myself included, watched The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King.  If you have seen this movie you know there are many, many scenes portraying the powers of light versus the powers of darkness, but I was struck by one scene in particular and everything in me wanted to yell,

"PAUSE IT! Stop right here!  Let's just sit and pray with this!"

Faramir and his men are retreating from Osgiliath.  A dark shadow of clouds cover them and Nazguls are picking them off by the claw full as they ride to the protection of Minas Tirith.  Gandalf, the White Rider, rides out on his white horse to meet them.

As he approaches the impending darkness and retreating men he extends his staff and a powerful light radiates from it.

The entire scene changes.  The music/sounds go from the Nazguls screaming to what sounds like elves singing.

Immediately the Nazguls turn and flee from the light.  Gandalf then joins Faramir and his men and they all return to Minas Tirith safely.


I felt like I was watching, right there on the screen, what God had been doing in the people I had been praying for during my time in the hermitage!  

As I prayed for those who were in darkness God was sending his Holy Spirit (the light coming from Gandalf's staff) to enlighten their hearts and to disperse the evil that had been covering and pursuing them.  Jesus was bringing them under his protection, just as Gandalf brought his protection by his presence of riding to them and with them.

I also saw just how powerful the kingdom of light really is in relation to the enemy.  

The Nazgul are giant in comparison to the men, their screams deafening, and their claws sharp; yet when faced with the seemingly weak light from Gandalf's staff they flee immediately and go back to the darkness from where they came.

The devil seems big and brutal but he doesn't stand a chance against God's kingdom- God is always victorious!  The light wins over the darkness!

The Lord did not have to show me how he was hearing and answering my prayers and offerings during my "hermitage experience" but he chose to and as it all unfolded my faith was buoyed.

I began to pray with a more bold confidence as I lifted up people and situations to him because whether he shows me or not I know he is hearing my prayers and answering them according to his will.  As he does with all of our prayers!

May we all grow in prayer and intercession for the living and deceased!
-Sr. Sophia Grace Huschka, T.O.R.

“The Lord of hosts is with us: the God of Jacob is our stronghold.” (Ps 46:4)

Happy Gaudete Sunday! This third Sunday of Advent the Church invites us to rejoice with her as we continue to approach the celebration of God coming among us. The celebration of the Liturgy is a bit more festive, and children everywhere rejoice as we finally get to light the pink candle on the Advent wreath!

As I was reflecting on the beautiful Scriptures for today, I was struck by a simple theme: God is with us. I know that by this time in Advent the phrase has become so familiar that we (or at least I) have a temptation to gloss over it. But I think that would be a mistake. Because as I reflected further, I was also struck by what the Scriptures do not tell us in union with that line: nowhere connected with this promise of the Lord being with us is the promise that all our troubles will be erased, or that difficult situations will be eradicated, or that what we found difficult yesterday will be made easy today. We are simply told, “He is with us.”

Twice in today’s first reading for Mass we are reminded to sing joyfully and fear not, because “the Lord is in your midst.”

He tells us that He has removed the judgment against us…He has taken it upon Himself.

He tells us to not fear misfortune and not to be discouraged. Why? Because He is with us. The misfortunes will still persist, this side of heaven, and yet we are still called to rejoice. Because He is with us.

I know that sometimes I fall victim to thinking that once I really entrust everything to the Lord, and trust Him with all my heart, the external situations, especially the difficult, ones, will change. But Christ never promises that to us – yet He does promise to be with us, and that makes all the difference. Oftentimes it is these very situations – the ones I wish were different or that the Lord would take away – that the Lord uses to keep me close to Him, aware of the earth-shattering reality that He is Emmanuel…God-with-us.

This truth of Him being with us brought me to another place in Scripture where we hear this uttered: a town of Galilee called Nazareth, where we meet a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. The angel says to Mary, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.” In this encounter, Mary is also reminded of the singular presence of God with her, and invited to make a gift of herself to Him in a way that no other human has or will. She is invited to rejoice in the Lord’s presence with her, and to invite Him in to dwell even more intimately within her very womb. As she makes this act of trust and abandonment, she does not know all the answers, or how everything will turn out. She is not promised that all her troubles will go away, that everyone will understand her, and that life will be easy. But she is told to rejoice at the Lord’s presence with her, and as she makes this gift of self to her Lord, He comes to dwell with her…and because of this, He now dwells with each and every one of us.

As we reflect on Christ’s presence with us, we have two options as to how we respond. We can respond in a similar manner to Peter’s initial reaction at the overwhelming presence of Christ’s mercy, and in pride want Him to leave us to do it ourselves: “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” I know that many times this is my response: in my prideful presumption of self-sufficiency, I want to solve my problems myself, and run away from the uncomfortable and humbling experience of having to accept help from the Lord, or from other people. However, as I know from repeated experience, this does not end well. But the Lord is relentless in His love, and promises that He will not go away; He pursues us more passionately than we can ever pursue Him.

As we embark upon this second half of Advent, may our response to Emmanuel, God-with-us, be that of the free, total, faithful, and fruitful response of our Lady, who knew that all she had was gift: “He has looked with favor upon his handmaid’s lowliness…The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is His name.” She knew and rejoiced in her littleness!

Come, Lord Jesus, and be with us in our littleness, in our brokenness, and in those situations that are difficult and less than ideal. Into those very places, come with your strong and healing presence, and may we have the courage to rejoice that you are with us there. May we rest in the truth of your promise that you rejoice over us with gladness, renew us in your love, and sing joyfully over us as a Bridegroom rejoices in His bride.

-Sr. Anna Rose Ciarrone

Like me, you might be overwhelmed at all the hubbub on the Year of Mercy, which begins today. All the plans, documents, suggestions, reflections, actions, initiatives ... and then there's those Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy! There's 14 of them!