Monday, December 6, 2010

FRANZISKA NOTES December 2010

There was a rare snowfall in Rome. A Sister from South Brazil was enchanted at the sight. Looking at the trees in the garden carrying their white load she exclaimed, “Now I know why we always put cotton on our Christmas tree!” It is a sign of the internationality of the Congregation founded by Franziska Lechner that a sister from one part of the world could experience a revelation from a place far from her own birthplace. We have heard many times that we must “think global”. Franzi the little girl from a village in Bavaria would have loved that expression because that is the story of her life. She saw opportunities for good in the widespread major empire of her day and sent her sisters to express, in concrete form, the love of God. She wrote of the stop she and her sisters made in an inn in Bosnia. They sat on the cushions around the small table and drank the strong coffee offered in cups that were “sanitized” by the proprietor with his saliva and apron. They realized that love of God demanded acceptance of the practice without negative reaction. If we want to live as true followers of Jesus who revealed the love of God to us, especially in the poor manger at Bethlehem, we must be open to differences and always see the stranger as a child of God and our own brother or sister. The media today can so easily brain wash us to generalizations. We must let the Holy Spirit enter our minds and hearts with light and love. Everywhere there are good people and they need to find us also to be “good people”. This may be on a bus, in a supermarket, a doctor’s office or in a distant land. Wherever our legitimate life’s work takes us we are meant to be ambassadors of God’s love. The evil forces in the world today want to separate us with hatred and suspicion. Jesus calls us to even love our enemies….. how does that contrast with making enemies of people we don’t even know yet? Paraphrasing Franziska Lechner, let us “do good, give joy, make happy… and so … lead to heaven”.

Friday, November 12, 2010

The Mustar Seed, another parable



Wearily the old man slogged along the seemingly endless road toward the sunset. He knew it was the end of his long life and he dreaded his meeting with the one who had given him that great gift.

When he stood before the Lord in the heavenly throne room and felt Jesus' hands hold his own he burst into tears. "Lord" he said, "You have been so good to me my whole life long and have given me countless friends, a wonderful family and many material and spiritual gifts... I am afraid I have nothing to show for my life."


Jesus smiled and asked the man to look behind him. There, to his surprise was a beautiful field filled with yellow flowers dancing in the sun. Jesus said, " Since you were walking with me, your faith was scattering all along your way like little mustard seeds clinging to your clothing. You didn't notice but many people have been enriched by the beautiful flowers sprung from those tiny seeds that are now delighting eyes and hearts and enriching the soil in which they have taken root. Come with me to your eternal reward!

















Saturday, October 2, 2010

Franziska Notes 2010 October 2010

Franziska Notes
No.7/10 October 2010

If Mother Franziska were given a theme for her life there would be a difficult choice between joy and gratitude. There is no contradiction however in these two qualities. The surest way to be joyful in all circumstances is to be grateful. Sometimes we associate joy with the infrequent events described as “luck”. How happy we would be if we won a large lottery prize, or if we found an unexpected bargain for an item that we have long desired. Real and lasting joy comes, however, with the first moment of awakening when we realize that we have been gifted with another day. We have twenty-four hours more to enjoy the many gifts showered upon us every day of our lives. A superficial glance at the obituaries in the daily paper tells us that many people have fewer days of life than we. How often do we notice the beauty in clouds. Millions of varied forms are displayed throughout a single day in one place. Even dark storm clouds can be fascinating.
A habit of gratitude is a direct way of “praying always”. All the good, true and beautiful things in our daily lives are gifts of a loving God. As we rejoice in them and thank God we come into natural, spontaneous contact with this loving Father. We are never alone or bored because we are surrounded by love. Mother Franziska knew this and it gave her the courage to overcome obstacles, personal fear, attacks of enemies and momentary failurextensive travels. She learned that she had a gift to give to others, a smile and a cheerful word. We know from her writings that she managed to smile at others even while her own heart was breaking from a personal sorrow. Gratitude helps us be joyful because we live in the “big picture”. Based on the promises of Christ we know, in the words of Julian of Norwich, that “all will be well”.
e. She was able to be a source of joy to those she met during the day and in her
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Monday, September 6, 2010

Franziska Notes September 2010

We see them marching off to school with brand new clothes and backpacks. They are the children going off to another academic year. They are full of enthusiasm to meet old and new friends and subconsciously perhaps looking forward to advancing in the acquisition of civilization’s store of accumulated knowledge.
When we were small we were often told to “grow up”. We also wanted to be older because of the imagined advantages and liberties. When there was something that frightened us, however, we were so happy to run to a parent or trusted friend for shelter and comfort., We found it easy to believe in the good and the beautiful and we rejoiced with each new discovery.
Mother Franziska learned in very early childhood to love the “Himmi .Vater” her heavenly father. She learned with her parents beside her that this great and good father is to be thanked, trusted and pleased by our actions.
This attitude toward God never left her. It was the melody of her entire life. She encouraged her sisters to see God as their good father and to thank him constantly for all his gifts. In difficult times she found comfort in his perfect understanding. When she took risks to advance the mission of her congregation, she trusted that he would be faithful.
We are living in a dangerous and threatening world. There are financial problems and possible physical harm from enemies. We know the limits of medicines and therapies. Our heavenly Father wants us to become his children again. He wants our joyful gratitude throughout the day. He wants us to trust in his very real and practical help. This gratitude and trust becomes a habit when we become more and more acquainted with his Son, Jesus and his holy Word in prayer each day. Soon we find that the joy and confidence of our childhood has returned

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

FRANZISKA NOTES April 2010

The first day of this month falls on Holy Thursday so our reflections on the spirituality of Mother Franziska Lechner occur in the atmosphere of the Paschal Mystery. Some of her sisters, in the southern hemisphere experience Easter at the threshold of winter. Even where preachers are locating the feast in the new light and life of springtime there are at least some hours of darkness before we light the new fire of the Easter night. Jesus gave us the great gift of the Eucharist before He and His disciples ventured out into the foreboding darkness of Gethsemane. We are armed in the best possible way for the darkness both physical and spiritual. We hear Jesus’ promise in our hearts, “Fear not, it is I,” and “I am with you all days even to the end of the world.” It was not too long ago that the church in the center of the village or on every few streets of the cities were open for a visit. In the recent past we were afraid the enemies of the Church would close the doors to our beloved sanctuary. Now we have ourselves taken the preemptive action of keeping them locked. This makes it more difficult but not impossible to be a Eucharistic people. There are wonderful stories of the Eucharist being celebrated in prisons and concentration camps. As the trials of our life increasingly weigh us down we become more and more thirsty for the tangible presence of the Lord who victoriously walked through the darkness for us. Mother Franziska made sure that there was a chapel in each of the houses she founded and she was often there pouring out her fears and sorrows. Perhaps there are religious houses among us where we would be allowed to come and worship the Lord treasured in their chapels, but neither we, nor the Lord are really limited by locks. While Mother Franziska traveled through Europe she noted the many church steeples dotting the countryside and she made a point of sending toward each one a greeting to the Eucharistic Lord housed within. Our thoughts, too, can fly to our parish church in greeting and we can find peace in our fear and trouble.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

the Grocer and the Nail

He was an immigrant who had arrived in New York with fifty dollars, the obligatory deposit to the steamship company that brought him to our shores. After much work he fulfilled his dream of opening a small grocery store which he insisted was a delicatessen… a throw back to his native Germany where the root word signifies “gourmet”.

His bookkeeping involved a long nail on a lead base. When someone couldn’t pay their bill he simply asked them to sign the adding machine slip because the cash register did not do math and so the groceries had to be tallied on a separate device. Most of these bills were paid soon enough, but some lingered at the bottom of the nail until they yellowed and crumbled. Every once in awhile the grocer looked at the ragged papers and said, “Look at the money I didn’t get.”

Many years after he retired to his native Germany, he became ill and left for his new and eternal home. What follows is my imagination but I am sure it is true in its basic concepts.

As the grocer approached the gates of heaven an angel handed him an envelope. It was sealed but said in bold golden letters: Admission.

When he met the Lord, the angel signed that he should hand over his envelope. As the Lord and judge opened it, out fell many, many, ragged and yellowed cash register receipts. Jesus smiled and told the grocer how much he had enjoyed the food, candy and paper goods that those pieces represented, for they were really given to the One who counts all loving acts as done to himself.

Reflections on a Fig Tree

From a parable in the thirteenth chapter of St. Luke’s Gospel

The landowner went out to survey his property. He found a fig tree in his orchard that was barren and remembered that it had not borne fruit the previous year. He told the gardener to dig it up and discard the worthless tree. The gardener, being a man of the soil found it as difficult to kill a living plant as a shepherd a lame sheep or a pet owner, a cross-eyed cat. “Please”, he said, “Let me try again for this one more year.” When the land owner agreed he went to work. He dug around it and pruned it and fertilized it. As if it were a senscient would have complained about the annoying digging and the foul smelling fertilizer… but what a difference the slight inconvenience brought about! No sooner did the sun grow stronger than the leaves reached out and the tiny buds of summer figs came forth along the slender branches. The landowner’s children’s children looked forward each summer to the delicious fruit.

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Franziska Notes March 2010

Anyone who becomes familiar with the life of Mother Franziska is struck by her devotion to the saints, especially St. Joseph. When she purchased the new mother house on the Jacquingasse in Vienna she might have been overwhelmed by the work needed to make it a suitable convent home. Her solution was to carry a statue of St. Joseph from room to room showing him the renovations and repairs necessary and reminding him that her purse was, as usual, empty.
Aside from the fact that he is a favorite of her homeland, St. Joseph is honored by the Church as its patron. The humble carpenter of Nazareth was given the care of the very beginning of the Christian era, the virgin Mary and the tiny baby who was the Son of God Incarnate. Very much was asked and very little human status accorded him.
I am sure that Mother Franziska would approve of our assigning today to St. Joseph the protection of children and young people, especially women. Everything in our culture seems designed to destroy their moral innocence and even their physical integrity. How many children and women are abused in our time! All of us must oppose this trend with our prayers and action. We must become friends of the women and children in our environment and pray for those who are beyond our circle. Let us never join in the laughter or comment that demeans women and children. Let us have the courage to become involved when we have a chance to help someone in need.
St. Joseph believed the unbelievable and took the pregnant Mary into his home. He showed a wonderful courage taking his wife and child to Egypt in the night when powerful forces were searching for them to kill the child. Let us pray to St. Joseph for the vulnerable both near and far and ask for his wisdom to know when we should do more. Let him also teach us the unselfishness of humility when we are overlooked and unrecognized. St. Joseph pray for us in March and always.

Friday, February 26, 2010

A Cup of Tea in Trieste

It was winter and cold in the railroad station and there was a significant stopover for the group of nuns going to Zagrab. One of them was using the time to do some people watching. She noticed an old lady in shabby clothing going through the waste bins. It seemed there was one particular thing the woman was looking for. Finally she found it ... a styrofoam cup with a used tea bag still inside. She went to the water fountain and filled the cup and drank the "recycled tea". The sister noticed that she resumed the search and found another cup which she refilled and drank. Later when one of the nuns offered to get something to eat for the group, the observer asked for two cups of tea. When she got the hot liquid with the fresh tea bag she went to offer it to the poor woman. Her smile seemed to light up the cavernous railroad station. Maybe she hadn't eaten that day, but now she had the wonderful luxury of a fresh and hot cup of tea.

There are gourmet teas and coffees served in valuable porcelain cups but maybe the one warm cup of the day in a styrofoam container was more delicious than all of them. Also, that day perhaps many checks were written for large organizations who help alleviate human suffering, but maybe the small act of a cup of tea which was the loving response to an immediate need was worth more than they. If we believe the Gospel, we know that it was Jesus himself who enjoyed the cup of tea in the railroad station in Trieste.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

What is a habit?

Very rarely does one see a religious sister, or as common language calls her, a nun, in a religious habit. Older people have a nostalgic memory of the varied and imaginative habits worn by the religious congregations and each graduate of a Catholic school was sure that the sisters who taught him or her had the most sensible and all the others were "strange". More than a half century ago Pope Pius XII asked religious to modernize and modify their religious dress. Many were shocked because they considered the design of their habit as sacred as their unique spirituality. Times have changed. Many habits have become like modern dress and many have become modern dress without any particular religious sign.

Looking over some old family pictures I found a photo of my Grandfather, Joseph Schweizer with his mother in Germany. Her clothing was very familiar. It was very similar to what I wore when I first made my vows in the fifties. Not wanting to post my own photo I choose to place our Foundress, Mother Franziska Lechner who founded the Congregation of the Daughters of Divine Charity in 1868 Vienna--just about the time that this little boy posed with his mother. We can see that the habit which became stylized over a century, was really the dress of the ordinary woman of the nineteenth century.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Ash Wednesday Reflections

Why do we receive ashes? Penitents in the past had to wear robes of a kind of burlap and walk around with ashes in their hair instead of their customary perfumed pomades... but how do we explain the ashes to the kids of today with their i-pods in their ears and their latest Nike footwear.
Google tells us that all living things contain carbon and that ashes are almost pure carbon. In science fiction movies the aliens from outer space call us the "carbon-based life".
So the carbon that the priest placed on my forehead this morning is the most basic of life elements. This sacramental calls me to "get back to basics". I am using much more of the earths riches than most of the inhabitants of our planet have. I must cut down my artificial needs so that they can fill their most basic wants. After a week in Uganda, I almost wept with gratitude for my first hot, running water shower. For a long time every shower was an occasion of grateful humility to God for an unearned simple fortune of being born in the wealthy northern hemisphere. Time passed and now it is again taken for granted.
The ashes, though, remind me that the greatest gift of all was the life that joins me to every other human being -- all the beloved children of one Father. I am reminded that ashes, the dust to which we will return is the great equalizer. Kings, presidents, and beggars will all come to the end of this life and begin an eternity of perfect justice. We stand before the Father of us all and beg the grace to be truly loving children.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

FRANZISKA NOTES February 2010

Franziska Notes
No.7/2 February 2010

In the German edition of the History of the Congregation of the Daughters of Divine Charity we learn that Mother Franziska lived in a time of significant social transformation. The industrial revolution brought many inexperienced persons from the country to the large cities of Europe. These men and women, some very young, were exposed to much possible exploitation. The Bishops of these cities asked women’s religious orders especially to meet the needs of the young women. In Vienna alone there were about 75,000 servant girls. Mother Franziska, with experience as a teacher and hoping to educate children to be good Christians and citizens, could not ignore this call of the Church. A few years before she died Pope Leo XIII issued the famous encyclical Rerum Novarum to provide guidance for a Church entering the age of industrialization. I noticed in this document a thought that seems especially relevant to our own day and this season of the Church year. The Holy Father reminds us that perfect happiness is achievable only in the next life in heavenly glory. Though it is a human right to seek a better life, he warns of making the escape from suffering a priority over all other values and efforts. Pope Leo reminds us that Jesus, by willingly taking on the sufferings of daily life and of his salvific sacrifice has transformed them into motives of virtue and occasions of merit. “Christ's labors and sufferings, accepted of His own free will, have marvellously sweetened all suffering and all labor. And… by His grace and by the hope held forth of everlasting recompense, has He made pain and grief more easy to endure”.
Mother Franziska’s motive was always a personal love of the Crucified. As we enter the Season of Lent, the patience with which we willingly accept the unavoidable irritations and sufferings, as well as the penances we impose on ourselves will help us understand the meaning of suffering and make us more compassionate toward all those who suffer anywhere in the world, increasing our readiness to help according to our means.
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St. Joseph Hill Academy Park

Come take a winter walk through our lovely park



















Even a blizzard can be an occasion to praise the Lord!



Monday, February 1, 2010

Still Dreaming Christmas

Before the Lenten season puts Christmas totally in the past I would like to introduce you to some beautiful you tube presentations by our sisters


Be sure to check the other videos and enjoy......

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

FRANZISKA NOTES January 2010

Franziska Notes No.7/1 January 2010


At the beginning of this year I deceded to sit with Mother Franziska in meditation to see what she thinks of our times. She was wondering what might happen to Europe if it no longer had Catholic rulers. I told her that we, today, choose our rulers by election and they can have any faith and belong to any religion or none at all. I told her that we have had presidents who were divorced and also had scandals while they were living in the presidential residence. But what horrified her to the point of absolute disbelief was the fact that abortion at any time and for any reason was legal and protected by law.
She who cared so much for poor servant girls who were exposed to abuse in large cities as her society experienced the rapid changes of industrialization gasped in horror. What a terrible insult to women and tragedy for lives of innocent children lost. She asked me to imagine how Mary felt in exile in Egypt when she heard what Herod had done to the little boy babies of Bethlehem simply to kill her little child. How she must have clutched her divine baby to her heart as the tears for the mothers and children fell from her cheeks.
Mother Franziska then got very agitated. “What are you doing about it?”, she asked. I told her that many people have become discouraged because it was so difficult for leaders in favor of life to be elected. Energetically she told me that this evil is so great and so damaging to our society and to the souls of our people that we must never rest. Everyone must have the courage to speak in favor of life in whatever milieu they find themselves—in public forums, in private coffee meetings, to the young, the old. This is so serious that we must be strong enough to be countercultural. She warned me that it would be the end of human dignity and civil liberty for all. I felt I had really met her and felt her spirit.

www.godslovefdc.org