Holy Week Meditation

The Tale of the Eternal Wood

I pulled and pushed and it seemed that there was no way that I could budge the huge log. After moving it just a few inches I had to leave and rest but I was determined to come back and finish the job. It was a task I had set for myself and I would not give up. Each day I returned and pushed and pulled to move the heavy load.

I did not realize that someone whom I supposed to be the gardener was watching my daily efforts.

Finally, after watching me for many days he asked me why this seemed so important. "I cannot just leave this here," I said, "I can't let this be forgotten. These are all the many times I hurt people and couldn't explain and the many times they hurt me and wouldn't or couldn't tell me they were sorry. I can't let go. I suffered so much because of all these things... they cannot just be forgotten. If I don't hold on to them no one will ever know."

The one I thought was a gardener smiled and said, "Don't you know that I long ago carried all those things for you and for many others? I saw it all and felt your pain and your regret. I treasured your courage and bravery while others thought you were just superficial and a failure. You can leave this load and go on in joy and freedom because I remember it all and will store it for you until the time when all is clear and fair."

FRANZISKA NOTES April 2011

It would be a grave mistake to judge Mother Franziska’s spirit and actions solely by contemporary insights, especially into current events or social justice issues. Each day the news brings stories of struggles for freedom and of serious violations of human rights in many places of the world. We read of real heroes putting their fortunes and very lives on the line for peace and justice. Is there any thing we can learn from a woman who lived over one hundred years ago? We know that her heart went out to poor servant girls, to retired and unemployed, sick servants, to orphans and to children of all levels of society who needed a Christian education. Her concern was always with the spiritual and moral good of those her sisters were serving. She did not have access to the varied opinions and different types of struggles that we know of today. She also was not exposed to the genocides of our own century. Can she teach us anything? Where does true justice come from? The teaching of recent popes tells us that there can be no justice without peace. True peace is a gift of God. It can be gained only by prayer. Intimacy with God in prayer was the source of Mother Franziska’s untireing good work for the poor, It was in communication with the heart of Jesus that she learned how to respond to the social needs that presented themselves to her one needy person at a time. It is in this same communion with God, much time spent with Sacred Scripture and meditation on the teachings of Jesus that we develop the compassionate heart that is like our Heavenly Father’s. It is here that we learn the right way, the way of peace to face the social issues of our time. This peace begins very near, at home, and only then can we with a right heart confront the larger issues of our world. Mother Franziska would have known what to do today as she did in her own time.

The Angel on the Bus

There are no seats the driver warned. Not wanting to inconvenience the person I was meeting I decided to board anyway. I no sooner planted my wobbly legs as stiff pillars on the rocking bus floor when a lovely young woman offered her seat. To spend the trip asking many good angels to bless and bring extra sunshine on her day I asked her first name. "Jackie" she said with a smile. Her kind deed did not and will not end with sundown today. As all good deeds the kindness she showed me added a good feeling to my heart which added conviction to my good wishes to all I met during the day. As tomorrow dawns I will again think of Jackie's kindness with a warm feeling. I will remember to pay it forward to others, and will remember it for a long time.

We must never underestimate a good deed. It balances the amount of good, true, beautiful and loving in the world. These are qualities which counter the amount of sadness, evil, brutality and ugliness that are also part of life. It costs nothing to add to the beautiful and good. Sometimes a simple smile will do. We must remember that the person at the check out counter is not part of the machinery. How much they appreciate a smile and a kind word. Perhaps we can pay a sincere compliment about efficiency or neatness. We can be patient when there are difficulties or accidents... a great gift when there is a mounting tension.

There were many beggars sitting along the streets of Rome when I lived there. I put aside a particular coin for these poor people and kept a supply in an easily accessible pocket to distribute them. One day ahead of me I saw a Religious Sister of the order of Charles Foucould. She did not drop a coin into a box. She bent down and started a conversation with the poor woman holding a sad child. A moment later she went into a bar and came out with a capaccino in a cup and a lollipop for the child.

Yesterday's Gospel reading tells us Jesus counts as done for him what we do in kindness for others. I wonder how he enjoyed that coffee and lollipop. I know he was pleased to sit down on that croweded bus this morning... thanks to Jackie. May he reward her and those she loves for years to come.

Franziska Notes March 2011

On the day of Consecrated Life 2011 the Holy Father quotes Simeon who declared Jesus as a “light of revelation to the gentiles”. This light of Christ is meant to shine in our world today in the people who seek God’s will above all. The charism of a religious congregation can be pictured as a prism which transforms God’s pure white light into many various “colors”, each highlighting a particular part of the God’s infinite beauty.
From her writings we can deduce that the charism most valued by Mother Franziska, the quality she hoped would always be part of her congregation is joy.
The Holy Father speaks of the joy of seeking the will of God by living as Jesus did, totally dedicated to the Father’s will.
True joy does not mean an absence of suffering, sorrow or stress. Mother Franziska writes of a terrible disappointment that threatened the very foundation of her young community. She shares in a private writing that she could not stop weeping and did not know where to turn after a betrayal by a trusted co-worker. At the same time she knew that she owed her sisters a spirit of joy and before them made the effort to be serene and smiling.
How can we be joyous when the disappointments, hostilities, pain of life assail us? When we suffer truly deep depression it can seem that there is no way out of the endless darkness. We can reach for a tranquilizer or mood altering drug or drink or try a worldly, flashy entertainment which finally leave us even deeper in the painful abyss. Or we can turn to Jesus who loves us and who said that he would give us the Holy Spirit if we only ask. One of the greatest gifts of the Spirit of God is a joy that the world cannot understand nor extinguish. It is the joy of the Lord that Scripture tells is our strength. This is also the gift, once received, that becomes the greatest good that we can give generously to all we meet and thereby bring beauty and light to our sad and conflicted world.

Franziska notes February 2011

The culture of Valentine greetings has now spread to almost every country of the world. It is a beautiful custom to send greetings of love and appreciation to others. It does not have to mean a surrender to commercialism. The “best things in life are free” is most true when applied to signs of love. God is love and every small act of courtesy, a smile, a kind word, a gesture of help is a sign of God’s presence, whether recognized as such or not.
Mother Franziska was almost by instinct a loving person. She realized that friendliness and even a spirit of fun made her world a better place reflecting the Creator who saw all of his creation as good.
One does not need to be especially religious to be pleasant and polite but when one is conscious of the presence of God and sees kindness as a mission and ministry, the act and the world become holy. What a beautiful meditation to take the sunrise as a model of behavior for the day. Jesus said that the sun and rain fall on the good and the bad. We can begin our day with a prayer asking God to send us where our blessing of joy will give him glory.
Mother Franziska made an effort to be joyful to others even when her own heart was wounded and breaking by disappointment of direct attacks by enemies. She saw joy as an indispensible quality for a Christian and a religious. She did not wait until she felt joyful to dispense happiness. She made the effort to “give joy and make happy” and found that her own smile became genuine. Looking for the good and the bright side helped her to see the humor in many situations that would have felt humiliating to lesser souls. It is difficult to humiliate someone who can laugh at themselves.
“The joy of the Lord be your strength.” Is a blessing often used in the liturgical prayer of the Church. It can be a source of strength, zeal and courage to all who ask God for this grace and practice it daily.

How to be Like Christ

How to be Like Christ

Reflection on Isaiah 42: 1-7

An Associate of the Daughters of Divine Charity is called to live in their own circumstances, making God’s love visible, as the sisters strive to do in their convents and ministry.

Isaiah, looking forward, described the Servant Lord, Son of God. We can take from his words some ideas for our own living of this charism.

The Servant would not be crying out not shouting….
We can strive to accept irritations gracefully, responding to circumstances with gentle, kind words.

The Servant will not break a bruised reed…
We can be gracious, refrain from “preaching” when someone expresses regret.

The Servant will open the eyes of the blind…
We can politely and courageously speak out when we hear an expression of error or evil in our social circle.

The Servant will release prisoners from a dark dungeon…
We can give a gracious, forgiving response to a hurt, injury or an apology.

We live in a violent and brusque society, where gentleness and courtesy are in rare supply. A kind word, a gentle answer, a calm response can cool a tense situation and help bring peace. The ripples will go on and on. The kindness on a neighborhood street in our country will add to the balance of peace in our large, sad and suffering world. Not everyone has the leisure provided by the structures of religious life for prayer and contemplation, but everyone can spend a few moments with the Gospels and allow themselves to be formed by the image of Jesus presented there.

Franziska Notes January 2011

As a New Year begins with the birthday of Mother Franziska on January 1, 1833, we look again at her life and gift to the world. Those acquainted or associated with the sisters of the Congregation she founded, the Daughters of Divine Charity ask themselves, “How is our world related to hers? What can her charism bring to our situation?”
We are confronted by change. She was facing great political and social changes and the simple religious faith of her childhood was challenged by the voices of the enlightenment and the consequences of the industrial revolution. What she experienced in these areas was almost nothing compared to the current bombardment of ideas, often conflicting and threatening, by the mass media and the internet. What would she counsel us today?
I believe she would raise her copy of the diocesan newspaper and the devotional pamphlet that were subscribed to by all her convents. “Listen to the Church”, she would say, “Read and pray about what your Bishop is writing for the Catholics in his care. Be familiar with the documents coming from the Holy Father”.
We must be very careful that we are not receiving the teaching of the Church filtered through the mass media or even exclusively one preacher. We must have the patience to really educate ourselves so as not to be persuaded totally by the political right or left. The moral compass of today cannot be a superficial one. Reality TV is very often anything but. The love of God is our reality and it is not a quick fix. As we prayerfully read the Gospels we see that God’s plan takes time and requires sacrifice. The people who are truly devoted to the loving will of God often, like Jesus, lose their friends and even their lives. It is only in communion with God that we learn His will for us, not for the masses, but for us. That is often painful and lonely, but it is right and leads to peace.