Ursuline – Blog

Imagine what it would be like if Jesus also took us with Peter, James and John and led us up a high mountain to be alone with him. We would probably be puffing and panting by the time we had reached the top. The mountain might remind us that God’s secret designs and promises where heard on mountain tops and we sense that this climb had a purpose. Then we are startled by what is happening to Jesus. We shade our eyes as his clothing becomes dazzlingly white, whiter than any cleaning agent could make them. We squint our eyes to try and take in what is happening to him. Then we see that we have company Elijah and Moses – mountain top people.  Prophets to whom God had revealed God-self of old.  We hear them talking to Jesus and we crane our necks to catch something of what is being said. We hear snippets of the conversation, enough to make out that Jesus was setting his face towards Jerusalem and they are talking about his exodus. Jesus’s face was aglow as if he had discovered something of his Father’s design for him “the awareness that God would bring messianic salvation …in the divine way of love and sacrifice.” (Flowers in the Desert p.90) He realised that the journey ahead to Jerusalem would end in self- giving love through the sacrifice of his life. The discovery did not bring dismay but filled him with light – a light that shone meaning on his journey towards Jerusalem. That inward insight through prayer filtered through his whole being right through his clothing.

Then Peter’s booming voice could be heard speaking directly to Jesus: “Rabbi,” he said, “it is wonderful for us to be here; let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah”. Did Peter made some connection to the Jewish feast of Shelters when Jews dwelt in  make- shift dwellings in their gardens to remind them of their exodus journey when he suggested making three tents? Or was he just trying to hold on to the experience as long as possible? The confusion that followed on his face gave a sense of bafflement and un-characteristically of Peter “He did not know what to say”. Then all three of the apostles felt very frightened. And if witnessing what happened to Jesus was not sufficient revelation “a cloud covered them in shadow; and there came a voice from the cloud ‘This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him’.

 Imagine what it would be like for us to join them under that cloud and to hear the Father’s declaration as to who Jesus was, His Son His Beloved. We hear echoes of his baptism but here with the added command “Listen to him.” We might ask what are we to listen to?  We are to listen to Jesus, the wisdom teacher, who for the rest of Mark’s Gospel teaches the way of self -giving love through sacrifice. The experience ends as suddenly as it began. “…when they looked around, they saw no one with them anymore but only Jesus.” We watch Jesus looking back from Tabor to Galilee, the place of crowds and miracles of healing. In the rest of Mark’s Gospel there are only two healing miracles since the role of the teacher comes to the fore.

Reflective Questions on the Transfiguration:

What are the Galilean periods of your life?

What gives meaning to the mystery of suffering in your life?

Does reflecting on the mystery of the transfiguration throw any light on the experience of self giving love through sacrifice?

Moya OSU

Before you were conceived in the womb, I knew you.

        Psalm 137

In the beginning, God imagined you. You would be unique in the chain of life, with a great heart and with a special touch. You would have the possibility to scale the heights and to paint new colours. You would do it in your own time and at your own pace.

Many of my friends have embraced or are about to embrace a significant new decade! I’m drawn to rejoice with them and for them!

Yes, no doubt about it, birthdays need to be celebrated. Why? Because to celebrate a birthday means to say to someone: “Thank you for being you”. It is not about saying: “Thank you for what you do or achieve”.  No, we say: “Thank you for being born and being with us: “thank you for the gift that you are.”

Aren’t birthdays an invitation to all of us to celebrate the present?

They are certainly not about bemoaning the past or anxiously speculating about the future, but about celebrating the goodness of life – and that despite the many challenges of our later years!

So, in that spirit, I believe we really need to celebrate birthdays every day. How? By showing kindness, gentleness, appreciation, gratitude, warmth, compassion…

For Your Birthday

Blessed be the mind that dreamed the day

the blueprint of your life

would begin to glow on earth,

illuminating all the faces and voices

that would arrive to invite

your soul to growth.

Praised be your father and mother

who loved you before you were;

and trusted to call you here

with no idea who you would be.

Blessed be those who have loved you

into becoming who you were meant to be,

Blessed be those who have crossed your life

with dark gifts of hurt and loss

that have helped to school your mind

in the art of disappointment.

When desolation surrounded you,

Blessed be those who looked for you

and found you, their kind hands

urgent to open a blue window

in the grey wall formed around you.

John O ‘Donohue

Sonas agus beannachtai na blians nua to all who celebrate a significant new decade or new year at this time!

B. ‘O S.

Reflecting on the Gospel for the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time and World Day of the Sick

Have you ever watched a blind person approach Pope Francis at his audiences…they will often reach out to touch his face with their hands so that they can “see” him. The touching of his face speaks to them in their language.

Each of us needs to touch and be touched by another…we yearn for the touch of those we love…it is a deep human need that communicates love and affection, care and nurturing of one another.

In today’s Gospel Jesus reaches out to touch the one who in the law is untouchable because of an infectious disease. When he approaches Jesus for healing, he is cured by the Lord at his touch.  Today we celebrate the World Day of the Sick – the Feast Day of Our Lady of Lourdes – Lourdes a place known for its healing of all kinds of ills. 

As we gaze at the statue in the grotto of Lourdes today let us remember the mother who held her wounded, dying son, Jesus, in her arms and let us follow her example as we reach out to all who are sick among us.Those who are sick are always more important than their diseases, and even when healing is not possible, care can always be given. It is always possible to console, it is always possible to make people sense a closeness through our presence and our touch – the holding of a hand, the caress of their face, a warm embrace. In this we speak of our love and our care for them.

Karen OSU

…..Come my beloved, my lovely one come.

For see, winter is past….Flowers are appearing on the earth.

The season of glad songs has come…….

And the blossoming vines give out their fragrance”

     Song of Songs 2: 10- 12.

I love Springtime. And wait for the good news! It has arrived! A few days ago, as I left our house, I saw a daisy appear through a crack in the tarmac – a tiny, fragile flower peeping out and greeting me. “Take heart, Breda,” it seemed to  say –  I have  come to tell you that Spring has arrived. I have survived a long, dark, cold, dreary winter, too, and have returned full of life and newness.”

A short while later, I saw it! One single, tiny, fragile snowdrop peeping out from the base of the giant copper- beech tree in the lawn; another gift from heaven! I was excited!

Such simple beauty and newness of life put a spring in my step and I began to notice nature’s miracles all around me – one more invitation to appreciate how inter-connected we all are!

Yes, soon Spring would burst out in all its glory.

But Spring happens deep within us too – in our hearts and bodies as well as in our fields and gardens. I love the longer, clearer days – my spirits become lighter and brighter and my energy levels increase. I feel empowered and invigorated! And my awareness of how much part of nature we all are is at an all-time-high!

Spring always nudges me to give thanks for the seeds of new experiences and new beginnings that come my way – to ponder them, treasure them, nurture them,  sit back and wait for God’s surprises to mature.

Meditation

It is Spring, Lord and my blood runs warm with the song of the sap longing for a beauty I would become. The buds are swelling on the bush, and the sun is  beginning to coax the colour from where it has  been curled against the cold.

There is promise in the season I know no name for except life and there is the mystery and the smile of it.

It is Spring, Lord, and something stirs in me, reaching, stretching, peaking through my defenses, beckoning in my laughter, riding on past my fears, pulsing in my music, and there is the mystery and the smile of it.

It is Spring, Lord, and I feel your power awakening within me.

Be with me in my reaching, so that I will be touched this prayer-time, this Spring. Be a gracious warmth, a light to unfold my life to a new beginning.

              Author Unknown

                         B. O ‘S.

Angela Merici had a dream in her beloved Italian countryside that came to fruition in 1535. Throughout the centuries, the message of that dream whispered across the globe; it was welcomed in  Ireland  in 1771.  We rejoice in Angela’s courage because she acted on her dream with open eyes and made it possible. Why did she do what she did? How did she do it? Has what she did any relevance for our lives today? As we reflect on those questions let us look at some of the core elements of her vision.

Firstly, for Angela, unity was central; a unity in diversity, a unity that we nourish in our hearts and then go out and spread around us. It is a unity we have to work at and long for. In her Last Counsel, she writes: “See how important is this unity and concord. So long for it, pursue it, hold onto it with all your strength”. What could be more relevant in the fragmented times in which we live!

Gospel Peace was very close to Angela’s heart. During her lifetime, she often found herself to be a peacemaker. Like ourselves, she, too lived in turbulent times, masked by wars, injustice and corruption. She excelled in making peace between mothers and fathers, between children and their parents, between nobles and politicians. In her Second Counsel, she writes, “Be gentle and compassionate…for you will achieve more with kindness and gentleness than with harshness and sharp rebukes”. She is very clear in her message to all of us to be people of reconciliation at the heart of the world…a clear call to us today

What about her attitude to each individual? She understood the uniqueness of each individual as loved by God. She taught us how to transform our hearts, make them places where others feel at home, find their way, and grow in love and happiness. What a challenge!

God clearly graced Angela with a special gift – a vision for all time. She faithfully brought that vision to fruition. She passed the responsibility onto all of us to keep it alive. The particulars will change but the core remains the same. Following in her footsteps may we all in the Ursuline family grow into the persons God called us to be and make a difference in our world.      

B.O’ S