Ursuline – Blog

…..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

What would it be like if we all slow down…sit down…and listen?

Will you take the challenge? 

For just one day…

Find a quiet space in your home… or perhaps somewhere outside… where you can see or hear no other person.

Put down your phone…take off your head phones…take away anything can intrude into the quiet of this time.

Now for just fifteen minutes make yourself comfortable…and sit…

Just sit and listen…

You may at first feel time dragging…wondering how long is fifteen minutes…you may find yourself waiting for it to be over.  But persevere…just slow down…and sit…and listen.

Listen to the sounds around you over which you have no control…

Allow them to speak to you… and then let them go…

Savour the silence…enjoy the moment…

And then when it is over…say thank you to yourself for taking this fifteen minutes for you.

And tomorrow do the same again…let it become YOU time…  let the world go by without you for these minutes.

And keep doing this every day and then allow yourself to listen for the voice of God speaking to you…you might be amazed at what you hear…in this YOU time…shared only with God.

Karen OSU

How many of us begin a new year by making resolutions to change some aspect of the way we live…eat less…move more…lose weight…save money…eat less meat…recycle more…waste less…

For some perhaps this new year the one where you have made major plans for your life…move house…change jobs…try a new career…return to college…

What if we paused the making of resolutions…stopped writing the list of all the things we want to change about our life…or lifestyle and instead chose to listen…to be open…to wait…to discern…  What if we instead of making the changes for ourselves we decide to listen for God’s call in our lives…await his unfolding plan… what might this look like each day?

Being open to God’s plan might bring us to pray more…to sit silently listening…  It will lead us to observe…to hear…to be open to all the ways God uses to point us to his plan…to show us his direction for the year ahead…

Is it worth a try…at least for a little while?

Karen OSU

As we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family this weekend it led me to reflect on what family is all about and what we can learn from Mary, Joseph and Jesus.

Mary and Joseph were a couple planning their life together, I am sure they had dreams and plans for their life together and yet God intervenes and upsets their own plans to enable His plan for the whole of humanity to unfold through the messages of the angel to each of them.

Gabriel visits Mary and names her as the favoured one…this is not of her choosing…rather she has been chosen from the beginning of her own life…it has always been her destiny to be the Mother of Jesus…and it is by God’s grace that she says her few words…”Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord”  This is her YES to God…her yes to motherhood…her yes to discipleship…it is also her yes to love and to sorrow…to joy and to pain…

Throughout the life of her son, Jesus, Mary is seen often, yet heard little…she listens intently… she ponders deeply all that is happening.  When she does speak it is to assist her son in accepting and understanding who he is…and who he is for the world.  In this we hear Mary scold him for going missing on the journey home when he is found in the temple among the scholars… we hear Mary at the wedding in Cana when she instructs the servants – Do whatever he tells you – pointing her son and others to his first miracle…to his life and his mission.  It is never about her…it is always about Christ…always about his mission to bring the Good News to all people.  When Simeon speaks of the pain she will endure at her son’s passion and death she is silent…she listens…she accepts and she ponders and cherishes it all in her heart. But in the midst of her listening…her few words…her pondering…she breathes out joy…joy for all to see…joy for us all to witness.

Joseph, a carpenter by trade faces a dilemma, Mary is expecting a child and it is not his child…he is alone…he has a choice to make – will he publicly divorce her or will he do it quietly – Joseph chooses the kind, quiet way, the way of compassion and mercy for Mary, sparing her public disgrace when the angel intervenes saying “take Mary home as your wife” and that he is to name the child “Jesus”.  Joseph is entrusted with God’s greatest gift, his Son – to care for, to build a home for, to nurture and guide in his formative years. 

One can see in this a crisis for the couple…how will they explain this to their families…how will their life now unfold…how will others react to this new situation…how will they cope… and yet Mary and Joseph accepted the disruption to their own plans to be available to realise God’s plan. It is Joseph who provides for…creates a home for…nurtures…teaches and most of all loves Jesus as his own child as he grows and matures…and then when Jesus reaches the age of about 12 we do not see Joseph again…Mary continues to accompany her son through to adulthood and Joseph disappears from the narrative…his role in our history is complete.

When I think about Joseph…I see compassion…care…kindness…and love for Mary and Jesus…he was there with them for all the time he needed to be – perhaps this is the same in our families sometimes – we are in the right place, at the right time for as long as we need to be to offer the love, the compassion, the kindness, the nurturing that is needed by another to give them the roots they need for their life.

Mary and Joseph together give Jesus the roots he needs in their family – they teach him, nurture him to adulthood…point him to who he is to be for all of humanity – they give him roots and when his time comes they give him the courage and trust to take his wings and fly…to become who God has sent him to be for all people.

In our own families we are blessed when we too are given roots to know who we are…to know love…compassion…trust…faith… and then the courage to open our wings to fly and to become the best version of ourselves as God created us to be…

Karen OSU