T-minus 8 hours!

We celebrate Midnight Mass - at midnight. Fewer and fewer parishes do. I love it. I love the absolute darkness, the stars shining bright and the beautiful candles that line the driveway! We are nearly ready. We've been decorating, cleaning and polishing for three days. If it weren't for some very good friends, we'd be lost. The scrambling is all part of the excitement that's building in our house. The change from purple and pink to greens, red ribbons and a host of angels takes energy and imagination. Praise God, we've got a lot of both! At 5:00 PM we will pray EPI of the Nativity, then bless our tree and exchange gifts. [Each sister has one present under the tree!] Then, as darkness falls, we prepare our hearts for the midnight liturgy. Know that all of our friends, oblates and benefactors will be remembered this night and throughout the Christmas season.

Blessings and love to you all...

- Sister Vicki

Believe...

I love the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. I saw it this past November in its entirety for the first time in over 10 years. [I am usually in the monastery kitchen assisting with the meal preparations.] I was struck by several things: ten years in a monastery changes one’s ability to identify cartoon floats; the performers still lip-sync but better than they used to; the appearance of Santa at the end of the parade still signals the beginning of wish lists, letters to the North Pole and VERY good behavior! Yet, as all the color and sound took center stage on 33rd Street, my eyes were drawn to a single word ablaze on Mr. Macy’s building: believe. A little research soon yielded a deeper story. Macy’s “Believe” Campaign raises funds for the Make-A-Wish Foundation – the non-profit that makes dreams come true for seriously ill children. How beautiful! While "corporate America" is under fire for selfishness and greed, it is a sign of a hope that does not disappoint. Truly, to whom much has been given, much will be expected. When companies use their resources to lighten the burden of suffering in our world, they must be praised.

Today is December 22nd. The "O Antiphons" - the liturgical countdown from the 17th to the Eve - are nearly finished. We are just three days from the Feast of the Nativity. It is a feast of faith that the promise fulfilled two thousand years ago in Bethlehem, is a sign of hope yet unfulfilled. Christ is coming. He is coming back for all of us and he will take us into the heart of God. As we wrap pretty packages and feel our hearts expand through these holy days, may we all believe.

Believe...
…that something new will be born in us this Christmas
…that even death cannot take spouses, friends, dear children from our hearts
…that this feast is a promise of a greater gift – a moment beyond understanding, but accessible now in faith

Believe...
…that the Word still becomes flesh in us
...that the love we feel at Christmas is but a fraction of the love that awaits us

Blessings and love to you and a Merry Christmas!
- Sister Vicki

Incredible but true...

In today’s gospel the followers of Jesus are witness to a cure. A paralytic is brought before him on a mat. The obvious faith of those involved moves Jesus. He forgives the man’s sins by his word which scandalizes the rabbinic authorities. His response is an outright miracle. "I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home." Those who witness this mysterious healing are stunned by what they have beheld. “We have seen incredible things this day."

I did a dumb thing yesterday afternoon. [Trust me, this will connect.] I took a cell phone picture while I was driving. The sunset over the city of Richmond was so beautiful, I wanted to capture it. It was a winter/Advent sunset – bright pink, dusty blue and purple. It was truly incredible. I was, in my own defense, off the Interstate and on a quiet back road not far from our convent - still, not something I want to make a habit of doing. I’m certain incredible sunsets happen all the time and I just miss them. Or I see them, without really seeing. When my heart is attuned to beauty I know it is God’s Word – a whisper of Presence and faithful love. The funny thing is that I don’t know how to get a photo from the phone to the computer. But, I can send a picture to a friend. Sometimes it’s a photo of Lily – one of our monastery dogs. She just delights me to no end! Once, I sent a picture of a car we were considering to the prioress so she could say “yes” or “no”. Yesterday’s urge was the very human desire to share something beautiful with another human being. When we are moved by something, we want to give it away. So, last evening, I sent a little text message to a friend before I went to sleep – with the picture. Of course, I am not equating a sunset with a miraculous healing. I am suggesting that God is always the source of wonders – large and small – in our lives. God heals us with beauty, comforts us with the rhythmic changing of the season and loves us through our friends, families and, in some lives, a monastic community. We have seen incredible things – individually and communally – and it is our baptismal responsibility to share the Good News in whatever form it comes to us. Like those first disciples we must tell the story of God’s love for the world – a Love that became flesh for our blessing. Yes, it is incredible - incredible but true. It is our faith.

Blessings and love to you all…
- Sister Vicki

As it should be...

There are things I just wonder about on a regular basis– life on other planets, what puppies really think, what really might be in a hot dog. There are other things of which I am certain – love is the way, God is good, dying is the beginning. In the latter list I would add something from today’s reading. Isaiah paints us a picture of the world after Messiah’s coming. We may hear it as Israel’s preparation for the Incarnation. But we are in a new age now. We cannot neglect the empty tomb as we reflect on the humble manger. Isaiah asks us now to dream not of the birth but of the return. This Scripture affirms something I believe with all my heart. On that day…there shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD, as water covers the sea [Isaiah 11:1, 9]. When Christ comes again everything will be as it should be – as it was intended from the beginning. Not only has our relationship to the Creator been fully restored by his selfless sacrifice but all creation will know the harmony of Triune love. This is the same passage with the famous metaphor of the beasts – the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, etc. Imagine! What if it read something like this?

People of every faith will worship God together,
Israel and Palestine will share the “Promised Land”;
terrorists will lay down their explosives,
and the widow and orphan will forgive the unforgiveable.

“Yours” and “mine” will disappear,
And there will be only “ours”;
No one will go to sleep hungry
for feeding one another will replace the need for sleep.

Death will be forgotten unless we tell the story,
Bodies will be made whole and shine like the sun;
Words will be unnecessary,
For the Word will teach us to speak with the heart alone.

This place of pain and longing will become the garden God intended,
The Christ will reign with love and justice;
And through Him, with Him, in Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
All glory and honor shall be yours, Almighty God, forever and ever!

Yes, this someday is for certain. This is the promise of Advent. We wait with joyful longing for the One who has taken our flesh into the heart of God and will return for us – for all creation. May we live this day and every day certain of our destiny in Christ. May we bear the sufferings of this time, these bodies with courage and trust. As Christ is, so we shall be.

Advent joy and love to you all…
- Sister Vicki

"Come down quickly"...

My brother, Andrew, has three sisters. If he wanted playmates he had to deal with the feminine principle. We had a little playhouse in our backyard that my grandfather built for us. It looked just like our house in miniature. It was one room with a porch, windows and a shingled room. We played inside and on top thanks to a sturdy tree. It was the epicenter of outdoor play until one day when a carpenter came and built a tree house. I think my Dad figured he needed something more boyish to play in. After the tree house was finished, my brother began to spend more time up in the air than on the ground. He spent less and less time with me and more time with the neighborhood boys. All of a sudden I had “cooties” and the tree house was a girl-free zone. As you might imagine I didn’t like that very much. I remember climbing the ladder, slowly because I was afraid of heights. I made it to the trap door and knocked hoping my brother would suddenly remember how much fun I was to play with. His response was immediate and decisive. The trap door opened and a bucket of acorns was dumped on my head. I held on for dear life and then returned to earth in tears. As soon as I told my Dad what the boys had done, he came down the hill to the tree house and barked, “Andrew Ix, get down out of that tree and apologize to your sister!” He did, of course. It didn’t change things. I still wasn’t welcome in his clubhouse, but he stopped trying to kill me. My Dad made my little brother accountable for his actions and gave him the opportunity to make things right between us.

I think the Lord, Jesus did the same thing for Zacchaeus. He called him down from his safe place in the treetops and offered him the grace to change. There are times in the spiritual life when we get stuck in some tree house of our own creation. We stay up there...comforted by the safety of monastic routine. We stay up there…so we can focus on what others are doing. We stay up there…because we fear the work of change that awaits us on the ground.

Yes, Jesus calls each of us to “come down.” The Lord wants to enter the house of our heart and do what the divine physician does best. He wants to heal us. Jesus makes it clear here that he’s especially interested in hopeful sinners who are willing to do the work of GOD. Our patron, Saint Benedict, has shaped that very desire into a beautiful way of life. May we each have the courage to “come down quickly” when the WORD calls us by name and embrace the challenge we find there. “Salvation has already come to this house.” We need only accept it.

Blessings and love to you all...

- Sister Vicki

They are at peace...

The Feast of All Souls is an opportunity to pray for all who have gone before us. Do they need our prayers? The Church teaches that if we’re not ready to see God face-to-face, the prayers of the faithful can help us. Do we really understand what that means? Not really. No one has come back from the dead except the Lord Jesus and his message was peace, eternal life, freedom from fear. So…what to do on this solemn day? I suggest we make a visit – not to grave or columbarium – but a visit with them in our hearts. When we image the face of a loved one and remember the love we shared, the love returns to us in prayer. Though beyond our sight, they come very close because they miss us, too. Should we worry about the state of their souls? I suppose we could but real faith in God means trusting the promises expressed in today’s readings. Jesus says, “I will not reject anyone who comes to me [John 6].” The psalmist prays, “even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side [Psalm 23].” And in Wisdom we hear, “they seemed to the foolish to be dead; and their passing away was thought and affliction and their going forth from us utter destruction. But they are in peace [Wisdom 3].”

When my Mother died in 1990, it was faith that saved me. What Jesus said from the cross to the Good Thief kept me from despair. “This day you will be with me in Paradise [Luke 24].” “This day,” Jesus said - not tomorrow or next week or fifty years from now. When I pray for my Mother and all my beloved dead, I pray as if they are in the fullness of God’s embrace. It feels right. It feels true. They are at peace.

Blessings and love to you all…
- Sister Vicki

Such a "mother hen"...

Today’s gospel offers us a very interesting image of JESUS. As he describes his love for Jerusalem he says, “I yearned to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.” The gospel is a sad one – filled with ominous undertones and the personal exasperation of the greatest prophet to enter the City of David. Yet, as he contemplates his destination, JESUS offers us yet another testimony of the depth of his love. This image comforts me.

I’m from Northern New Jersey so I know as much about hens as I do about the surface of the moon! But, I had a mother. This experience is all I need to make sense of his love for us. If we were to make a list of every moment of mother-love, it might speak of the time before we had words – when being held and fed and comforted changed something in us, made us feel safe and worthy of love. The list might mention the way a mother gives the best of everything to her child – takes the burnt piece of toast or uses the money in the cookie jar for a doll instead of the dress she was saving for.

This hen-GOD has big wings under which we are kept safe. Most of us have had the experience of "the arm" – mother’s arm holding us back when the brakes were suddenly applied. Unconscious, instinctual and determined – a mother’s love knows no end. We can be 40, 50, 60 and still be someone’s little girl or baby boy. Imagine GOD loving us this way…and more! Remember, JESUS uses the natural world and all we understand to get the message through that we are loved beyond our deepest imaginings. GOD is always more. The gospel also highlights our freedom. JESUS longed to love the Chosen in this way but they “were not willing.” GOD still needs our “yes”, needs our permission to love us to death. Often, it is fear that stands in our way – a wall we build around our hearts because we can’t really believe that we are loveable. The spiritual life is about getting over ourselves and letting this love into our lives. All the wounds, the disappointments can be healed. Earthly mothers are always limited in their loving. Some even fail to provide the basic love a child needs to thrive. If that is the case we must find new mothers – women who will love us "as is" and put a Band-Aid on our hearts. Do not abandon or desert me, my savior, my God. If my parents rejected me, still God would take me in. (Psalm 27:9b-100). And, thanks to the Lord, JESUS, we have this beautiful image to contemplate. In our prayer we can try to imagine the warmth and safety JESUS offers to all people. God will cover you like a nesting bird. God’s wings will shelter you. (Psalm 91:4).

Blessings and love to you all...

- Sister Vicki