Mission Post #26 - Experiencing Quiet

Words.
Symbols.
Images.
Proliferation of communication with no filters.

We are buried in information overload about our social climate, our political climate and our economic climate.  I have become exhausted by all of it.  I know too much and too much of it isn't worth knowing.

"Knowledge" has lead me to intense feelings of hopelessness at times.  We all suffer from it whether we know it or not and our unspoken plea (found in our struggles) is Don't tell me HOW to embrace a more meaningful life; SHOW me.

Lately, a new peace has descended upon me.  The first phase was leaving home.  The travel from home to here in Missouri started to strip away the noise and static of life that so filled my heart and mind.

News of the day has been obliterated; social media has been substantially reduced; prayer, reflection, and action are becoming more a part of my daily rhythm.  Feeling and being in the moment is starting to take center stage.

I'm cooking with pleasure.  What a surprise this is.  Living in community has re-ordered how I perceive my daily tasks and responsibilities.  There is a much more general feeling of simplicity and a desire to get outside of my head.  It is a huge relief to strip away the things that were weighing me down.  And I don't necessarily mean material things so much as re-ordering priorities that are now leading to a life centered on God.

This re-ordering is making me happier, more peaceful, more accepting (but not fatalistically so) and, unexpectedly, more loving and conscious of my husband.  These changes aren't subtle either.  I thought I was all the things I mentioned and, to a degree, I was.  However, stripping away the noise of life shows you just how diminished or, worse yet, absent those things can be in a life.  Traveling this road is showing me that our loved ones can become habits.  Of course, I love my family.  It's a habit.  It needs no explanation.  But, for me now, this is something that I know should not be a habit that is taken for granted.  It needs to be a living and breathing daily reality.

If this all has happened so quickly, then I can't begin to imagine what lies ahead, what God has in store for me.  But, I sure am looking forward to the discovering despite the information overloaded world we live in.

God bless you all and please pray for us.

Mission Report #25 - Update and Reflection

Today, Don and I continue our orientation to the community we will be serving.  We have already met Fr. Yoric and a couple of town friends from Don’s youth. 

We have mainly been settling into our temporary home at Sister’s formation house and, for me especially, getting used to the cold.  I have discovered that 26 degrees in California is not the same as 26 degrees in Missouri which is damp, biting, and generally comes with a wind that is more than a light breeze.  I can’t go barefoot as I like but I dislike socks, so, today I pick up a pair of slippers.

We have also been learning the Liturgy of the Hours and are saying morning and evening prayers and a daily Rosary.  Our Mass routine is at least four days a week.  These formal prayers of our Faith are powerful tools for opening ourselves up to what God is asking of us and the beauty of the Psalms have been revealing themselves to us.

My private reading, this morning, from the Upper Room booklet was from James 2: 1-9.  The prayer focus was on people who are homeless.

God of the poor, help us to see your face in everyone who is in need. Amen.

Today’s reading is especially pointed to me as we take our first steps on mission.  We live in a society of extremes, not the least of which is those who have much and those who have little.  My spot in the world is as one who has just enough and, because of that, have the opportunity to give as I can and as I choose.   But, this place, I think, has the added burden of having to judge and weigh every opportunity that comes our way to serve.

I consider the word ‘judge’, which has such negative connotations, to be, in reality, a good word.  I am thinking, weighing, and discerning.  I am seeking a truth that allows a decision to be made.  So, I make a judgment, not for what is deemed worthy but to discern and make a decision to act or not act.  These steps can happen at the drop of a hat. Other times, days might be taken to decide.

What is most important is that we don’t just automatically say ‘no’ to a perceived need.  Christ is always knocking at our door.  It’s up to us to recognize the knock and answer.  Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it takes some thought but always we are called to listen for His knock and decide if this is a call to be answered.

Mission Post - #24 - Arrival

We arrive yesterday in early afternoon after making good time from our last stop at Little Rock AFB where we spent the night at the lodge.  This is the third lodge we've enjoyed staying at and I have to admit, this is one of the nicer perks of being retired military.  Quarters are as good if not better than hotels and the cost is half of any Best Western level hotel.  Breakfasts are to be had at the base golf courses and the food is always good.  One thing they don't stint on in the military is food (at least in my experience).  So, after a good night's sleep, breakfast, and Mass at the base chapel we took off for the final 3 1/2 hours of our journey to Missouri.

I haven't been here in 20 years.  Kris as 9 the last time I was here.  Even with big tornado damage is 06, things still look pretty much the same.  Now that we are here without children, with no relatives living here, and all past memories (mine) put to rest, I am looking at Caruthersville with very different eyes.

Being here on a mission puts us in a whole different category of visitor.  For one thing, one doesn't just visit C'ville.  Except for the casino, there is nothing to attract a visitor to stay for a while.  We have no family here anymore so a stay now is a purposeful event.

Meeting Sr. Darlene has been a treat and since last night, we have been in a marathon of conversation, prayer, cooking, prayer, developing our idea of community and prayer and, and, and . . . .  Her mini-Schnauzer, Izzy, is wildly entertaining and maintains full command of the yard and especially command over the squirrel population.

Sr.  Darlene  lives alone in her mission assignment.   Since hers is also a formation house, there are women who come here to discern their vocation to the religious life.  The house is set up for as many as four more women.  Don and I share a room with two twin beds.  Welcome to the land of Donna Reed and I Love Lucy.  LOL  This warm and welcoming home is designed for hospitality, a service that the GlenMary sisters are always prepared to provide.

The idea of living in community was not an idea I considered as I prepared myself for this experience.  We soon discovered that work and responsibilities would be easy to divide up and we would be as much independent of each other and we would be in union with each other.

Our greatest moments of union in the course of the day is praying the Liturgy of the Hours, a series of formal morning and evening prayers that incorporate old and new testament readings, Psalms, Canticles, and other optional readings that are designed to deepen our understanding and love of our Faith and draw us closer to God and what He wants for us.  After morning prayers today, we sat around the kitchen table for about an hour and a half as Sister explained the basics of the Liturgy of the Hours.  I took detailed notes and decided to also look online for instruction.

Thoughts for reflection that have already been aroused within me are -

Finding peace within myself, I must acknowledge that we are not of this world.  We are here to be with Christ.  What burdens me, give to God.  Ask how He wants to use me in His service in the battle field of the world.  Discover how I can let God work through me.

As I type this, I am preparing for Mass this evening.  This will set the evening rhythm for our week with Mass on Sunday, Monday evening and Wednesday evening.  Thursdays the community gathers for a  rosary.  There will be work at Mother's House as we had anticipated; there are repairs to be done around the house; the garage is a challenge as sister is deeply afraid of snakes.  She found one in there two years ago and hasn't gone in since.  Yes, it's cold and the snakes may be dormant.  Doesn't matter.  So Don and I may be exploring the garage for her.  No, I'm not fearful of snakes.  Some of the elderly of the parish need help so our two sets of hands will be added to hers.

But it is early days and the possibilities are wide open and I'm sure there will be opportunities that will arise as the need arises.  It is definitely going to be an adventure.  Please pray for us.

God bless you all.

Haiku My Heart -Bird and Bell in Sue and Raf's Backyard

Bell song and bird song
Trembling, rustling, and trilling
Cool breezes kissing

On the Road #2 - The Road to Albuquerque

What a busy two days.  Didn't post/blog anything yesterday.  Barely got the pictures edited from yesterday.  Two night at Tinker AFB in Oklahoma City now.  Driving to Ada, OK tomorrow for Indian grandmother genealogy search (Don).  More catching up tomorrow night too before heading to Texas to spend a few days with blogging friend  Sue Ficke Seibert and her husband, Rafe.  Then on to Missouri.  I didn't realize keeping up with this stuff on the road would be so time consuming.  Thank goodness (and Don) for a paper journal.  Tomorrow I start writing and prepping before night time entries.

From the crazy to the sublime, the little collage above gives you a taste of what we saw from the road on Sunday.  And mind you, this is just a taste.  The statue is the side altar at St. Ann's Catholic Church in Needles.  The image is St. Ann embracing her daughter, Mary, the Mother of God.  

We discovered that Arizona and and New Mexico are big on roadside kitch.  Dinosaurs are everywhere.  Also, lots of broken billboards - note the one above.  I don't have a clue but it struck me as wildly funny.

Finally, from a distance of many miles, we could see these two smoke stacks.  Arizona is rich in coal and I guessed that this would be an electricity producing plant using coal as it's energy source.  I was right.

More later, Pictures galore and if I don't keep up, I'll never keep this stuff straight.

On the Road #1 - The Road to Needles

As drives go, Turlock to Needles is pretty easy.  It's all long, flat freeway and highway.  Even with a break for lunch on the east side of Bakersfield, we were able to do the drive in 8 hours.  At dinner, we called Quanah (our son) in Indiana because Don wanted to claim bragging rights for the great mileage.  We traveled 461 miles on 3/4 of a tank of gas.  Not too shabby.

Dinner was at the Juicy's River Cafe next to the motel.  Nice little place.  Friendly waitresses and super good spaghetti and meatballs.  Dessert was an also super good deep dish cherry pie with ice cream that we shared.  Yum.

The road to Needles is not pretty, especially in the winter.  Everything is brown and dry.  But, it does have a particular beauty in its rough hardness.  Trains run along the hillsides and go in and out of a series of tunnels; the wide open areas don't necessarily run in a straight line.  For a world that looks like there is nothing there, it is remarkably full of obstructions that need to be avoided.  Hence, long, sweeping arcs in the landscape provide pathways for freight travel.  

Curiously, for a short time we find ourselves traveling through a green area.  When all is dark, dry, rocky and covered in dust and decaying buildings, we discover an oasis of green and the town that lives there, appropriately enough, is called  Newberry Springs.  The name gives the clue for the green that doesn't live anywhere else on the road in this dry winter.

It is a very masculine world dotted with boron and borax plants, acres of wind fields, and more acres covered in solar panels.  It is a prime world for creating alternate energy sources.

Tomorrow we start with a bang.  Up at six.  Breakfast and seven.  Mass at eight at St. Ann's Church.  An old church, built in 1921 to replace the original one from 1889 (destroyed in a 1920 fire),  I'm excited because I know there will be some great photo-ops there.  And if there isn't, I'll be so disappointed.  After that, we will be on the road to Albuquerque, NM.

Mission Post #23 - My Moment Has Passed

Thank you, God, the slump did not last too long.  I packed this morning; discovered I had entirely overlook gloves, hat, and scarves.  Rumor has it that it's cold in the winter back east so having these will be essential outer wear.  

I got my shoes (Clark's) and they will more than do for rain, snow, and ice without me have to deal with the constriction of boots.  I so DID. NOT. LIKE. wearing boots after wearing them around the house.  Returned them undamaged so they were good for resale.

Such a mundane post but not all days need to be filled with insight and discovery.  Sometimes we just have ordinary days.  In fact, most of our days are, no doubt, more ordinary than not.  

I hope that with prayer and a life of no distractions and focus on service that the negative committee that hangs out on the edges of my mind, like relentless squatters, will finally move on.  There comes a time in all of our lives when we want, more than anything, to abide in peace and stillness and still be wide open to people and have an expectations of a positive experience.