Happy Valentine's Day

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.
But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthian 13: 4-7, 13

Taking Time

Right now I am in Long Island at a house the Ursuline Sisters own. We use this house as a vacation house and a place for our sisters to go when they need time to rest, relax and have fun.

I'm sure at times it's been used for the same purpose I am here this weekend. I need to spend a major block of time working on my dissertation. I have recorded my students' questions on my IPAD and now need to transcribe them into Microsoft Word. I feel so blessed to have the time and space to be able to work on this important task.

Last night, one of our sisters called me and we discussed another one of our sisters who is experiencing severe cognitive difficulties with comprehension and memory. It is so hard to hear, experience and realize that this kind sister is not the woman she once was. This sister taught me so much about prayer and Ursuline life. She helped make this religious world for me and one I really wanted to be a part of her. I am so grateful to her for her wisdom and love. Well it is hard to be with her now because she can be angry, defensive and negative, I need to remember all she did for me and take the time to just be with her so she knows she is loved, cared for and appreciated. Isn't that what we all want in life?

This weekend will be busy with dissertation work-Yes, but hopefully too I can take time to pray and recreate my soul so I can handle all of life that will be happening in the next few weeks. Taking the time to just be is important too. Good luck to all our readers!!

Sr. Jeannie

Our example

“Give good example-teaching more by what you do than what you say.”

St. Angela Merici

The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple

Today is the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. As a young child, I was always taught to think of this as Jesus' Baptism-even though it is not truly the same.

In reality, we are celebrating the fact that today Mary having given birth to Jesus brought him and an offering of either a lamb and a dove or pigeon, or two doves or pigeons to their Temple to be cleansed by prayers. This was part of the Mosaic law at that time.

What I'm really struck by today is the word Presentation and what it means in my life. Presentation for me is about how I look and sound to others and how I share material that I know. It's what I show the outside world. One's Presentation is so important.

I'm also thinking of the fact that when Mary presented Jesus in the Temple, she also brought along offerings of sacrifice. What offerings of sacrifice do I need to share with others? What needs to be cleansed by prayers in my life?

Jeannie Humphries, osu

Being Present

It's been a while since I've written an entry and I apologize to our readers for the delay.

As I sit here and think about what has been going on in my Ursuline life, I realize that right now there has been a lot of medical concerns. One of our sisters had double knee replacement. Another sister had a melanoma removed and we are still awaiting the results. Plus a third sister is suffering from severe loss of memory and mobility. Well it's been a bit of challenge and sad, I also realize that God is calling me to be with those in pain.

I'm a real problem-solver and task-oriented person. I want to figure things out and take care of them all right away. But with these sisters and their medical issues, I am unable to do anything but pray, be present to my sisters, listen to their concerns and remind them of God' s love and care along with mine too.

It has been a real humbling experience to just have to be with them in their pain. I'm going to have to keep sitting with it and see what lessons God is trying to teach me. Instead of running to take care of the situation, I have to just be with it.

Where in your life do you find you just have to be and not do?

Jeannie Humphries, osu

Being with other women religious/sisters/nuns

Here it is the start of Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend.   For the past ten years or so, I've attended Giving Voice's Retreat for Women Religious in their 20s and 30s.  We met in Florida a few times and the moved to meeting in Arizona.  It has been a wonderful experience for me. I've met so many peer sisters who I can truly relate to and have fun with. Plus I get to share with them this mysterious thing called a call to religious life. It's hard to make sense of it at times; but being with others who also feel called helps.  I am unable to attend this year since I turned 40 in May 2011.  I am too old for this gathering and let me tell you being too old for something in the nun world is a new experience for me.  I'm usually one of the youngest or the youngest at a gathering. But now with Giving Voice-instead there I'm either in the middle of the age group or too old!!  Amen!!

This weekend once again a group will be gathering in Arizona for prayer, reflection, sharing and hang out time.  I'm so jealous and wish I could be there.  I just texted Jessi, a Presentation Sister to tell her to have fun and that I miss her already.  But it is not my time to be there.

Instead my friend Susan, a Sister of St. Joseph of Peace who is just a little younger than me and I will be going to New Orleans to celebrate her perpetual profession of vows and share some bonding time. We both realized that this Giving Voice gatherings are so important and wanted to keep getting together. This weekend will be fun.

New Orleans is where the first Ursulines went to in the United States and there is so much history of our congregation there.  We will be staying at one local living community with 2 of my Ursuline Sisters and visiting another community connected to Our Lady of Prompt Succor shrine. So I will see some of my nuns. Yeah!!

Also I will get a chance to visit with my former principal boss from St. Philip Neri School in the Bronx, Brother John Casey, a  member of the Congregation of Christian Brothers.

It will be a weekend of renewing relationships.  Thank God for friends to share the journey of life with me. 

Jeannie Humphries, osu

Praying Together

Here it is 7 am on a Saturday morning.  I'm up and getting ready to hit the shower so I can start my day.

Today is filled with two different prayer gatherings.  First, I'm going to be co-hosting and attending a retreat day for young alumnae from the classes of 2000-2011 from the Academy of Mt. St. Ursula. We have about 60 young woman say they are attending.  GREAT!!   We've had two other retreats and they have been so meaningful. What the young woman share and how they pray and are so open to God's Spirit truly inspires me!!  I am so looking forward to today.  I'm proud of our woman graduates from AMSU and count myself blessed to be one of them.  This event is from 10am-3pm in the Bronx.

Then from 4pm-7pm or so, I'll be with different Ursuline Sisters (many from the former St. Angela's community in the Bronx and one that I lived with and ministered with in Malone, NY) and we will share some prayer and conversation time together.  It's a form of faith sharing-we'll listen to some songs, poetry and the Word of God together. Then we'll each take some to reflect individually and come back and share our insights.  I'm really looking forward to this time together. It makes me feel connected to Angela, my sisters and God!  The experience truly reminds me of why I entered religious community.

I hope all my readers have a nice day. What do you have planned for this Saturday?  How do you enrich your soul?  Prayers and blessings to all of you!!

Sr. Jeannie Humphries, osu