I believe that writing, like the spiritual life, has seasons. And perhaps the time away from writing—which I have both regretted and worried over—has been a good thing. (God makes all things work for the good!) After all, God is the One in charge of the seasons of my life, and God has taught me so much in the intervening years! It would be such a blessing to bring those lessons into my writing—both how I write and what I write. So I’ll share here some very personal writing resolutions, as I begin writing again.
I would like…
I’ll start back here blogging very simply, sharing favorite authors, blogposts, and articles about writing, spirituality, artistic practice and the spiritual life. The first resource I’d like to mention is from Sister Nancy Michael Usselmann, FSP, who just published her first book, A Sacred Look: Becoming Cultural Mystics—Theology of Popular Culture, in which she encourages us to become pop culture mystics. I’ll review it soon, and perhaps interview her here. If you have any questions for her, send them in and I’ll ask her!
Do you have a topic that you’d like me to write about on Windows to the Soul? Please post something in the comments below, send me an email, or respond on Facebook. (I am gradually organizing the various social media platforms that I am on so that I can respond in a timely (!) fashion to Facebook and others, and I look forward to many fruitful conversations!)
Above all, know that I keep you—every reader—in my prayers, carrying you in my heart to Jesus in the tabernacle during my daily Hour of Adoration. God bless you!
This week, I will begin my annual retreat, and though I don’t plan to post here during my retreat, I will be praying for you and your intentions.
Several years ago, a wonderful retreat director suggested that I entrust each day of my retreat to a special patron, which I have done ever since making that retreat. Recently, one of our chaplains encouraged us to create our own Litany of the Saints, in which we pray to the saints with whom we have a special relationship, asking for their intercession in our daily lives. My daily Litany of Saints continues to grow…it includes apostles, contemplatives, mystics, martyrs, writers…. May of the saints I pray to were writers, or artists, or promoters of beauty and truth. For each retreat, I usually pick a “fun” thing to do: something that I can do that won’t break up my recollection, but gives me something concrete to work on or play with when I get restless. I think that this year, I will put together a personal e-prayerbook, which will include a full-length personal Litany.
If you have been to an Easter Vigil with a Baptism, or a religious profession, you have heard the Church’s litany to the saints, sung or recited. For each occasion, the litany of the saints is adapted to include the new names of the baptized or those professing vows. But what a wonderful idea for each of us to create our own litany to the saints—perhaps with a more personal response than “pray for us”, unique for each saint!
Litanies to the saints can be wonderfully adapted for all sorts of intentions. For example, our Founder Blessed James Alberione gave us a beautiful “Litany for the Formation of Promoters of Social Communications,” which one of our sisters updated. Our Church is blessed with so many wonderful models, heroes, and intercessors that we could create litanies invoking the saints for all kinds of special intentions: for families, to create a more equitable world, to promote the dignity of human life, to save and heal the environment, etc.
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I won’t be posting for the next two weeks, but if you would like me to remember your specific intentions in my prayers during retreat, please post them below or send them to me in a private email-by July 11, 2018! I would be honored to pray for you.
If you are interested, here are the saints Blessed James Alberione included in his “Litany for the Formation of Promoters of Social Communication.” I will update the litany and post a downloadable version for communicators, writers, and artists soon!
Mother of Christ and our Mother, pray for us
Mother of divine grace, pray for us
Mother of good counsel, pray for us
Queen of the Apostles, pray for us
Seat of Wisdom, pray for us
Saintly Moses, pray for us
Saintly David, pray for us
Saintly Isaiah pray for us
All holy Prophets pray for us
St. Mark, pray for us
St Matthew, pray for us
St. Luke, pray for us
St. John, pray for us
St. Paul, pray for us
St. Peter, pray for us
St. James, pray for us
St. Thaddeus, pray for us
All holy Apostles and Evangelists, pray for us
All holy apostolic Fathers, pray for us
St. Athanasius, pray for us
St. Basil, pray for us
St. Jerome, pray for us
St Ambrose, pray for us
St. Augustine, pray for us
St. John Chrysostom, pray for us
St. Gregory the Great, pray for us
All holy Fathers, pray for us
St. Bernard, pray for us
St. Albert, pray for us
St. Thomas, pray for us
St. John of the Cross, pray for us
St. Francis de Sales, pray for us
St. Alphonsus pray for us
All holy Doctors, pray for us
St Teresa, pray for us
St. Catherine, pray for us
All holy men and women
saints of God, intercede for us.
A “COOL PRAYER” FOR HOLY WEEK: A CINEMA NOVENA!
Join us in praying this nine-day Cinema Novena: PAUL, APOSTLE OF CHRIST
Let St. Paul lead you closer to Christ through nine days of prayer, using
This cinema novena will make this year’s Holy Week unlike any other!
Sign up for the novena here. (The Novena is available for free, beginning on March 23.)
Then, check here to find the showing of Paul, Apostle of Christ nearest you.
MORE ABOUT THE CINEMA NOVENA:
Paul, Apostle of Christ is nine unique days of prayer, supported by powerful, living depictions from the life of Paul, the great evangelizer and lover of Christ. This online novena will help you live in communion with Christ, for whom Paul preached, prayed, suffered, and ultimately gave his life. No other apostle preached, taught, and suffered as much as Paul, who did all for the sake of love. It is a way of drawing closer to Christ in your daily life.
You can begin the Novena any day you’d like, but you can join with the sisters praying it starting March 23 or March 24, 2018.
For the past couple of years, I have been assigned to Pauline Digital (our digital publishing apostolate). My assignment arrived as our approach to the possibilities of a digital presence started to radically shift. Up to this point, I have been doing a bit of everything: creating digital magazines and newsletters, helping out with our online Pauline store, putting up websites, and helping with various technical challenges. In the midst of all of this, I have tried to fit in some deeper writing, too–both for our digital media, and new books. It has been a challenging time, as well as a time of growth for me. And now, we sisters have chosen a particular direction that takes advantage of the wonderful possibilities of the internet so that we can really respond to some of the many needs expressed to us. This month, just in time for the beginning of Lent, we have launched a new digital “initiative.”
What if you could have all the things that you long for—readings, retreats, Stations of the Cross, the Rosary, videos, special prayers and meditations, even spiritual accompaniment, and more—all delivered to your computer, tablet, or smartphone every day? The opportunity to have all the resources you want ready for you to watch, read, pray, and absorb, whenever it’s convenient for you.
My Sisters gives you the opportunity to access exactly the spiritual content that you need anytime that you need it.
You can try it out for only one dollar, less than the cost of a cup of coffee. We’re giving you this special trial run because we’re so confident that once you’re part of My Sisters, you’ll wonder how you ever did without it.
If you are anxious, stressed, or overstretched, and you wonder what holiness can look like in your daily life, visit this online faith community that leads you to more clarity, joy and peace in your daily life. Find spiritual companionship for your journey.
This is a great opportunity to join, not only because you can start a trial month for only $1, but because the spiritual companionship of the sisters and online community–including the mini-conferences, weekly guides, live spiritual accompaniment groups, twice-a-week evening prayer, the live online lectio divina and Rosary, and DIY retreats–can inspire, motivate, guide, and challenge each of us on our walk in Christ.
Up to this point, I have been working in the background, on conferences and retreats. I’m delighted that we’ll be able to offer the first retreat as a Lenten retreat on the theme of living God’s will, offered in early March. While I plan to continue blogging here and at CoAuthorYourLifewithGod.com, you will definitely find me often online here at My Sisters.
Check out these features that My Sisters offers:
2018 has been filled with the unexpected so far—from new projects to my catching the flu. Because of this, I took a couple hours to brainstorm for a way to re-balance my writing life (and a couple other aspects of my life that I have ignored or not given enough time to). I was delighted to figure out a way to slow down and get back to a regular writing schedule.
One creative way of starting off a new year is to pick a word as a theme for the year. Every new year, I see more people picking their “word” for the year–have you? It’s better yet to notice a word that has “picked you,” especially when the word is from the Scriptures. I have never done this for a whole year, but during every monthly retreat, I try to pick a verse or phrase from the Bible that will inspire me for the whole month.
This year, however, a word “picked me,” as I was praying with the Gospel of John and I thought that I would share it with you. The word is: “Behold.”
According to an online site hosting the RSV translation, “behold” is used in the Bible over 1000 times (1134), and in the NABRE, “behold” is in that translation 104 times. Behold is a wonderful word for the spiritual life and for art, because it encourages us to really look, to see below the surface, to notice those telling details that allow us to appreciate more fully the sacred in our life. (And isn’t that what art is all about—helping us to see?)
The Gospel of John takes its use of the word a step further, encouraging us to go even deeper. The author of John uses “Behold” specifically to invite us to perceive the upside-down-ness of God at work in the world: this Gospel uses “behold” only when speaking of something that upsets human expectations.
“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1) is the context in which the word first “picked” me. And what is more of a paradox than this image of the Lamb of God? The Son of God who is perfect, pure, sinless, innocent, almighty, infinitely good and beautiful, being called a lamb in reference to being offered in sacrifice? We know that many of the Israelites assumed that the Messiah would be a powerful earthly leader but the calls him “the Lamb of God.”
In John 17, Jesus uses this term to speak about his glory, which will be his offering of himself on Calvary in order to save humanity.
In John 19, Pilate tells the crowd to behold their “King,” as a way to mock Jesus—but unknowingly he speaks the truth about the King of all humanity, the King of love who will give his life for us. Also in John 19, Jesus gives Mary and John new identities: Mary becomes the mother of John, and John becomes Mary’s son. We know that here, too, we need to look deeper. Jesus is doing more than entrusting his widowed mother to the care of a young man. He is asking Mary to become the Mother of the Church, and he sees in John the beginning of the Church.
In giving me this word, I feel Jesus inviting me to be more attentive to him in my daily life, to let go of my own agenda and assumptions that are blocking my vision or preventing me from hearing his gentle invitations to do his will.
Long walks has always been a cherished form of exercise for me. At one point, I decided to take up jogging: I could fit more exercise into less time; it was even better for my health than walking, etc. I never became very good at it, but stuck with it for a couple of years. Then one day I went for a long walk. And I realized how much I missed walking. When I jogged, I went too fast to notice everything around me—the flowers, the birds, the color of the sky, etc.—all those things that I enjoyed so much when I walked.
This year, I plan to walk—not jog—through each day. I want to pay attention to the things both great and small in my life that I often ignore or forget about. For me, first of all this means that I need to pay attention to what is going on inside of me—my thoughts and feelings—and then, the people and circumstances around me. For some insight, I am reading a lovely small new book by Frederich Buechner entitled, The Remarkable Ordinary.
My desire to live more contemplatively has been unexpectedly reinforced by one of our sisters—who is also a dear friend—who spent these first days of 2018 in the hospital and is now in hospice. The smallest details become so significant in these precious days with her—making sure she is comfortable, offering her both the closeness of accompaniment but also the spiritual “space” to prepare herself for heaven. This sister is teaching me how to “behold” God’s presence and blessing in a deeper way, both throughout her life and the years that I have known her, and in these cherished days of her journey to her heavenly homeland.
If you’d like, please share your “word for 2018” in the comments below, or on Facebook!
Here are a few catch-up notes that are long overdue:
Best new site for Media Literacy from a Catholic perspective! Last week I posted here about the new Pauline Center for Media Literacy weekly movie reviews, which our sisters write from a Catholic perspective. But the site has more than just movie reviews, and we are adding new content all the time. Visit the new site and see how the faith we live by and the culture we live in intersect! www.bemediamindful.org
Media and Your Kids For families with kids, the CNN news site published a helpful article about young children using media: “Kids Under 9 Spending More Than 2 Hours a Day on Screens.” The article is based on a study by Common Sense Media–another favorite media literacy site that is helpful when looking at media for children. Along with this article, CNN published “New Screen Time Rules for Kids by Doctors.” The tips for “healthy digital media use” seem especially helpful, but in brief, here is what doctors recommend:
Doctors’ Guidelines for Screen Time for Kids
Screen time, or time spent using digital media for entertainment, should be limited.
| AGE | RECOMMENDED | MOTIVATION |
| 18 months and younger | No exposure. | Screen time can: cause disconnect between parents and children (babies deprived of parents’ attention may develop behavioral issues)Prevent healthy brain development for infants because it limits face-to-face contactOverstimulate, which can cause distress and sleep issues |
| 2-5 years | 1 hour per day
Only high quality No advertisements |
Children at this age can’t differentiate between real-world and screen-world. In addition to high-quality programs, face-to-face interactivity onscreen (such as Skype or Facetime) is a good choice. |
| 6 & older | Limit & Monitor | Screen time should never replace healthy activities (sleep, social interaction, physical activity)
Parents need to help children and teens navigate the media environment, just as they teach children how to behave off-line Designate media-free times together (such as meals) Designate media-free zones at home (such as bedrooms) Set up a media plan for the family |
Based on article: “New Screen Time Rules for Kids by Doctors” by Hailey Middlebrook, CNN
The World Congress for Child Dignity in the Digital World has made many of the speeches of the congress available here on the Congress website. The Centre for Child Protection at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome hosted the congress from October 3-6, 2017 .
Pope Francis offers his insights into his style as a communicator in today’s world: Pope Francis on Why He Gives Interviews. For Pope Francis, a “real meeting,” means “real conversation.” His best tip? He prays to the Holy Spirit ahead of time to inspire him with what to say.
“The truth will set you free” (John 8:32): Fake news and Journalism for Peace is the theme for the next World Communications Day on May 13, 2018. The Vatican’s Secretariat for Communication posted the theme on September 29th (the Feast of the Archangels Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel). The explanation follows:
The theme that the Holy Father Francis has chosen for the 52nd World Day of Social Communications 2018 relates to so-called “fake news”, namely baseless information that contributes to generating and nurturing a strong polarisation of opinions. It involves an often misleading distortion of facts, with possible repercussions at the level of individual and collective behaviour. In a context in which the key companies of the social web and the world of institutions and politics have started to confront this phenomenon, the Church too wishes to offer a contribution, proposing a reflection on the causes, the logic and the consequences of disinformation in the media, and helping to promote professional journalism, which always seeks the truth, and therefore a journalism of peace that promotes understanding between people. https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2017/09/29/170929a.html
Online Evening Visit with Jesus At the conclusion of our online Facebook Live Novena to Our Lady of Fatima, Sister Kathryn and I decided that we would like to try to offer a simple Evening Visit with Jesus every night at 8 PM at the Facebook page: Ask a Catholic Nun. We are still getting it off the ground, but it’s a wonderful way to share prayer intentions and feel part of a community that prayers together every evening. I hope you can find the time to join us.
Meet the selfie-snapping Sisters of Snapchat is a fun article interviewing Catholic sisters using social media! Several #MediaNuns are included.
Today, my community the Daughters of Saint Paul, began our #TheWordHeals Mission Campaign, which will run in a concentrated way during the Novena to Our Lady of Fatima (ending on the 100th anniversary of the public apparitions on October 13, 2017). We are inviting people to collaborate with us in the New Evangelization to spread the healing Word of God through prayer and offerings.
Our Mission Campaign goal is ambitious, but we have so many wonderful projects just waiting for funds to go forward. You can see sisters’ stories of how the Gospel has changed people’s lives by visiting www.pauline.org/thewordheals or visiting our Ask a Catholic Nun Facebook Page!
If you can’t make it to any of our live online prayer times, you can still join us by praying the Novena prayer daily for nine days:
What do you do when you feel like you have nothing left to give?
That’s how I’ve felt through the week after the Clay Pots Retreat. It had been an amazing six weeks where I’ve given classes, retreat conferences, and assisted with our live webathon novena, but by the middle of the week, I couldn’t even think any more. I knew my introverted tank was past empty and I was running on fumes. It’s not comfortable when I feel like I have nothing left, that I’m “poured out,” and emotionally exhausted. In my prayer, even reading the Bible feels like it’s too hard. Fear that I will never be refilled takes over because I don’t even have the energy to deal with my worries.
And perhaps that’s the hardest part of all. When I’m that exhausted, I don’t just stop paying attention interiorly, but I feel stranded in the middle of nowhere, alone and abandoned; maybe even wrecked. Pretty soon, I’m overwhelmed by negativity and I simply want to cry because the emptiness haunts me.
That’s the short version of how I felt by Friday.
But I’d been in this place before, and I had the grace to see it coming earlier in the week. I seized an opportunity to get away for about a day and a half, and I took myself completely offline. In my prayer—when I just wanted to weep for sheer emptiness—I remembered how Jesus sanctified exhaustion. His solution for exhaustion was seeking out his Father…and so I spent several hours in quiet prayer. Most of the prayer time I simply accepted my emptiness, prayed for the people I’ve been interacting with for the past six weeks, and told Jesus I was open to whatever he wanted.
That simple acceptance of my feelings and my discomfort, in Jesus’ presence—as difficult as it was—changed everything. Suddenly I was no longer stranded alone. Jesus was with me. Simply giving Jesus my poor, empty self and knowing that that was enough for him, made it become enough for me.
It was a very gentle weekend: I prayed quietly a lot, journaled a good bit, spent time outside (beautiful New England fall weather), took some long walks, watched a sci-fi film with a friend, and slept. And by Monday morning, I felt so blessed by the gifts of my ordinary life. But I continue to be aware that, for the next week or two, I need to continue being gentle, undemanding with myself, and creating extra space for quiet and listening. This will allow the “spiritual recharging” that began weekend to continue.
What do you do when you are spiritually and/or emotionally exhausted? I would love to hear your tips and strategies for “refueling” your spiritual life and your creativity!
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