Faith: Anchors and Sails for the Journey

 

Faith provides both anchor and sails on the journey

On a recent retreat, I came across an image of faith that stayed with me. It described the life of a believer in terms of a sojourn on a sailboat. Faith is both an anchor and a sail, grounding us and moving us for the same reason: the Gospel. My faith empowers me to take a firm stance and to move beyond what I think is possible while also serving as a source of security and great adventure.

First, I was anchored. Through the sacraments, I became a daughter of God and member of the church. 

As I grew older, I developed a personal relationship with God and a prayer life that grounded me in what really matters. Knowing what's worth my time and energy helps me make meaningful choices. It's satisfying to live a life of purpose, led by Gospel values rather than wayward secular ideas.

Being anchored keeps me centered and gives me spiritual joy. When I'm not intentionally anchoring myself in the Gospel, it's easy to drift, like a boat moved by the current. When that happens, my faith acts as oars that push against the pressures of this world. 

It can be difficult to do this, to be countercultural in our society. Fortunately, a little faith goes a long way! Jesus promises, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you" (Matthew 17:20).

No matter where the winds carry me, God is always with me because he is a God of possibilities. My faith becomes a sail that, filled with the Holy Spirit, carries me to distant shores.

I used to live by secular values, and a big part of my conversion involved recognizing how limiting they are. I was once ambitious to be recognized for my gifts and talents, but once I began prioritizing service to others and contributing in community, I found deeper fulfillment. 

I also learned to seek wisdom, instead of intellectualism or worldly knowledge. I've been moving from my head to my heart and realized that God's possibilities are truly those of the heart! Faith opens me up to be in relationship and service with my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Another aspect of faith that inspires me is hope. It creates so much potential, since God's goodness makes anything possible. It's stronger than anything that can go wrong. As a believer, I trust that situations and people can turn out better. Hope moves me forward!

The Holy Spirit enkindles a bold faith within me, too. This one was trickier; there are definitely times that I'm more comfortable being anchored in faith than riding its sails. Lately, though, I've been growing in a boldness that is more authentic. 

Through reflection and prayer, I've tried to draw close to God while he draws close to me. In that experience of the indwelling, to hear both his voice and my own. I've begun to share with more authenticity and openness, to say what I've hesitated to say out loud before. It's brought me an inner freedom that has taken me in some promising directions.

Faith is both anchor and sail for me; it centers and frees me. It keeps me steady and moves me forward. When I am centered on Jesus and the Gospel, there's no limit to what I can do with God's help!

Consecrated and Counter-Cultural: Our Gift to the World

 

                 As religious sisters, our vowed life is distinctly counter-cultural. We follow Jesus in a public way that others witness. Through our consecration, we’re set apart to make a difference in this world. As women of the Church, we’re called to live a radical commitment to the Gospel. We’re a prophetic voice, speaking what the world needs to hear. It’s a bold, counter-cultural stance that frees us to reach for what is holy and to have a true spiritual adventure.  In my journey to living bold Christian joy, I’ve experienced the blessings of a Spousal relationship with God and the community. I’m pleased to share those graces with others.

                Jesus’ teachings often put Him at odds with the society of His time. He spoke about the value of the spirit of the law over its letter and included those on the margins of society. Like Jesus, we have a different perspective than the norm, but at heart, our way of being counter-cultural is about what we’re for, not what we’re against. In our vowed life, we bring the Gospel with us everywhere we go, whether it is welcome or not. We both stand for and stand up for these virtues.

 Like Jesus, we are set apart for others. His single life of itinerancy allowed him to lead, teach, and heal. He dedicated his time and energy to doing God’s will.  A big part of my call to religious life was a call to consecration, the pull of God, drawing me away from dating and other interests. I felt called to come apart for Him. At first, I didn’t realize how much that was meant for the good of others. Our Spousal relationship with God brings us closer to His children.

                We are consecrated for others, to help our brothers and sisters in Christ. We dare to be in relationship with those we serve, companions on the journey. The most powerful way we do this is through our communal witness. Part of that comes from the charity and ministry of the sisters as a community. So much of what we do is at the service of others! When we have advanced degrees, positions of authority, or receive any public acknowledgment, we use it to make our ministries more effective. We also dare to have empathy. It’s easy to get compassion fatigue living in this world; it can be stressful to care when faced with all of the suffering around us. But religious are committed to journeying with others as Sister.

 We live in community with a variety of personality types and backgrounds. Our shared mission, our call to serve God and His people, bring us together. We work to understand and appreciate each other so we can be interdependent. Our unity and common sense of purpose is a strong witness to a world that is polarized by its differences. A spirit of humility and a willingness to make sacrifices helps us to prioritize the needs of others. Another important aspect of our communal witness is that it’s easier for people to see how much peace and joy we have in this life of prayer, service, and simplicity. It’s a clear statement of what really matters.

                We can share the Gospel with the world because we’re anchored in these values. Our secure stronghold in the Way of Jesus gives us all we need to do this, but that connection doesn’t just happen. It’s something we work at, by prioritizing our prayer life. The daily schedule of prayer and Mass helps with this. I also keep Sunday as a focused Sabbath. It’s a day for prayer and connecting to my local community and family.  In addition, each year when I go on retreat, I take time to reflect on my vocation, so I can draw closer to what has nurtured me in my call to religious life. Being anchored keeps me centered and gives me spiritual joy.

                It’s daring to be joyful in this world. There’s much to be discouraged by, but Christian joy is founded upon God’s goodness. I once had my spiritual joy affirmed without realizing it. When I was a younger woman, my manager at work asked how I could be so steadily peaceful and positive. I told her it was because of my faith, but didn’t see it as joy at the time. Christian joy isn’t the same as worldly happiness. It’s deeper, more heartfelt and less situational. There are many reasons to be grateful, too. God created humanity in His own image. Society doesn’t always follow Jesus, but the people in it aren’t inherently bad.  There’s always hope.

                The very possibility of God becomes our sails. We’re not limited by our weakness or sins. We trust God’s mercy when we try again; our efforts alone are evidence of our faith. We know that with God’s help we can grow to our full potential and change the world. The Spirit fills us and carries us to distant shores!  When it comes to being human, we take Jesus as our model. The teachings and traditions of the Catholic Church contain beautiful ideals for living as He did; I have started to view the Church as a place to dream. When I go to Mass or visit churches, I can vision an abundance of possibilities for the world and my own personal growth. This is the most encouraging part of being a religious sister for me: how I’m becoming who God intended me to be.

                We have all we need to be radical in our faith. We dare to be bold. The first step is to let go of secular ideas that hold us back. I learned to seek wisdom, instead of intellectualism or worldly knowledge. I started to prioritize service to others and making contributions in community over personal ambition. I clarified what zeal meant; I used to recognize it by emotions like enthusiasm or excitability. Like joy, however, zeal goes beyond that. I see zeal in my sincere commitment and deep faith. Lately, I’ve been growing in a boldness that is more genuine. Through reflection and prayer, I’ve tried to draw close to God while He draws close to me, and in that experience of the Indwelling, to hear both His voice and my own. I’ve begun to share with more authenticity and openness, to say what I’ve hesitated to say out loud before. It’s brought me an inner freedom that has taken me in some promising directions.

                God’s call to me has been to spiritual joy and boldness, a life of authenticity and compassion. When I’m truly sister to others and anchored in the Gospel, anything is possible! A hope like this is a gift. This is only one part of the prophetic voice and counter-cultural stance that we as women of the Church offer to the world.

Trunk or Treat

 

A group of Felician sisters and staff participated in the Trunk or Treat event at the Montessori Center of Our Lady in Livonia on Friday, October 25^th. They decorated three cars for the children to stop at and handed out snacks and fun items to the “trunk or treaters.”

Volunteer in Mission director Julie Darocha’s décor included her dog, Lucy. Julie had on a bumblebee costume and Lucy wore a T-shirt that said “Cutest pumpkin in the patch.”

Luna, the Detroit convent dog, wore a matching T-shirt. They were made by Sister Mary Francis Lewandowski, whose car was decorated and manned by her, Sister Grace Marie Del Priore, and Alyssa Noch (the archive assistant), with help from Luna. Sister Francis and Alyssa dressed up as witches while Sister Grace was a pirate.

The third car belonged to Nancy Franke, Administrator of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Convent. She was joined by Sisters Mary Alfonsa Van Overberghe and Roseanne Marie Glaza. The trio dressed up as slices of pizza and distributed treats that a group of sisters from the convent worked together to assemble.

The Felician participants enjoyed seeing the adorable costumes the children wore and being outside in the autumn weather. It was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon.

A Circular Journey to Balance and Wholeness

My spirituality is marked by an ongoing effort to be balanced.  I’ve tried to grow in healthy ways, part of a journey of self-improvement. I’ve found peace in being more wholistic, less compartmentalized and more centered. The best image of that for me is the circle, a powerful ancient symbol for many cultures that speaks to me. It’s the way I often think about my journey towards balance and wholeness.

 My spiritual journey has been more of a circle than a path. As I wander and explore, go forward and regress, I don’t move in a straight line. There’s room in a circle to move around the edges or to go inward and then back out. It’s ultimately a journey to the center, where God dwells. Like a labyrinth, my meandering steps bring me closer to God, who in turn sends me back out to others. 

 Life in community has been a breeding ground of growth for me. I have become more humble and patient, more compassionate and caring. I liked who I was becoming! This development is like tree rings. As experience builds upon experience, it yields wisdom, encompassing all of my past. As I continued to discern my vocation, I was strongly encouraged by this personal growth. I saw myself becoming the best version of myself, who God was calling me to be. This still encourages me that I’m where I’m meant to be.

 I used to think that to be balanced I needed to take one aspect of my life at a time. Attend to one, then another, consecutively. I used to put a lot of energy into focusing on them separately.  I even considered the amount of time I spent on each. I also saw it as a series of choices, as though there was limited room in my life. I thought if I was one thing, I couldn’t be another. An example of this is when I entered novitiate. I had a narrow definition of my identity, seeing myself as an intellectual, which seemed to leave out other abilities or personality traits, like doing menial tasks or being domestic.

 Later in formation, when I desired both solitude and community, I felt tension between them. They seemed to pull at me from opposite directions. At times, it felt like I had to choose one, yet I felt drawn to both. But after some time living in community, I realized I could honor both. There are many paradoxes in life, key aspects that seem to contradict but are equally valid. I achieve balance when I can live it as an AND, not an OR. Disparate parts of our lives aren’t that different and often aren’t actually separate; they can overlap in harmony.

I realized that it’s not a choice between introverted reflection or community life; it’s about finding the rhythm to have both. That rhythm involves going inside myself and then moving out toward others, a spiral motion where I find the energy and clarity to connect with others.  My quest for balance and my appreciation for the complexities of life have helped me see how interwoven aspects of my life are.

It's also clear how much of a blessing that is. I experience that most in my relationships. No wonder, because we’re already connected through a common spiritual father, God. Seeing those connections is always a powerful experience. One of them happened when I was a teenager in my parish youth group. We ended retreats with an affirmation activity, identifying how we saw God in each other sitting in a circle. Each shared this as we threw a ball of yarn, holding onto the end of yarn until it formed a web, a symbol that we were brothers and sisters in Christ. Our connection in Christ was true grace.

Balance helps me to be healthy in a world that is complicated and even dysfunctional. People are complex and so are the relationships and situations I find myself in. I try to find beauty in the realities of being human and to love people as they are. I also seek to engage in a positive, balanced way, contributing that to the situation while remaining healthy myself.

Keeping that balance requires discernment. When I focus on the present, responding to where God is in the moment, I connect to others on a deeper level and can recognize others’ needs better. Through relationships, I can be more authentic, too. The Holy Spirit guides my steps.

It helps me to keep my roots in God and Gospel values, prioritizing what really matters and putting my energy into that gives life purpose and meaning. My relationship with God is important to me and I maintain it through prayer. My values and priorities make choices clearer and efforts are unified in a common direction. Direction encompasses a lot of decisions. For example, once I valued our life together as sisters and was committed to it, I naturally sought it out. There was less tension involved.

This is the simplicity of the value-driven life. St. Francis’ example inspires me in this. He was wholehearted in his love for Jesus and it showed in how he lived. I was a Secular Franciscan before I was a religious sister, and part of our constitution particularly resonated with me. St. Francis prescribes moving from Gospel to life and then from life to the Gospel, bringing that wisdom to our lives and viewing life’s circumstances through that Scripture. It’s a clear path and a direction of the heart, simple and profound.

Simplicity is like a circle.  It has no beginning or end, no quadrants or corners; it’s a whole without fractions. It doesn’t make sense to compartmentalize anymore. I feel invited to embrace the parts of my life in a wholistic way, to bring them all together, united and complete. My “J” brain still resists this at times, but there’s so much wisdom in living this way. I’ve been on a slow journey from knowledge and being in my head to being spiritually wise. When I stopped trying to sort my life into like colors and patterns, as though I’m creating an ordered mandala, something natural and equally beautiful was created. It has its own symmetry. I’ve gone from focusing on the parts to seeing them together.

                 Spiritual growth comes from God, who is the source of life, much like the sun. There’s an abundance of beauty and goodness in this world, in nature and the hearts of God’s children.  I want to seek out energy and inspiration through places, people, and activities that light me up. I can do that through hobbies and interests and trying new things. I can find parts of the mundane or unpleasant that are more positive and bring positive energy to those aspects of my life. There’s always hope.

                Seeking balance and wholeness has been a key feature to my spiritual journey. My progress has been circular, both in movement and spirit. Circle imagery reminds me of my journey and inspires me to grow in simplicity, wisdom, and connection to others.