Posts tagged ‘baptism’
Thank God for the Poets
Perhaps I am into poetry at the moment. Certainly, I am enjoying Rumi.
God’s presence is there in front of us,
a fire on the left
a lovely stream on the right . . .
Whoever walks into the fire
appears suddenly in the cool stream,
Any head that goes under the water surface,
that head pokes out of the fire.
Most people guard against going into the fire,
and end up in it . . .
If you are a friend of God,
fire is your water.
You shoud wish to have a hundred thousand
sets of moth wings,
so that you could burn them away, one set a night.
(tr. Coleman Barks)
I am reminded of two things.
- In both the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, John the Baptist says that the one who will come after him (Jesus) will not be baptizing with water, but with fire. When I look at myself, as well as at most of us, I think we would rather settle for a baptism of water. We shy away from the fire, and end up in it when thrust there.
- I am reminded of the words of the song, “Live This Mystery,” by Michael Card. It goes:
As the river seeks to be
forgotten in the sea
so my soul is so thirsty
it longs for Thee.
Like a moth around the flame
drawn to the light
and to the pain.
Since my life is hid in Thee
I must live this mystery.
It is, indeed, a mystery, that that which can draw us, can also repel us. Paradox and mystery. Our lives are filled with them. We long for passion – for fire. And yet we try to stay away from danger; we do not want to be burned.
Thank God for the poets who find ways to express what we do not. And that their words can open us to mystery.
5th Graders Visiting the Convent
Teachers always love field trips! Especially field trips when the children and parents (chaperones) enjoy what they learn. Every year the Diocese of Oakland invites schools of the diocese to send their 5th grade students on a special field trip. The boys go to St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park and the girls go to a sisters’motherhouse in the diocese.
Today students came from two diocesan schools to the motherhouse of the Dominican Sisters of San Jose. Three of us sisters, Sister Liz Schille, RGS (a Good Shepherd Sister), Sister
Sister Beth talking to the 5th graders
Beth Quire, OP (a Dominican Sister of Mission San Jose), and I (a Dominican Sister of San Rafael), taught them a little bit about what it’s like to be a sister, and the importance of answering God’s call in their life. It was a fun day, and the girls and their parents really enjoyed themselves.
Truly, all of us are called . . . from the time we are baptized, or even from the time we are born. God calls us to, as the apostle Luke wrote: “. . . to preach good news to the poor. . . to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19) God calls us to do this whether we marry or not, whether we become a nun or a sister or not.
Today we talked about our way, as sisters, of living out this call. I always like talking about that, because I love being a sister!
This is Vocation Awareness Week
Hopefully you heard this announced in your parish, but maybe you didn’t. This is Vocation Awareness Week. Every year the Church celebrates this week as Ordinary Time begins with the Baptism of Jesus.
As Jesus was called at his baptism, so are we called at ours. If we were infants at the time, we surely don’t remember it. Probably there was only ordinary family drama – no preacher clothed in animal skins and no dove hovering overhead. Nonetheless, the Holy Spirit was with us then in fullness – and stays with us now.
Because we recall this call of Jesus at this time of his life, it is appropriate for us to reflect upon our call. Just what is God calling us to?
An author and minister, Frederick Buechner, may have said it best. “Our calling is where our deepest gladness and the world’s deepest hunger meet.”
