CALLED OUT OF THE NARROW CAVE OF MY OWN SELF-INTEREST!

One of my favourite activities is to call on families in our Basic Ecclesial Community.  I can always be sure of a friendly welcome, a glass of sweet tea, and the opportunity to catch up on some of the latest news.  The other day I went to visit one of the families I know well, a young family with five children.  Their youngest child, a delightful “almost” two year old has Downs Syndrome.  I sat on the floor drinking tea and chatted to his mother as she patiently helped him over and over again with his exercises.  It is not easy raising five children in the current difficult economic climate – and yet one thing is certain – there is no lack of love in that home.  This family is filled with love – with more than enough to share with others.  I am always struck at the fact that I never hear any complaints…

When I visit families like this one it puts my small problems into perspective and I return home with my heart filled with joy…Our Ignatian spirituality calls us to find God in all things…I find God all the time in the families who live all around us.  Talk about “Gospel”…I am constantly being evangelized by the people who are part of our local faith community.

JESUS REMEMBER THEM WHEN YOU COME INTO YOUR KINGDOM – PRAYING FOR THOSE WHO HAVE DIED

For some of us November is a month specially dedicated to remembering and praying for those who have died. That is not to say that we don’t remember our loved ones at other times too, but our thoughts and prayers are focused in a special way throughout the course of this month. For me it is an opportunity to think about members of my family, my friends and my dear FCJ sisters – people who have touched my life and made a difference to me. They are all saints to me and are as close to God as those “greats” – the Saints with the famous names! I love the thought that just as I remember them they think of me and we are united in our prayer and in the love of God. There is something highly personal about these “local” saints – when I need help with something I call upon their help. I call upon them to pray for me in specific ways. Their prayers never fail. I often smile to myself when I put those “heaven based” loved ones on a mission…Take the women in my family for example…There is no way they are going to take “no” for an answer. It seems that God cannot resist the prayers of such faithful people who truly were and continue to be “the salt of the earth.”

Clare’s Vocation story

I Fell in Love with God!!!

The story of my “call” is quite simple really – I fell in love with God…and have been in love ever since!  As a teenager I had always loved Religious Education classes in school and decided to take the study of Scripture as one of my “A” levels.  I discovered the God of the prophets, the God of Micah, Hosea and the other Minor Prophets. I discovered the God of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.  I discovered the God who loved me personally, who was tender and seductive, the God who was passionate about me and about all others.  I discovered the God who wanted justice for all, the God who has a dream for our world – the Reign of God.  I fell in love…and knew I wanted to serve this God…And then…I studied the Gospels…and met Jesus, the human face of God…and my heart was captured forever…As I read the Gospels I said to myself…”This is so good, why don’t more people know about this?” I knew I wanted to spend my life bringing the Good News of the Gospel to others…and I wanted to do that as an FCJ.  I was taught by some of the FCJs.  I knew them, I saw the way they lived, I saw the way they ministered to others, I saw the way they prayed, I had a sense of their deep down inner peace…and I knew that that was the way in which it would be right for me to serve God and to spread the Gospel.  Of course, there are many ways to serve God, and religious life is just one of them…We each have to find what is right for us.  For me…religious life and the FCJs is the right choice

 The process by which I became an FCJ was not in reality so simple…I entered at 18 and was asked to leave because at the time I was not quite ready for religious life…I left and struggled to find my way for some years…Until the persistent nudge of God finally brought me back to the FCJs ten years later…This time I was ready…and here I am another twenty three years on…More in love with God than ever, and so grateful to God for helping me to find the right way for me and the best way in which I can serve God, God’s people and the whole of creation.     

(Submitted by Clare fcJ)

Enquiring about religious life…

As someone involved in vocations accompaniment I regularly get enquiries about our Society and it seems to me that this initial step is quite a big one to take!

The initial enquiry might be to a sister that you know already, or perhaps you are asking about a congregation that you have heard about, or found on the internet, either way it can be quite daunting to first say ‘I am thinking about religious life.’!

Something I think many people are surprised to hear, is that there are quite a number of people who do get in touch asking for information;  it can seem quite an  isolated  search at times unless you know others who are asking similar questions, and that is one reason why it can be good to join a discernment group or to attend vocations weekends – just to have the opportunity to meet with others at a similar point in their life.

I think it is also good to realise that whilst you may want to find information about a specific congregation in more detail, asking questions doesnt commit you to anything! Certainly the vocations directors I know are all very happy to chat or send information and arent expecting you to ’sign up’ at the first enquiry!

Ask questions, take your time, come and go … it is all part of the initial steps in looking at religious life, and hopefully it will be inspiring, challenging and peace-filled!

Discerning your vocation?

For the next couple of weeks I am going to give some attention to different aspects of discerning vocation… particularly looking at religious life, but hopefully others will find some of the ideas helpful too!

Here are some of the FAQ’s that I will hopefully give some time to:

• How do you become an FCJ?
• How do I decide which congregation to join?
• Where can I get information about different orders?
• What do the various stages of formation mean?
• Were you 100% sure when you entered?

In addition we will hear from a few people about their experiences at the different stages of formation. If you want to ask any particular questions feel free!

THE EXTRAORDINARY GENEROSITY OF GOD!

In the centre of our house we have a small garden in which we have many plants.  One of my favourites is called Wijaya Kusuma.  This plant produces a single large flower with a rich intoxicating fragrance.  The Wijaya Kusuma flowers only once, at night, and it lasts for one night only.  It is amazing to watch as the bud slowly begins to open until finally it turns its gleaming white face to the night sky and the garden is transformed by its aromatic beauty.  When I gaze at the Wijaya Kusuma and relish its heady perfume I marvel at the wonder, the surprise, and the riches of God’s creation.  Two nights ago we had the delight of two Wijaya Kusumas at once – all of that beauty for just one night!  God’s imagination and generosity never fail to touch and delight me.  What else is there to do but to give thanks?

HUNGER AND COMPASSION FATIGUE…THIS CANNOT BE!!!

Some days ago I was challenged to look honestly at my lifestyle through the discovery that the food we waste is enough to feed the world’s hungry several times over. This afternoon I read an article in an international newspaper that states that recent cuts to food aid throughout the world is putting millions of hungry people at risk of starvation. The article describes starvation as a “silent tsunami”…Hunger is killing people and it seems that we are oblivious to the suffering of our sisters and brothers even though some of us have many times over the amount of food and other resources we need.

I feel cut to the heart by this reminder of something I have known for many years. I can still hear the haunting melody and sing the words of “Feed the World” sung by Band Aid in 1984. That song etched its way into my heart and spirit and I resolved then to live differently so that others could have what they need for life – so that others could have all that they need to sustain life and live it well. To “feed the world” was part of my motivation in becoming an FCJ.

Twenty five years on – I need to think again – and do more. I no longer feel comfortable in my own skin when I think of the scandal of starvation in a world of plenty. I am not going to worry about the world economic situation…I think that will take care of itself if enough people like me begin to make more conscious choices and if we generate enough energy for change. I don’t have the right to have compassion fatigue – and those who are starving cannot wait any longer. I want to change my life, from now…Please God many others will join me…

Gratitude

When I read the post that Clare wrote about waste, it immediately made me think of gratitude. When we recognise with gratitude all the things that we have and receive, we become less inclined to grasp more and more, and less inclined, therefore, to waste.

I remember when I first became an FCJ sister; one of the things that I recognised developing in myself was gratitude for simple things… the practical living out of our vow of poverty that is encouraged in novitiate enabled me to begin to see the beauty in simple and ordinary things around me.  I was often touched by the generosity and thoughtfulness of an older FCJ who might give me a tiny gift at just the right moment… and so I began to understand what a wonderful freedom it was to live with gratitude.

Working with teenagers here in Europe its easy to see, and understand, the pressures on them to ‘have’ – clothes, technology, friends etc – and yet I also see the tremendous generosity with which they respond when they recognise with gratitude how much more they have than many people in our world.

I wonder how we can nurture that response of gratitude in ourselves and in others around us?

WASTING FOOD – WASTING LIFE!

In recent weeks I have been deeply disturbed by the issue of wasted food – and challenged and provoked to do something about the way I live.  It seems as if this issue is meant to disturb me because the same information has come to me from two different places.  What has prompted me is a book review I have seen in two publications.  I have not yet read the book: “Waste: uncovering the global food scandal” by Tristram Stuart, however I have gained enough from the review to be drawn out of my ignorance and complacency to do something about wasting food…beginning on a personal level.  Stuart’s point is that the one billion hungry people in our world could be fed several times over each day with the food wasted in Europe and North America alone.  He adds that other vital resources are also squandered in the production of wasted food – for example, the water wasted is enough for the domestic needs of 9 billion people.

In a sense, I don’t need to read the book now…I know what I personally have to do – stop wasting food – immediately…I am also challenged to be more responsible in my choice of food, to be satisfied with enough, to make simplicity the norm, to choose what is locally produced as far as possible.  Wasting food is probably only the tip of this shameful mountain we call waste –  or is it greed?  For the sake of the hungry, the thirsty, the naked – for the sake of our weeping planet…I must stop wasting things full stop!  I also need to grow in my awareness that I need much less, of most things, than I think I do! I need to begin somewhere and I am going to start with food, it’s simple, it’s obvious…and it is within my power to do something about it.

Let’s put an end to waste, to wasting life.  We have the chance to make a difference…Think of the energy we can generate if we do this together…We have the power to bring about change, one small choice at a time… May this be only the beginning and may many of us live this day and every day more consciously, more creatively, more lovingly…for others.

How I try to make a difference

I was recently asked to write a short piece with the heading “How I try to make a difference.”   I found that I struggled with the question as I asked myself “Do I make a difference? Do I REALLY make a difference?”  I feel that I have no right to make such a bold claim about myself.  What I do know is that I try to live my life with love – for God – as a Faithful Companion of Jesus.  I hope that by the time I die I will have left a bit more love in the world than there was when I first came into it.  I do a variety of things here in Yogyakarta, Indonesia:  I help with the training of our newer sisters; I work as a “native speaker of English” in one of the Catholic universities here in the city; I am active in our parish in several ways including leading a women’s Bible study; I give spiritual direction to people of various ages and I try to be a good neighbour in our village which is mainly Muslim.  Is that making a difference?  I don’t know…I just try that’s all…Because I believe that is what God wants of me…and in the trying I discover a deep, deep peace within…It seems that God is making a difference within me!