Franciscan Missionaries of Mary USA Province Volume 44 No. 2 Spring 2014

Maria van Galen, fmm

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EEDITORS’ NOTES WINTER! We thought it would never end! But lo and behold, spring has sprung forth with blooming flowers, grass, tree buds ready to leaf. Gardeners have begun to till the gardens ready to plant. Indeed, Hope springs eternal! This issue of Sharings contains articles about the various gatherings that have happened since our last issue, which are on our web site but which we present because not all of our readers have Internet possibility. We mourn the deaths of Srs. Angela Miller, Pauline Baris and Germaine Lambert, as well as those of former FMMs. We wish all of our readers a Blessed Easter season! Rosemarie Higgins,fmm, Maryann Alukonis, fmm & Anne Turbini, fmm

NEXT ISSUE: SUMMER

Contents Our deceased, Eulogies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Gradua on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 S ckney, IL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Under 60s Mee ng . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 West Greenwich, Singapore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Saints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Ecuador, Bronx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 Passion Flower, Book Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Sharings is published at: Provincial Communica ons Office 399 Fruit Hill Ave North Providence, RI 02911 Tel: (401) 353-5804 Ext: 130 Fax (401) 353-8755 Please send ar cles either to Fmmcom@aol.com or fmmch@aol.com

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OOur Deceased Sisters Angela Miller, fmm (M. Elmira of the Passion) Born to Eternal Life February 8, 2014

Pauline Cecilia Baris, fmm (Fernande du Divin Coeur) Born to Eternal Life March 12, 2014 Germaine Lambert, fmm

(M. Quintiliana) Born to Eternal Life April 14, 2014 Our Deceased Relatives

Simon, brother of Lois Houlihan, fmm Andre Gobeil, nephew of Marie Paule Gobeil, fmm Dolores Deady, mother of Tom Deady, Director of Plant Operations Supervisor at Fruit Hill Eileen Reardon (Mary of St. Edwin) , Joan Libucha , and Maryjane Ryan (former FMMs) Richard Connors, nephew of Emilie Duchaney, fmm (Richard died suddenly of a heart attack, age 51) Rosetta La Vecchia, an old friend of the FMM's from camp and 45th St. Albert Stoessel, nephew & godson of Betty Keegan,fmm Our Sick Relatives Kate Wordeman, niece of Helen Mary Riordon, fmm, who is seriously ill.

EULOGIES for … Angela Miller, fmm Sr. Angela Miller was a woman who always reached out to others. In doing so she continually depended on God to ensure that it would be God’s work and not her own. She lived these words of our Foundress, Blessed Mary of the Passion who wrote, “I have often been told to do things which surprised me, and yet I have obeyed and succeeded. On the other hand, I have seen the failure of many things which had an excellent chance of success but which I have under-taken independently. Our Lord wishes to teach us by these means that the conduct and success of all un-dertakings lies in His Hands. To make you true reli-gious, I require two dispositions of you – a will fixed on pleasing God, and secondly, obedience, which is always the expression of the will.” (Chatelets: Confer-ence, June 4, 1884) We can only wonder how often this might have resonated with Sr. Angela. I think what stands out in Angela’s life is her concern for those who were struggling - and struggling in so many different ways. Angela was missioned to Ja-pan shortly after the end of the World War 2 when times were very difficult everywhere. Angela worked with the orphans which was no easy task when life was so difficult and they had so little. She did her best to comfort the orphans, to help them to feel safe and loved, and she empowered them to look ahead to a newer and richer life. Blessed Mary of the Pas-sion reminds us that “the first condition of becoming saints, true Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, is to desire to please our Lord, and to learn how to please Him, to make use of the treasure He has left you.” (Chatelets: Conference, June 4, 1884) Angela saw her treasure in the persons God put in her life. Just before this liturgy began we received this email which I shall share with you. My name is Fran Pesch and I am writing in regard to the passing of Sister Angela Miller. It is providential that I had been thinking about her and the Francis-can Missionaries of Mary, and this evening decided to search the internet for any information I could find. For years my mother and I corresponded with Sister Angela as she was our last remaining contact from Our Lady of Lourdes Baby Home in Yokohama, Japan. My (adoptive) mother, Ruth Wysor, was with the Red Cross assigned to Yokohama back in the late 1940s. She became friends with the FMM during that time. Having been abandoned at a railway sta-tion when I was three days old, the MPs gave me to my mother, who in turn brought me to the Baby

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Home. Throughout the first two and a half years of my life, I spent a lot of time at the Baby Home and my mother became very close to the FMM, especially Mother Roberd and Sister Alby. That is one of the reasons she named me Frances Ma-rie. In 1949, we were able to return to the states due to my mother setting a few precedents, among them successfully cutting through red tape so I could obtain a visa and being a single woman adopting a child. Fast forward sixty plus years during which time we stayed in contact with various sisters who knew us from the Baby Home. Although we never met again in person, I treasure the letters my mother and I received from the sisters. I was fortunate to have been able to speak with Sister Alby on one occasion - calling her in Japan was quite a special occasion. If memory serves me correctly, I think the FMM had a convent in Cincinnati many years ago, and my mother and I visited there on several occasions. It had been quite a while since I heard from Sister Angela, but in her last letters to me, she mentioned her eyesight was failing. My reason for writing is to ask if there might be a memento from Sister Ange-la that I might keep with me and pass along to my children when the time comes. As I mentioned to Sister Angela, she was the last link to my early years - the FMM were my family. The spirit and faith of the sisters have always been a strong influ-ence in my life. Thank you, Fran Pesch From her many years of mission in the Province of Japan to her various ministries here in the US Province Angela continued to please God in her own unique way. She was missioned to Saint An-toine Residence in 1994. While there she had a wonderful ministry through her correspondence with prisoners. There was great excitement one day when one of “her prisoners” came to visit her at St. Antoine. Towards the end of her life partial blindness and deafness forced a change in Ange-la’s outreach to the poor and lonely. However her beautiful smile spoke volumes. God’s love radiated from that smile and her mission of reaching out to others was contained and continued in her smile. I have no doubt that Angela is now standing before the God whom she has loved for nearly 102 years with her radiant and glorious smile lighting up her face and also the face of God.. Now we say Thank

you, Angela for bringing God’s love, joy and peace to those who were most in need through your car-ing and your radiant smile.” Lois Pereira, fmm Pauline Baris, fmm In early 1996 when Pauline and I were on Sabbati-cal in New Hampshire she shared a prayer experi-ence with me. She had been sitting quietly in her room, meditating, when she felt another presence there - as if someone were waiting. She moved another chair closer to hers and felt this presence even more. She said that she had the sense that Jesus was there, telling her to remain with Him and all would be well. I believe her prayer experience reflected these words of our Foundress, Blessed Mary of the Passion who wrote, “Love calls for de-tachment, and detachment calls for love. I wanted that state of love which is, as it were, hovering over me and I wanted that complete abandonment to love’s will, which I see so clearly must be the sanc-tuary where I should live without leaving God for a moment and without God leaving me.” (NS:115) Pauline was always in the service of God, her sis-ters and those to whom she had been sent. I be-lieve all who know and love her can say that Paul-ine was welcoming, kind and generous. She was always there to help in any way possible. In her many years in her ministries as local treasurer or local coordinator or provincial councilor there was always that sense of love and acceptance of the other. Pauline lived simply - never collecting peo-ple or things. She lived out these words of Blessed Mary of the Passion, “The one who has the most love has the first place; the more one is in the ser-vice of God and neighbor, in love and charity, the more one destroys self-love and the more one becomes selfless. …” (NS:49) Pauline was a woman of purpose. When a task was given to her, it was done and done well. She loved holidays, celebrations of any kind of any kind and was always on the lookout for things she knew the sisters would enjoy. She loved to shop and I can still see her literally racing through Makola Market in Accra, Ghana as I and others raced be-hind her - trying to keep up with her. Pauline was an avid reader and while in Ghana I knew she was desperate for a new book when I would find her

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reading the Betty Crocker Cook Book!!!! In these last years when her health began to fail and her eyesight was diminishing Pauline never com-plained. She often said, “I have lived a good life and God has been so good to me.” She certainly echoed these words of Blessed Mary of the Passion who wrote, “What a lot of opportunities there are in this life to leave oneself completely in the hands of the good God.” (JO: 156) On Wednesday March 12 our dear Pauline took that final opportunity to bring her-self to her God who has been so close to her during her nearly ninety years of life. Dear Pauline, may you rest peacefully in the arms of

your loving God.

Lois Pereira, fmm GGermaine Lambert, fmm Sr. Germaine would have celebrated her 104th birth-day on June 11. One can only imagine all the joys and heartaches she experienced during her lifetime. Germaine was a woman of many gift and talents. She once said that her special interests were taking care of the sick and the poor, caring for small chil-dren and sewing vestments for the missions. In the writings of our foundress, Blessed Mary of the Pas-sion, we read, “A Franciscan must be kind to all but she should remember that the Divine Master and Francis, His faithful servant, were especially tender to the poor and lowly, whom the world scorns and often persecutes. Meditate on the invitation of our Jesus: ‘Come to me all you that labor and are bur-dened and I will refresh you.’ “ (MD:139) Germaine’s life reflected these words of our foundress. Germaine entered the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary in Quebec, Canada Her first mission sending was to the United States to continue her novitiate here in Fruit Hill in the newly constricted building. After final vows Germaine had various ministries. Her first was as a commissioner. In this ministry she met people all across the United States as she trav-elled to sell the handwork from our overseas work-rooms. While visiting different families she would hear their stories with a listening heart, bringing peace and comfort to them. Germaine was truly a living example of these words of Blessed Mary of the Passion, “…if we only ask what is for the good of our

souls or the souls of others, God will certainly be willing to grant it to us.” (MD: 149) Germaine loved her ministry in Arizona teaching religious education and visiting the homes of the Navajos. It was here that she truly exemplified the words of Blessed Mary of the Passion, “The dis-tinctive mark of a Franciscan Missionary of Mary should be charity. Yes, the Heavenly Virgin comes again, she comes to earth once again in order to give her Son. She comes armed with charity.” (NS: 13) Germaine imitated the Blessed Virgin with her love, kindness and charitableness with her beloved Navajos. She wanted only the best for them and sought to help them to reach their own sense of wholeness through her many acts of kindness to them. When Germaine’s health began to decline she was missioned to St. Antoine Resi-dence where she was still on the move. Using wheel chair and foot power she travelled all around the Residence bringing God’s joy and peace to the residents, staff and family members. In the early morning of April 14, with our sisters at her bedside, Germaine had her final mission sending - quietly taking the road to heaven, in the words of St. Claire of Assisi, with swift pace, light step, un-swerving feet - into the arms of the God whom she loved for almost 104 years.

Dear Germaine, may you now rest in a peace so well deserved.

Lois Pereira, fmm

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AA FIRST TIME GRADUATION CELEBRATED

We celebrated with pride and joy on March 20th when our Sr. Veronica Shamshad and 18 other students of the 23rd class at St. Antoines completed the required course to become Certified Nursing Assistants. With much delight Srs. Lois Pereira, Helen Ka-logeras, Emilie Duchaney and Nga Le attended the ceremony and enjoyed the festive celebration. Spe-cial honorable mention was given to the F.M.M. who are and have been a long time significant part of St. Antoine’s Residence. Sr. Veronica was the first F.M.M. who completed the 3 month intensive study. The program in sponsored by St. Antoine’s Resi-dence with much assistance from other social service departments. To date the program has been instru-mental in graduating over 420 students who staff several nursing facilities. For the time being Sr. Veronica will be employed at the Special Care Unit, where there are a few F.M.M.

sisters in residence, affording her the opportunity to be present to our sisters and other residents on a “hands on” capacity with her kind and gentle nature. As we now are a community of 3, we’d like to share some of our old and new ac vi es. Primarily we visit our sisters daily, praying the Rosary and making our Adora on with them. We pay a en on to their clothing and fulfill their expressed needs when possible. In our house, we now have a very lovely prayer room as a result of the effort and skill of each one and with the help of a drill, hammer and nails. We are hoping to complete a suitable and pleasant area so as to be able to welcome a guest. We will have a small Victory Garden possibly when the weather permits and our long awaited spring arrives! Ein Karim Community

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YYOUNG LIFE IN STICKNEY

We here in Stickney have much to be grateful for and celebrate. Spring break for many universities fell on the last week of March and offered us the visit of four young women coming to us for different reasons.

The first was Alicia’s niece, Kristine, who is getting her master’s degree in Library science at the University of Illinois, two hours south of Chicago. Kristine usually stays with us for an overnight on either end of her vis-its home to her family in California.

Next was Margaret, one of the young women we met last Nov. on the Chicago area Nun Run. She has been actively dis-cerning a vocation with the Daugh-ters of Saint Mary of Providence, but also continued to visit us once a month for prayer and supper. Her last visit coincided with our monthly holy hour for vocations and, as Margaret announced to us, was also the day that she submit-ted her formal letter of application to enter with the Daughters of Saint Mary of Providence. It was truly a joyful holy hour as we celebrated with her God’s definitive action in

her life.

The third visitor to grace our doorstep was NaYoung Lee, who has been a friend of the FMM since she was so warmly welcomed by our sisters in Boston during school holidays when she was on her own studying there. NaYoung is currently completing her PhD stud-ies in Epidemiology in Chicago and was very happy to reconnect with us when she and I met by chance at a campus ministry event at her school. Last De-cember, when Lois was here to visit, NaYoung invited us to hear her sing in the Chicago University choir’s performance of Handel’s Messiah. The singing was beautiful, and we were honored to be guests of one of the performers.

Over spring break we returned the favor by having her over for a day of relaxation and baking cookies – her novice experience at this endeavor! Finally, spring break 2014 closed with the weekend visit of Zuza, a young Polish woman who is also doing her master’s studies at the University of Chicago. Zuza is recently engaged to be married, but wanted some quiet time of retreat to make some decisions about her immediate future. She was very grateful for the weekend saying it was just what she was looking for and brought her the clarity she needed. Although we have often invit-ed people to spend some quiet time with us and enjoy our peaceful area, Zu-za was the first to take us up on it. In addition to our community news, I would also like to thank Kyong for her work with Fiat - the dis-cernment group for single women considering a vocation to religious life in the Boston Archdiocese. Kyong has been attending Fiat gatherings, but was recently invited by Sr. Marian Batho, CSJ, the dele-gate for the religious in Boston, to serve as a mem-ber of the planning committee. Congratulations Kyong and thanks for your dedicated service! Thanks also to Marie Cinotti for her ongoing activi-ties in El Paso to foster an awareness of God’s call in the young, including vocation talks for a group of home school children as well as a presentation to a confirmation class of over 200 students! May God always bless all our efforts. There is another Nun Run on April 11 and 12. Although we won’t be hosting this time, I will be a driver and part of a vocations panel and one-on-one Emmaus walk with each of the participants. Please keep the following young women in your prayers for their present and future discernment: Laura, Esther, Jennifer, Susanna, Linda, Nachili-ma, Lorraine, and Stacy. Finally, I have two recommendations for your view-ing pleasure, if you haven’t seen them yet, and even if you have. They are both great examples of evangelization at work in our modern world. The first is the YouTube.com video of Sr. Cristina on the Italian version of the Voice. It is a beautiful ex-ample of evangelization and worldwide vocation

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promotion in an instant. If you are watching the vid-eo, you can click on the CC button in the lower right hand corner to see the translation of what they are saying. The second is the movie “God is Not Dead.” It is meant to be an answer to the recent flurry of atheistic literature and claims of the irrele-vance of God and modern belief in God. It, too, is very moving and so wonderful to see something so powerfully Christian back in the public arena. It is intelligently presented and well worth seeing. Thanks and many blessings of our Risen Lord, Sheila Lehmkuhle, fmm THIS IS THE TIME!!!

The weekend of February 14 -17, the sisters under 60 met in Bethany. We came with our hearts full of gratitude for this time, but also for our sisters who hold us in their hands, and have brought to us our Charism until now. From them we are blessed, through all their experiences, their prayer, their offer-ing we are here, trying to live our Charism and trying to grow listening to God, the poor and our planet. We began our meeting with a good dinner and shar-ing together our expectations for the weekend, some of us came from a week of exams, some other from our ministries, but all full of life to share.

We were grateful with our sister Lucia Kim who shared with us her reflection in the Leadership in the Old Testament. We traveled first making an analysis

of the contemporary leadership, and we went through dif-ferent people in the Bible. We learned how the lead-ership in the Bible is centered in a call from God and in the mission for God’s people. We received the in-vitation to empower our own leadership with the re-flection we did. It was a powerful input, not only be-cause Lucia’s knowledge, but also because she is our sister and she put on the table challenges that we are invited to take. At the end, maybe the most important is to take the risk to love; yes to love our community and find new ways to be sisters sharing our journey, to love our mission and live it with all our hearts, to love our vocation and take the responsibil-ity to live in discernment.

The following day we met to share our experiences. We spent time sharing our stories, and at the end we tried to express our dreams. This was a time to share, a time to put together our dreams and to know that we are sisters, carrying the treasure that Mary of the Passion gave us and know-ing that our hands are little and fragile. Maria de Lourdes Lopez, fmm

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WWEST GREENWICH Lois was with us for the Provincial Visit and we asked Fr. Tom Hartle, ofm to be the celebrant for a Mass on March 2nd. Several of our Sisters joined us from Holy Family, Trinity, Queen of Peace, Lourdes, Myriam and St. Francis Communi-ties. The liturgy was that of the Eighth Sunday in Ordinary time - and the readings of the day certain-ly gave greater depth to the occasion. Tom's hom-ily about good-byes and moving ahead touched the significance of this time in an extraordinary way. At the end of the Mass, Lois read the name of each Sister who had been part of the community, and after each name,Barbara and Mary alternately poured water into a large bowl.

Once the Spring comes and the ground softens, we will gather some shoots from the Lilac Bush, Rose Bush and one or two other bushes on the property. These will be planted as part of the Tree Project in Fruit Hill. The water blessed at this cele-bration will be poured on the newly transplanted bushes. And so life continues in new ways and with new graces! Barbara Dopierala, fmm, Mary Motte, fmm

Sheila Lehmkuhle received this article from Susi Gunawan about her entrance to the prenovitiate in Singapore. Last summer Susi was in our province and spent some time at Fruit Hill. A NEW ADVENTURE SERIES WITH JESUS Joyfully my new adventure with the Beloved started afresh on the third week of Ad-vent, December 15, 2013. “Sharing Christ with ALL… Of-fering My Life”— the theme I was inspired to start my Pre-Novitiate with. Joyfully, my new adventure with the Beloved started afresh on the third week of Advent, with the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary. I had never imagined that one day I would be walking the path of becoming a religious sister, yet… there I was, all excited and pumped-up for the journey. To me, the celebration started at the silent retreat just days before the ceremony. In the silence, God affirmed his unconditional love and acceptance of me… thus the path I’m journeying was simply mine to walk and it could only lead me closer to my Be-loved. I, who was once lost, doubtful, and fearful, was enabled and graced to walk in the path of Light. Therefore, for me, the ceremony was a celebration to mark another milestone of God’s faithfulness in my life. Call me a sentimental fool… but I am a fool for the Lord… God is the only person who understands my deepest desires and needs better than myself. God was so thorough in overseeing every single detail of the celebration… The whole preparation and cere-mony were a collaborative effort and talents contrib-uted by different Sisters… and this community effort was what made it such a simple yet beautiful memo-rable celebration for me. I was so grateful for the gift of persons, each contributed to make a whole. Through each one of them I felt God’s joyful pres-ence with me - the whole celebration was indeed a sharing of Christ. I loved how the ceremony was simple yet full of beautiful surprises, love, and laughter. The glitches, such as the blurry photos that were taken of the cer-emony were the little things that made the ceremony fully human and down to earth. Even the nature cel-ebrated with me, sending me showers of blessings

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to accompany Sr Benedetha’s organ playing. I re-membered smiling ear to ear in the middle of the-ceremony as I caught a glimpse of all who were present that evening. The phrase “In God all things are possible” came to my mind, as at one point, I thought my parents would not be able to come and that none of my dear friends could cele-brate with me. Well… God never tires to prove me wrong! Not only my parents but my dearest brother and his son were able to come! Moreover, the friends whom I silently wished to come were all exactly present there! - popping-up through different avenues… some unexpected, determined not to miss the celebration. It was good to see everyone truly enjoyed each other’s compa-ny. Furthermore, it was such a delight to see the joy in some of the familiar faces of the Sisters pre-sent and… to know that those far-away were send-ing their presence through their prayers that even-ing. Through these women, I encountered Jesus— who they are, their presence, accompaniment, pa-tience, and prayers throughout these past five years had moved me to this point of time. It is a comfort to know they will continue to do so as I journey among them. Jesus, I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect entry celebration into a life with You. With a lighted candle, a prayer book, and a Tau cross I embarked on my new adventure with You. As in my previous experiences, I am sure this one too… will be full of surprises and emotion - one filled with life. May the Holy Spirit guide my steps and keep me centered in You so my life may witness the greatness of your love and mercy… Here I am Lord, I offer you my life. Lead me as You will. Amen. Alleluia!!! Susanna Gunawan

SSAINTS IN OUR MIDST It is a well-known fact that saints have dwelt in our midst, as they go about their daily duties, whether noticed or unnoticed. So it is in Holy Family's Community. This became evident on Christmas Day 2013 when the Community received a kind and generous gift from Rosemary Freda's sister, Peggy. The gift was a jig saw puzzle of 1000 pieces. It was a meditative picture of St. Francis of Assisi sur-rounded by animals in various positions, including flying birds. The picture was outlined by water and a number of colored circles. It looked quite chal-lenging and we hesitated to even open up the box. Finally, one of our brave members rose to the chal-lenge and began sorting out the pieces on paper plates. It wasn't long before a few others fell under the spell and became "puzzle alcoholics.” Many were the maledictions muttered when we could not find a particular piece. But cries of jubila-tion could be heard, whenever we found the ear of a sheep or the other half of St. Francis face! Like the saints of old, we kept forging ahead in the hope we could complete the picture, even if it took several years. But it didn't take years to fin-ish....only months! We made it on time to have it done by Easter! Putting time into doing Jig saw Puzzles is a thera-peutic activity. It challenges the brain to locate the various sizes and shapes of the pieces. But it brings great joy, when the picture finally becomes visible. All the time and effort is truly rewarding! Srs. Millie Morrissey, Frances Milano and Gilberte Belhumeur, fmm

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Christian communities and other groups who are active in church and most especially with the sup-port of the priest, we will be able to achieve what God wants us to do together. May Christ's resurrection bring new hope and life each day. Peace, Annie L. Nebres, fmm

FFROM THE BRONX It has been a long cold winter, a very, very cold winter and so what better way to celebrate the ear-ly spring weather but with a party. Not just any party but a combination of 65 years as an FMM and an 83rd birthday. At least that was the reality for Mary Theresa Plante, fmm. A good friend, Fr Elias, came to say the Mass. Long time friends, Joe Antonelli and Gerry also came. Other very good friends were not able to come but were well remembered. It was a com-munity affair with everyone doing something and in the end it was everyone's celebration, which re-flects our life.

QUITO, ECUADOR

Happy Easter to all of you. I'm doing well here in Quito, Ecuador living in communi-ty with 3 Colombians and 1 Senegalese sisters. Just imagine how it is to live barely speaking Span-ish. Anyway, as days go by I learn more Spanish words and I try to speak more in Spanish. I really felt the whole Lenten journey leading to the resurrection. Just like Jesus, I have to learn to car-ry my cross and live in hope that in all these suffer-ings God is with me all the time. My cross right now is the lack of language yet with the support and un-derstanding of my sisters and the neighbors, the cross is easier to bear. Every Monday, I go to downtown Quito for a 2 hour Spanish class. I always have homework to do to complement the work in school. Twice a week, I have individual English conversation class with 2 adults on Thursdays and Saturdays for 3 hours. On weeknights, we join different Christian communities for Gospel sharing. At times when the Holy Spirit moves me, I would say a word or two. I just leave it to the Holy Spirit that the people may understand my broken Spanish. I must say that my experience living here in Quito has been very good knowing that there are friendly and supportive people around me. The people are so simple and generous that they share whatever they can especially the fruits of their land and labor. They have high regard for the sisters that whenever we meet the neighbors on the streets, we are al-ways greeted with Buenas dias/tardes/noches Her-manitas. Then we have to greet each one in return. I live in a small village called El Tingo that is known for its hot springs (balneario) and hornados (roasted pig). Everybody knows everyone so this village is quite close. There is a strong sense of communi-ty. We, as sisters, assist those in their spirituality such as in the Gospel sharing, giving communion, visiting the elderly and we are trying to work with the children and youth as well. May God help us to do His work here in El Tingo. With the help of the

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From Blessed Mary of the Passion ...

PPassion Flower in Bloom for Passion Sunday Sr. Alma Dufault has been tenderly nurturing a Passion vine that is in the community room of Queen of Peace. The plants were given the name Passion flower or Passion vine because the floral parts were once said to represent aspects of the Christian crucifix-ion story, sometimes referred to as the Passion. The 10 petal-like parts represent Jesus’ disciples, excluding Peter and Judas; the 5 stamens the wounds Jesus received; the knob-like stigmas the nails; the fringe the crown of thorns. A BOOK FOR OUR TIMES Recently I finished reading a remarkable book by Jim Wallis, the founder of Sojourners. It is called: On God’s Side – what Religion Forgets and Politics Hasn’t Learned About Serving the Common Good. The title comes from a short quote by Abraham

Lincoln, “My concern is not whether God is on my side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side.” Jim Wallace analyses the local, national and global situation from a Gospel viewpoint. I especially ap-preciated the application of the Beatitudes to the myriad problems of our current time. He says, “A serious look at these teachings would turn most churches up-side down not to mention Wall Street and the economy…” Jim had a personal friendship with Dorothy Day, Nelson Mandela and many other social prophets and activists. He writes of everything from Bud-dhism to baseball and injects a bit of humor into his anecdotes. Although critical of the ethics of big corporations, our partisan politics and military agenda, he usually brings out all the good that grassroots organizations are doing to change our systems for the better. He speaks candidly of his search for God and his journey back to faith through the poor and margin-alized. Despite being an evangelical he admires the Catholic Church for its stand on social teaching and writes, “Of all the religious teaching about the common good, the best and most insightful come from the Catholic Church. Although I am an evan-gelical Christian, the truth is I have become a con-vert to Catholic social teaching... Catholic teaching makes absolutely clear what the responsibilities of public officials are, no matter where they stand on the political spectrum.” In short, this is a book very relevant for our time, and with so many personal heartwarming experi-ences, it is at the same time, a very enjoyable reading. Beatrice Costagliola, fmm

Mary can say more truly than anyone else:

I have within me the prayer to the God of my life.

8 May 1891