Third Week of Lent

The nurturing hand of God is held out to us.  The gardener in Sunday’s gospel pleads to save the fig tree.  With care it could bloom. 

In whatever place we find ourselves, however cut off from family and friends, however burdened by sin or fear, we are surrounded by the love and concern of our God. 

Still able to bloom, we stand on holy ground.

Where have I most experienced God’s presence creating holy ground, a holy place or situation in my life this Lent?

By the God of journeys, of healing, of mystery, of hope may we continually be blessed into new life!

Lenten Blessings,

Rosie

International Women’s Day

 Look! We are all around you:
Woman of courage, compassionate, patience.
Our number is legion, our gifts diverse,
our goal one and the same:
that history hear, that history is cognizant of,
that history will one day recall our names.

We honor the women of the scriptures,
especially Mary, the Mother of Jesus,
whose courage, persistence, love, and fidelity
kept the lineage of faith alive.

We honor the women of Jesus’ time

Who cared for the community of believers;
Who followed Jesus to Calvary;
Who buried Him;
Who proclaimed Jesus’ resurrection;
Who passed the Gospel to their families, friends and strangers.

We honor the valiant women of our own time

Who nudge us back on track;
Who remind us of the promises of Christ;
Who claim the Gospel for women too;
Who preach the reality of wholeness;
Who strain against a patriarchal church;
Who challenge us to grow!

- Adapted from Miriam Therese Winter’s “Valiant Women”

If I were not a Sister of Bon Secours, I would certainly still want to work here.  Although I work at the Provincial House, I have the privilege of being able to visit the Hospital in Baltimore and other ministries like the Women’s Resource Center and the Volunteer House.  I see our employees in action and I am so happy to see how happy they are.

So, in a way, I was not amazed when I attended the 2010 Annual Employee Service Awards for the Baltimore Hospital in February.  I was not completely amazed to watch 10 people receive awards for 30 to 40 years of service with Bon Secours Hospital.  I was not amazed to see that 35 people were honored for 20-25 years of service.  That is a long time.  It is longer than many of our Sisters have been … continue reading…

Read this wonderful article published in Catholic Health World about Sr. Kaye (Katherine Anne) and a local Virginia food pantry that had to close its doors after Hurricane Ida.

CLICK HERE to read the full article.

Salt + Light TV is generously airing our full-length DVD special “A Tradition of Good Help” this Sunday, March 7th at 8:30 pm EST, throughout Canada and live on their website.  For those of you in the northern US, you may be able to view it on TV (See schedule of stations below). 

Otherwise, go online for live streaming on Sunday.  Just click “View Live” on the homepage under the Salt + Light banner in the top left corner of the page. 

Here‘s the list of service providers that carry Salt + Light TV:

Bell TV – Serving all of Canada on Satellite Channel 654

Shaw Digital Cable – Serving Western Canada on Digital Channel 160

Rogers Digital Cable – Serving most of Ontario – Toronto (GTA), … continue reading…

Here is another message and poem from Sr. Rosie for Lent:

As we move more deeply into this Lenten season, remembering that we are elemental creatures, made of dust, we pray for strength for the journey and for endurance to wrestle a blessing from these days. So, we pray:

God of the journey,

who calls us to travel with faith,

who reminds us we are dust

yet breathes into us the breath of life,

hear our prayer:

Bearer of the Sun,

draw us into your heart of fire,

that we may have light to uncover

the unremembered stories

and strength to endure their telling.

Creator of the world,

awaken us to the blessedness of earth,

that we may honor those who once dwelled

… continue reading…

Sr. Rosie Jasinski, our Country Leader, shared with us a reflection on the second week of Lent.  I would like to share it with you.  Enjoy!

Second Week of Lent
Reflecting on Transfiguration:

We come to “know” through encounter and relationship. When these mysteries are received as a gift; when they become a part of our prayer, reflection and lifestyle, they will unfold in their implications and have a transforming-a transfiguring – effect upon us.

So it is with the Transfiguration.

Jesus has shown us the way up the mountain and invited us into a new way of living in Him, through living the “mystery” that we recall as Transfiguration. Living in that mystery we are invited to go into the world and invite all people into the new communion of love where they can begin the process of conversion and transfiguration.

Re-born, we are all invited to join with Peter, James and John and cry out in our day: “It is good for us to be here.”  On this Second Sunday of lent, as we reflect on the Transfiguration of Jesus, let … continue reading…

I have to commend Shannon Curran, our Volunteer Director, for the wonderful article she wrote that faces injustice head-on.  I hope you enjoy her article as much as I did:
One measure of the difference between my two Baltimore neighborhoods is six miles.   Another measure is 20 years of life.  

Born in the neighborhoods of 21210?  You can expect to live 82.9 years.  Born in 21201 near Hollins Market?  You can expect to live 62.5 years.  Unbelievably absurd and, unfortunately, believably true.              

These figures come from the Baltimore City Health Department’s and JHU Bloomberg School’s Health Profile of 2008.  The data was compiled from 2002-2006 and, within that timeframe, I actually lived in both neighborhoods.  While my home has been in 21210 for the past few years, my work with our volunteers occurs in 21201.  I drive between these two neighborhoods several days each week.   

Depending on which direction I am headed, I can imagine either losing or gaining around three years of life per mile.  That’s right, three years of life per mile.  For over ten years now, … continue reading…

Bon Secours Associates Director, Amy Kulesa sends a weekly “Spiritual Food for the Week” reflection to Bon Secours Associates. This week her quote is from 1879 by Bishop Delaney in Cork, Ireland about Sisters of Bon Secours reaching out to people in need.

“The Bon Secours Sisters ask nothing for themselves; theirs is a wonderful life. Their life is wonderful, not only because they attend to the sick, but because they are devoted to them unreservedly,…I must own that they realize in its entire meaning the parable of the Good Samaritan, for they are ever ready to hasten to the help of any being stretched by pain on the way of life. What does it matter to them whether they belong to the fold or not? They are suffering beings, they are God’s children. That is enough to give them the right to their most tender care…”   ~by Bishop Delany (Cork), July 18, 1879

We are each other’s harvest; we are each other’s business; we … continue reading…

If you were thinking of becoming a nun or a sister, how would you google it?  What words or terms would you use?  I am quite curious!