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Ursuline Newsletter4045 Indian Road, Toledo, OH • Vol. 44 No. 4 • April 2020

“Living in holy relationship, a contemplative presence in an ever changing world.”

Reflections from Sr. Sandy

Toledo UrsulinesLiving the Vision in an Ever-changing ‘Global’ World

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1854 - 2019

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ELEBRATING

If your feet have ever been massaged by a professional or simply rubbed by a friend or loved one, you know how good they feel, so good that they do not hoard the feeling, but generously share it upward and outward through your body. If your feet have ever been the recipients of reflexology or trigger pointing, you also know how they also share the pressure and often intense but momentary pain that if endured, has the ability to relieve longer lasting pain elsewhere in your body. My feet have recently been the recipients of each of these as alternatives which accompany the medical treatment I receive.

Tending to others’ feet today is probably not as distant from the time of Jesus as we think. The treatment given to sandaled feet that walked distances to get to their destination was both for refreshment of the guest and cleanliness in the home of the host. In regular homes, one washed one’s own feet. In rich homes, slaves were given the unpleasant task. Jesus’ taking on the role transformed it into a ministry. I count those who tend my feet as ministers, especially when I arrive for my appointment at the end of a long day of walking around on unaired, socked, and shoed soles.

In a recent Baby Blues comic strip, Wanda, mother of three, has a Blog entitled, “Wanda’s World.” Holding up her son’s dirty socks, she posts the following: “Today we are going to venture into my son’s laundry hamper for the episode I call, ‘Where nostrils dare.’” That particular comic always makes me happy, but I reacted to this one as such a contrast to an also recent NCR Soul Seeing column by Pauline Hovey, “Tend to What Repulses You.” Hovey begins the column by explaining the title as a phrase given to her during her morning lectio divina reflection on John’s gospel of Jesus’ washing the disciples’ feet. “The revolting scent

of what Jesus encounters captures my senses like never before. Because of what I have experienced in El Paso,” she says.

Before the Migrant Protection Policy prevented them from crossing the border, four-year-old Andree from Guatemala and his father were being assisted by Hovey, who was helping them find fresh clothing. Removing the child’s filthy, tattered shoes, she instinctively turned her body away from him. “The stench overpowered me like nothing I’d ever experienced from a child, including the dirtiest of diapers,” she recalls. Not able to imagine anyone’s feet, least of all, those of a child smelling so foul, she tried not to breathe too deeply while she played and giggled with little Andre until she managed to fit him with a new pair of shoes.

Remembering washing of her son’s feet during Holy Thursday ritual, she expresses that “as special and beautiful as that is, it doesn’t challenge me. It doesn’t take me out of my circle of safety, down to the floor where the foreign stench from days on distant roads traveled fills my nostrils, down to the place where another’s pain repels me.” Speaking to Jesus as he washes feet, she ends her reflection with “although I

Reflections from Sr. Sandy, continued

may turn from the stench, I will not turn my heart away from tending to what you have placed in front of me. From what you have asked me to do. To follow your example.”

The day I began writing this happened to be the same day I read the last reflection by Ann Voskamp in her One Thousand Gifts Journal. Remembering her brother-in-law’s words after burying his second young son, “The way through the pain is to reach out to others in theirs,” she thinks about an earlier washing of feet in her women’s group. “We bare our toes, soles, and I bend with sisters in Christ, dip my hands into water, and touch shy skin… I ask each in the room to think about this washing of feet as symbolic of our lives on a grand scale, of how we are called to complete the Communion service in service.”

At this time when we find ourselves necessarily socially distanced, sheltered at home, and in many cases, physically isolated from loved ones, friends, co-workers, and those to whom we minister, unable to participate in the Holy Thursday foot washing and to even receive the Eucharist in bodily form, how do we reach out beyond our own pain and not turn our senses away from the pain with which the “stench” of this pandemic has attacked our world? How do we keep fear at bay when we hear of fights breaking out in stores over toilet tissue and runs on gun shops to protect what is ours? How many additional lives may be sacrificed to such fear? How do we keep from listening to conspiracy theories of who and what injected us with the virus and listen instead to how we can do our part to participate in the healing of the world? How do we practice self-distance without becoming spiritually distanced? The Classical Latin word conspirare means “to breathe together.” This is what our faith teaches us and the Holy Spirit enables within us in spite of social distancing, self-isolation, and quarantine. Whether we participate digitally in online Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, prayers, reflections, and devotionals, or simply be still and know that God is God with us, we are choosing to breathe together with God and all of God’s beloved.

In the introduction to his Book of Blessings entitled, “To Bless the Space Between Us,” John O’Donohue addresses “the tenuous territory of change we must traverse when a threshold invites us. “Without warning,” he says, “thresholds can open up directly before our feet.” Blessings can present to us “a brief geography of the new experience and some pathways of presence through it… a blessing is a gracious invocation where the human heart pleads with the divine heart.” A blessing can, O’Donohue suggests, be a gift that can open doors, bring healing and transfiguration. “Our times are desperate for meaning and belonging.”

We are currently standing at a frightening threshold that allows us to gather no less than 6 feet apart. But we have all seen and heard of those who find ways to cross those thresholds by sending the blessing of prayer, kind words, in some cases song, and most often, simply smiles, whether via internet, phone calls, cards, or while honoring the invisible borders in the grocery line.

We may prepare meals, do shopping, laundry, or errands for those who are vulnerable or be the recipient of assistance in those ways. Some of us, like me, are the recipients of “ministers” willing to touch our feet. Let us bless them. Let us also, the next time we stand or walk 6 feet away from someone, along with speaking or simply smiling, glance downward and silently bless their feet as they, too, traverse a world in turmoil. In doing so we will remain with them in “communion” and “conspire” together for healing and transformation for all. Then we might consider these words of Rumi:

“Be the one who, when you walk in,

Blessing shifts to the one who needs it most.

Even if you’ve not been fed,

Be Bread.”

We complete our communion in service. Spring has

come and is struggling, but the joy of Easter will not

pass us by.

Prayer during a Pandemicby Sr. Chris Koellhoffer, IHM

Loving God, Holy One,Your desire is for our wholeness and well-being.

We hold in tenderness and prayerthe collective suffering of our world at this time.

We grieve precious lives lost and vulnerable lives threatened.

We ache for ourselves and our neighbors,standing before an uncertain future.

We pray: may love, not fear, go viral.Inspire our leaders to discern and choose wisely,

aligned with the common good.

Help us to practice social distancingand reveal to us new and creative ways

to come together in spirit and in solidarity.

Call us to profound trust in your faithful presence,

You, the God who does not abandon,

You, the Holy One, breathing within us, breathing among us, breathing around us, in our beautiful yet

wounded world.

Shared by the Benedictine Sisters

Newsletter DeadlineThe deadline for the May 2020 newsletter is Thursday, April 23. Please send your stories to Michelle at mscazzero@ursulinecenter.org.

All events at the Ursuline Center have been cancelled until further notice, including:

• Liturgies and liturgical events• 70th Jubilee Celebration• 40-Year Associate Anniversary • Mary Manse Mass & Luncheon• Secret Pal Week and Lunch• Volunteer Appreciation• May Retreat

As a reminder, for the health and safety of our residents, no visitors are permitted at the Ursuline Center at this time.

Cancellations

From the LCWR Update - April 2020

Associate News by Sarah Abts

We don’t get to see very many people these days, but I hope we all can hear the Spring sound of birds chirping in the morning dark. I hope we all have experienced some form of worshipping remotely, through TV, radio, or Internet. I hope you know the joy of waving to neighbors. I thrilled to hear the sound of children playing outside two yards away from me in Sunday’s sunshine. They were eager to show me their dog and tell me they liked my cross. This article is my wave to you, Associates and Sisters.

Just under the wire of the beginning of our time of restricted social practices, Sr. Carol Reamer and I were able to attend the Sisters’ Stories session. Some of the benefits of religious life that Sisters touted were -being publicly committed to Jesus Christ, finding grace in the prayers of people in the parish, being a different face of the Church, opportunities for spiritual growth, living in the presence of God, quiet chapel time, opportunities to serve abroad, and feeling the Lord leading you. Some of the challenges they mentioned were living in “two worlds - ‘hood’ and community leadership,” asking permission for everything, being a ‘slow person’ with a busy schedule, focusing on the Lord in the midst of modern things, trying not to be too silly with other funny women, working with a few difficult children that came with each class, and learning the value of presence. The Sisters had done some preparation, but all spoke from the heart about the essence of their lives.

Near the beginning of March, I wrote to five remaining of the 39 who made a one-year commitment as Associates on March 30, 1980. Jane Charette, in Rochester, New York, and Dottie Zimmerman in Davenport, Florida, updated me on their current lives and their ties to the Ursulines. From Jane, “Ursulines will always have part of my heart. My journey with them began at Rosary Cathedral school through Mary Manse with 15 years of being an Ursuline Sister praying and working with them. Then the return as principal and president was beyond all my expectations. But I

am filled with gratitude for my journey with them.” She and her husband are now involved with GriefShare ministry. Dottie told me about her involvement with Davenport School for the Arts and her family. About the beginnings of the Associate program, she says, “I still remember the discussions we had about the importance of beginning the Associate program. I wasn’t ‘leaving’ the Ursulines as much as answering God when he kept telling me I was needed elsewhere.” It was great to hear from these two, and an inspiration to be in touch by phone, mail, or email with Associates and Sisters.

Where is God in this fight to contain a mutating virus that infects before we even know we have it? The description of God that helps me most is God as our “Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer.” God created this world of life and beauty, but we know life includes death and suffering of many kinds. God is with us as Sustainer (Spirit) through these difficult times, giving us hope, strength, and compassion. And through his trial and crucifixion, Jesus refused to recant his message that his Father loved and forgave us. He redeemed us, showing us our true value in God’s eyes, and warning us away from any evil that would persuade us that hatred, lies, and fear should guide us.

Two oft-quoted phrases of Angela come to mind to help us now: “If with change of time and circumstances, it becomes necessary to make fresh rules, or to alter anything, then do it with prudence and good advice.” How strange it is to refrain from liturgies and friendly gatherings. And as awful as it is, how careful we will need be in deciding to resume our normal meeting patterns. But whether we meet to celebrate Eucharist or pray privately, Angela’s Last Legacy stands fast to guide us, “Always let your principal resource be to take refuge at the feet of Jesus Christ.” We are together in spirit as we seek Jesus.

May you all be healthy, able to give comfort, and in touch with friends and loved ones, including our Ursuline family. -- Sarah Abts

Rest In Peace

Wayne Wilson, husband of Maxine, former nurse at the Center ~ February 3

Kaye Poirier Schuller, SUA ’62 ~ February 16

Bernadine Martin, mother of Diane Fockler, SUA ’76; and Lynn Koeniger, SUA ’81 ~ February 22

James Pohlman, husband of Susan Haydu Pohlman, SUA ’71; and brother of Mary Jo Pohlman, SUA ’71 ~ February 23

John Chezek, father of Donna Posluszny, SUA ’70 ~ February 29

Richard Anderson, founding member of The Andersons, a family agribusiness well known in the Toledo area ~ March 1

Ellen Ekey, mother of Lynn Nuse, SUA ’76; and Laura Creamer, SUA ’82 ~ March 3

Sr. Margaret Pray, Ursuline Sister of Chatham, Ontario ~ March 5

Sr. Virginia Marie Myers, SND ~ March 7

Deacon James Moncher, Senior Status Permanent Deacon of the Diocese of Toledo, Corpus Christi Parish ~ March 8

Sr. Adrienne Urban, OSF/S ~ March 9

Larry Walters, brother of Rev. Gary R. Walters, Senior Status Priest of the Diocese of Toledo ~ March 12

F. Roger Oswald, father of Sue Bartolett, SUA ’77 ~ March 14

Walter J. DeGroft, Jr., former member of Board of Trustees at SUA; father of Laura Burzynski, SUA ’85; Kathleen Blake, SUA ’91 ~ March 15

Sr. Dorothy Mrock, OSF/S ~ March 17

Barbara Kurek, mother of Coreen Ball, SUA ’86 ~ March 17

Friar John Sebastian Laird-Hammond, OFM¸ he was the first Washington DC casualty from the coronavirus and was helpful in arranging for Ursuline Counseling Center to be located at the Monastery.

From the LCWR Update - April 2020

Happy BirthdayCalendarApril 202010-13 EasterBreak-ConventOfficesclosed16-17 Council Meetings16 Community Input/Update, 2:30 - 4:30 p.m. Associates invited to Presentation and Supper. - on hold

May 20205-7 NAULC Meeting in Cincinnati12 Council Meeting13 LCWR Sub-region meeting in Sylvania14 Council Meeting (as needed)20 Maumee Bay Picnic25 MemorialDay-ConventOfficesclosed

June 202019 Feast of the Sacred Heart, 4 p.m. Mass followed by dinner (Sisters and Associates)25 -26 Assembly (Details to follow)

October 202016 -19 Fall Retreat with Fr. Bill Jarema presenting on St. Teresa of Avila

April26 Sr. Donna Frey29 Sr. Mary Kay Garvin

May22 Sr. Rita Mae Johns

Feast Day

April4 Mary Camp Karole Sigg7 Sr. Mary Angela Gaietto Joanne Schwind John Myers8 Jan Michalak8 Katie Hartsell12 Ethel Hodnicki16 Walter Palicki Nanci Riddle17 Diane Koebnick Janet Helfrich Larry Meyers18 Mary VanderLinde Marcie McCabe19 Mary Simmien21 Lois Manion25 Sr. Mary Ellen Nagle Jane Hagelin Anna Lara27 Carol Ann O’Reilly Rose Alvarez

May4 Rose Hubay15 Sr. Mary Paulissa Klausing, SND23 Roseann Jackson25 Judy Lonergan25 Judy Polcyn27 Jane Charette Judy Virtue28 RobinBonfiglio

In an effort to provide you, other women religious, and the general public with resources during the pandemic, LCWR has created a page on its website about how we might respond to this crisis which we will update as the pandemic continues. The link is:

https://lcwr.org/media/news/call-spiritual-bonding-lcwr-light-global-health-crisis

Our call as religious women in these times includes intentionally staying attentive to the deeper invitations that this global crisis is raising. To assist with this, each Monday through the crisis, we plan to pose some questions intended to help us be conscious of the transformation occurring within ourselves, our communities, the nation, and the global community as we live through the pandemic. The questions will invite us to be attentive to what we are experiencing around us and within us inrelationtothisgreatertransfiguration.

Weencourageyoutopraywiththesereflectionsyourselves,andalsoto share them with your sisters and urge them to spend time with the questions - individually and, where possible, in contemplative dialogue with others. This may be one of the most important contributions wecanmakeaswomenreligiousinthischallengingtime.Thefirstreflection,WelcomeAllThatArrives,isincludedwiththisnewsletter.