JoyNotes

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Sunday is the Baptism of the Lord. The official end of Christmas. Every year we always wonder and have this discussion. Do we take everything Christmas out the chapel before the Baptism or immediately afterwards? After all when the Baptism happens Jesus is far removed from the birth at Bethlehem. The Magi have come and gone and Jesus is now at the onset of his Mission of Redemption.

Yet the Ordo (Guide for the Liturgy of the Roman Calendar) states that the Hymns should be from the Christmas season. Why should we sing a Christmas Hymn if Jesus is all grown up and ready to get on with his mission? So its always one of those upsy downsy type of feasts for me. Is it really still Christmas? What we usually do is take the crib out and leave the flowers and other Christmas things up…. until after the Mass.

It’s not really that difficult. I’m sure there are more difficult decisions to work out… but its sort of one of those traditions now.. that we should at least discuss it. Even when we know the answers. Ever do things like that?

Sister Rita Louise and Shelley went out for snow play today. Being a golden retreiver Shelley has to have something in her mouth… this is one of her favorites and its a bright flouroscent green so that we can find it even in the snow!

Blessings of Peace and Joy,
Sister Patricia and all the Sisters

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Sister Colleen and a friend of our community had a little extra snow duty this morning. Wayne (the first arrival for today’s Mass) pitched in with Sr. Colleen to clear the walk for everyone else. We got about six to eight inches in one dumping. Been a while since we had a real winter like this.

A few days ago I talked about my new focus of getting off the computer by 8:00 every evening. Well, guess what? It hasn’t happened yet! Sigh. This is going to take more work than I had hoped. Seems like one thing pops up and then another… I am making progress but it’s 9:15 now and here we still are. BUT I haven’t given up….. just have to scramble a little more and plan a little better!

One thing I have been doing every day (three in a row so far) that has worked out… is to take 30 minutes in the afternoon for quiet prayer in the chapel and 30 minutes for a rest (aka nap) that has worked wonderfully well! I call it my hour of power - rest in the Lord and rest on the bed.

My hope is that by slowing down I will be more attuned to what God wants me to do - sometimes I think I’ve just been too scrambling. I found this great idea in a book I am reading (okay I have about seven going at the same time.. but that’s just the way I do) and this one is called, "Happiness is an Inside Job" by John Powell, S.J. I’ve talked about this book before - one of those I read in snatches when I feel the need.

Anyway he said instead of asking God if what you are doing is in his will… talk to God and say, "What have you got going today? I’d like to be a part of it!"

Isn’t that kind of neat? Let God do the planning - and just join in on it. Cool. Takes a bit of work though to really let go though…. my inner drive says lets do 80 different things today (which of course is impossible but I always seem to attempt it) and God’s drive which says … breathe… look at the world…. talk and share and pray…..life goes on. I’ve got everything in control.

My drive then pops up impatiently and says, "Are you sure?"

God says, "Well, I’ve managed to do it for a couple of billion zillion years so far."

Sigh. Okay…

Blessings of Peace and Joy,
Sister Patricia and all the Sisters

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Today’s card is a birthday card. Anyone’s birthday today? Thought it would be fun to use a birthday card once in a while and besides.. today is Sister Colleen’s birthday! Happy Birthday Sister Colleen!

A few days ago I received some new equipment for the radio station. I didn’t open it right away because I knew I had to wait for someone to hook it all up who knew what they were doing. But then today at dinner I remembered that this particular company always sends a piece of "Almond Rocca" candy in their shipments.. and while I couldn’t do much about the equipment. I could probably handle that piece of Almond Rocca.

And truthfully, I was a little curious to see what the equipment (a new mixer) was like even if I didn’t hook it up. So… I hauled the box into the living room and opened it up.

The first thing I saw was tons of brown paper all scrunched up. I pulled that out and left it on the floor.

The second thing I found was

THIS CARD! With the attached Almond Rocca bar… which as you can see here holds only the empty wrapper. I will not disclose what happened to its content - but rest assured it found a warm and happy place to spend its last moments.

Then, I opened up the box of the equipment - sort of like boring when you can’t do anything with it…. so I didn’t take a picture of it. Maybe later.

I did look at the booklet that came with it - hoping to learn something. But it was too techo - so other than sharing a few choice paragraphs with the sisters.

The Cue system can also be used in a "conventional" manner with the addition of an external (amplified) cue speaker, connected via the CUE/TB output jack. (See Section 2.9) The audio level at this jack is controlled by the CUE LEVEL control (24). This Cue audio output mutes whenever the Monitor system is muted. The cue bus can also be heard via the console operators PHONES output. (See Section 4.5).

BUT……

there was a bit more fun involved with this great package!

Jeremiah says "Thanks Ron for the great present!" (Ron is our friend and president of Sacred Heart radio in Seattle/Spokane who sent us these great treasures!) Jeremiah thought the miles and miles of scrunched up brown paper was absolutely wonderful! He rolled in it, pounced on it… crawled under it…. lots of great play time.

Both of us are looking forward to our next shipment of radio equipment. Hmmm.. what can we tell Ron that we absolutely, totally, have to have to make the station run better? Think. Think. Think.

Blessings of Peace and Joy,
Sister Patricia and all the Sisters

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Link to Our Lady of Prompt Succor

http://www.ursulineneworleans.org/content.cfm?id=225

The New Year begins… okay its eight days old.. but still pretty new… and one of the new and improved versions of "doing things" for myself - is to have all my computer work completed by 8:00 p.m. Sooo… when I go to Night Prayer - I don’t return back down to the office here till the next day. What liberation! Now to see if I can actually do it!

Monday morning has already hit hard. I already feel stressed out by it.. oh great.. there is the phone… whew.. a short one.

So…. here is a bit of work… that I should of been about earlier… and that is the 3 part Teleseminar I will be doing with Susan Rowland on "Clearing out the Clutter!" It was going to start tomorrow.. but life in a million ways has gotten in the way and we have pushed it back to start next week…. January 15th! If anyone is interested … this is what it will cover.

Session One: Making God My No. 1 Priority

Session Two: Putting Work in Its Place

Session Three: Clearing Out Our (Physical) Clutter

I will be doing this with Susan Rowland… she actually is doing it..I’m sort of slipping along for the ride and the learning experience of it myself! We are asking for a donation of $25.00 - half of which we will be giving to help out our Poor Clare Sisters in Guatemala.

Here is the page to sign up for it if you are intersted. Clearing Out the Clutter - Making Room for God

Today I got a really neat, neat book. It’s called, "Feel the Fear…and Do It Anyway" by Susan Jeffers. So far I have read only one chapter.. but I really like it. Will keep you posted how it goes. It was first published in 1987 so I expect I missed all the original hoopla when it came out.. but I heard about it in an article I read in which the person said the book was responsible for totally changing his life around. That’s me. I’m always looking to change my life around. I’ve probably turned my life around so many times already I’m getting dizzy! God probably shrugs and says, "So what else is new with you?"

Oh well, that is me…. looking for new ways to grow, to explore and to let God more deeply into my life.

Blessings of Peace and Joy,
Sister Patricia and all the Sisters

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I meant to tell you about a dream I had last week…. I don’t think I told you…. if so… I’m losing it.. but whatever….

In the dream I was in this place with one of the sisters and we were meeting some people. For who knows what reason but afterwards we went outside to the parking lot to look for our car. We could not find it. Finally I said to the sister I was with, I think it was Sister Colleen,
"Well, let’s just walk home."

And she said, "No, I think we should look some more."

And I said, "No, we’ll never find it. I’ve been in these kind of dreams before, we won’t find it."

Then I think I woke up for a few minutes and laughed at myself because usually in a dream you don’t talk about being in a dream… and went back to dreaming some more. The rest of the dream I don’t remember… but even when it was time to wake up for real… I still remembered dreaming about dreaming. Thinking it was very real and yet at the same time acknowledging it was just a dream.

Thought I would share that. No particular reason… just because it was funny.

But do remember that - if you are in a dream and you can’t find your car…. don’t keep looking for it…. just give up and walk home… those kind of dreams don’t ever seem to get resolved.

Blessings of Peace and Joy,
Sister Patricia and all the Sisters

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Here is the wonderful radio talk (30 minutes) that our Bishop William Skylstad (diocese of Spokane, Washington) did on the subject of Hope. Gift of Hope

Today I’m having one of those - Eureka - discovering new things about myself. It all comes about when you see yourself projected in a negative light. Oh my. How did that happen? You know, someone says something to you - and your immediate thought is, "I think I will just take their lights out." The typical response you expect from a nun right?

So you sort of say something that is not tooooo bad - a sort of nunnish half way sappy response but inside you are seething and wondering how you can wrap them up in a small package and send them to the moon or some place far, far away so you won’t have to deal with their stupid, ridiculous behavior!

Then, you get to thinking and examining your response… "Why the big upset?" "Ooooh, did a nerve get touched or what?" So then you sort of pray about it and put it on the back burner (except for a few inner conversations in your head where you sort of get heated up again) but eventually - God somehow….. give Him a little time… manages to break through and you see "Eureka" a new discovery about yourself.

One of the breakthroughs came this morning before Mass when I was reading from one of my favorite books that I pull out when I find myself getting overly sensitive and prickly.

Happiness is an Inside Job by John Powell, S.J.

and here is the part that helped me. (don’t know if it will make any sense to you - taken out of context …. but here it is.

Do I Accept My Feelings or Emotions?

It seems to be true that we handle emotions according to what we think about them. And so we must ask: Are there emotions active in me that I allow to become an obstacle to joyful self-acceptance? Can I feel fear, hurt, anger, jealousy, resentment, self-satisfaction, or self-pity without getting involved in self criticism and self-condemnation?

All of a sudden it was like a light bulb went "Click" and I thought. Yeah. so what if I did say or think something several years ago that was sort of "ME" centerered - who am I to think I’m not ME centered? It would be nice to think one was holy and all that.. but hey, if you’re not.. isn’t it much more freeing to be honest about it and say, "Yep, that was what I was thinking all right." and "My gosh, you sure hit the nail on the head that time."

I love reading books that sort of take the cover off of one’s smothered, protective thinking about self and open one up to accepting the reality of who we really are… warts, bumps and all…. just like every one else … who also are gifted with their own set of warts, bumps and stuff that need to be given over to God.

Blessings of Peace and Joy,
Sister Patricia and all the Sisters

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Looks like the bug decided to take up residence in me…. rats….. still it gives me an excuse to retire early - and I always like that!

Just a reminder that there are only 13 days left to submit your story for the new book! I am hoping for a hundred angels to drop down from heaven any day now and help me to get moving on things.. or else the book won’t be out in May of this year but probably May of twenty zillion and two. Geesh.

I just keep telling myself… "put in all in God’s hands… if it’s his plan it will happen… if not, what’s the sweat - it will not happen!" Of course that only pacifies me for a little bit and then I go back into my "Oh my gosh, how is this ever going to happen?" mode. Aren’t you just impressed with my great faith? Sigh.

Today Bishop Skylstad came to do his radio talks for the next couple weeks for the radio. The first one was on hope… and boy is it good! I just totally love it… I will have to share it with you once it airs tomorrow… if you can listen to mp3’s I think you will like it too!

Well, I’m moving on…. so I can nip this little bug quick before it gets any idea of more permanent residence!

Blessings of Peace and Joy,
Sister Patricia and all the Sisters

Also on today’s date Saint Gregory Nazianzen

I suppose you noticed that I sneaked out from actually sending a card on New Year’s Day? I hadn’t planned it that way… but as the day wore on and I wore out.. it seemed like a good idea. Besides I had sent a New Year’s Greeting for the Eve of New Year.. so I felt I was sort of covered. I can find all sorts of good excuses when I put my mind to it.

Today has been a nice day except that we had to say good-bye to a good friend of our community, Debbie, who had come to stay with for a few days over the Christmas holidays. We tried to be good to her (since she was so good to us) but we ended up sending her home with a cold! What a thing to do for your guest! Of course maybe she got it on the plane or in transit.. hard to know… most of us were over the bug.. but who knows.. them little viruses sneak back and around and are very wily characters!

This evening Sr. Jane seems to have come down with it… is this how the New Year is supposed to begin? Can we rewrite the script?

Guess how I celebrated the first new day of the new year? I cleaned a bit in my room and then just sat on my little rocking chair and enjoyed it! I think I’m starting to get the cleaning bug fever. Maybe there are signs of spring in the air already? Maybe after the hustle and bustle of Christmas days its nice to see something simple and back to normal. O

Of course we are still in full Christmas mode in prayer and liturgy - and I’m still praying the Joyful Mysteries every day so for the most part I’m still in Christmas mode.. but still it was nice to just sit in my quiet room and do nothing at all.. but just sit.

Happy Second Day of the New Year!

Blessings of Peace and Joy,
Sister Patricia and all the Sisters

Also on today’s date Saint Gregory Nazianzen

I suppose you noticed that I sneaked out from actually sending a card on New Year’s Day? I hadn’t planned it that way… but as the day wore on and I wore out.. it seemed like a good idea. Besides I had sent a New Year’s Greeting for the Eve of New Year.. so I felt I was sort of covered. I can find all sorts of good excuses when I put my mind to it.

Today has been a nice day except that we had to say good-bye to a good friend of our community, Debbie, who had come to stay with for a few days over the Christmas holidays. We tried to be good to her (since she was so good to us) but we ended up sending her home with a cold! What a thing to do for your guest! Of course maybe she got it on the plane or in transit.. hard to know… most of us were over the bug.. but who knows.. them little viruses sneak back and around and are very wily characters!

This evening Sr. Jane seems to have come down with it… is this how the New Year is supposed to begin? Can we rewrite the script?

Guess how I celebrated the first new day of the new year? I cleaned a bit in my room and then just sat on my little rocking chair and enjoyed it! I think I’m starting to get the cleaning bug fever. Maybe there are signs of spring in the air already? Maybe after the hustle and bustle of Christmas days its nice to see something simple and back to normal. O

Of course we are still in full Christmas mode in prayer and liturgy - and I’m still praying the Joyful Mysteries every day so for the most part I’m still in Christmas mode.. but still it was nice to just sit in my quiet room and do nothing at all.. but just sit.

Happy Second Day of the New Year!

Blessings of Peace and Joy,
Sister Patricia and all the Sisters

Send a New Year’s Cards

and or

Mary, Mother of God cards

Tomorrow begins the New Year and is also the glorious and blessed feast of The Mother of God… so I wanted to send you a card today so you will have it in plenty of time for tomorrow!

Blessings of Peace and Joy!
Sister Patricia