hugs & 3 blessings – Page 8

days of carmel

Published on July 28, 2016 by Dawn Marie1 Comment

The Days of Prayer at the Carmel

were recently hosted at our local Carmelite Monastery

and a plethora of 3hugs&blessings came flooding through my heart

each of these days!

Most specifically,

Helen and I had a grand time attending Mass each day at

the Carmelite Monastery together!

Helen patiently awaiting the start of Mass.

The Monastery fills up to capacity each year. Because of this Helen was able to enjoy the over-flow seating with all of us in the tent just outside the main entrance!

Growing up my childhood home was merely blocks away from the Monastery and I would often ride my bicycle there, tuck it in the south-west corner outside the Chapel, and tip-toe inside to sit in the silence.

Thankfully, my mother never knew of my trips to the Monastery as I probably would have met with a consequence had she discovered I’d gone beyond the “permissible-bike-riding-boundaries.” But even at the risk of disobeying my mother (yes, I took this to confession frequently, giggles…) I cherished these moments I snuck away!

Since moving to our new home just a few short years ago & finding ourselves within the all-too-familiar area, as where Cuppycake & I both shared the same childhood stomping-grounds; I often find myself once again at the Carmelite Monastery. I no longer travel there on a bicycle but instead I have Helen walking by my side! I take great delight in the fact that it is Helen I now tuck in the same south-west corner as where I long-ago placed my pink, white, & purple banana-seat bike before tip-toeing back into the silence! What a relief it is not to worry over any consequences of being discovered in my travels too, as my mother now trusts I understand what to do in on-coming traffic! (Giggles.)

Helen often walks the Stations of the Cross with me prior to Morning Mass at the Carmelite Monastery.

It is easy to understand why I have always had such a tender affection for Our Lady of Carmel. Not only because of the Carmelite Sisters & the impact they had in my spiritual foundation, but growing up our family were also members of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish (just down the road a wee-bit) under the guidance of Rev. Monsignor Joseph Scheffner and for a short time I even attended Our Lady of Mt. Carmel grade school.

_MG_9655 — One of my very favorite statues of Our Lady is: Our Lady of Mt. Carmel placed at OLMC School in Erie, Pa

I was absolutely spell-bound (with affection) for our Principal, Sr. Norma and also Sister Marie who I had as both my first & second grade teacher. Both were Sisters of the Divine Spirit Congregation and I simply adored them and the habits which were worn by their Religious Order!

Quite magically they had in my child’s view what I judged to be, the most sophisticated habits of all the nuns!

The perfectly pressed, gray-blue, 3/4 length tunics with the peter-pan collars edged in white and silver-grey buttons that ran all the way up the front…were beautiful to me. They even had a co-ordinating jacket in the same grey-blue material to match! And there was the slim matching belt which had their rosaries cinched to them at the side, that neatly tucked into the pocket of their tunic.

Image 7-19-16 at 1.49 PM — This is Sister Marianne teaching at Our Lady of Peace in Canton, Ohio. Photo courtesy of the Congregation of the Divine Spirit Facebook Page.

And Sister Norma had the largest rosary of them all!

Which always swung gently at her side.

You could always hear her coming down the hall not because of the click of her heels on the polished high-gloss tiled floors, because her shoes of course had rubber soles on them so that she could successfully check on any inappropriate behaviour in the girl’s lavatory! But because of the beads lightly sweeping across her hip with each step she took. As a child it was like Joan of Arc with a sword at her side defending our school from the wickedness & the snares of the Devil! I’m quite sure I sought frequent hugs from her, not only because of my affections but…just for the chance of rubbing the huge beads between my tiny-little fingers!

As a head-covering they wore the more traditional white coif with a long navy blue veil or on special occassions a short (much like a pill-box) hat. And my absolute FAVORITE part were the white gloves and navy blue pumps they wore during the Special Sacramental occassions!

I did not realize until I was much older that although the Sisters were a vibrant part of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School they were not actually members of the Carmelite Order. Giggles. I did not fully understanding yet the difference between Religious Orders, so I believed all Sisters to be one in the same Order! I guess I believed there were the ‘Cloistered Sisters’ of Mt. Carmel and the ‘Teaching Sisters’ at our school and they just lived in different portions of the same Monastery!

Which probably explains why I was initially drawn to visit the Monastery…if only for the opportuinty to hug Sister Norma once again and feel those magical rosary beads between my fingers!

But even though I never could visually see the Discalced Carmelites because they are indeed Cloistered Sisters of the Carmelite Monastery, I still adored them just as much as Sister Norma & Sister Marie. They I discovered, (even still today,) wear the traditional habits of a Carmelite & they are most times bare-footed within their community!

carmelites_gannon — The first six Discalced Carmelite Sisters of the Carmelite Monastery in Erie, Pa, along with Bishop Gannon.

Sixty years ago, desirous of building a seminary in his diocese of Erie, Pennsylvania, the Most Rev. John Mark Gannon sought prayer support for his seminarians and vocations. Turning to the Carmel of Wheeling, West Virginia, the Archbishop extended an invitation, asking that some of the nuns be sent for this purpose.

Led by Mother Mary of Jesus Crucified as first Prioress, six Carmelites arrived in Erie in February of 1957 and founded the Carmel of the Holy Family on a corner of the future seminary property. The last member of these original six, Mother Emmanuel of the Mother of God, recently passed away on April 9, 2016.

I feel so blessed to have had the Carmelite Monastery be such an integral part of my own personal faith-formation and still rely on the prayer-support the Sisters offer me and our family in both trying and celebratory moments.

For the past six decades we have also been blessed to have had the continuous presence of the Divine Spirit Religious Order in our Diocese. Sadly, this wonderful legacy came to an end this past June, as the last remaining members of this religious community left our Diocese. They relocated to the House of Loreto, the motherhouse of the Congregation of the Divine Spirit in Canton, Ohio. Originally founded in 1956 in Erie, the Motherhouse was moved there in 2010. Sr. Colette, one of the last remaining in Erie from her Order, who first began teaching in our Diocese in 1957, finished up her 53 years as Prinicipal of St. James School this past school year and now joins the other Sisters in Canton who have been waiting for her there, wearing the perfectly pressed gray-blue tunics with magical rosary beads at their sides.

Article written by Mary Solberg from FAITHLIFE Newspapaer in Erie, Pa

I love the Days of Prayer at the Carmelite Monastery!

I look forward to attending them every year!

And on this 3hugs&blessings thursday I am humbled by the heritage of our faith, I am grateful for the presence of the Discalced Carmelite Sisters in our Diocese and I give thanks for the Sisters of the Divine Spirit and the seeds of faith they sowed in my life…that tilled by the prayers of the Carlmelites, ultimately produced an abundunt harvest of faith!

And I do so very hope they will still wear

the white gloves & navy blue pumps from time to time!

“You shall multiply the nation,
You shall increase their gladness;
They will be glad in Your presence
As with the gladness of harvest…”

Isaiah 9:3

Witnesses of Forgiveness

Published on July 20, 2016February 20, 2017 by Dawn Marie5 Comments

St. Faustina wrote, “We resemble God most when we forgive our neighbors” (Diary, 1148).

Forgiveness means more than avoiding interaction with those who have hurt us. It may not be wise to try to restore a friendship with someone who has seriously wronged you, lest you expose yourself to further harm or abuse. But even if you have to stay away from the person that hurt you, you still have to let go of anger and forgive. Scripture is clear that as our Heavenly Father loves us, we are to love others.

In March 2015, His Holiness, Pope Francis, announced an Extraordinary Holy Year of Mercy beginning December 8, 2015. As a result, from September to November of 2015 the major relics of St. Maria Goretti made a pilgrimage to the United States. Named the “Pilgrimage of Mercy,” it was the first time that her body traveled to the USA. This visit of the major relics of St. Maria Goretti was an effort on the part of the Holy See and Treasures of the Church to prepare and catechize the United States for this great celebration in the life of the Church.

Several of our family members were fortunate enough to attend the Visiting Tour of St. Maria Goretti’s relics, at various locations in these United States. I wrote of this in a previous post, I will be Brave, and often find myself reflecting on that time spent with her.

The_body_of_Saint_Maria_Goretti_is_venerated_by_the_faithful_at_the_Cathedral_of_the_Holy_Cross_in_Boston_Photos_by_George_Martell___Archdiocese_of_Boston_via_Flickr_CC_BY_ND_20 — Photo by George Martell/Archdieocese of Boston

Perhaps it is because

a constant reminder (of her)

(literally) travels with me every day, everywhere I go!

(giggles.)

There she is!

That’s a photo of St. Maria Goretti…sitting on the console of my car!

Beside her is the Archangel St. Michael and below rests the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

All 3 are the perfect travel companions & offer no back-seat driving advice, giggles!

On July 6th, Catholics everywhere, celebrated the feast day of St. Maria. I am grateful to have been with her relics and the personal ‘accountability’ challenge I received as a result was an unexpected blessing.

Many times we receive great gifts in life that simply pass us by unnoticed.

But this particular gift has been one (for me) that has had such a profound impact

that St. Maria remains in my car with me every place I go…

in hopes that I never forget all she has taught me.

Pope Francis has marked the feast of the young martyr St. Maria Goretti by calling the faithful to follow her example and be forgiving to those who wrong them.

The memory of Maria Goretti’s example should “encourage you to commit yourselves, like the Saint you venerate, to being witnesses of forgiveness,” the Pope wrote in a letter for the July 6 feast of the Italian who is known for having forgiven her attacker.

The young saint, who was killed at age 11 while resisting a rape, is renowned both as a martyr for chastity and as a witness of forgiveness: as Maria lay dying from wounds inflicted by her would-be rapist, Alessandro Serenelli, she prayed for his conversion.

Lauding Maria Goretti’s ability to forgive her attacker as she lay dying, Francis quoted the 2015 Bull of Indiction for the Year of Mercy, saying: “At times how hard it seems to forgive! And yet pardon is the instrument placed into our fragile hands to attain serenity of heart.”

This “generous offer of forgiveness,” he said, accompanied “the peaceful death of the young Marietta,” establishing for her killer the “sincere journey of conversion which, in the end, led him to taste the faithful abandonment in the arms of his merciful Father.”

In 1902, Maria was stabbed 14 times when Serenelli, then a neighboring farmhand who had made previous inappropriate comments and sexual advances toward her, attempted to rape her. She died in a hospital in the nearby town of Nettuno.

While in prison several years later, Alessandro converted after having a dream in which Maria handed him 14 white flowers that burst into flame. The flowers represented the 14 wounds he had inflicted upon her; the flames symbolized forgiveness. After being released from prison one of his first acts was to go to beg the forgiveness of Maria’s mother. He later became a Capuchin tertiary and attended Maria’s beatification alongside her mother. (Excerpts taken from CNA)

Three years after her beatification, one of the largest crowds ever assembled for a canonization – 250,000 – symbolized the reaction of millions touched by the simple story of Maria Goretti. Among the quarter-million people who attended, 66-year-old Alessandro Serenely knelt and cried tears of joy.

“Even if she had not been a martyr, she would still have been a saint, so holy was her everyday life.” Cardinal Salotti.

I know what it can feel like to offer sincere forgiveness to an offender.

I have felt the peace of Christ that comes when we do so.

I know the freedom which follows, when we extend this mercy to others.

And as a result…

I wish I could say I no longer struggle with offering forgiveness.

And…

I wish I could say that I offer it as automatically as St. Maria Goretti did.

But God is still perfecting that in me.

And until that time comes, when I too can resemble more closely St. Maria Goretti,

what I can say is…

I desire,

with my whole heart,

to forgive all offenses joyfully!

(for love of Him.)

And because of this…

I do try harder to offer it,

even when it is difficult for me to do so,

because I recognize the great

peace

and

joy

and

freedom

which follows

IMMEDIATELY

after having presented this most prized gift, to self & others.

And even when the gift is not received straight-away, (as with Alessandro,)

I desire to forgive even that.

Let us all, with God’s grace, strive to reach the goal that her example sets before us. Through her prayers to the Redeemer may all of us, each in our own way, joyfully try to follow the inspiring example of St. Maria Goretti, who now enjoys eternal happiness in heaven.