Meet the Sisters

 THE TRIVIAL ROUND   Sr. Jean, CSF

The trivial round, the common task, will furnish all we ought to ask:

room to deny ourselves; a road to bring us daily nearer God. 

(John Keble)

You have made the world so wonderful, O God, and given people many wonderful gifts, gifts of creating beautiful things.  Every home should be beautiful and shining clean, reflecting your love with a warm welcome to all.  Those floors I did the other day—all beauty was hidden under the dust and dirt.  Once clean and polished, they shone, the beauty of the wood was revealed like that of a bright, shining copper kettle sitting on top of the gleaming chrome of the stove.  It was hard work, but once done, it was beautiful.  See how you enable me to perform miracles, Lord!

Thank you, God, for the gift you have given me: this menial, ordinary, humble gift which transcends the living of my life, enabling me to reveal the beauty hidden by dirt, restoring the beauty marred by daily living, showing forth your love through the clean and tidy room, seeking your hidden beauty in those I serve, loving them with a love which comes from you.

Each day I can find many opportunities for various domestic tasks.  Each occupation is contemplative, a time when I am in touch with the creative spirit within me.  A bunch of fabric, scissors, tape measure, needle and thread can become a beautiful vestment worn to the glory of God or a dress for a small girl in an orphanage in a Third World country.

Not every day goes as planned.  When given a bag of apricots, it is best to use them right away, so I collect together sugar, jam jars, jamming kettles and make some apricot ginger jam.  While cooling it, I sort out the  Farm Fresh Box of produce, washing fruit, preparing veggies for storage in the fridge where I find the rhubarb from the last box which I had forgotten.  Not enough to make jam, but I boil it with some ginger syrup which has been in the cupboard for some while.  With some vanilla ice cream, it will make a delicious dessert.

Teach me, my God and King, In all things thee to see,

And what I do in anything, To do it as for thee.

(George Herbert) 

BALANCING ACT   Pamela Clare, CSF

This little sketch appeared in an essay I wrote for the Canticle back in 1983 when I was newly a member of CSF.  It spoke about the challenge of balancing the active and contemplative in our lives as Franciscans.  This still works as a metaphor for my life:  balancing many balls that are threatening to crash to the ground.   Life does get complicated!  Demands of the household, and CSF Administrative work, the Community of Sisters, our communal and private prayer life, the church, my outside ministries of teaching deacons and massaging homeless people, my birth family, my various interests—singing, cello, art, Afro-Cuban dancing, Sacred Circle Dancing, Body Prayer, studying spirituality and all things Franciscan, gardening, walking in nature, reading Science Fiction and Historical Fiction….

I find it hard to pull away from the demands of my outside ministry. First it was the many years of passionate involvement in the lives of Latin American refugees and immigrants in the 80s and 90s through my work with a small Latino congregation in San Francisco. Since 2004 it has been the amazing privilege of receiving the trust of homeless and marginalized people who allow me to stand behind them (despite their PTSD) and touch their bodies with compassionate and skillful touch in the chair massage work that I do.

I can’t do this balancing act without coming back regularly to that still point in the center.  The contemplative prayer which centers me in my spiritual heart, which takes me beyond myself to that still point in the center of all creation—this is what keeps me balanced and when I get away from that center, everything comes toppling down — which it does from time to time!