Sunday Scripture: Reflection for April 21, 2024Scripture Reflection: April 21, 2024 - Fourth Sunday of Easter John 10:11-18 “I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me.” In Jesus’ time, sheep were kept together overnight in a communal paddock so one shepherd could keep all of them safe. Then, in the morning, all the shepherds would come to the gate and call their sheep to follow them. So, while shepherds had to recognize their sheep, it was also important that the sheep know the voice of their master. Today’s Gospel reading reminded me of a time when my husband and I had been married about 10 years. We were helping lead a retreat for engaged couples when the most amazing thing happened. We heard the voice of God. Let me explain. For quite a while, we’d been struggling with how to see our way through a difficult situation. Repeatedly, we’d pray for direction, but it seemed like all God was giving us was a whole lot of nothing. So, there we were at the retreat center sitting on our favorite wooden bench. We’d each spent some time praying separately and had returned to sit side-by-side. And that’s when it happened. One of us asked, “What if we give up trying to control the outcome and trust that God will provide for whatever we need?” That’s all it took. We’d been trying to control every possibility to ensure we’d get our way and that “nothing” we thought we were getting was actually a whispered, “No,” from the Good Shepherd. There, on our favorite bench, we understood that the answer to our prayer might not be what we’d pictured and it would still be okay—maybe even an outrageous blessing—because we knew the voice of the Good Shepherd when we heard it. And we listened. Heidi Clark Wildflowers Community League City, Texas
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Sunday Scripture - Reflection for April 14, 2024Scripture Reflection: April 14, 2024 – the 3rd Sunday of Easter Acts 3:13-15, 17-19 1 Jn 2:1-5a Lk 24:35-48 Generally, two of the Sunday readings share a similar theme. In today’s reading all three mention the word repent. And why not? Jesus just died for of our sins and we are called to repentance. The Catholic Church offers us the opportunity to receive the grace of God’s mercy in the sacrament of Reconciliation. However, a recent survey by RealClear Opinion Research showed that 37% of Catholics went to confession less than once per year, and 35% said they never do. Some believers, of all religions, will say that Jesus died to forgive our sins so we don’t need to confess our sins to a Priest. But why wouldn’t you want to? If you knew that you could talk to someone who is there “In Persona Christi” in the person of Christ, and he would never tell anyone else, not judge you, not laud it over you, forgive you unconditionally, and continue to love you as much as he always has, who wouldn’t want to take advantage of that special relationship? “Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away.” Acts 3:19 Martha Durio Ebbtide Community Sugar Land, TX Be AmazedBy Tammy Townsend Denny, TI Executive Director My husband and I traveled to rural Indiana on Monday to watch the solar eclipse. In a small city park in a tiny middle-of-nowhere town, we joined with others who had journeyed from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the house down the street to gaze at the sun and the moon’s performance. At the moment of totality, when the moon completely covered the sun, we removed our protective eclipse glasses and gazed at the fiery black disk above us (totality is the only time it is safe to look at the eclipse without eye protection). My husband was deeply moved by seeing the power and beauty of the sun’s corona. For me, the moment was punctuated by the change in light and temperature. The horizon emitted a sunset-like glow in all directions. Streetlights turned on. Stars appeared in the sky. The air temperature dropped dramatically. The light, as we are accustomed to experiencing it, morphed into a strangeness I don’t quite have words to describe. The compass by which we orient our lives was gone for three minutes. As spectacular as a total solar eclipse is, what has stuck with me are all the images I have seen on social media of people looking skyward from rooftops, parking lots, backyards, and fields. For just a moment, people stepped outside and looked up in awe and wonder. We paused. We looked up. And we were amazed. I keep wondering if maybe the eclipse was an invitation from God, a reminder to pause, look up, and be amazed. Sunday Scripture - Reflection for April 7, 2024Scripture Reflection: April 7, 2024 – Divine Mercy Sunday Jn 20:19-31 Happy Divine Mercy Sunday!!!! Today is one of my favorite days of the year. It marks the end of the Divine Mercy Novena. This novena gave me peace last year as I watched the passing of three people whom I loved. Watching someone pass can be traumatic. As Thomas was human, he could not fathom Jesus being able to overcome his crucifixion. How many of us can be unbelievers like Thomas? We have to see for ourselves before we believe. But just like the wind, we cannot see it but we can feel it. I have been intrigued with Divine Mercy ever since my mom introduced it to me. I was with my mom and sisters when I told all of them together about my diagnosis. My mom stopped and said let’s pray. She said the Divine Mercy prayer. I can remember her saying “in difficult moments we might not despair – nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will which is love and mercy itself”. This left me speechless. Our crosses in life can bring us to our knees. It brings us closer to Christ who sacrificed it all for us. And we should “Give thanks to the Lord for his is good, his love is everlasting. I was hard pressed and was falling, but the Lord helped me. My strength and my courage is the Lord, and he has been my savior.” – Psalm 118 If I listen closely, I will use your words If I listen closely, I will use your thoughts If I listen closely, I will use your actions Lord, give me the words, thoughts and actions that I may help others see You, hear You, and love You with all of our hearts. Jane Dupuis Labbie Roses of Grace, Community in formation Breaux Bridge, LA A Reflection on the Dimension of Community by Millie Foster, Still Waters Community, Fort Bend, Texas Joy comes to mind when exploring Community. We have our individual communities, we come together as district communities and international communities. Community is our foundation. Community can fulfill the “Five Love Languages” developed by Gary Chapman on how we give and receive love.
Welcome to the Spring 2024 issue of Dimension ConnectionsWelcome to the Spring 2024 issue of Dimension Connections. For this issue, we are focusing on the Five Dimensions – Education, Vocation, Ministry, Community and Spirituality. But first, did you ever wonder just how this newsletter comes to be? The process begins at the Annual Meeting of the USA National Leadership Team. Members of the NLT gather in person once a year to share fellowship, assess where we are as Theresians, and set goals for the coming year. Each member of the team serves on one of two committees. Together, the committees address the Five Dimensions in ways that benefit all Theresian Communities throughout the United States. Those of us who serve on the Spirituality and Education Committee of the NLT are tasked with producing Dimension Connections twice a year. We select a theme for each issue and then decide how best to present that theme. For this issue, we have chosen to focus on the Five Dimensions. We invited several of our sisters to write a reflection on a specific dimension. We strive to have as many of our sisters contribute content as we can. If you have never been asked to contribute to a specific issue of Dimension Connections, please consider this your personal invitation! Your participation enriches our newsletter in so many ways. Please contact anyone in the Executive Office and they will be happy to put you in touch with me or any member of our committee (Carol Landry, Toni Hare, and Millie Foster). We welcome your ideas for future issues and would love to include your personal contribution whether it be a book review, a poem, or even a reflection on the Theresian lifestyle that we try to live every day. So now you know how this little gem of a newsletter comes to you. Thank you for reading and let us know what you think! Blessings, Melanie Hartshorn, Chair NLT Spirituality and Education Committee, 2023-2024 Spiritual Springs Community Fort Bend, Texas Theresian Spiritualityby Courtney Ramsay, Agape Garden Community, Lafayette, Louisiana What is spirituality? Each person probably has her own idea on its definition! Is it simply a feeling of being in the presence of the spiritual world or with God? Perhaps. Yet, to me, spirituality is a warmth my soul experiences when I am showered in some way by God’s gift of grace. Fortunately, I find this in many environments but especially in the safe place of a gathering of my Theresian sisters! A neighbor introduced me to Theresians over 30 years ago. What a blessing it has indeed been to have met such spiritual women in my own community. These connections in spirit remain intact even when years have separated us from being together physically. The spirituality we once shared became an integral part of my heart and soul’s memory! Not to speak of the tremendous loss I grieved of a Theresian sister years ago to breast cancer. My connection to her and her family will always be with me. I still pray for her so often. Today, I prayed to her to be with me as I underwent tests on a suspicious area on my left breast. The test will continue as I now will have a needle biopsy of this area done next week. Am I concerned? Absolutely, but not nearly as much as I would be without this spiritual connection. Also knowing that my current Theresian sisters will envelop me with their powerful prayers when I request them brings me a relentless comfort and a deluge of God’s gift of grace. To be a Theresian is to share one’s spirituality with so many! We always begin our meetings with a prayer and end with a spiritual song before our “breaking bread” together. Our souls that have just opened to others during the meeting delight in fun and lighter conversations. It is an enriching environment of love and peace. It is a “high” on the gift of “Theresian Spirituality! A Reflection on Vocationby Mary Harnden, Luminaries, Lake Jackson, Texas Google says, “Vocation in a religious context is how God calls you to serve Him in the world. God calls you through Baptism and Confirmation to serve Him in a specific way of life. You can follow God's call as a single person, married person, ordained priest or a vowed religious.” We live by Five Dimensions in the Theresian Way of Life. I will share my reflection on the Vocation Dimension. In summary, l love and feel very blessed to have the opportunity to share my passion and vocation as a physical therapist. I was fortunate to find my calling at age 16. I was a student athlete frequently in the training room with injuries. I knew at that age I felt called to help people and I was looking into the medical field. Through lots of prayers of discernment being a Physical Therapist became my passion and I still love it 41 years later. In our practice, we provide heart to heart care and hand to hand contact. In helping one person at a time, we change the world. We have no idea the power of a smile, a hug, listening, and being the facilitator of God’s healing. I have been so fortunate to love what I do and being able to be of service to others and share God’s love. Some would say, that is your career, but a vocation is more than a career. Through my vocation as a physical therapist God invites me to love and give myself to others. As Theresians we have many vocations: mother, wife, teacher, professor, lawyer, doctor, musician, artist, engineer, counselor to name a few. Theresians are responding to God’s call in their multiple vocations as we live out Gospel values. Our community’s name is Luminaries. I love the image it reflects of people with lights of Christ inside them, glowing with love and compassion for others. Sometimes our light is super bright with joy and encouragement or a shining light of God’s love as an active listener. At other times we need the Paschal light shared to reignite the fire of the Holy Spirit seen at the Easter Vigil when they light the Easter Candle and we share the light with each other. In our community, I feel so close to God with the circle of love, the dialogue or sharing, and learning and the prayers and support we feel as we gather. Yes, we share our spirituality and are educated in community, and through our experience we minister to each other through our vocation. We are all called most deeply to share God’s love through service in our unique vocations. We have a special opportunity this September to share our gift of Theresians at our International Gathering in Houston. Go out and witness the gift of Theresians in your vocation, your church, your family and friends, and the strangers you meet at the grocery line. I pray we are blessed by your efforts with abundance of attendance to the International Gathering. My Journey into Ministryby Sharon Sproat, Journey Community, Austin, Texas Way back in 1986, I felt the first calling to Ministry as a Eucharistic Minister of Holy Communion and for the past 38 years have been blessed to serve in that capacity in three different cities. That Ministry was not my first calling; I have sung in various choirs and choral groups including liturgical, contemporary, classical, and barbershop over my lifetime starting in elementary school. While some may not be classified as “ministry,” each provided a way to bring joy to others, be it spiritual, emotional, or physical. Music is what speaks to my soul. It is sometimes difficult to read the bible without a song popping up in my head. When I became a Theresian 15 years ago after moving to Austin, Texas, I was looking for spiritual growth. Little did I know how being a part of Journey Community would begin a new shaping of my spiritual life. I had never met a group of women who were so faith filled. There was always some program or book that was asking “what more can you do?” One year I decided for Lent that instead of giving up something I would go outside my comfort zone to do service work. I chose a homeless community called Community First! Village, a village (at that time) of over 200 tiny homes, trailers, and RV’s. I worked in the convenience market on the property that allowed the residents to have access to food and cigarettes. The village has grown to nearly 500 homes in support of the homeless. I volunteered for two years until the pandemic struck and we were unable to serve during that time. As always, when God closes one door, He opens another. I began my journey as a lector both on Sundays and weekdays. I also began singing with the Austin Diocesan Choir which sang for the Chrism Mass, Transitional Diaconate, Permanent Diaconate and Priestly Ordination Masses. And then seven years ago, our Deacon asked me to join the RCIA Team (now known as OCIA) and be a sponsor. That ministry has continued, and I am humbled to have acquired three Godsons and one Goddaughter and have also sponsored three other women. My latest ministry came unexpectedly three years ago when the pastor recommended me to be one of his seven sisters. This ministry, Seven Sisters Apostolate, is a group of seven women each taking one day of the week to pray a holy hour solely for our pastor. I struggled to pray a holy ten minutes (!) but when I asked the pastor why he recommended me, he simply said, “You’re an intercessor.” And so began another ministry. I never know what God is going to call me to next…but with the love and support of my Theresian sisters, I pray I can continue to say “Yes!” WHATEVER IS TRUE: A Reflection on the Education Dimensionby Toni Hare, Agape Garden Community, Lafayette, Louisiana As a forty-two-year veteran in the field of education, I have always been a proponent of life-long learning. As a Catholic, I believe also in the importance of living a life which is reflective, discovering the lessons presented to us each day, the decisions made and perhaps, the consequences of our wrong choices. St. Paul tells us in Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” I propose to you that to confidently know the truth, the purity, the graciousness of the life which has been given to us by our Creator, we must be exposed to quality Christian writings, Scripture, and the deposit of faith. The Theresian experience offers opportunities to develop an informed conscience and allows women to live out their fullest potential. On the Theresian International website the definition of the Education dimension is a “continual formation leading to spiritual maturity.” “An upright and true moral conscience is formed by education and by assimilating the Word of God and the teaching of the Church. It is supported by the gifts of the Holy Spirit and helped by the advice of wise people.” (CCC 1799-1800) When I was a Religion Administrator of a Catholic elementary school, I would tell my students that each of them had a puzzle piece in their heart which showed God’s love in a special way, given only to them. As a child of God, it was their responsibility to show others their puzzle piece by the way they acted and treated others. Only then, when their puzzle piece was joined to those of others, could the world see the entire beauty and love of God. “When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child.” (1 Corinthians 13:11) In the chaos and challenges of life today, a childhood vision of faith would not serve women well. My mother Flossie taught me that it is the woman in the home who teaches love. Women carry the responsibility of teaching their children and loved ones the love and mercy of God. To do this properly, faith formation must continue into adulthood. The Theresian community is a perfect avenue for women to continue to develop a mature and informed knowledge of faith and to share their life lessons, their puzzle piece, in an intimate and profound way. Theresian communities that avail themselves of the wealth of good Christian and Catholic literature, prolific authors such as Scott Hahn, Richard Rohr, Bishop Robert Barron or the numerous Scripture studies available in text or video, allow their members to grow in their faith and knowledge, sharing experiences and lessons of life. Whatever is true to one is valuable to another. In this way, Theresians can live their motto, “Women in support of women, reaching out with Christian values.” |
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