By Sister Mary Fitzgerald, SSND
Every year, we celebrate the same feasts, often with the same liturgical readings.
What can we do to ensure that our journey is a spiral and not a circular treadmill?
How is God near to us this Lent in ways that will call us to be fully alert and attentive?
Recently, we heard the Gospel of Jesus healing the deaf-mute. He placed his fingers in the deaf-mute’s ears and said, “Ephphatha!” “Be opened!”
So, perhaps this Lent, it would be a good idea to begin with the refrain we sing so often, Open my eyes, Lord. Help me to See your face. Open my eyes, Lord. Help me to see. Open my ears, Lord. Help me to hear your voice. Open my ears, Lord. Help me to hear. Open my heart, Lord. Help me to love like you. Open my heart, Lord. Help me to love.* (Open My Eyes. Jesse Manibusan. 1998. OCP Publications. Used with permission #A-701425.)
For a full year, we prayed in preparation for the General Chapter with the theme “Living into Prophetic Witness of Universal Communion.”
Prophets speak on behalf of God, usually in counter-cultural messages. We live in a blessed world but one which is often in pursuit of values contrary to God’s design. Perhaps the Call of the 25th General Chapter and the prophets of Lent will lead us into a deeper, fuller, and richer experience of newness as we seek to be transformed.
These are just a few suggested Lenten quotations to consider. Many others could be used.
As we review the Call, we can take into consideration the bulleted points found in the Call below each statement in bold. They spell out what could become for us a practical Examen of Consciousness as we seek to identify more completely with the Paschal Mystery.
- “Compelled by urgent crises of our times, we School Sisters of Notre Dame, “longing for the oneness of all in God,” commit to actions that deepen our relationships of communion, wherever we are.” Is. 49: 8-15; Jer. 31: 31-34.
- “We strive to be credible witnesses of universal communion through deepening our efforts to live as an intercultural faith community of one mind and one heart.” Dan. 3: 82-87; Is. 65: 17-21; Micah 6:8.
- “We are committed to sustaining our charism and life in mission as faith-filled, welcoming, and inclusive community.” Is. 55: 10-11; Jer. 17:7-8.
- “We acknowledge our own complicity in the social sin of our global community, and we commit ourselves to further systemic change.” Joel 2: 12-18; Is. 58: 6-12; Dan. 9: 4-10.
We are called and sent to deepen communion with God and among people wherever we are… As the desire of Jesus that all be one becomes more fully our own, our striving for unity embraces all humanity and the whole of creation. (YAS, C 9)
*Open My Eyes, Jesse Manibusan, 1998, OCP Publications. Used with permission #A-701425.
