"St. Mary's"I recently have had a gentle nudge of a reminder from God about what a wonderful gift my Household sisters are. For those who don't know, I went to the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio. At FUS there are organizations called "Households." The official definition from the University is this:
"Households are a Christ-centered group of three or more students of the same gender, who strive for healthy, balanced, interpersonal relationships while supporting and challenging its members to develop spiritually, emotionally, academically, and physically."
The idea was to form groups of students that share the same spirituality, or approach to their spiritual life. The Household I joined is called the "Children of the Lord." Our spirituality is based on 1) a devotion to the Child Jesus and 2) an attempt to approach God with the faith and simplicity of children. Each household has a covenant, and ours reads almost like a prayer:
We, the children of the Lord, in a childlike spirit of simplicity, strive with the utmost joy for a perpetual consciousness of our complete dependence upon God, our Gracious Father, and with a humble hope, we desire nothing more than to be entirely submissive to His will in pure faith and out of pure love. We desire with innocent and generous hearts, to live out our precious gift of life in accord with the Lords' gentle and soothing words, "Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth." (1 John 3:18)
Unfortunately, I don't write my Household sisters often. I have a hard time remembering to email. Besides that, I feel like when I do email them I should give them an update on my life. However, I just have the feeling that my life to the outside observer would seem rather dull and lackluster. Especially the past few years which have been a period of transition in my life.
Today, however, I actually did email my sisters, asking for help, and giving no update. In my class I present the saint of the day. I told my students earlier in the year that in order for a saint to be canonized by the Church they need to have had two miracles attributed to their intercession. So everyday there is at least one student who asks me what the miracles for the saint are. I try my best to find them, but sometimes a saint is so obscure that it's almost impossible to find.
Today was the feast of Therese of the Child Jesus and I figured that since she is such a popular saint that it would be easy to find her miracles. I searched and searched and searched and found nothing. Luckily, I remembered that my household has a special connection to St. Therese since she also had a devotion to the Child Jesus. So I sent a quick email out asking if anyone knew her miracles. By my 2nd hour free period, one of my lovely Household sisters had emailed me back. She had found an article on EWTN on Therese, and not only did she send me the link, but she copied and pasted the paragraph that listed her two miracles!!! Needless to say, I was absolutely thrilled!
Anyway, today was a nice reminder to me that my Household sisters are still there for me. I take so much in my life for granted at times, and it's wonderful to have a gentle reminder from God. So, that's my thought for the day!
"Households are a Christ-centered group of three or more students of the same gender, who strive for healthy, balanced, interpersonal relationships while supporting and challenging its members to develop spiritually, emotionally, academically, and physically."
The idea was to form groups of students that share the same spirituality, or approach to their spiritual life. The Household I joined is called the "Children of the Lord." Our spirituality is based on 1) a devotion to the Child Jesus and 2) an attempt to approach God with the faith and simplicity of children. Each household has a covenant, and ours reads almost like a prayer:
We, the children of the Lord, in a childlike spirit of simplicity, strive with the utmost joy for a perpetual consciousness of our complete dependence upon God, our Gracious Father, and with a humble hope, we desire nothing more than to be entirely submissive to His will in pure faith and out of pure love. We desire with innocent and generous hearts, to live out our precious gift of life in accord with the Lords' gentle and soothing words, "Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth." (1 John 3:18)
Unfortunately, I don't write my Household sisters often. I have a hard time remembering to email. Besides that, I feel like when I do email them I should give them an update on my life. However, I just have the feeling that my life to the outside observer would seem rather dull and lackluster. Especially the past few years which have been a period of transition in my life.
Today, however, I actually did email my sisters, asking for help, and giving no update. In my class I present the saint of the day. I told my students earlier in the year that in order for a saint to be canonized by the Church they need to have had two miracles attributed to their intercession. So everyday there is at least one student who asks me what the miracles for the saint are. I try my best to find them, but sometimes a saint is so obscure that it's almost impossible to find.
Today was the feast of Therese of the Child Jesus and I figured that since she is such a popular saint that it would be easy to find her miracles. I searched and searched and searched and found nothing. Luckily, I remembered that my household has a special connection to St. Therese since she also had a devotion to the Child Jesus. So I sent a quick email out asking if anyone knew her miracles. By my 2nd hour free period, one of my lovely Household sisters had emailed me back. She had found an article on EWTN on Therese, and not only did she send me the link, but she copied and pasted the paragraph that listed her two miracles!!! Needless to say, I was absolutely thrilled!
Anyway, today was a nice reminder to me that my Household sisters are still there for me. I take so much in my life for granted at times, and it's wonderful to have a gentle reminder from God. So, that's my thought for the day!
It's nice to have friends that you can count on.
ReplyDeleteIt may take me a while to check on your blog (I hear the busy fall feeling! It's a crazy time of the year!) but, of course, you can always count on us... and I love hearing about you which is why I LOVE looking at your blog and flikr pages... though I wish I could do it more often! :)
ReplyDeleteI love you! I hope you're having a great thanksgiving! Did you know Jim Surprenant is the youth minister (come Jan) for a parish in Normal, IL? he just got married and is moving to the area in Jan... So now, I have you, my aunt and uncle in Bloomington and him! :) I have to come out and see you guys some time after the new year!