Wednesday, March 24, 2021

"The Truth will set you free." Jesus/Interior freedom/Call to serve

What JOY!  A call from our daughter in France!  Checking up on calving and how everyone was coming through all the long nights and hard work it takes to calve out 154 cows.   I am watching Ruth out helping her dad, who is sore after a big physical demand is put upon him this time of year.  They are bedding them a dry place to lay after the 2 days of rain we have had.

Hallel shared with us that she was now up on a hilltop for Lent with a few other Little Sisters.  We smiled when she told us about how "we were given some nice meat, and Sister wanted to put it in boiling water.  I got a fire started and grilled it, instead."  

It came close to home when I watched one of the Life Below Zero shows last night and how they cook their food over a fire, and that Hallel is living a life of poverty in the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains in France!  Even in KC they heat their water to wash clothes, dishes or themselves... handwash all of them!   They have a stove there, but no microwave or dishwasher or crock pot.  A bit less rustic than Saint Pierre, France.  

The first time Pat made it to France and his 92 year old mother, Ann, came too in 2011!  John and I had been there 2 years before during John's battle with brain cancer to witness Hallel's taking of her habit and changing her name.

How I am pondering the words of Christ to us today in the Gospel - John 8... Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him,
“If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples,
and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  John 8:31

Reflecting on Hallel's life of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience as a Professed Little Sister of the Lamb - I see that interior freedom that the Lord is promising us if only we 
"remain in my word... you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free."    Hallel's order centers around Jesus in His Word, in the Eucharist and in Adoration twice a day with their intimate beloved Spouse, Jesus Christ!
Nancy, John and Hallel in 2009 after Hallel took her habit - we always go the 2 hour trip to Lourdes when we visit Hallel in Saint Pierre!  John fell in love with Our Lady here! 

I have adopted the love of Jesus in His Word as I follow the example of The Community of The Lamb!  I with great excitement and JOY read the readings for the next day at night before I go to bed!  They "Mendicate/chew" the Gospel beginning the night before.  It is a lot like Lectio Divina where they repeat each line numerous times - speaking it and chanting it.  The Holy Spirit takes over and reveals the Truths in the recesses of their hearts, minds and souls!
6 years ago with Hallel in KC for Easter!  She now wears the Lamb around her neck - a sign of her final vows/wedding with Jesus her spouse.

Yes, we are richly blessed by the beautiful life of our nun daughter!  I personally was discerning a call to be a nun when my dad asked me if I wanted to be Catholic... My father had been a Protestant minister my entire life, and as the oldest of 11 he allowed me and the 2 sisters under me to make our own decision about coming into The Church with dad, mom and the youngest 8 children.  My answer; "I want to be a nun, so Yes I want to be Catholic!"

Ruth and Paul 6 years ago in KC for Easter!  They have since added Joy, who will be 4 a few days before Easter this year.  

How we are all filled with wisdom, wonder and awe to see how Hallel leaving behind her car, personal possessions, phone... all but a small bag with skirts and polos and the plain underwear and blue socks that I can send her from time to time.  She now has a work habit and a good habit and the sandels on her feet.  In her cell she has a wardrobe that lies on the floor and the doors lift up for her to place her small possessions in including a blue fabric covered book of the Psalms and Bible.  She lays on top as her bed with no mattress, and uses a sleeping bag for her bedding.  There is no mirror to look at yourself.

Her life is unencumbered by stuff and things and she lives a life away from so many of the distractions we have - TV, radio, computer, phone!!!  She concentrates each day on The Truth that sets her free to give her all to Jesus and to beg for her food from the poor.  That's right!  How can that be?  Their founder, Little Sister Marie, asked the Lord that same question when she had it on her heart.  She was led to I Kings 17 - Elijah and the widow.  "Make a loaf for me, and you will never run out."  Elijah told the widow when she only had enough flour, oil and water to make her last loaf of bread for her son and herself before they would die of starvation.  
Hallel with 2 of her 3 sisters sharing in the feast celebrating her final vows in August 2018 in France - she wears the Lamb around her neck!  The Lamb's motto that they live by - "Wounded, I will never cease to love."  How the Lamb has lived out this Truth for all of us to see and join Him as we embrace our Most Cherished Cross and find LOVE/LIFE/LIGHT!


I am currently watching farmer Ruth out helping her dad... she is such a beautiful example of serving without counting the cost, willingly and cheerfully!  Thank you, Ruth!  She answers the call to serve which Jesus modeled for us - "I have come to serve not to be served!"
Such JOY to look around and see all my children with their spouses and older children, my brother and wife, another brother, and knowing that 3 were there in the wombs of their mothers!  A wonderful "family meal of celebration" indeed!
We certainly surrounded Hallel with so much LOVE and JOY - our time there continues to hold a very special deep place in our hearts!  I had been there twice before, so to share it with all my kids and families was almost unbelievable to witness!  

I am all over the place today... I need to address how Hallel's community begs for their food from the poor.  Of course, they have been halted by the world wide pandemic... but previous and hopefully soon... they go on mission where they knock on doors of the poor and ask if there is anything they can spare even to a glass of water... talk about the Gospel coming alive for them!  They also ask for their prayer requests and share the Gospel with them.  All the prayer and sharing of Jesus in The Word they do starting the night before and then finding echoes throughout the Bible that make is even more powerful... they are filled with Jesus/The Word and proclaim The Gospel to all!  They have very powerful experiences which they share together, and have heard that from the poor giving till it hurts they have been richly blessed.  A very radical and powerful ministry!
My parents 8 years ago on dad's 90th birthday!  They too have embraced The Truth - The True Church!  How I am filled with so much LIGHT in my inner chapel - interior freedom to know and love and follow Jesus and His Bride, The Church, with no exceptions!  We love and follow ALL The Church teaches us without reservations!   So very blessed by my parents listening to The Holy Spirit in their lives!  Entering The Church 50 years ago - each day since has been a total gift to me!
A crazy picture taken of the new Catholics at The Farm in Wisconsin in 1971.  Just saying that the Lord has a sense of humor... mom looks prayerful and I know for a fact that mom and dad prayed for their huge family without fail - now up to 140+!  And as dad said when mom died a year ago; "She is praying more perfectly for us now."  Dad joined her 7 months later and we now have their combined more perfect prayers and I for one - know that they are helping me stumble down the narrow path as I carry/drag my Most Cherished Cross!  They have left behind for me many prayer books to start my day with that "Interior Freedom" that comes from chewing on The Truth that will set me free!

Jesus, I am yours and I thank you for the opportunity to serve whenever it comes along.  May I die to self so that you may live in me!  Today you reminded us in the first reading that even if we are cast into the fiery furnace - you are there with us and we need have no fear!  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen
Love this from 8 years ago!  Maria took her Patrick to meet her Poor Clare nuns!  Maria had discerned a call to religious life with them for 5 months from Jan 1,2004 till she came home after Easter.  We still have them to call for our needs, and they prayed for Patrick with so many after his traumatic birth!  Here he was - healthy and well and healed by prayer!  Bless-bless, Barbara
I read somewhere today in my reading of the 7 devotions I am gifted with that we should be aglow after Adoration as we come before God/Jesus face to face as Moses did.  This is us after spending mass and Adoration with The Community of the Lamb in Saint Pierre, France 2 years ago!  Talk about Interior Freedom- the Truth will set you free!  
Here it is!!!  Wow!
oday is the feast day of St. Oscar Romero, one of the Church's newest saints. He was canonized by Pope Francis in 2018 and is remembered for his faithfulness as Archbishop of San Salvador. On March 24, 1980, he was shot to death while offering Mass.
LOVE this so much!  Speaking of how through suffering we find LIFE!
Happy Feast Day
Saint Oscar Romero
Feast Day: March 24
1917-1980
Patronage: El Salvador, the Catholic Diocese of San Salvador, Caritas International
Saint Oscar Romero, beatified in 2015 and declared a martyr by Pope Francis, was assassinated while saying Mass. He spoke out against human rights violations, El Salvador’s civil war victims and in solidarity with the poor. As Bishop, he was friendly to Opus Dei and a good shepherd to his people in San Salvador. The United Nations honors him on March 25th, the International Day for the Rights to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims









Danielle Rose







 

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