Do Not Let Your Hearts Be Troubled What is a home? When you think of the word or image or idea of a home, what comes to mind? Some say home is where the heart is. Others say home is where you hang your hat. Robert Frost once wrote, “Home is the place, where when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” Somehow, someway, home has a special place in the human heart. It seems as though we are all longing for a place to call home. “To feel at home.” It’s a lovely phrase. It also expresses the deepest longings of the human heart. St. Augustine gave famous expression to this longing when he wrote of God, “You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in thee.” Somehow our restless hearts are always looking for a place to rest, a place to find true and abiding peace, a place to call home. In our gospel for today, we hear words that speak directly to the longing of the human heart for a home. Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may also be.” Jesus assures them that even though their relationship is changing, it is not ending. Even though he will no longer be with them in the flesh, they will remain connected. Jesus is going to prepare a place for them in his Father’s house, where they will remain united to him forever, “so that where I am, there you may be also.” Our true home is with God, in God’s heart. Our true home, ultimately, is not a place, but a relationship, a relationship in the very heart of God, made possible by Christ. Even now we can experience a foretaste of this eternal home. When we do the works that Christ commands us to do, when we love one another as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, then God’s love will dwell in us, then God’s love will make a home in us. When the brokenhearted are comforted, then God will make a home with us. When people lay down their lives for one another, then God will make a home with us. When all of God’s children are invited to God’s table to share in his body and blood, then God will make a home with us.
Roaming Around to Find the “Yes!” April is Autism Awareness Month, and Ursuline Sisters Martha Reed knows well why it’s important. Sister Martha holds a Master’s Degree in special education and ministers as an instructor at Potential Development, Youngstown, working with kindergarten-age children affected by Autism. In this installment of Vocation Stories, Sister Martha shares what drew her to her ministry, and to her overall ministry as an Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown. Sister Martha Reed: Every one of us is God’s chosen ones, so we need to take the time to sit down, respect, and have compassion and understanding for one another – however that may be. Love Is Patient, Love Is Kind 1 Corinthians Today I am teaching at Potential Development School of Autism. I found that I can do more with working with young children, and helping with bringing out their goodness and showing their parents how good their children are and how good they are. Also, to improve life for their child in more of a one-on-one situation where they feel safe talking to me, without any type of judgment. Roaming Around to Find the ‘Yes!’ I’d go out late at night walking, just roaming through the nights like Michael W. Smith’s song – “roaming through this world, trying to find my place in this world.” One Sunday at mass – I can’t remember which reading it was – but it hit me, and it’s that God does have a plan for my life. A Plan – and a Gift What drew me to the Ursuline Sisters is they believe in family, staying strong and connected to family. Not only do I have a family of origin – where I came from – but I have a family of choice. My Sisters are my family. They’re my family. I can go to them in times of need, joyous times, happy times, sad times, whenever. You’re there for one another. Another thing that drew me to them is the way that my Sisters go out and minister today. We’re not afraid to rub elbows with people that are different from us. We’re not afraid to sit down and listen to someone who just needs a listening ear. It’s a real privilege and honor to be with this group of women. I don’t need to roam anymore. I’m Sister Martha Reed.
Life’s Calling: From Teacher to Social Worker To mark National Social Work Month, we present the vocation story of Sister Diane Toth, a member of the Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown and a social worker. After working for many years as a teacher, Sister Diane went back to college to become a social worker, a job she finds fulfilling as she shares time with older adults at two area nursing home/rehabilitation facilities. In this interview, Sister Diane also shares how her desire to serve God brought her to the Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown. It’s those ordinary moments, those ordinary times that you discover God that make life worth living.A Ready Ear and Open Heart I work with older people, older adults, and have learned over the years how lonely and isolated they are. Even though they might have a family, they’re still there many, many hours alone. So as a social worker I go and visit and find out – just taking time to listen to them, because I find many people are busy and the nurses don’t have the time. A Life’s Calling It happened when I was in the 8th grade. I was standing on a street corner waiting again for my mother to pick me up after a meeting. She was never on time (chuckle), so I had time to think. I was standing in front of the church and one of the Sisters started crossing the street to go home. Out of the clear blue, a thought popped into my head, “Boy, I’d like to be like her.” It kind of startled me because I hadn’t been thinking about nuns at all. The next moment I had another thought, “Why can’t I be?” And so, from that moment on, the thought bothered me. I couldn’t dismiss it. Then when I went one time to visit the novices, I felt like I was a missing piece of the puzzle. Choosing the Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown They just seemed open to listening to me and they seemed to understand what I was saying – my desire to serve, my desire to follow God in a special way. They were just so comfortable, and hospitable.
The Pursuit of Happiness At a dinner party the other evening, a question was posed: “What is your idea of happiness?” Everyone strives to be happy, but everyone has a different idea of what that word means! Many pursue money, power and position as a means to happiness. Others see physical exercise as a means to a pleasant life. Still others seek more spiritual goals in prayer and meditation as the blessed road. In each case the pursuit of happiness has a cost. What will people sacrifice for happiness? In our Gospel today, happiness meant “blessed”. The cost was reputation and the danger of persecution. The reward was the Kingdom. In the Beatitudes, Jesus gives a blueprint for right living. While the Beatitudes may seem idealistic, they are quite ordinary and accessible to anyone serious about faithful discipleship. Moreover, they are the very attitudes that lead to what Jesus promises – a share in the “kingdom of heaven.” Today’s feast places before us the canonized saints in heaven, those whom we’ve known in our lives who are also in heaven, as well as those living among us now who model for us right living. We look to those on earth to support us by their example! What can you do today to live out the Beatitudes in the pursuit of happiness?