Precious Gift of Life
For three weeks in a row we are celebrating the funeral of a Sister, and some Sisters are under Hospice care, the vestibule to the next world. This is making me more conscious that my life too has an expiration date. It has also heightened my awareness of how precious my life is.
Each morning I wake up to find that my heart is still beating and my lungs are still breathing. I’m alive! I can say with St. Charles de Foucauld, “Lord, one more day to love you!”
Living on Earth
You’ve probably seen photos from the Hubble telescope that show the galaxy Andromeda, the one closest to us. It makes you dizzy. There are billions of stars in it. Beyond that there are zillions of other galaxies. And here we are on tiny planet Earth, just a blue and green speck in the enormous universe, but Earth contains life. It’s a miracle.
Because you are alive, the world is your playground. You are free to explore earth and gaze at wonders like the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, and star-studded night skies. You can be astonished by exquisite flowers and enjoy animals like your cat or the giraffe at the zoo.
Your Precious Life
From all eternity God planned to create you. Then at a certain time and place, almighty God loved you into being. A certain woman and a certain man met and came together and gave you a set of genes unlike any other person’s. You are unique. And you are marvelous. Your eyes keep blinking to keep them lubricated. Right now your stomach is digesting your last meal. Put your hand over your heart. It beats more than 100,000 times a day, sending oxygen to cells to keep you alive. And all these things go on without your even thinking about them.
Because you have life, you can thrill to Chopin’s Preludes, run (or walk) with wind blowing through your hair, play pickleball, dance, swim, eat pizza, play the guitar, and read others’ thoughts in books or on Kindles. Because you have life, you can know the satisfaction of mastering algebra and French (well maybe) and learning how to cook and to build a house. You can create things: a new recipe, a song, a computer program, or art. You can imagine, remember, solve problems, and make decisions.
You also have spiritual life and the divine life we call grace. This makes you godlike. You are God’s child with a destiny of living forever completely happy.
Be Loved and Love
What is life’s greatest blessing? Love—the whole spectrum of it. You can know the incredible love of almighty God who not only made you but saved you. You also might experience the love of parents, children, family, and friends. You can also experience the intoxicating joy of being loved by a certain someone. In addition, you are able to love others in return.
How to Use Life
Incredibly God gave us tremendous power over these wonderful lives of ours. We can live them fully. St. Irenaeus pointed out that the glory of God is a human being fully alive. This means using all of our talents and all of our days to the utmost. We can re-gift our lives by turning them into a present to God. As Saint Mother Teresa urged, “Make your lives something beautiful for God.”
On the other hand, we also have power to waste our lives, ruin them, and even destroy them. Doing this is like laughing in our Creator’s face.
Promoting Life
Our Lord Jesus Christ said he came that we might have life and have it abundantly. He passed his baton to his followers, us. If you are baptized, you are called to carry on the mission of Jesus, to bring others life, abundant life. You are called to see that people’s lives are not snuffed out before they leave the womb, that refugees have a safe place to live, that the homeless find food and shelter, that the imprisoned are humanely treated, that the elderly are respected and cared for, and that all people, no matter what their race, religion, or sex, are treated equally.
“Live” spelled backwards spells “evil.” When we do not promote life, our own and others’ lives, we promote evil. If we are not life bringers, then we are death dealers. We spoil God’s creation that he made very good. Promoting life is a form of loving. Isn’t that Jesus’s commandment? “Love one another as I have loved you.” Protecting and nurturing life, loving, is being holy, being like God, because God is love.
Nurturing Life
- First, in order to live fully learn something new. Tap a hidden talent: take up crocheting, learn how to play the tuba, teach yourself Chinese.
- Second, foster life in others in some way. Help in a soup kitchen, participate in a protest march, or just smile at someone.
- Third, plug into the source of all life, God, through prayer. Increase your prayer time by at least five minutes a day. Let God speak to you through his word in Scripture, pray a set prayer like a decade of the Rosary, or just rest in God’s presence.
Your life is in your hands. So what will you do with your one wild and precious life? The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, the counselor dwelling within you, will help you make the right decisions.
What three things do you cherish about your life?
Here is the song “Circle of Life” from the movie “The Lion King.” Put the captions on so you can better reflect on the words:
Listening to God
Listening to God is essential for cultivating the spiritual life. During Lent a frequent refrain is “If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts.” God speaks to us through multiple channels. It is dangerous and dumb to put his voice on mute.
Listen to Scripture
The Bible is God’s Word. Sometimes it can strike us like lightning. Our novice directress told us that the readings of the Mass on our birthday might hold a gift from God for us. My heart sank. My birthday was July 29, feast of St. Martha. Jesus chided her for being too busy about many things. So I assumed every year I would be scolded for being a workaholic. But one year I paid attention to the alternate first reading. It was from Jeremiah: “When I found your words, I devoured them. They became my happiness and the joy of my heart.” (Jeremiah 15:16) My adult life has centered on proclaiming and teaching God’s Word.
Even more pointed: During my first year in the convent, I wondered if I should leave as many Sisters were doing back then. In our college chapel, I asked the Lord for advice. Since I was alone, I walked up to the open Bible in front of the chapel and my eyes fell on the passage where Peter asks what they will get for following him. Jesus says to him (and me), “Everyone who has left houses or brother or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my name’s sake will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life.” (Matthew 19:29) I stayed.
St. Augustine turned his life around and became a bishop after reading, “Let us lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day , not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness…” (Romans 13:12-13)
Listen to Nature
God gave Noah the rainbow as a reminder of his promise. Jesus showed how birds and flowers teach about God’s providence. The buds bursting forth now and the light green haze coloring the forest trees tell us that life follows death. Features in nature speak of their Creator’s qualities: mountains, his majesty and power; daisies, his gentleness; ants, his ingenuity; and platypuses, his sense of humor.
Listen to Other People
God sometimes speaks through others: authority figures, priests, and friends. The other day I was trying to decide if I should give a retreat in Africa. Listening to a Sister’s video about being our next provincial, I heard, “Remember, St. Julie Billiart said, ‘Our hearts must be as wide as the world.” Bingo! I knew what I had to do.
Our Blessed Mother at Fatima told us to pray a rosary daily for peace. What if we all did that?
Listen to Your Heart
God told the prophet Elijah he would reveal himself on a mountain. There was a great wind, an earthquake and a fire. God wasn’t in any of these but in a gentle whisper.
Sometimes a thought flashes through your mind, for example a good deed you could do. Don’t dismiss it. The thought could be a grace, a divine nudge. God might say things like, “Go visit that sick person. Bake cookies for a neighbor. Exercise for ten minutes.” He might even say, “I love you.”
Each evening you might scan the day to pinpoint God’s interior words to you. Consider how you reacted to them.
Messages in Prayer and Hymns
Probably God will not send Angel Gabriel to you as he did for Mary. Chances are he won’t attract you by a supernatural phenomenon like Moses’s burning bush. But in quiet times of prayer, you might hear God convey something to you. Maybe as you sing or listen to a hymn, a certain line will grab your attention.
Lessons in Experiences
Ponder your experiences. Is God telling you something by them? Does a failure mean you are too ambitious? Will the joy you experience after helping a person let you know you should do similar acts of charity more often? Does a friend’s betrayal teach you to be more cautious in choosing those who share your life?
One day I dialed a phone number and a man answered. I identified myself as Sister Kathleen. The man said I had the wrong number. Then he explained he was just sitting there wondering if God really existed. He wished he had a sign. Then I called.
Listen to Dreams
God spoke to Old Testament Joseph and to St. Joseph in dreams. Maybe God revealed something to you in a dream—at least once!
When has God spoken to you through Scripture?
What creature in nature communicates something about God to you?
What good advice are you happy you took?
When have you been glad you listened to the Voice within you?
A Special Video for Lent
I recommended the daily emails from Christian Art that present artwork related to the day’s Gospel along with a reflection by Fr. Patrick van der Vorst. This week he sent a link to the Stations of the Cross he and company produced that is a series of living tableaux. You might find it moving and inspiring:
DNA Facts from a Friend
This week I’m pilfering a post from Sister Melannie Svoboda’s blog. I found it intriguing, and I think you will too. To check it out, go to this link. I thank her for giving me this much needed break from writing a post myself. I’ll be busy preparing new talks for parishes, writing a book, and planning a week-long retreat to give in Africa!
Stay tuned!
Happy Chance Encounters
God sometimes plants a chance encounter along the path of our life that amazes us and makes a big difference.
Encounter in Hawaii
Every day I post a cartoon on Facebook (except now during Lent). This has become a ministry for me. Many people tell me they enjoy reading the cartoons and ask where I find them. Here is the story.
In 2004 (that’s 22 years ago!) my sister and I were in Hawaii. On the first day of our vacation, in the parking lot of a bread and breakfast we met a couple from California, Alan and Linda. They befriended us and escorted us to the nearby town where we had a picnic. Ever since then, Alan has emailed me seven cartoons every day! I choose the best to post on Facebook.
Encounter in Washington D.C.
Several other times I’ve had surprising encounters. One of my favorites was meeting a grade school classmate on the top of the Washington Monument. After graduating from the sixth grade, we lost touch when I entered the convent. Then, years later while in my black habit, I was touring Washington with my family. A woman approached me and asked, “Are you Kathy Glavich from Cleveland?” Since then my friend and I get together each summer for lunch.
Funny Statements from Alan
Today Alan sent a list of funny sayings instead of a cartoon. I’m sharing them with you, hoping they will make you smile.
Set 1
Still trying to get my head around the fact that ‘Take Out’ can mean food, dating, or murder.
Dear paranoid people who check behind their shower curtains for murderers: If you do find one, what’s your plan?
The older I get, the more I understand why roosters scream to start their day.
Being popular on Facebook is like sitting at the ‘cool table’ in the cafeteria of a mental hospital. You know you’re over 50 when you have ‘upstairs ibuprofen’ and ‘downstairs ibuprofen.”
How did doctors come to the conclusion that exercise prolongs life, when…the rabbit is always jumping but only lives for around two years, and…the turtle that doesn’t exercise at all lives over 200 years. So, rest, chill, eat, drink, and enjoy life!
I too was once a male trapped in a female body…but then my mother gave birth.
If only vegetables smelled as good as bacon.
When I lost the fingers on my right hand in a freak accident, I asked the doctor if I would still be able to write with it. He said, “Possibly, but I wouldn’t count on it.”
Set 2
I woke up this morning determined to drink less, eat right, and exercise. But that was four hours ago when I was younger and full of hope.
Anyone who says their wedding was the best day of their life has clearly never had two candy bars fall down at once from a vending machine.
We live in a time where intelligent people are silenced so that stupid people won’t be offended.
The biggest joke on mankind is that computers have begun asking humans to prove they aren’t a robot.
When a kid says “Daddy, I want mommy” that’s the kid version of “I’d like to speak to your supervisor.”
It’s weird being the same age as old people.
Just once, I want a username and password prompt to respond “CLOSE ENOUGH.”
Last night the internet stopped working so I spent a few hours with my family. They seem like good people.
If Adam and Eve were Cajuns they would have eaten the snake instead of the apple and saved us all a lot of trouble.
Set 3
We celebrated last night with a couple of adult beverages …… Metamucil and Ensure.
You know you are getting old when friends with benefits means knowing someone who can drive at night.
Weight loss goal: To be able to clip my toenails and breathe at the same time.
After watching how some people wore their masks, I understand why contraception fails.
Some of my friends exercise every day. Meanwhile I am watching a show I don’t like because the remote fell on the floor.
For those of you that don’t want Alexa or Siri listening in on your conversation, they are making a male version; it doesn’t listen to anything.
I just got a present labeled, ‘From Mom and Dad,’ and I know darn well that Dad has no idea what’s inside.
Now that Covid has everyone washing their hands correctly…next week…Turn Signals.
The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The realist adjusts his sails.
There’s a fine line between a numerator and a denominator. Only a fraction of people will find this funny.
Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.
I have many hidden talents. I just wish I could remember where I hid them.
My idea of a Super Bowl is a toilet that cleans itself.
Exercise helps you with decision-making. It’s true. I went for a run this morning and decided I’m never going again.
Certainly you have experienced chance encounters that surprised you. Maybe meeting your future spouse? Tell us about it.
Do you remember this movie?
Black Saints, Present and Upcoming
February is Black history month. In its honor, I present a few Black Saints and those on the way to canonization.
The Process of Canonization
Usually five years after a person’s death, someone petitions a bishop to open a cause for canonization. After approval,the proposed person is called Servant of God.
An appointed person gathers evidence that the person lived a life of heroic virtue. If Rome approves the report, it declares the person Venerable.
Once a miracle due to the person’s intercession is approved, the pope declares them Blessed.
After a second miracle, the person is officially canonized, declared Saint.
Black Saints
Saint Charles Lwanga and Saint Kizito: They are among 22 Ugandan martyrs. Saint Charles catechized other young men and defended them against the homosexual demands of the king.
St. Josephine Bakhita: At the age of seven, she was kidnapped and sold as a slave in Sudan. Her owner brought her to Italy where she joined the Catholic Church. When her owners decided to take her back to Sudan, she refused. Because slavery was illegal in Italy, a court freed her. Eventually she joined a religious community.
Saint Martin de Porres: He is my favorite Black saint. I was going to write a brief bio here, but then discovered I had already written one. See https://kathleenglavich.org/saint-for-black-history-month-st-martin-de-porres/
Six on the Way to Sainthood
I encourage you to click on the links that take you to more comprehensive biographies.
Arguably the most well-known Black person on the path to canonization, at least in the United States, is Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman (1937–1990). She was the first African American woman to address the US Bishop’s conference. You might have seen her leading the bishop in holding hands and singing “We Shall Overcome.” Her lively programs were aimed to break down racist and cultural barriers.
Servant of God Julia Greeley (1833-1918) was born into slavery in Missouri. After gaining freedom in 1863, she moved to Denver. There she celebrated baptism and promoted devotion to the Sacred Heart. She ministered to the poor, often giving away the little she had. This won her the title “angel of charity.” Finally, she became a member of the Secular Franciscan Order.
Venerable Father Augustus Tolton (1854-1897) Augustus was born a slave in 1854 in Missouri. His family escaped in 1863 and moved to Illinois where he garnered honors in college. Because seminaries in the United States would not accept him, he was ordained in Rome and offered his first Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. Back in the United States, he was known as the first African-American priest. He served in Chicago, ministering to Black Catholics.
Venerable Mother Mary Lange (1789-1882) Mother Mary Lange was born in Haiti. During the revolution there, the family moved to Cuba. Mother Mary relocated to Baltimore and in 1829 founded the Oblate Sisters of Providence for African-American women. They ministered to Black youth.
Venerable Pierre Toussaint (1766-1853) Enslaved in Haiti, Pierre was brought to New York City where he was a famous hairdresser. After his enslaver died, he was free. He cared for orphans, immigrants, and the sick during cholera. A philanthropist, he raised funds to build St. Patrick’s Cathedral and St. Vincent de Paul Church.
A Special Treat
For a deeply moving and inspiring talk, watch Sister Thea Bowman’s address to the bishops:
If you have attended Mass at a Black Catholic Church, what was your impression?
Which Black saint or saint-in-waiting would you like to know more about?
