Archives for July 2012

Dear people of St. Anne’s,

Thank you for your warmth in hosting me for our “Keeping Hope Alive” event and Walking with Justice book signing. What a wonderful evening with my brother, Fr. Bob, and all of you!

I enjoyed sharing lessons learned from my mentor, Judge Max Rosenn, a man who created a life of uplifting himself and all those around him. For those who asked for a synopsis of the talk, we looked at three characteristics that allowed Judge to be a powerful agent of hope for others.

1. Presence. Judge was fully present. He had a practice of living in the here and now. He processed the past, not getting caught up in anger, resentment, or regrets. He let go of anxieties or worries about what may come, pulling back from the unknowns of the future to this moment where he could take action toward creating the future.

He radiated presence, sometimes creating a seemingly sacred space with his full attention and compassion, which allowed others to show up more fully. We talked about kavanah (page 68), a mindset for prayer that Judge brought to his interactions with others. I read Conscious in St. Croix (page 62), a reminder that the simple act of listening and allowing others to speak their truth can foster justice and restore hope.

2. Stewardship. Judge brought to life the concept of giving generously of time, talent, and treasure and showed how this concept is not separate from the business world. We are called as stewards in our church, community, and career.

Watching Judge steward taught me that at its core level, stewardship is about gratitude and respecting the dignity of our humanity. It is about seeing all within us and around us as gift, thanking those who nourish us and generously sharing our gifts for the benefit of all, especially the most vulnerable.

I read Clothespins (page 52), a reminder that we are called to respect the needs of all people and do what we can to meet these needs in a way that helps them maintain their dignity.

3. Daily Rejuvenation, in partnership with God. Judge did not create a distinction between his faith and his work. They nurtured each other. He brought a common sense approach to rejuvenating his mind, body, and soul on a daily basis.

I shared a couple of my favorite spirituality quotes. C. S. Lewis reminded us, “You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.” French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin observed, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” Although Judge and I never talked about these quotes, I have no doubt he would espouse their wisdom based on the daily decisions he made to fuel himself mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

We talked about our need for daily connection with God through prayer, silence, meditation, or other methods. If we do not afford ourselves a daily connection to our spirit, we will never be guided toward our full potential and we will make a lesser difference in the lives of others.

I read Prayers Big and Small (page 78), talking about how Judge lived his life as an offering and exploring the shared philosophy between our Christian and Jewish faiths.

We wrapped up our time talking about the double-sided coin of hope. When It seems all hope is gone and our greatest challenge is keeping hope alive amidst despair, then the greatest gift we can give to another is the gift of hope. As my mentor said, “In times of great uncertainty and need, you will have doubts. Also have hopes. Have dreams.”

I won’t repeat all of the (perceptive!) questions from the Q&A segment, but would be happy to provide any further clarifications. You may contact me at mollie@drmollie.com.

One final question I do want to respond to is one that was raised in feedback: “How could one man provide so much wisdom?”

Two answers come to me, one focusing on the teacher and the other on the student.

The Teacher. I talked about Judge as a just man. What I didn’t highlight is what this really means is that God justified him, transforming him into a man who shared in God’s own holiness and righteousness. Judge’s part of this partnership was to be completely open to all that God wanted to accomplish through him. He lived and breathed service to his creator and to humanity. This is reflected in his simple daily prayer: “God, help me make a contribution to a just and peaceful world.”

We must remember that not only was Judge a just man, but also he was just a man. All of the qualities that we talked about Judge exhibiting (presence, love, faith, hope, vision, wisdom, courage, humility, vibrancy, gratitude, compassion) were not things he created. These qualities come from God and are only revealed in us when we open ourselves up to the divine. Judge accessed these attributes through his relationship with God and expressed them through his relationship with others.

The Student. As I acknowledge in the book, there are times when gems of wisdom can sound trite and other times when they resonate at a soul level with their truth. The difference may not be in the depth or timelessness of the wisdom itself, but in the listener.

When joining Judge’s side as a young new lawyer, I was open to learning from his experience and wisdom. A tremendous amount soaked in. Fifteen years later, when my life had deconstructed from a cardiac virus and I felt a call to return to Judge’s teaching and bring his love and wisdom to the world, I was even more open and his guidance resonated deeply.

The same dynamic is true for people who read this book or listen to me recount these lessons in my speeches. The exact same sentence may hit as an epiphany for one, causing a transformative shift on the spot, while it lands as a warm fuzzy or even a disposable banality for another. All of these experiences are real and are legitimate.

It is not that a person experiencing an epiphany is more advanced or a better listener. It simply means that the context of their life in some way is providing fertile ground for the seeds to take hold. The words met them where they were searching for meaning for a particular situation while others may not find any helpful insights.

I encourage you not to focus so much on my mentor as the source of transformative wisdom, but on how his guidance may apply to the challenges or struggles of your own life. Before picking up this book, open your heart to what God may will for you and bring a curiosity to how the words may lead you toward the possibilities of your own life and greater service to others.

With gratitude and love,

Mollie

 

Continuing our series, this blog focuses on  “How We Worship,” and the lovely discovery of an aging father and his quiet love for serving in the Liturgy. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church #1068, it states, “It is the mystery of Christ that the Church proclaims and celebrates in her liturgy so that the faithful may live from it and bear witness to it in the world.” Mark Rogan helps to run his family business, Rogan Shoes, and he and his wife, LeAnn, reside in Racine with their two children, McKenna and Adam. They have been parishioners of St. Anne since the parish’s early years.

There are things in your life that people (even if you are very close) do not tell you. Some people call them secrets. Others of us call them personal things that matter only to us. I have recently been privy to some personal information about my father that wasn’t necessarily a secret, but might have been something that he kept to himself because it was just for him.

Here is the background: I was born a Catholic, raised a Catholic, and will always be a Catholic. I went to Mass on Sundays and participated for most of my life. My parents are very much the same. My dad over the past many years has been going to Mass at least two times a week depending on Mass schedules at his church (having 11 children I assume he has a lot to pray about). About two years ago he had some health issues that have been
slowly breaking his body down and I have had the unfortunate experience of
watching a very vibrant and alive man become a shell of what he used to
be.  We are at the point that we have had to take his driver’s license away from him because he has had at least four episodes where he has fallen for no reason.
His speech is almost nonexistent and his motors skills are lacking but he still loves to come into work every morning, shuffle his papers around his office, and watch what his sons are doing with the company that he created.  Because of this love for his job, we could never take that away from him so we have taken turns picking him up in the morning and take him home when he is finished doing whatever he does in his office.

A couple weeks back, I was given the task of picking him up for work and it was on his “Mass day”. I picked him up nice and early (Mass is at 7:00am) and took him to Sacred Heart Church in Racine. He got out of my car and walked across the parking lot like I haven’t seen in years from him. Lately, he has been a “foot shuffler” and I am worried about him tripping over something and falling down again – but not today.

He walked into church and flipped the switch for the light above the baptismal font (the church was completely empty), went over to the sacristy, typed in the code to unlock the door, and turned on all of the lights in the chapel area. He went over to the cupboards and got out the chalice, water and wine cruets, bowl for the washing of the hands, purificator towels for the wine glass, and counted out the number of hosts that would be needed for Mass that morning (he thought there would be 8 of us; there were only 5). MY DAD WAS THE ACOLYTE!! Who would have known? As the Mass went on, he went up on the altar (which was scary because it involves a step and no hand rail) at the Consecration of the Eucharist and cleared the cruets off the altar when the priest was finished with them. He then brought over the bowl and water to wash the priest’s hands. MY DAD WAS THE ALTAR SERVER ALSO!! Yep, it gets stranger. At Communion he makes the trek up the step again (scary once again) and receives Communion because he is also the Communion Wine Minister. After Mass, I help him carry all of the items back to the Sacristy, help him put them away and I take him to work. All the while, I am amazed and astonished that this man who is struggling through the most simple of tasks (like eating, walking up a step, talking, picking up a dropped item, etc…) did all of these tasks with such ease and grace. God knows that my dad may need help with some things and he has put them in my and my sibling’s hands to take care of, but when God really needs something accomplished He will give my dad the strength to handle it with ease. It was my Greatest Mass that I have ever attended.

 

Continuing on our blog series, the following was provided by an anonymous parishioner. The theme of this story focuses on the Holy Spirit, and how sometimes the Spirit may direct actions that help another individual. In this story, there are themes of charity and perspectives on the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Reconciliation is offered at St. Anne on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 9:00 a.m.

One evening, I was leading a Youth Faith Formation group at St. Anne. One of the exercises was for each student to cite an instance where they served another person or where they were served by another, and then relate the “feeling” that corresponded. Each of the students cited an example of how they served others. The last student to speak, sitting to my left, spoke very quietly and explained of a time when neighbors brought food to her house and how grateful her family felt.

I immediately sensed that there was some type of need. With my professional coaching experience, and importantly, my involvement with Saint Vincent de Paul, I felt that there might be a real need. But I also believe that I was guided by the Holy Spirit to ask the student if she would talk with me after the class. When we talked, I learned that the family faced several hardships. Knowing that the student had been driven to St. Anne by her Mom, I asked her to ask her Mom whether or not she would be willing to share more information, so that St. Anne’s ministries could help them best.

The mother came in and shared that their house was in a foreclosure, the husband was not living at home, and that family income was insufficient to care for her and her three children. She lived in a nearby city and was not a member of St. Anne. The mom agreed to attend Career Coaching for help in finding employment and job search support. She also agreed to meet with me and another ministry member of Saint Vincent de Paul (SVDP). There was no doubt in my mind that the Spirit was at work in opening hearts and doors.

Both meetings took place. A mentoring plan and a support plan were developed, enthusiastically agreed to, and put into practice. Finances and well-being are slowly improving for the family. There have been follow- up visits and phone calls for encouragement as well as guidance on several occasions. As part of the SVDP ministry, we also provided family assistance from a fellow parishioner who is an attorney. He accompanied me on a home visit to review some past financial transaction documents that the couple had executed. His focus was to determine the impact of these questionable financial documents/agreements. The attorney suggested to the mother some steps that she needed to take, and how to take these steps. He helped her understand what the real financial considerations were; provided encouragement, and offered additional pro bono legal counseling to her.

After the mom and I met a few times, with discussions about the St. Anne family and the Spirit being active at St. Anne, the mom did attend a new member registration and is now an active parishioner.

The journey continues. She, additionally, shared that she had not been to reconciliation in 15 years. After sharing with her my own experience with Father Bob and how he administered the Sacrament of Reconciliation in an encouraging and loving manner, she decided that she wanted to receive the sacrament. She joyfully shared this experience with me after she had received the sacrament.

I believe that there were too many “coincidences” to be just that. I believe that the Holy Spirit guided many of the conversations, starting with the student offering her story at Youth Faith Formation. If we listen, the Spirit can guide us to see, hear, and do things that might have been beyond our usual view of our busy lives.