light through trees

Blog

Welcome to our blog. Here, we will share with you stories of our lives as Sisters of Providence. We invite Providence Associates to write in this space also. We hope you find these posts enjoyable and inspirational.

Winter solstice ritual

Tomorrow is the first day of winter, the longest night of the year.

The following is adapted from "Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim," by Edward Hays.

Materials needed: solstice candle; a fire pit, if possible, if you will be outside or a fireplace indoors; smaller candles for everyone; flash light for the leader.
(Begin by sitting in darkness for a short time)

Leader: Let us take into our hands a solstice candle
or Let us light the sacred solstice fire.

We pray on the night of ancient fear, when those who have gone before us were fearful of what lurked outside the ring of fire of light and warmth. They feared all that prowled in the darkness: evil, disease, death, beasts that might destroy them and the hidden dangers of winter.

Light candle or fire

Human Rights Day and Saint Mother Theodore

Saint Mother Theodore Guerin knew the violation of human rights in an up close and personal way in her home country, France. The French Revolution was a time of great social and political upheaval to abolish the injustice of the feudal system and absolute monarchy. During this time Catholic churches and schools were closed. Despite some gains in human rights, the French Revolution failed to condemn slavery or to uphold the equality of women.

Reclaim the season of Advent

Advent is my favorite season of the Liturgical Year. I love this quiet time before Christmas.

It isn’t a penitential time like Lent. It is a time of quiet anticipation.

Anticipation is naturally in the air. Children certainly anticipate Santa Claus and time off from school. Adults anticipate a break from work, getting together with family and friends, the chance to kick back and relax from the frenzied pace of life.

Advent is the season of waiting and longing. Our society makes it almost impossible to wait.

I noticed that Christmas TV programming began in early November. Certainly, Christmas advertising and shopping crept in even earlier — before Halloween!

The greatest challenge in Advent is to refrain from celebrating Christmas. Christmas is coming and it will be more than a day. In fact, there are 12 days for celebration, as the song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” suggests (Christmas Eve on Dec. 24 through Epiphany on Jan. 6).

String pulled on the Ginkgo tree this week

My favorite tree – and I have hundreds to choose from here at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods – is the huge Ginkgo tree in front of Corbe House, where I live.

The tree is huge! Sister Rose Ann Eaton and I just went out to measure the circumference of the trunk – 205 inches! While engaged in this pursuit, Rose told me a story she had heard from Sister Marceline Mattingly now in her nineties. Marceline remembers when the Ginkgo tree had only a single trunk. A storm broke the tree down near its base. As the tree regrew, it developed the multiple trunks very evident today. The tree’s shaggy bark, many trunks melding into one another and the sheer width of the branches lend distinctiveness, character and interest to “my” tree.

A change of habit for Sister Marilyn Baker

In this video clip Sister Marilyn Baker shares her story of transitioning from the religious habit to common clothes. "I loved my habit," she shares. But she transitioned with the community as they were asked to be more a part of the modern world. Even without an outward garment, there is just something different about women religious, Sister Marilyn says. "She is identified by the work she does, by the ministry she does, by the fact that people can recognize God through her. And that, to me, that is the habit," she says. See the full clip below.

Surrounded by the dead

I always think of my maternal grandfather, Alex “Casey” Gutgsell, on Halloween. He was very German and very stern. But he also had a mischievous side.

As kids, we went first to “trick or treat” at my grandparents’ home. Someone always dressed up like a witch and wore a treasured, horrific mask to complete her costume.

Without fail, Grandpa Gutgsell would remove the mask from the little witch, put it on and proceed to scare us. It so delighted him and so annoyed my grandmother.

Wherever one Sister of Providence is … we all are!

On Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 25, a large number of Sisters of Providence gathered in St. Joseph’s Chapel in Owens Hall to share in a simple prayer of “missioning” and blessing for Sisetr Arrianne Whittaker as she transitioned into her mission novice year.

Sister Arrianne shared these reflections:

“When I reflect on my experience of the missioning prayer ritual, it can be summed up in two words — sacred connection — a sacred time, in a sacred place, with a community of women who share a sacred spirit.

As we began the prayer service with our Prayer of Reunion I felt that sacred spirit surround me. I felt connected in a way I had not noticed before. Maybe it has slowly, unassumingly seeped into my bones over the past two and a half years, but this day it was very clear to me … I am a Sister of Providence!