A Nun Blog - The Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration

A Nun Blog - The Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration "For God created man for incorruption, and made him in the Image of His own Eternity." Wisdom 2:23



Saturday, August 21, 2010

Lest We Forget


Forgetting has its consequences, for better or for worse. We usually don’t mind if someone forgets that we are responsible for that spill on the floor, or the one who made the dent in the car. Indeed, is not God’s ‘casting behind [His] back all our sins,’ – His forgetting – a great part of His Mercy? It’s when we forget to do good – to assist someone we promised to relieve, or fail to remember a birthday, that we easily disappoint or even hurt those we love. Forgetting God, our ultimate good, and turning our gaze from Him is the greatest danger of this human malady. Here we run the risk of ‘innocently’ choosing something else, someone else, some idol to meet our very human needs. Remembering then, holds supreme importance in our lives. If we remember God and who we are in Him, then everything else starts to take proper order.
Of all the Marian prayers, the Memorare which begins…REMEMBER O most gracious Virgin Mary, is a compelling reminder to us that there is someone who never forgets us. Our Mother in heaven and all the Saints who have gone before us are never unmindful of our needs, our hopes, and our strivings. Although we necessarily must pass through this ‘vale of tears,’ it is not without the ever present aid of Our Father in heaven and Our Mother of Mercy. Since we are so prone to forget such reassuring truths, it is good to conscientiously take time to REMEMBER every day, God’s mercy to us, His Providence seen through those who do us good, the ways in which He has answered our prayers, the good He has brought out of our trials, and so much more! Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever!
On the more humorous side of this weakness, good natured (albeit strained!) amusement often ensues here if the sisters leading the Divine Office lose their place and forget where the rest of the choir left off… Scenes like these remind us, (lest we forget!) that despite all our shortcomings we are deeply loved by God who asks of us our goodwill!

Friday, August 6, 2010

Fully Awake

One of the most common hurdles to living a vibrant life is fatigue. Weariness. Lack of sleep. If you’re a student falling asleep in an endless lecture, a mom handling a thousand little problems in a day (no elaboration needed!), or doing your best to keep pace with projects in your job, exhaustion is no stranger. As perpetual adorers, the struggle to ‘stay awake and watch’ with Christ during our vigils by night and day is frequently just that: a struggle! For those of us who do not wake up with vim and vigor, a stiff cup of coffee is absolutely essential if we are to ‘awake the dawn’ with praises of God! Today, on the Feast of the Transfiguration, we join good company in this battle for consciousness. Peter, James and John joined Our Lord on the mountain for prayer. There they were “overcome by sleep, but becoming fully awake, they saw his glory” (Luke 9:32). What did it mean for them to become ‘fully awake?’ They were more than just physically awake; they were overcome to the depths of their souls. Jesus was revealing to them, not only the mystery of the cross and His sufferings, but giving them a glimpse of His resurrected glory in which we also are destined to share. Not comprehending all of this at the time, the apostles nonetheless had seen the intertwining of the cross and their future glory.

As we strain to be ‘fully awake’ to the Presence of God in our lives, and the needs of others (even with a mug of coffee or two!) we can trust that unseen grace is at work in our hearts. The Transfiguration is a promise to us that though we only ‘know in part; then [we] shall understand fully, even as [we] have been fully understood” (1 Corinthians 13:12)