My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.
2 Corinthians 12:9

Where has the time gone? Here we are in the second week of Lent... and I've had a unusual start to this, my favorite liturgical season.

Last month I posted about the death of our sister Christine. I'm not sure if I mentioned this in the post - she lived here in Dayton, but did not live with us in community because she needed support for numerous health issues. So, in the wake of her death, our community finds itself not only dealing with the emotions of losing someone so suddenly, but also with the practical details of cleaning out an apartment, sorting clothing to donate, making arrangements for the donation of Sr. Christine's many musical instruments, donating & moving furniture and shutting off phone, electric, cable etc. Needless to say, our lives have been extremely full with grieving, celebrating life, and making necessary arrangements.

I'd like to say that I've been able to be helpful in this process. However, timing has largely left me out of all the practical details. On Ash Wednesday I left Dayton to attend the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress. It was a phenomenal trip. I was there largely as a part of our vocation ministry. On Thursday I attended the Congress Youth Day with a group from Chaminade College Prep, a Marianist school outside of LA. Then Friday through Sunday I helped staff a vocations booth at the congress exhibition hall. I was blessed to be able to connect with friends, attend a workshop and celebrate in several amazing prayer services & Eucharistic liturgies. Then, after the Congress I spent the following Monday visiting with seniors at Chaminade about vocations. That was a great day...

The following days, however, were filled with sickness. I returned from LA with a flu-like virus that I'm still not completely over. I slept for the better part of 3 days and when awake suffered from a headache that was one of the most painful ones I've had...

It was during this time - while I was in LA and while I was recovering - that the community was doing the majority of the cleaning and clearing out of Sr. Christine's apartment.

This is how Lent began for us. ... 

I am reflecting this Lent on God's grace in the midst of difficulty and what might look to us like weakness. Sr. Edith Prendergast, RSC wrote, "God speaks to us not only in the beauty but also in the difficulties, weaknesses and struggles that we encounter. Grace often appears when we are in pain... At times like these, grace beckons us to put our trust in God."

This has no doubt been a difficult several weeks. It is in times like this that God's grace can truly be made manifest. For it is not by our strength, but by God's that we walk this journey. And it is for this grace that I am truly grateful. 

How does this relate to my Lenten journey? I am fasting from self-reliance so that I may feast on an ever-growing dependance on God.

May all who read this be abundantly blessed in this Lenten journey,

Sr. N