3 minute read
Reflect - Praying
SNJM writings
“Contemplation inspires action; action reflects contemplation. They are two aspects of a single love.” (Constitutions, 58)
- Mary Ellen Robinson, SNJM
The rose Project Day Three Reflection - Praying
From Scripture:
Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed. Simon and those who were with him pursued him and on finding him said, “Everyone is looking for you.” He told them, “Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also. For this purpose have I come.” - Mark 1:35-39
Reflection:
Contemplation and action…are two aspects of a single love. Prayer draws us into the heart of Jesus if we desire that, a heart full of tenderness and compassion, especially toward those with the greatest need. That prayer drew me to the Yakima Valley when I was 29, to participate in an intercommunity house of Sisters seeking to respond to the needs of Mexican immigrant farmworkers and their families in Washington State. Prayer kept leading us. We instinctively responded to the needs of neighboring children, many from immigrant families crowded into pieces of a family home divided into four or five apartments. Some children could speak English. The Sisters offered after-school tutoring, times for games and puzzles for the littlest ones, and a two-week summer vacation program that drew volunteers, including students from Holy Names High Schools, who would stay with the Sisters for a week or two. Intense and constant prayer, and the generosity of many donors and volunteers, keep the ministers and their ministries going. Contemplating the words of faith leaders help fuel the action. From the Documents of Vatican II, Medellin’s (Latin American Bishops’ Conference, 1968 in Medellin, Colombia) commitment to “a preferential option for the poor”, and the U.S. Bishop’s Conference affirmation that “justice is a constitutive element of the Gospel” to Pope Francis now calling all Christians to deepen their prayer in union with the heart of Jesus; for the sake of the poor and our very Mother Earth herself, the Holy Spirit has been guiding us, you and me, I believe, to advocacy and action with people who are poor and on their behalf.
Everything was built on relationships. Foremost, the relationship with God in prayer, which sustained the community of Sisters and volunteers, and nourished the relationships between neighbors and donors, with parishioners who could offer a meal—or the use of a van or a swimming pool or even a movie theatre. Prayer keeps me in touch with this giant heartbeat of the Risen Christ living in all of us, keeping the Church moving forward in love and mercy, and keeping me in Wapato, on the land of the Yakama Nation First People, who have been here since time immemorial. Here, in a neighborhood filled with immigrants from Mexico and the Philippines, we are being the Body of Christ together, even though most of the people may not know that’s who we are. e- Sister Mary Ellen Robinson, Wapato, Washington
Reflect & Share:
1. Describe how you see
Jesus live out these
“two aspects of a single love”. 2. How do you think
Sister Mary Ellen’s prayer shapes how she treats the people in her Yakima Valley community? 3. Recall a situation in which you prayed deeply or really spent time reflecting before making a decision or acting.
How do you think the time contemplating beforehand made your response different? 4. What resources might you want to read or bring to your prayer to fuel your own “love into action”? 5. What prayer or reflection could fuel and inform your Rose
Project?
Prayer Request
Pray for all the missionaries, that God may open their hearts with his living Word.
