October Newsletter

SEPT. 2020

A MONTHLY NEWSLETTER PRODUCED EXCLUSIVELY FOR OUR SISTERS

OCTOBER, 2021

NEWS & NOTES

Photo of butterfly garden by Sr. Rosanne Popp, CCVI.

OCTOBER NEWS Pope's Prayer Intention for October

Missionary Disciples - We pray that every baptized person may be engaged in evangelization, available to the mission, by being witnesses of a life that has the flavor of the Gospel.

PEACE AND THE BEAUTIFUL PRESENCE OF JESUS BEING A SISTER OF CHARITY OF THE INCARNATE WORD

BY SR. KIM XUAN NGUYEN, CCVI

This past August, I attended the ceremony for our three sisters who made their first profession of vows. It was a beautiful ceremony and it reminded me of my own calling to the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, Houston, Texas when I first decided to try religious life.

I asked God to help me find the congregation He would like me to join. Providentially, I was introduced to the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word by a priest friend. Upon arrival at the motherhouse I was welcomed by Sr. Kim-Phuong Tran, Vocation Director, and some of our elderly Sisters. They were joyful and hospitable; I felt welcomed and at home. Also, the Motherhouse, Villa de Matel, of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word gave me a sense of peace in my heart, particularly the community’s beautiful chapel and the cemetery. I felt that even the sisters who had passed away were praying for me. More beautifully, I felt the presence of Jesus’ love in the Sisters I met.

At that time, I did not know much about the Incarnate Word, but looking back now, the Word was indeed being made flesh in the Sisters I encountered. God loves us so much that He dwells among us. We strive to embody the love of the Incarnate Word, and through this love we bring the healing ministry of Jesus to others. This is the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word’s charism that I felt and continue to feel called to be a part of. I am grateful for Bishop Claude Marie Dubuis, our founder, and our Founding Sisters for answering God’s call in 1866. Today we carry on their legacy of embodying the love of the Incarnate Word in our communities and in ministry.

I feel blessed to be one of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word.

NEWS & NOTES

PRAYER FOR FOUNDATION DAY OCTOBER 25 n this Foundation Day, we give thanks for the great legacy our founder, Bishop Claude Marie Dubuis, imparted to us 155 years ago.

We are cognizant of his courage, persistence, and his total dependence on the providence of God to carry out his mission.

His resounding words: “Our Lord Jesus Christ, suffering in the persons of a multitude of sick and infirm of every kind, seeks relief at your hands” still echoes today in our ministries in El Salvador, Guatemala, Ireland, Kenya, and in the U.S. Grant that all who remember and reflect on the life of Bishop Dubuis, your priest and servant, be inspired to be “Gospels of Love”.

Through his intercession, may we obtain many graces in this life and everlasting glory in the life to come; we pray this through the Word Incarnate. Amen. ~ Blessing ~ May the God who calls you to serve, Bring you to your deepest heart and there inspire you, Fill you with courage for the journey, Compassion for the people.

May this same God send you forth To promote the common good in our Religious lives and Congregation To hold this sacred time in your care, To nurture it, to account for it, To witness to those you serve The power of God’s healing, holding love.

May that same love keep you always. Amen.

Adapted from a 2016 prayer service to bless a bust sculpture of Bishop Dubuis gifted to the Congregation on the occasion of its Sesquincentennial Anniversary.

NEWS & NOTES

Perennials for Pollinators

With the winter freeze in Texas several months ago, many of the shrubs and bushes around the Villa de Matel died. Instead of replacing these with other shrubs, Sr. Rosanne Popp took the opportunity to plant flowering perennials in front of Dubuis Conference Center for the bees and the butterflies. These important pollinators are already enjoying the flowers as you can see in the pictures. And since the plants are perennials, they will not need replanting every year. Photos by Sr. Rosanne Popp

NEWS & NOTES

SEASON OF CREATION 2021 PRAYER THE SEASON OF CREATION ENDS ON OCT. 4 WITH THE FEAST OF ST. FRANCIS

Creator of All, We are grateful that from your communion of love you created our planet to be a home for all. By your Holy Wisdom you made the Earth to bring forth a diversity of living beings that filled the soil, water and air.

Each part of creation praises you in their being, and cares for one another from our place in the web of life.

With the Psalmist, we sing your praise that in your house “even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young.” We remember that you call human beings to keep your garden in ways that honor the dignity of each creature and conserve their place in the abundance of life on Earth.

But we know that our will to power pushes the planet beyond her limits. Our consumption is out of harmony and rhythm with Earth’s capacity to heal herself. Habitats are left barren or lost. Species are lost and systems fail. Where reefs and burrows, mountaintops and ocean deeps once teemed with life and relationships, wet and dry deserts lie empty, as if uncreated. Human families are displaced by insecurity and conflict, migrating in search of peace. Animals flee fires, deforestation and famine, wandering in search of a new place to find a home to lay their young and live.

In this Season of Creation, we pray that the breath of your creative Word would move our hearts, as in the waters of our birth and baptism.

Give us faith to follow Christ to our just place in the beloved community.

Enlighten us with the grace to respond to your covenant and call to care for our common home. In our tilling and keeping, gladden our hearts to know that we participate with your Holy Spirit to renew the face of your Earth, and safeguard a home for all.

In the name of the One who came to proclaim good news to all creation, Jesus Christ. Amen.

NEWS & NOTES

LET US WALK TOGETHER Sisters Sheila Sullivan, Mary Tobin and Denise Kearney take time for a stroll around the Villa

NEWS & NOTES

“WHATEVER GOD DOES, THE FIRST OUTBURST IS ALWAYS COMPASSION.”

MEISTER ECKHART

PHOTO BY SR. FRANCESCA KEARNS, CCVI

NEWS & NOTES

TURN YOUR HEART TOWARD GOD

Freedom means the ability to live the fullness of life, an inward liberation from the chains of the mind and heart that weigh us down. It means being able to love someone more than one’s own life, for the sake of the other. I once heard of a woman in prison who became so deeply contemplative in prayer that when the time of her release came, she did not want to leave. She had found God in the walls of a prison and in that discovery she had become free. Francis of Assisi also was a free man. Poverty emancipated Francis from the need to possess so that he could be free for God, free to follow the footprints of Jesus and to accept suffering as a way of uniting with Jesus on the cross. “As followers of most holy poverty,” Celano wrote, “since they had nothing, they loved nothing; so they feared losing nothing.” Francis and his early followers remind us that it is not place or circumstances that make us free, it is the heart that makes us free when it is turned toward God. Bonaventure once wrote: “You truly exist where you love not merely where you live.” It is love that makes us free. And where you truly love, you are free.

—from the book The Humility of God: A Franciscan Perspective,

by Ilia

Delio, OSF Minute

Meditations

is

used

with

permission

(www.FranciscanMedia.org).

NEWS & NOTES

from

Franciscan

Media

Special Liturgy of the Eucharist for CHRISTUS Health CEO and Team

Photo was taken by Sr. Helena Adaku Ogbuji.

On September 27, 2021, a special Liturgy of the Eucharist was offered for Ernie Sadau, President/CEO of CHRISTUS Health, members of his Team, and for the safety of the workers constructing the new corporate office in Irving, Texas.

Pictured in this photo are Ernie and some members of his Team, the Chair of the CHRISTUS Health Board, CHRISTUS Health Corporate Members, members of the Co-Sponsoring Congregations of CHRISTUS Health, and Fr. Aloysius Nzekwe, MSP, who celebrated the Eucharist.

Special Welcome Dinner On the evening of September 26th, 2021, a special welcome dinner was held at Sorrento restaurant and hosted by Ernie Sadau, President and CEO of CHRISTUS Health,

for

the

the

Chair

of

the

CHRISTUS Health Board, CHRISTUS Corporate Members, Sisters of the CoSponsoring Congregations of CHRISTUS Health,

and

some

members

of

the

CHRISTUS Health Leadership Team. It was a very enjoyable occasion.

NEWS & NOTES