In Your Midst April 2020

In Your Midst

Dear friends,

We created this photo newsletter to share the many creative ways Sisters, Associates, staff and others from our Ursuline family are finding to stay connected, support one another and help their communities during this COVID-19 pandemic. Please know of our continued prayers for each one of you during this time.

A God Who Gives Us Hope

The governor has asked us to light a green light for all who have died from the Coronavirus as a sign of grieving as well as a sign of hope and compassion.

Are we able to find hope in this present situation of the Coronavirus? When we experience the God of compassion in our sorrow and brokenness, our defenses break down and we can allow God to enter into our hearts. Suffering, fear and grief is about courage in the midst of pain, compassion in the midst of suffering, healing in the midst of brokenness.

It is about endurance because we believe in a God of compassion, a God who suffers with us, a God who gives us hope.

By Sister Jean Anne Zappa, OSU

Saint Angela Merici grotto on the Ursuline Campus

Above: Holy Week in Callao, Peru: Sisters Yuli Oncihuay and Sue Scharfenberger’s door decorated for Palm Sunday. ¡Feliz Domingo de Ramos!

Right: Washing of the feet at home in Peru since all churches are closed due to the quarantine.

In Your Midst April

Our Sisters who reside at Nazareth Home-Clifton in Louisville have been busy being treated to Comfy Cow ice cream, making Easter goodies and sending photo messages of love to their families. The staff at Nazareth Home-Clifton is wonderful and we are so blessed by their ministry to our Sisters there!

A Simple Gift

Stretch one of your hands out in front of you. Ask yourself: What has my hand done for others during this pandemic? God has given us this simple gift. I am awed by the ways people have used this simple gift during these traumatic weeks. Mother Teresa told us she was just a pencil in the hand of God. Let us, together, be a bundle of pencils, too, for good. Remember Michelangelo’s painting of God the Father’s finger stretched out to humankind? Put your hand out and let God touch yours. Just hope and trust and it will happen, I assure you. Here is my prayer for you—may your hand perform many deeds of love.

By Sister Mary Lee Hansen, OSU

Sister Mary Brendan Conlon

Sister Loretta Guenther

Sister Isabel Lehmenkuler

Sister Raymunda Orth

Sister Shirley Ann Simmons

Sister Dolores Hudson

In Your Midst April 2020

A Reflection From Masonic Homes of Louisville

COVID-19 has changed all of our lives in every country. Here on the lovely campus of the Masonic Homes in Louisville, we are following the strict guidelines for the well being of all. Each day on the news we hear of the heartbreaking numbers of the sick and of the deceased. We also see how the heroes and the heroines are responding. It is admirable and we are so proud. We are doing what we can do: praying for all the sick and their families, for those who have died, for the medical personnel, for the tireless care-givers, food distributors, mail women and men, and so many more, impossible to name.

I am truly grateful for so many gestures of hope that I see daily, as smiles and waves from a distance. I truly believe that we are becoming more united as a country. Today I heard a beautiful message of hope: the song “God Bless America” over the loud speaker on the campus. At 5.00 pm each day during this time of the corona virus we hear the special song: “My Old Kentucky Home.” Truly our loving God is watching over our global family no matter where we are. We will get through this together.

By Sister Kathleen Neely, OSU, Masonic Homes, Louisville

Sister Kathy Neely has recently returned from living in Peru for decades and now lives with Sister Lee Kirchner at Masonic Homes.

A Pandemic—A Blessing, or Not?

The situation we all find ourselves in is both devastating and enlightening at the same time. I thought I had experienced all the opposites in life: my age of 75, years as an Ursuline sister, teacher in all levels, ministry in parish, years as a hospice chaplain, living with cancer and then auto immune disease. But feeling trapped, and confined by the independent living place I live in was the bottom. So, grounded and confined, I looked to be “present” to those around me in the same living situation.

Sister Ruth Ann Haunz has been making masks for medical staff. Sister Ruth Ann says, “Mask-making is one little thing I can do to help others when I feel so helpless – as many of us do.” What a wonderful gift of time, talent and treasure during this COVID-19 pandemic—thank you Sister Ruth Ann!

Have

Email Kathy Williams kwilliams@ursulineslou.org

Among the people here are some who just started having some dementia. I have approached this particular woman who was very confused, always with the same positive expression and wording. This consistent effort worked so well that she would look for me to be there with her. This feeling of meeting her the same way in word and expression also lifted me. The challenge was to be always the same with her no matter how I personally felt.

This inner awareness was uplifting and a blessing to me. There are no words for it.

By Sister Rita Joseph Jarrell

Sr. Rita Joseph Jarrell is a board certified retired chaplain who volunteers at nursing homes and teaches in the city public health program of “Living Well for the Chronically Ill.”