UPDATE Reflective Moments February 2012

Reflective Moments Moments Reflective Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph

February 2012

The purpose of Reflective Moments is to offer you a way to incorporate the spirit of Saint Angela Merici into your own lives. We hope that it enriches you spiritually.

A Time to Dream

By Sister Mary Eileen Howard, OSU

I

n our church year we are in the season of Ordinary time following the celebration of Christmas. However, there is nothing “ordinary” in our celebrations – the word is derived from the word “ordinal” showing the number of weeks in this season. We have only a short amount of time before entering into the season of Lent which takes us to the celebration of Easter. Gone are the hurried and feverish activities that are characteristic of pre-Christmas days and now we can enter into some quiet and reflective moments needed in preparation for the pre-Easter season.

Take time to dream … How can we make this grace-filled season of Lent profitable? Each year we are called to enter by the narrow gate to walk in the footsteps of Jesus who had nowhere to lay his head. In following Jesus, then, should we not be more diligent in works of prayer, fasting and almsgiving – praying for those who will not pray, fasting for those who will not fast and loving in all our thoughts, words and acts? “… loving each other … is a sure sign that we are walking the path right and pleasing to God.” (Saint Angela, 10th Legacy) Another dream to which we are invited might center on the centennial celebration of the founding of the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph community. Let us look deeply into the life and spirit of Saint Angela for our inspirations on how each of us, personally, can enter into the festivities. Community activities for celebrating the event have been planned for us, and if each brings the gift of self with openness to the Spirit of our founder, then our dreams will make this year one we will hold in sacred memory.

Best wishes for a happy, holy and healthy New Year to you and yours!

Ursuline Sister is new UNANIMA Coordinator

By Dan Heckel, OSUA, Mount Saint Joseph Staff

A funny thing happened on the way to Ursuline Sister Michele Morek taking over as the community’s board representative with UNANIMA International – she ended up being hired as the group’s coalition coordinator. Since Dec. 14, 2011, Sister Michele has been learning the ropes of her new ministry in New York City, leading the nongovernmental organization of the United Nations that the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph helped found in 2001.

“I’ve spent a lot of time getting U.N. cards for people and getting UNANIMA community members registered for two U.N. commissions coming up soon – the Commission on Economic Development and the Commission Sister Michele Morek, left, and on the Status of Women,” Sister Michele said via email on Jan. 10. She’s also Sister Suzanne Sims, right, help Sister Catherine Ferguson planning for her first UNANIMA board meeting in March. Sister Suzanne Sims celebrate her final meeting as has agreed to serve another year as the Ursuline board representative. executive director of UNANIMA UNANIMA advocates on behalf of women and children (particularly on Oct. 1, 2011. Sister Michele is those living in poverty), immigrants and refugees, and the environment. The now the UNANIMA director. organization includes 17 congregations of sisters. On Oct. 1, 2011, Sister Michele attended her first UNANIMA board meeting, which was the last for Coordinator Sister Catherine Ferguson, who resigned when she was elected congregational leader of her community, the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, based in Quebec, Canada. After the meeting, Sister Michele was approached by several board members who encouraged her to seek the position. Sister Michele served an internship with UNANIMA in the first quarter of 2011, dealing with global water resources and climate change.

The NGOs speak on the floor of the United Nations, and during her internship Sister Michele spoke before the Commission on the Status of Women regarding teaching science to girls. “When I got my U.N. pass, I felt like I’d been given the keys to the Emerald City of Oz,” she said. “Three things appealed to me about the job.

I loved working at the U.N., it felt like the center of the universe. You could have an effect in so many ways. I liked working with other religious NGOs, and I liked working with other religious communities.”

Through their work with UNANIMA, the Ursuline Sisters led the effort to create a ban on human trafficking in Kentucky. Former state Sen. David Boswell sponsored the anti-trafficking bill, and former Gov. Ernie Fletcher signed the bill into law on March 26, 2007. Three Ursulines and Associate Phyllis Troutman were at the signing.

Sister Michele’s job will consist of being at the United Nations to keep up with the various commissions and committees of interest to UNANIMA, mainly poverty, women and children and the environment.

An Intentional Minute...

Stop and focus your attention for one INTENTIONAL MINUTE.

“We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.

This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.”

–Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador (1917-1980)

Join us as we pray for one another!

Send your prayer requests for friends and loved ones to the Email Prayer Network.

Write the Ursuline Partnerships office, 8001 Cummings Road, Maple Mount, KY 42356 Call 270-229-2006 • Email associates.msj@maplemount.org • www.ursulinesmsj.org