In our Living Jesus Chat Room this Sunday, we’ll talk about how this video struck each us. Here are some questions to ponder.
Were you surprised at the testimonials given by the Sisters in any way?
Are the lives of the Sisters similar to a family?
It’s sometimes heard that such Sisters have simply shut themselves off from the world. Do their lives affect society in any way?
Has the video inspired you in any way?
Nov 7 2015, 9:38 AM
Sister Susan Marie: http://visitationspirit.org/2015/11/brooklyn-visitation-sisters-wake-up-the-world-with-tv-feature/
Brooklyn Visitation Sisters Wake Up the World With TV Feature | Visitation Spirit
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Alice Lewis-Eckardt: How was your time there Ruth?
Nov 8 2015, 7:27 PM
Ruth (guest): Not sure if we’ve met, Alice.
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Ruth (guest): I’ve been on Living Jesus Chat most Sunday nights for about a year, but just started a new job that makes that impossible most Sundays7:37 PM
Ann: The video was fantastic!
Nov 8 2015, 7:37 PM
Ruth (guest): Brian, did you see the interview? It’s on line.
Nov 8 2015, 7:37 PM
Alice Lewis-Eckardt: i liked the video
Nov 8 2015, 7:37 PM
Ruth (guest): Was it on TV, too, Sr. Susan?
Nov 8 2015, 7:37 PM
SrSusan (guest): Yes on Diocesan TV
Nov 8 2015, 7:38 PM
Judy K: I did respond to your questions about the video which was quite good. I was not surprised by any of the testimonia
38 PM
Ann: I was not surprised either.
Nov 8 2015, 7:38 PM
SrSusan (guest): You got to see some other Sisters!
Nov 8 2015, 7:38 PM
Guest1291 (guest): Amazing Faith filled testimony Sister Susan we must share this video with the whole world !
:39 PM
Ann: Yes, they all look and sound so joyful!
Nov 8 2015, 7:39 PM
Dawn L: liked very much. I’ve watched it a couple times
Nov 8 2015, 7:39 PM
Ann: I also watched it several times.
Nov 8 2015, 7:39 PM
SrSusan (guest): Use it in your ministry Brian, if it helps
Nov 8 2015, 7:39 PM
Dawn L: yes Brian, I agree!
Nov 8 2015, 7:39 PM
Ruth (guest): Can’t remember who it was I was talking with about my experience at Visitation Monastery, but he was surprised that Mother Superior knew about Skyp.
Nov 8 2015, 7:39 PM
Alice Lewis-Eckardt: yes they do Ann. very joyful
Nov 8 2015, 7:40 PM
Judy K: Are the lives of the Sisters similar to a family? Yes. Thee is a parental figure in the person of the superior who is responsible for the running of the monastery and the spiritual development of the Sisters. There are Sisters of varying ages and capabilities. Some assist the superir in her responsibilities.
15, 7:40 PM
Judy K: All have responsibilities in the care of the monastery just like family members have assigned chores. 5, 7:41 PM
Ann: That’s very close to how I answered that question too, Judy. 2 PM
Guest1291 (guest): I will share this video to many Sister Susan thank you for sharing your story with us it has inspired me greatly ! Your Love for our Lord Jesus Christ has touched my heart deeply !!!
Nov 8 2015, 7:42 PM
SrSusan (guest): We investigated skype to cut down on travel for the meetings in the Federation as we are all aging
2 PM
Guest1291 (guest): I will share this video to many Sister Susan thank you for sharing your story with us it has inspired me greatly ! Your Love for our Lord Jesus Christ has touched my heart deeply !!!
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Judy K: And the third question–Sisters do not run away from the world but carry it in their hearts, praying for the many needs of the people in the world. Sisters affect society by the witness of their quiet, prayerful lives. The habit says to those who see a Sister in habit that this is a person who has given her life totally to the Lord and who is sacrificing for souls, her own and others.
Nov 8 2015, 7:45 PM
Ruth (guest): One night, Halloween, we were able to talk with one another — and sometimes part of the meal time. There was so much laughter, especially in the kitchen.
Did you get splashed by the faucet Ruth?
Nov 8 2015, 7:46 PM
Alice Lewis-Eckardt: thanks Ruth. thats how i pi
47 PM
Guest1291 (guest): I also have the same picture displayed on our piano it was a gift from a friend when my Dad passed away a little over one year ago ! I could cry seeing the beautiful picture in the video ! Praise God ! 5, 7:47 PM
Ann: For the third question, I answered that the sisters actually have a better grasp of what’s going on in the world, because they have the quietness at times, to really hear what is happening, while those in the day to day rush, can get so caught up in the here and now, that they may not see as clearly.
Nov 8 2015, 7:47 PM
Judy K: The world desperately needs the prayers of these generous souls. Contemplatives could be considered the backbone of the Christians in the world, supporting the skeleton of the individual, who is working to build up his/her own being, enfleshing the backbone by using appropriate methods and programs given to facilitate personal growth.
48 PM
Ruth (guest): No, Lisa. But one sister popped in pretending to be I thought a ghost, holding both circled thumb and index finger next to each eye. Turns out, I think, that she was pretending to be an owl. They’d watched an owl there previously. 7:50 PM
Ann: The sisters seem to have a better understanding of what we really need, which is spirituality and love, this goes much deeper than anything we might obtain in the material world.
Nov 8 2015, 7:51 PM
Ruth (guest): When my friend Miriam came to visit with me two hours before my departure, we went for a walk around the outside of the wall. It was quite a hike with my bum legs, but kind of interesting.
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SrSusan (guest): What was interesting?
Nov 8 2015, 7:52 PM
Guest1291 (guest): I view the Sisters as the Generals in the Lords great Army they are able to direct their prayers to those who are in most need in our community and to strenghthen and protect those who are ministering for the Lord Jesus throughout the community !
7:53 PM
Judy K: And Mother, your own quiet, gentleness shines like a bright light in a world that can be very jarring.
Nov 8 2015, 7:53 PM
SrSusan (guest): Each of us came later in life; I was mid 30’s and the other 2 Sisters just about 50 at the time
Nov 8 2015, 7:53 PM
Guest1291 (guest): Amen Judy !!!
Nov 8 2015, 7:53 PM
Lisa C: Sr Synthia is loved by her students
Nov 8 2015, 7:55 PM
Lisa C: When they were graduating they wanted to take her away with them
Nov 8 2015, 7:55 PM
Ann: Hello guest 8170
Nov 8 2015, 7:55 PM
Judy K: Hello Guest 8170!
:56 PM
Guest8170 (guest): Hi! Can sisters be teachers in the monastery?
Nov 8 2015, 7:56 PM
Guest1291 (guest): Hi GUEST 8170 ! WELCOME ! Brian
Nov 8 2015, 7:56 PM
Lisa C: Guest there is a school there
7:57 PM
Lisa C: They teach religion now, they used to teach everything:57 PM
Guest8170 (guest): Thank you.
Nov 8 2015, 7:57 PM
Judy K: That is quite courageous, to enter religious life in one’s fifties. I wonder if these Sisters found the adjustment any more difficult than you did, Mother.
Nov 8 2015, 7:57 PM
Ruth (guest): We met a lot of people, all of them quite friendly and polite. The wall seemed even higher from the outside than from the inside. Some people who lived right there did not seem to know anything at all about what was beyond the wall and were obviously listening in on our conversation.
:58 PM
Lisa C: Judy, I think the schedule makes it easier for people to jump right in. They are busy all the time.
Nov 8 2015, 7:58 PM
SrSusan (guest): Hard to say Judy grace works in each one specially
Nov 8 2015, 8:00 PM
Lisa C: Mother, do you think it is like a family?
Nov 8 2015, 8:01 PM
SrSusan (guest): A community is a little different from a family- I guess in some ways Sisters may not be as open as with a family member
Nov 8 2015, 8:02 PM
Lisa C: Why do you think that is, Mother?
Nov 8 2015, 8:02 PM
SrSusan (guest): Years ago Srs were taught not to share personally- now it has changed but some of the sense of the past remains
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Nov 8 2015, 8:02 PM
Lisa C: Do you think that was good or bad
Nov 8 2015, 8:03 PM
SrSusan (guest): If one was highly spiritually developed, maybe ok, but not for developing persons
Nov 8 2015, 8:03 PM
Alice Lewis-Eckardt: why could they not share personally Sister?
Nov 8 2015, 8:04 PM
SrSusan (guest): The high ideals of monasticism were operative; one gave everything up- the past etc
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Ruth (guest): Once I wanted to enter a religious community I knew quite well in Munich, Germany. They urged me to finish my studies, then go home to the US for a while and practice my profession. When I finally did formally apply, I was rejected supposedly because I was beyond the age that their constitution says one can enter and because I was “already formed.” When they recommended that I finish, they thought they could bend the rules for me, but in the meantime they had had a different older candidate who did not w
Nov 8 2015, 8:04 PM
Ruth (guest): work out. I was about 42 at the time.
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Guest8170 (guest): What is the maximum age to enter successfully?
Nov 8 2015, 8:06 PM
Ruth (guest): Sharing personally: I think it is important. One makes oneself vulnerable, BUT it is stories — especially stories of difficulties and how God works through them — that help others to trust and grow in faith.
Nov 8 2015, 8:06 PM
Lisa C: Mother, do you think the relaxing of the old rules is better or not?
Nov 8 2015, 8:06 PM
Lisa C: Mother, do you think the relaxing of the old rules is better or not?
Nov 8 2015, 8:06 PM
Ruth (guest): Good questions Lisa.
Nov 8 2015, 8:07 PM
SrSusan (guest): Any age, guest, if you have a true vocation but younger folks are more adaptable usually
Nov 8 2015, 8:07 PM
Guest1291 (guest): when my family moved I was blessed by a teacher Sister Richard who welcomed me to new school where I knew no one ! She was filled wih the Holy Spirit and she has inspired me my whole life ! I was at Kairos meeting sharing about her encouragement to me and one of the members of the group shared to me how she had ministered to his mother 10 years at nursing home and she was present with his mom when she passed away ! Sister Richard passed away just a couple months later serving our Lord Jesus and others right
Nov 8 2015, 8:07 PM
Judy K: Someone who might be experiencing difficulties in her life and does not share that with at least someone, feels very alone and could become overwhelmed by her difficulties. Sharing could result in her coming that others may have had the same difficulty and come to know how to resolve them. The inability to share can lead to feelings of isolation which could lead to great temptation to leave.
Nov 8 2015, 8:07 PM
SrSusan (guest): Some rules were better some detrimental Lisa depends on which
:08 PM
Ruth (guest): I think I know where that sort of spirituality comes from. I remember reading about “particular friendships” in The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas aKempis. That was supposed to be bad.
Nov 8 2015, 8:08 PM
Lisa C: Mother, sometimes I wonder how rules that lasted over 400 years could be not so good
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SrSusan (guest): Hi Sister! Lisa I think some custom type rules always had an element of change10 PM
SrSusan (guest): Maybe Sr Roberta would have an insight on this
Nov 8 2015, 8:10 PM
Lisa C: I wonder if Vatican II was good or bad for the order
Nov 8 2015, 8:11 PM
Dawn L: guest 1291…thank you for sharing that story. ab
Nov 8 2015, 8:11 PM
Ruth (guest): Did I ever tell you this: When I was in my late teens and interested in becoming a religious sister, my parents were discouraging that. My father thought he would “help” the cause of keeping me out of the convent by giving me a little book called “Married Saints.” He had not read it himself. All of them were women who had been married, had children, then founded religious communities.
Nov 8 2015, 8:11 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: on changing rules: Well, in our community, because of aging and infirmity, our customs have had to change.
:12 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: and St. Jane was one of those, Ruth18:14 PM
Guest1291 (guest): Your welcome Dawn thank you and all who prayed for my daughter Lian and her erip to Washington ! The girls had a wonderful time at Press cub and were able to do so sightseeing that night and next morning before returning to St Bonaventure !!!
Nov 8 2015, 8:15 PM
SrSusan (guest): I did not experience the community pre Vatican but some of our Srs did I can ask them
Nov 8 2015, 8:15 PM
Dawn L: guest 1291, and you share how a sister’s love and zeal affected you your whole life. beautiful. also you shared what would be a response to one of the questions offered here tonig
:15 PM
Ruth (guest): Yes, I know she was. Seems to me the experience of raising a family is a good preparation for becoming a foundress of a religious community. 6 PM
SrSusan (guest): Or living in community even if not a foundress
Nov 8 2015, 8:17 PM
Ruth (guest): Yes.
Nov 8 2015, 8:17 PM
SrSusan (guest): I think our formerly married members do very well
Nov 8 2015, 8:17 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: maybe they’re somewhat more adaptable, having lived in their own fam
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e Mother’s day we had about 6 moms plus the Superior
Nov 8 2015, 8:18 PM
SrSusan (guest): All celebrated the day!
Nov 8 2015, 8:18 PM
Ruth (guest): Six moms who were sisters?
Nov 8 2015, 8:18 PM
SrSusan (guest): Yes
Nov 8 2015, 8:18 PM
SrSusan (guest): Sister moms
Nov 8 2015, 8:18 PM
Ruth (guest):
Nov 8 2015, 8:18 PM
SrSusan (guest): There is an organization called that too I think
15, 8:18 PM
SrSusan (guest): On the video both Sr Gail Trinite and Sr Synthia are Sister moms
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Nov 8 2015, 8:20 PM
Ruth (guest): I did not realize that.
Nov 8 2015, 8:20 PM
Ruth (guest): And Sr. Syntia seems so young.
Nov 8 2015, 8:20 PM
Alice Lewis-Eckardt: how is the adjustment for moms
Nov 8 2015, 8:20 PM
SrSusan (guest): It did not come up in the interview
Nov 8 2015, 8:20 PM
Judy K: I think that flexibility needs to be a qualification for entry into religious life. A person who is rigid in her patterns of behavior, or of thinking will find religious life difficult as it does involve a good deal of change in one’s habits (not the clothing) and some ways of thinking.
Nov 8 2015, 8:20 PM
Guest1291 (guest): Dawn when I came to school I was way behind the other kids Sister Richard made sure I got the extra help I needed and by end of year I could read it was like a miracle to me ! I went from the worst reader in school to one of the best in couple of years ! Thank you for your prayers and action Sister Richard !!!
Nov 8 2015, 8:20 PM
Ruth (guest): Opps, Sr. Synthia.
Nov 8 2015, 8:20 PM
SrSusan (guest): Fine- its the grown children who sometimes have difficulty adjusting-
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Dawn L: Amen.
Nov 8 2015, 8:21 PM
Alice Lewis-Eckardt: i mean really all my married children have families of their own and busy lives
Nov 8 2015, 8:21 PM
SrSusan (guest): Once tho we had a mom who had to leave – her youngest was only 19
Nov 8 2015, 8:22 PM
SrSusan (guest): The 19 year old still needed her
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Alice Lewis-Eckardt: i can understand that. probably a son. my daughters are all independent
Nov 8 2015, 8:23 PM
Ruth (guest): Did she come back after the 19 year old grew up?
Nov 8 2015, 8:23 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: As SFdS points out in a letter of direction, whatever vocation Our Lord gives you, “The chief means of uniting yourself to God are: the frequentation of the sacraments, prayer, spiritual reading, and a constant use of ejaculatory prayers…and God wills that we should love and cherish our neighbor and show outwardly that we do.”
Nov 8 2015, 8:24 PM
Judy K: I wonder if the problem the grown children have might be akin to the problems of older siblings when a new baby arrives on the scene. They do not have as much of mother’s attention as they are used to. the grown up children may feel that their mother has been taken away from them and they do not have as much access to her as they would like.
Nov 8 2015, 8:24 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Our current discerner has a 19-year-old son.
Nov 8 2015, 8:25 PM
Dawn L: Sr Mary Roberta, hi.
Nov 8 2015, 8:25 PM
Alice Lewis-Eckardt: i have a quick side question
Nov 8 2015, 8:25 PM
SrSusan (guest): No she never returned she got involved in pro life work- was put in jail for it and said the Monastery helped her deal with solitary!
Nov 8 2015, 8:25 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Mosty I think grown children think their mother won’t be able to jump to help them any longer, which is true, except for prayer, of course.
Nov 8 2015, 8:25 PM
Dawn L: those directions can be carried out no matter where you are, or your vocation
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Alice Lewis-Eckardt: i have a quick side question
Nov 8 2015, 8:25 PM
SrSusan (guest): No she never returned she goy involved in pro life work- was put in jail for it and said the Monastery helped her deal with solitary!
Nov 8 2015, 8:25 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Mosty I think grown children think their mother won’t be able to jump to help them any longer, which is true, except for prayer, of course.
Lisa C: Jail?
Nov 8 2015, 8:26 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Right, Dawn!
Nov 8 2015, 8:26 PM
SrSusan (guest): Yes from pro life arrests
:27 PM
Dawn L:
Nov 8 2015, 8:27 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: unless Our Lord guides you into one
Nov 8 2015, 8:27 PM
Judy K: I know that people who demonstrate in front of abortion mills have been arrested.
Nov 8 2015, 8:27 PM
Lisa C: Demonstrators should not be arrested
Nov 8 2015, 8:28 PM
Ruth (guest): That’s interesting, Sr. Susan. I wonder why they put her is solitary. I’ve had some patients who spent more than half their lives in solitary. Gradually solitary confinement is coming to be regarded as “cruel and unusual punishment” — except that it is not so unusual.
Nov 8 2015, 8:28 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: What I’ve discovered is that, wherever Our Lord puts you, there will be BIG challenges if you want to stay faithful to Him and grow ever closer to Him.
Nov 8 2015, 8:29 PM
Alice Lewis-Eckardt: really Sister? what kind of changes?
Nov 8 2015, 8:29 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: and He always wants us to lean ever harder on Him – to trust and depend TOTALLY on Him
Nov 8 2015, 8:30 PM
Alice Lewis-Eckardt: oh challenges…
Nov 8 2015, 8:30 PM
Dawn L: oh Sr Mary,that is so true but no one has ever explained that –
Nov 8 2015, 8:30 PM
Guest1291 (guest): They might have put her in solitary for protection from the general population !
Nov 8 2015, 8:30 PM
Judy K: No but I am afraid that we will see more of that both in terms of abortion and same sex marriage situations-like that clerk who was arrested for not giving a marriage license to a couple desiring to be married. There are other situations like the folks who would not bake a cake for a same sex wedding.
Nov 8 2015, 8:30 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: challenges to the dominion of your ego!
Nov 8 2015, 8:30 PM
Ruth (guest): Catholic Workers who demonstrate peaceably for disarmament are often arrested, too, and sometimes serve quite long sentences. I’ve known many people, Catholic Workers and Anti-abortion demonstrators who have been jailed.
1 PM
Lisa C: the world is mixed up
Nov 8 2015, 8:31 PM
Alice Lewis-Eckardt: i see! Judy i just said this to a friend that was worried about persecution coming here!
Nov 8 2015, 8:31 PM
Alice Lewis-Eckardt: i said it IS here
Nov 8 2015, 8:31 PM
Judy K: So true, Alice! I fear how much further it could progress.
Nov 8 2015, 8:32 PM
SrSusan (guest): Sr Roberta has a good point too about dominion of the ego
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Alice Lewis-Eckardt: every day silently, our rights are being violated
Nov 8 2015, 8:32 PM
Lisa C: everything is backwards…people doing good things in jail
Nov 8 2015, 8:32 PM
Guest1291 (guest): Great Faith and Courage to stand for the Lord Jesus Ruth and to be willing to go to jail !
Nov 8 2015, 8:32 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: and so it’s ever harder to follow SFdS’s rule that “in everything charity must rule, enlighten and make us yield to the wishes of our neighbor in WHATSOEVER IS NOT CONTRARY TO THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.”
3 PM
Alice Lewis-Eckardt: Sister dominion of ego?
Nov 8 2015, 8:33 PM
Ann: I’m not sure if we ever got to the last question, but my answer to that one was that it confirms the feelings that have drawn me to discernment. This has been a very interesting chat, and I hope you all have a blessed week. See you next week!
Nov 8 2015, 8:33 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: and so much these days is CONTRARY TO THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD, that’s the problem
:34 PM
Judy K: I suppose our egos are our greatest enemies. We do so need humility to bring our egos under control, to recognize that we are not numero uno or the center of the universe.
Nov 8 2015, 8:34 PM
Alice Lewis-Eckardt: even friends and family are turning
35 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Prayers for you all! Please pray for me during my annual retreat in a local, Benedictine abbey 11/10 to 11/19.
Nov 8 2015, 8:35 PM
Alice Lewis-Eckardt: praying for you Sister and all! God Bless!
Nov 8 2015, 8:35 PM
Judy K: Have a wonderful retreat, a holy and challenging one!
Nov 8 2015, 8:35 PM
Ruth (guest): Yes, but sometimes I am embarrassed that I have NOT gone to jail; I’ve been careful — mostly so that I can continue to practice my profession — to support these people and “causes” without being on the “front line.”
Nov 8 2015, 8:35 PM
Dawn L: Sister Mary, God Bless you and THANK YOU for your words. prayers for your retreat
Nov 8 2015, 8:36 PM
SrSusan (guest): Prayers Sister for you and for all!
Nov 8 2015, 8:36 PM
Ruth (guest): My Catholic Worker friends are parents. They plan their “actions” so that at least one of the parents is home to take care of the children — like they take turns going to jail.
Judy K: Good night everyone.
Guest1291 (guest): Have a wonderful retreat Sister !
Ruth (guest): Good night.