1. As “big” and grand God is, St. Francis reminds us that the incarnation should help us appeal to God’s tenderness. How can we do this, opposed to scrupulously worrying about God’s critiques and harshness towards us?2. The wise worship Christ. The wise men brought gifts, but they also came from afar and went through great lengths to honor the newborn King. What gifts can we bring before Him?3. Have you ever thought of prayer as a “personal audience” with the Lord? How can we encounter prayer more deeply as
Jan 9, 10:04 AM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): as something special like this, instead of letting it become dull and mundane?
4. It is of utmost importance to stay close to God during the dryness we may experience, but amidst the experience of dryness, how do we do this?
5. How can we “love the hardships of God’s service more than the sweetness of the world’s service”? How is God’s service harsh? Isn’t it supposed to be mellow?
Jan 9, 10:05 AM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): SUN CHAT 730P EST JAN 10
Jan 10, 7:25 PM
VisitationSiste: WELCOME
Jan 10, 7:26 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: Hi Sr Susan Marie
Jan 10, 7:26 PM
VisitationSiste: hi CAROL ANN
Jan 10, 7:27 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: How was your feast of the Baptism?
Jan 10, 7:28 PM
VisitationSiste: IT WAS QUIET BUT BEAUTIFUL I LOVE TODAY’S LITURGY AND OFFICE
Jan 10, 7:29 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: Me too. It makes it clear that Jesus really is the Son of God
Jan 10, 7:29 PM
VisitationSiste: WE ONLY USE ONE TONE IN CHANT
Jan 10, 7:29 PM
VisitationSiste: BUT BEAUTIFUL
Jan 10, 7:30 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: I have some experience of tone chant but could never distinguish three from four etc
Jan 10, 7:30 PM
VisitationSiste: THOUGHT ALOT ABOUT ALL OUR BAPTISMS
Jan 10, 7:31 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: Me too. I’m told I had an emergency baptism jn the hospital when I was born but my actual certificate shows a later date
Jan 10, 7:32 PM
Guest5066 (Guest): hi sister
Jan 10, 7:32 PM
VisitationSiste: OH I AM GLAD YOU WERE BAPTIZED RIGHT AWAY
Jan 10, 7:32 PM
VisitationSiste: HI GUEST 5066
Jan 10, 7:33 PM
VisitationSiste: Q1 . As “big” and grand God is, St. Francis reminds us that the incarnation should help us appeal to God’s tenderness. How can we do this, opposed to scrupulously worrying about God’s critiques and harshness towards us?
Jan 10, 7:34 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: Because He became one of us, He knows what we go through and can help us
Jan 10, 7:35 PM
VisitationSiste: I LOVE THE TENDERNESS OF THE INFANT
Jan 10, 7:35 PM
VisitationSiste: YET THE BABY HAD DIVINE POWER
Jan 10, 7:37 PM
VisitationSiste: HE SHOWS US GOD IS NOT HARSH
Jan 10, 7:38 PM
Guest5066 (Guest): God is a loving God
Jan 10, 7:40 PM
Ruth (Guest): One tone in chant. Interesting. Always or only for the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus?
Jan 10, 7:40 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: Hi Ruth!
Jan 10, 7:41 PM
VisitationSiste: ALWAYS NOW HI RUTH
Jan 10, 7:41 PM
VisitationSiste: BECAUSE NO ORGANIST
Jan 10, 7:42 PM
Ruth (Guest): Hi Sister. Hi Carol Ann. And Guest who? and Visitors.
Jan 10, 7:43 PM
Ruth (Guest): Oh. I can’t remember who the organist was when I was there.
Jan 10, 7:44 PM
VisitationSiste: SR PAULINE SHE PASSED IN 2018
Jan 10, 7:44 PM
VisitationSiste: Q2 The wise men brought gifts, but they also came from afar and went through great lengths to honor the newborn King. What gifts can we bring before Him
Jan 10, 7:45 PM
Ruth (Guest): Yes. She sure must be missed. Are there any other sisters who are musically talented?
Jan 10, 7:45 PM
VisitationSiste: NO EXCEP TO SING
Jan 10, 7:47 PM
Guest5066 (Guest): faith in Him
Jan 10, 7:47 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: I can bring Him my heart
Jan 10, 7:48 PM
Guest5066 (Guest): love
Jan 10, 7:48 PM
Ruth (Guest): Singing is good. I don’t sing well, but I imagine that in heaven I could. The Advent/Christmas letter I wanted to write, but never did, was going to have the heading: O for a thousand tongues to sing my Great Redeemer’s praise!
Jan 10, 7:48 PM
VisitationSiste: LIKE THAT
Jan 10, 7:49 PM
Ruth (Guest): Bring him my whole being! Everything I am, everything I have.
Jan 10, 7:49 PM
VisitationSiste: BRING OURSELVES YES
Jan 10, 7:50 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: Because we really have nothing else. But we can also partake in creation through art and music and crafts, and gardening
Jan 10, 7:50 PM
Ruth (Guest): It’s from a Psalm; I don’t remember which one just now.
Jan 10, 7:51 PM
Ruth (Guest): Yes, and gardening. Do you do that?
Jan 10, 7:51 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: On a small scale
Jan 10, 7:51 PM
VisitationSiste: Q4 Have you ever thought of prayer as a “personal audience” with the Lord?
Jan 10, 7:52 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: Actually no, but it is
Jan 10, 7:52 PM
Ruth (Guest): I’m still growing in pots some “weeds” (I call ’em wildflowers, even when they are not flowering.) I dug up in the summertime.
Jan 10, 7:53 PM
Guest5066 (Guest): when you read psalms
Jan 10, 7:53 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: Yes, I’ve tried small beds but I just don’t have enough daylight hours consistently
Jan 10, 7:55 PM
Ruth (Guest): No. That sounds so formal. I don’t have an “audience” with a relative or a friend. Our God — so transcendent — has made himself like us, human, small — pitched his tent among us.
Jan 10, 7:56 PM
Ruth (Guest): That’s important, especially, when all of life seems like a climb up Mt. Everest!
Jan 10, 7:58 PM
VisitationSiste: PERSONAL CONVERSATION WITH HIM
Jan 10, 7:58 PM
Ruth (Guest): My oncologist said, though, just before Christmas, that I am on the descent now.
Jan 10, 7:58 PM
VisitationSiste: DONT UNDERSTAND
Jan 10, 7:58 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: Oh I don’t like the sound of that
Jan 10, 7:59 PM
Ruth (Guest): It, too, is dangerous. But I’m not puffing so hard as I was when the chemo and the cardiologists messed me up.
Jan 10, 8:01 PM
VisitationSiste: How can we encounter prayer more deeply as
as something special like this, instead of letting it become dull and mundane?
Jan 10, 8:01 PM
Ruth (Guest): Personal conversation, true. Sometimes even just being WITH him, in silence.
Jan 10, 8:02 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: Yes, to sit in silence, but focused on Him and what He might say
Jan 10, 8:03 PM
Guest5066 (Guest): He speaks to us in silence
Jan 10, 8:03 PM
Ruth (Guest): Carol Ann, I guess you didn’t hear; I’ve had a half year of very intensive chemotherapy — 24 hrs/day, 5-6 days every third week, to try to get an very aggressive form of lymphoma under control. So far, it seems I’ve been harder to kill than the tumors.
Jan 10, 8:05 PM
Ruth (Guest): Thanks be to God.
Jan 10, 8:06 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: No, somehow I was gone that week. I will be praying hard for you
Jan 10, 8:07 PM
Ruth (Guest): Yes. If we do all the talking, he can’t get a word in edgewise.
Jan 10, 8:07 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: Lol, that’s not what I meant
Jan 10, 8:10 PM
Ruth (Guest): LOL. Sorry. I understood. I used to even WRITE my “conversation” with Him. Mostly what he said was clearly scriptural. Sometimes psychologically smart. Sometimes funny. He’s helped me to not take myself TOO seriously.
Jan 10, 8:12 PM
Guest5066 (Guest): good to have a conversatiion daily even for few minutes
Jan 10, 8:12 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: I’ve found stream if consciousness Journaling during prayer can yield surprising results
Jan 10, 8:13 PM
VisitationSiste: HOW DOES THAT WORK
Jan 10, 8:14 PM
Ruth (Guest): Thank you, Carol Ann. I had a PET/CT that surprised by showing no evidence of the tumors. Another is scheduled for Feb 15.
Jan 10, 8:15 PM
VisitationSiste: I notice I meditate better with a pencil in hand but only do that on retreat
Jan 10, 8:16 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: Oh Ruth, that is amazing. I’m going to jeep right on praying they stay gone
Jan 10, 8:16 PM
VisitationSiste: You are being blessed dear Ruth!!!
Jan 10, 8:17 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: It’s a trick I picked up writing stories, but it can be used for prayer too
Jan 10, 8:17 PM
Ruth (Guest): Yes, Carol Ann. I think that’s what I have often done. I’ve sometimes done it in front of the Tabernacle, or even during exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.
Jan 10, 8:18 PM
VisitationSiste: He is talking directly to you it seems
Jan 10, 8:19 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: I think He does. Not every word but sometimes a phrase will come out of nowhere and I’ll know it wasn’t me
Jan 10, 8:21 PM
Ruth (Guest): I don’t think I could LIVE without his accompanying me every step of the way.
Jan 10, 8:22 PM
Guest5066 (Guest): I speak to him specially on Holy Thursday to keep Him company
Jan 10, 8:23 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: That is good. We are so quick to go home sometimes so I am glad at least one day we are encouraged to remain with Him
Jan 10, 8:23 PM
VisitationSiste: I could not either Ruth even without great challenges that so many others have
Jan 10, 8:26 PM
VisitationSiste: . It is of utmost importance to stay close to God during the dryness we may experience, but amidst the experience of dryness, how do we do this?
Jan 10, 8:27 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: By showing up for prayer even when it’s hard and we don’t “feel” like it
Jan 10, 8:28 PM
Ruth (Guest): It was hard without the Blessed Sacrament, without daily Mass, but he is PRESENT in so many ways, in so many people (e.g. nursing staff in the hospital — and even in neighbors some of whom can be downright nasty, mean, criminal! God’s love for them can change MY heart and help me to see HIS presence — perhaps wounded, helpless underlying their aggression.) Yes, a blessing, even in the troubles . . .
Jan 10, 8:30 PM
VisitationSiste: even in himan friendships every time one gets together is not always exciting but the union is there
Jan 10, 8:30 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: It is a gift of grace to see them as He does
Jan 10, 8:32 PM
VisitationSiste: To see Him in each other- quite a grace sometimes
Jan 10, 8:32 PM
VisitationSiste: last q How can we “love the hardships of God’s service more than the sweetness of the world’s service”?
Jan 10, 8:33 PM
Ruth (Guest): Yes, Carol Ann. Setting aside specific times for more intense, Sacred Scripture – based reflection and prayer. Matthew Kelly suggests that there needs to be a rhythm or pattern within the pattern of prayer.
Jan 10, 8:33 PM
VisitationSiste: I am not sure I agree that the worlds service is sweet it can also be hard and with God, He can make all things joyous
Jan 10, 8:33 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: Yes our Rule says that too
Jan 10, 8:34 PM
VisitationSiste: I have to go now. Please have a blessed week and keep on chatting!
Jan 10, 8:34 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: Thank you Sister!
Jan 10, 8:34 PM
Guest5066 (Guest): Thank you sister
Jan 10, 8:35 PM
Ruth (Guest): Thank you Sister! May God bless you and your community.
Jan 10, 8:45 PM
Ruth (Guest): I think I’d better sign off, too. My supper has been heated in the microwave twice, with phone calls and chat in between. Now for a third re-warming! Maybe in a email we can share phone #’s. I’m just now getting so that I can do a little again with the computer or iPad. A friend who calls me regularly was sending email updates to several prayerful friends. But now I think she expects me to do more for myself. Still so fatigued . . .
Jan 10, 8:46 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: I think you will still be fatigued for a while. It’s important to take things slow
Jan 10, 8:47 PM
Ruth (Guest): Yes, I remember. And your picture on horseback.
Jan 10, 8:47 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: THats me
Jan 10, 8:48 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: Please rest and eat a little something before the microwave Kills it
Jan 10, 8:48 PM
Ruth (Guest): And a couple of books you wrote . . .
Jan 10, 8:48 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: Oh, you found those!