September, 2007
September 21, 2007
Strength and Courage
I’m having an immigrant moment. There is a deep misunderstanding between my computer and me. I’m afraid to go into all those little windows and reconfigure anything for fear that the keyboard will change languages or decide that I am no longer the owner.
I have high degrees of education and am successful in my ministry. But, at the moment, I cannot communicate. My computer has decided that I am not speaking the right language or following its self-subscribed protocols. I want to give up.
How do our new immigrant neighbors find their strength and courage to keep trying when they want to give up? How do they reach out to others when they worry about missing protocol clues? How do they keep going to language class? These people are heroes! I want their strength and courage. I need their tremendous patience as well.
I understand in a whole new way why our teachers at our English Language Learning School are so content: they teach English; and in return their students teach courage, strength, patience, compassion, and love.
Possumus
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September 7, 2007
Peace Starts Here
We’ve all heard before that there is nothing as sharp as the tongue. I’ve come to believe that cruel words are the seeds of war. We speak of Iraq and Afghanistan, but war, I suspect is no further than our own ego. Can you think of a time when you felt hurt and wanted to get even? If we thought of it as war on a different scale, I believe we might be able to save our world.
What if we:
- realize that the only person we can change is ourselves;
- take time to notice when our ego becomes engaged;
- return thoughts of loving kindness in response to a negative encounter;
- decide that life is really about process and not product;
- eliminate violence from our immediate world via TV, radio, newspaper.
Work to change yourself, not others. Cleanse yourself of negative reactions. Immerse yourself in beauty. Discover silence. Peace is in us. Let’s spread it.
Possumus
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September 4, 2007
"Insure" the Future
I’d like you to think about insurance policies for a moment. You probably have one or two that you’ve either stopped payment on or the reason you purchased them no longer exists.
Insurance policies make great gifts to our Sisters’ Ministries Foundation. It costs nothing to give and you receive a tax write off as well! Everyone wins! Please consider going though your old polices and revisiting their purpose and need. Once you determine that the need no longer exists, surprise us and send them to:
The Sisters of St. Joseph’s Ministries Foundation
1884 Randolph Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55105
If you have any questions, you can contact our Planned Giving Officer, Lisse Regehr, at 651-690-7092. I also advise you to talk with your financial advisor or attorney to determine if this is the right gift for you to make.
I guarantee it will make your day, our day and the day of the people we serve.
Possumus!
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September 3, 2007
The More One Gives, the More One Learns
We have a program that serves annually hundreds of immigrants who want to learn English. It’s located in Minneapolis on the corner of 26th and Blaisdell. Most of the teachers are Sisters of St. Joseph who have retired but still have A LOT left to give. As a matter of fact, they crave helping out.
Sister Agnes Foley is the Director of this school called Learning In Style. She is a prime example of how one gives until it feels good. Her work does not start and stop at the classroom door. Sister Ag sees that the individuals who come for English classes are often desperate. “What would you do,” she says, “if your students came hungry, jobless, working on finding housing and worried about their children?” Immigrants have complicated lives—not unlike the lives of our early immigrant relatives.
Sister Ag finds herself serious about expanding services. “We need a building that will house our school, a childcare center, free store, a clinics, Legal Aid, and job placement as well just to name a few.”
When I join Sister Ag’s circle of problem-solvers for more space and more services, I’m struck by the fact that the more one gives, the more one learns to see through to deeper levels of need. The more one is able to see the more one desires to give more.
I suppose it is like developing a muscle. The more you use it the stronger it becomes. Sister Ag sees that education is one step—an important step--but not the last step. “We can to do more,” she says.
The Sisters of St. Joseph have a well-developed muscle for giving. We’ve been responding to the needs of the time for over 3 ½ centuries. Maybe we’ve become the trainers? How about investing in the Sisters of St. Joseph as your personal trainer for your philanthropic development? I guarantee, the more we work together the better you will feel.
Possumus.
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