The View Up Here

Monastery of St. Clare I am beginning the third week of my live-in at the Monastery of St. Clare. These two weeks were sadly interrupted by a trip back to Elmira this past week to attend the funeral of my dear Aunt Stella, who was 94. The emotion of processing her death, the weight of grieving, as well as the joy of seeing so many of my cousins I hadn't seen in years, all of it, was very overwhelming. Yesterday I took a quiet day at the monastery (not doing work during the work periods), and today being Sunday is also a quiet afternoon. Tomorrow I will be back to the regular horarium (schedule).  In the midst of all this, my relationship with Jesus is central. I am living the reality now that no matter what I am called to in this life, my relationship with Jesus is central. It's so easy to say those words, to nod and even say "Well...duh." But living that truth is the challenge of Christian life. In the sea of confusion, emotion, choices, and anguish is the ...

A few days ago on Facebook, I posted a video by a Scottish guy sitting in the front seat of his car, his 4 year old daughter in the back, her telling him that if she wants a boyfriend, she's gonna have a boyfriend, and him telling her he's going to commit violence to said boyfriend and his da. Then he tells her she's going to be a nun (as in, not have a boyfriend or husband), and shows her his cross pendant to let her know "who she'll be working for." I have since deleted that post (the video) along with the comments that people posted (unavoidable if I was to take down the video in the original post). To those I offended by reposting that video - I apologize to you.  When I first saw this video, I thought it was funny and not at all to be taken seriously. The guy was clearly (to me) being over the top and tongue in cheek in his role as the over-protective father. I got the feeling that this was a routine or skit these two might play out, as the respo...