Last night Sr. Martha Ann invited us to join her at a Ramadan Iftar, the evening meal by which Muslims break their day-long fast. She had been invited to speak about her peacebuilding mission to Iraq to a group of interfaith leaders from San Antonio.
The evening began with a beautiful prayer from the Qur'an and a welcome from the Imam (like the priest in Catholicism). Then he introduced sister Sarwat, the leader of the San Antonio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). A graceful Pakistani woman, her Islamic dress was red and white with a beautiful scarf wrapping her head. She smiled from the podium, but her eyes reflected a deep sadness as she began.
"I could talk about the celebration of Ramadan," she said. "But none of us are really in the mood for celebration."
She continued on to share, instead, her insights and frustrations with perceptions and attitudes toward Muslims in the United States. She spoke of the anger that so many people feel toward the building of mosques and community centers, and reminded us of a taxi driver who was stabbed only days ago because he is Muslim. She pointed out that each day, we hear and see in the media more negative stories of Muslims. She calmly but passionately explained the ignorance of that attitude.
"Every religion has extremists and radicals," she told us. "Why is it that all Muslims are expected to take responsibility for the actions of some fundamentalists who are not practicing the true teachings of Islam anyway? We condemned 9-1-1. We are not happy about the war, either. When I hear about the drone attacks in Pakistan it breaks my heart; I cry myself to sleep. Will we let this hatred continue?"
She showed a slide reporting the religious affiliations claimed by U.S. citizens -- this percent Christian, this percent Muslim, this percent non-believers, etc. "But who cares?" she said. "We are one people. Will we let ourselves be defined and segregated by our religious affiliations?"
I am no expert on Islam. I am no expert on American-Islamic relations. I do know that the rhetoric coming from many voices in our country is driven not by the desire for peace but by fear, hatred, or ignorance. I also see how our wars are perpetuating that message. War does not bring real peace. It breeds hatred.
I will conclude with a passage that was quoted from the Qur'an, a holy book of Islam. It teaches the same messages of love of neighbor and self taught by Christian scriptures. I believe more now than ever that we worship one God, we just know that God by different names:
“If anyone kills a person it would be as if he killed the whole humanity: and if anyone saved a life it would be as if he saved the life of the whole humanity" (5:32).
Let us be instruments of peace.
*I took a bit of liberty in quoting Sarwat. This is how I remember what she said.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
to serve and to love... is not easy.
I just brought Mom, Kim, and Ginger to the airport after their weekend visiting me in San Antonio. It is moments like these that make me wonder what I am doing here. Being separated from people I love is so hard. It's not fun, it's not easy, it's not painless. As my brother recently reminded me, though, moments of discomfort are those that remind us of our need for God. When we get too comfortable, we begin to think we are indestructible. We begin to think that we don't need anyone else in our lives! Being in this position reminds me of how vulnerable I am and I will certainly be relying on the spirit of love working through people around me to sustain me through the next two years.
As always, we look to role models for support.... and for you, my family, a prayer to St. Joseph:
As always, we look to role models for support.... and for you, my family, a prayer to St. Joseph:
Joseph, strengthen in our family every bond of love which unites us --
the marriage bond,
the love of parent and child,
the bonds of mutual love between all.
Joseph, protect our family from every danger from without
and from every threat to peace, unity and harmony within.
Joseph, teach us to be kind and loving towards one another,
careful for one another,
tolerant of one another,
forgiving towards one another.
Joseph, may contentment with our lot and joy in each other abound in our house,
as we seek faithfully to serve and greatly to love God.
Peace and laughter,
Emily
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
mission is venturing into the heart of another
A long awaited update, I know. I admit that blogging is a difficult thing, but everything seems at the same time too ordinary to write about and too indescribable for words. Still, I'll do my best. Let me warn you though that it is heavy on spirituality and theory, since that's kind of what we've been doing. If that doesn't interest you, feel free to skim... after orientation I'll have more activities and cultural excitements to describe!
We have just finished day 16 of our orientation, which will end this Friday. I have learned so much about the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, mission, the church, culture, community, etc. It's been a very rich experience, so let me try to share pieces of what I've learned...
On our second day, Sr. Corine talked to us about CCVI (abbreviation for the congregation) history. If you'd like to learn about it, you can find it on their website, I won't bore you with all the details right now. However, she did make some interesting points about women religious in general, especially the fact that they really led the women's empowerment movement in the US (and still are around the world). She said that women religious are the most educated group of women in the US and that religious women were the first women to hold administrative positions, especially in schools and hospitals. For Mom and Dad, she also talked to us about our parents, and that we need to understand how difficult it is let a child leave home and enter into the unknown, and that "they will be blessed, too, for that."
We spent time with Sr. Rosie and Sr. Tere Maya talking about CCVI spirituality and charism, delving more deeply into discovering who Jesus really is and how the sisters live out their missions. Sr. Tere Maya emphasized that the charism of the congregation is not "historical," but is about recognizing the needs of the times. Their charism statement is beautiful: "That the love of God, as it is made manifest in the Incarnation, be made real and tangible in the world today." The love that Jesus gave us is the love we are called to give each other! By becoming human, God "dignifies our human condition to the level that is is divine." Being fully human is not only good, but divine, of God!
We have also studied a bit of Christology and Ecclesiology, and if you want to hear more about those discussions, you can e-mail me. I don't think it would be the most interesting read! Basically, we are gaining a deeper understanding of what it means to be a missionary in the catholic church today... i.e. building relationships, sharing love, etc.
I should also tell you that my departure date has been delayed to Sept. 9 due to visa delays. Kelli and I will be staying here in San Antonio working with the sisters on some projects and in some classes at the university. It is a little disappointing but I think it will be a really good time! One of our sites in Chimbote will be helping to establish a branch of Women's Global Connection, which you can read about on their website, womensglobalconnection.org. They are doing some research and work with the program here in SA so we will get to learn more about that!
I will leave you with a few reflections from our retreat this past Friday and Saturday. It was really beautiful, at a retreat center on a nice piece of parkland in the city, with a pond, great climbing trees, and a labyrinth. There was one tree overlooking the pond that I climbed a couple times, and I could watch as five or so turtles slowly swam to the shore and rested on the banks. It was really nice to feel like I was escaping from the city. Anyway, here are a few art projects I made there and some explanation to help you understand where I am right now...
This is a door tag to the door of me! We were directed to decorate a door tag with images or words that signified the message we want to radiate to others. I wrote, "Aqui estoy, contigo," which means, "I am here, with you." I first chose "I am here" as a humble offering of myself and my desire to be in relationship, recognizing that I may not be able to help, per say, but that I am offering my presence. I added "contigo" to remove the emphasis from myself and instead emphasize being present to the individual in front of me.
This is an oil crayon image that I drew in response to a reflection on the fact that God really came to earth and really cares about human beings! It spurred from a poem about a little girl telling the Christmas story, which ends with, "And she jumped in the air, whirled round, dove into the sofa and buried her head under the cushion, which is the only proper response to the Good News of Incarnation." So... we were asked to think about our response to this Good News. I went out by the pond and sat observing and meditating and this is what I came up with! It is a spider, just beginning a web. The metaphor is something like this... a spider, when setting out to build a web, has to contribute the materials and energy for the project, but then relies upon the breeze to carry it where it may, and there it begins building. I feel a bit like the spider in midair, trusting the Spirit or love or my deepest desire (whatever you choose to call it) to lead me where it may.
Finally, this is a symbol of my holiness! Or, at least, what my symbol would be if I were to achieve sainthood :) We were asked to imagine that Sr. Bridget Marie (leading the retreat) did a Google search for holiness, and our name popped up. What would the blurb say? What symbol would represent us? So, it's looking at what we hope to become or the way we strive to live.... the symbol is hands (working in the world) holding out a yellow light (warmth, light, self-gift) with a blooming flower (recognizing room for development and learning and growth).
My self-description is this: She never doubts the sincerity of others, but meets each person with gentleness and gratitude. This is not due to naivety, for she has a grounded sense of reality, but due to her belief that as a community and by the grace of God, we can each move beyond our limited sense of the possible into a reality where peace and common dignity triumph.
Ah, and tonight we met with some sisters and some students from the University of the Incarnate Word. The students are all involved in campus ministry leadership, so it was very interesting to hear some of their perspectives. One of the sisters shared about a homily she heard this weekend, in which the priest said the line that titles this entry, so that's where it came from! I think it sums up the last 2 weeks quite well.
So, if you made it all the way through, congratulations and thank you for reading! I apologize for any typos or poor writing... I kind of went straight through and wrote because I knew if I thought about it too much I would end up writing nothing (and I'm too sleepy to proofread!). If you want to know more about anything or if I failed to tell you about something that you want to know, e-mail me! emilyruskamp@gmail.com
Paz, laughter, and all good things,
Emily
We have just finished day 16 of our orientation, which will end this Friday. I have learned so much about the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, mission, the church, culture, community, etc. It's been a very rich experience, so let me try to share pieces of what I've learned...
On our second day, Sr. Corine talked to us about CCVI (abbreviation for the congregation) history. If you'd like to learn about it, you can find it on their website, I won't bore you with all the details right now. However, she did make some interesting points about women religious in general, especially the fact that they really led the women's empowerment movement in the US (and still are around the world). She said that women religious are the most educated group of women in the US and that religious women were the first women to hold administrative positions, especially in schools and hospitals. For Mom and Dad, she also talked to us about our parents, and that we need to understand how difficult it is let a child leave home and enter into the unknown, and that "they will be blessed, too, for that."
We spent time with Sr. Rosie and Sr. Tere Maya talking about CCVI spirituality and charism, delving more deeply into discovering who Jesus really is and how the sisters live out their missions. Sr. Tere Maya emphasized that the charism of the congregation is not "historical," but is about recognizing the needs of the times. Their charism statement is beautiful: "That the love of God, as it is made manifest in the Incarnation, be made real and tangible in the world today." The love that Jesus gave us is the love we are called to give each other! By becoming human, God "dignifies our human condition to the level that is is divine." Being fully human is not only good, but divine, of God!
We have also studied a bit of Christology and Ecclesiology, and if you want to hear more about those discussions, you can e-mail me. I don't think it would be the most interesting read! Basically, we are gaining a deeper understanding of what it means to be a missionary in the catholic church today... i.e. building relationships, sharing love, etc.
I should also tell you that my departure date has been delayed to Sept. 9 due to visa delays. Kelli and I will be staying here in San Antonio working with the sisters on some projects and in some classes at the university. It is a little disappointing but I think it will be a really good time! One of our sites in Chimbote will be helping to establish a branch of Women's Global Connection, which you can read about on their website, womensglobalconnection.org. They are doing some research and work with the program here in SA so we will get to learn more about that!
I will leave you with a few reflections from our retreat this past Friday and Saturday. It was really beautiful, at a retreat center on a nice piece of parkland in the city, with a pond, great climbing trees, and a labyrinth. There was one tree overlooking the pond that I climbed a couple times, and I could watch as five or so turtles slowly swam to the shore and rested on the banks. It was really nice to feel like I was escaping from the city. Anyway, here are a few art projects I made there and some explanation to help you understand where I am right now...
This is a door tag to the door of me! We were directed to decorate a door tag with images or words that signified the message we want to radiate to others. I wrote, "Aqui estoy, contigo," which means, "I am here, with you." I first chose "I am here" as a humble offering of myself and my desire to be in relationship, recognizing that I may not be able to help, per say, but that I am offering my presence. I added "contigo" to remove the emphasis from myself and instead emphasize being present to the individual in front of me.
This is an oil crayon image that I drew in response to a reflection on the fact that God really came to earth and really cares about human beings! It spurred from a poem about a little girl telling the Christmas story, which ends with, "And she jumped in the air, whirled round, dove into the sofa and buried her head under the cushion, which is the only proper response to the Good News of Incarnation." So... we were asked to think about our response to this Good News. I went out by the pond and sat observing and meditating and this is what I came up with! It is a spider, just beginning a web. The metaphor is something like this... a spider, when setting out to build a web, has to contribute the materials and energy for the project, but then relies upon the breeze to carry it where it may, and there it begins building. I feel a bit like the spider in midair, trusting the Spirit or love or my deepest desire (whatever you choose to call it) to lead me where it may.
My self-description is this: She never doubts the sincerity of others, but meets each person with gentleness and gratitude. This is not due to naivety, for she has a grounded sense of reality, but due to her belief that as a community and by the grace of God, we can each move beyond our limited sense of the possible into a reality where peace and common dignity triumph.
Ah, and tonight we met with some sisters and some students from the University of the Incarnate Word. The students are all involved in campus ministry leadership, so it was very interesting to hear some of their perspectives. One of the sisters shared about a homily she heard this weekend, in which the priest said the line that titles this entry, so that's where it came from! I think it sums up the last 2 weeks quite well.
So, if you made it all the way through, congratulations and thank you for reading! I apologize for any typos or poor writing... I kind of went straight through and wrote because I knew if I thought about it too much I would end up writing nothing (and I'm too sleepy to proofread!). If you want to know more about anything or if I failed to tell you about something that you want to know, e-mail me! emilyruskamp@gmail.com
Paz, laughter, and all good things,
Emily
Monday, August 2, 2010
San Antone!
Just a few words to let everyone know that I'm doing very well here in San Antonio! There are currently five of us new missionaries here, and I am really enjoying getting to know the other girls. Today was our first day of orientation, so we haven't done too much yet, but I definitely feel that I am in the right place. We got to hear from the Congregational Coordinator of the Sisters of the Charity of the Incarnate Word today, and she is a spectacular woman. She is the highest-up person in the congregation and still lives in the Visitation House, which is a house of hospitality for women and children who have nowhere to go. She also studies and teaches feminist liberation theology and mujerista theology, which looks at Latina women in the Church. She is very charismatic and I have a very good impression so far of the incarnational spirituality! Here are a few words she shared with us; it is an excerpt from their foundational letter, sent by a bishop to a congregation in Europe requesting their service. I believe it is truly a call to all of us and is, indeed, the call I am seeking to answer!
"Our Lord Jesus Christ, suffering in the persons of a multitude of the sick and infirm of every kind, seeks relief at your hands." -Bishop Claude Marie Dubuis, 1866
Otherwise, it is very hot here in San Antonio and we walked around downtown a bit this afternoon. We are staying at a retreat center very close to downtown and our evenings are very open so it is nice to have lots of time together as a community!
I miss you all and I thank you for keeping me in your prayers!
Peace, laughter, and all good things.
"Our Lord Jesus Christ, suffering in the persons of a multitude of the sick and infirm of every kind, seeks relief at your hands." -Bishop Claude Marie Dubuis, 1866
Otherwise, it is very hot here in San Antonio and we walked around downtown a bit this afternoon. We are staying at a retreat center very close to downtown and our evenings are very open so it is nice to have lots of time together as a community!
I miss you all and I thank you for keeping me in your prayers!
Peace, laughter, and all good things.
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