February 7, 2022
Monday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our readings are woven through with the theme of “coming home”.
In 1 Kings, Solomon believes he has constructed the perfect home for God:
Then Solomon said, “The LORD intends to dwell in the dark cloud;
1 Kings 8:13
I have truly built you a princely house,
a dwelling where you may abide forever.”
Psalm 132 invites God to dwell in that home, and in the home of the psalmist’s heart:
Lord, go up to the place of your rest!
Psalm 132: 8
And in our Gospel, Jesus sails toward a quiet, homey place for peace and quiet:
After making the crossing to the other side of the sea,
Mark 6:53
Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennesaret
and tied up there.
Thinking of home, and sailing, and sea, my prayer this sunny morning is filled with thoughts of Ann. We, with fifty other young and vibrant souls, entered the convent together almost 60 years ago.
Among us, Ann was probably the only one who had ever sailed a boat. She was the child of surf and sand while most of us were children of bricks and trolley tracks.
She told me way back then how much she loved and missed the sea spray anointing her face as she sailed. She was then, and remained, a ray of freedom and delight.
Ann died a week ago after a Sunlit Life in God’s Mercy. I can almost see her grave from my window behind the Motherhouse, especially on this brilliant morning.
Reading Mark today, and picturing Jesus tie up his boat at the golden shore, I think of Ann on heaven’s morning – Spirit’s seaspray and sunlight come fully home.
Poem: Prayer – Renee Yann, RSM
You wait for me
to find morning’s
Eternal Edge.Coiled prayer
slowly unwinds
within and around.I see that You
sail forever
toward me.Come,
tie up now
at my heart.
Music: Sailing
Lavish Mercy 
Thanks for this memory of Ann. I was definitely touched by the news of her declining health and prayed daily for her. Such a happy soul, as you say, sailing home. I was a city girl too, but last night in a little church in New Smyrna Beach we sang, “Lord, You have come to the seashore…” I was also thinking of Ann. Take good care of yourself.
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Thanks, Patti. Love to you❤️🙏🤗
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This is such a beautiful blog. I have no idea who Ann was but I can tell she has had a spirit that has radiated in life and is still radiating now around the world… I am in Ireland… may she rest in peace and please you keep writing 🙏
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❤️dear Pauline, thank you. Ann was light , and she is now Light. I’m so glad her brightness touched you when you read this.❤️🙏
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Thanks for your beautiful remembrance of Ann – she is, no doubt, “Spirit’s seaspray and sunlight” filling every corner of Heaven! Thanks for updating me – she was and always will remain in my prayers.
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