AnchoressNun's Xanga

Our new weblog addresses

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 09:47:13 GMT

http://www.sisterdaughter.blogspot.com replaces this weblog ( typo now corrected; apologies for that error)

http://www.xanga/com.sistersofgraceofchrist remains our Irish sales page until we find free web space as easy to use as this.

http://monasticflowers.blogspot.com is our very quiet Irish site

Also see http://www.letters-from-mother.blogspot. com

We will check this site daily but not post more here. And we have thus closed off the comment page.

We can be contacted at anchoresscj at yahoo dot com.

Mail is filtered there also.

Blessings and thanks to all there and here.

New beginnings...

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 11:32:47 GMT

As we hoped, we have been able to set up a new weblog...

http://sisterdaughter.blogspot.com/

We did not realise what was happening with the advertisements here, until someone said they had bought a CD from one of our links.

The page we work on does not carry any advertisements so we do not see them.

xanga is free, but at this cost, and we have no control over the advertisements that come up.

And of course, if you pay for premium, which we would never do, then no advertisements.

And of course, the adverts link automatically to the content of the posting. We dare not look back !!!

This site will stay as it is, but all future posts will be at the new site.

And we will set that up more fully as time passes.

IF we could get free web space that is as easy to use as xanga, we would move the sales page of course, but for now all we can do is put a disclaimer on...

Blessings and thanks.. see you on the other site.

Contemplating...

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 04:14:50 GMT

......moving our weblog to quieter and advertisement free waters....

We will of course inform readers here.

But xanga is becoming very noisy.

See our quieter weblog at

www.monasticflowers.blogspot.com

If we can get a second blog there.....

Working to see if that is possible.

Difficult reading.

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 05:52:50 GMT

http://clericalwhispers.blogspot.com/2009/08/deafening-silence-over-deaths-of-irish.html

We cross-referenced to the Irish Central site - which we had never heard of until now - and found the full article.

http://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/col/eholt/Suffer-little-children-New-evidence-that-Irish-kids-were-murdered-in-reform-schools.html?page=1

It bears strong resemblance to the Kevin Annett site we featured a while back.

http://www.hiddenfromhistory.org/

And add this to the scene...

http://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/col/eholt/Mindset-of-the-harshest-Christian-Brothers-Boys-are-illegitimate-and-pure-dirt-47041902.html?page=1

And some understanding comes in.

What has always puzzled is that whereas in other cases, like Canada, it was genocide.

Here in Ireland, it "seemed" different.

Because it was their own they were abusing.

But this writer adds a dimension not seen heretofore.

Somehow it did not make full sense; although we know full well how illegitimacy has been historically seen. We were founded in an age when any illegitimate woman, or a woman who had turned from a street life, could not enter a religious order.

But would the Church really kill babies and children for a moral/immoral reason?

It reminded also of something that came to light when I was on the island.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-bodies-under-the-floorboards-664063.html

One descendant there said that this was their method of birth control... But it was much more than that.

Here, in the "mindset" article, the real reasons are hinted at.

Because Rome is not Irish.

So yes, they were and are invaders and conquerors and in a more dangerous and underhand was than open invasion.

Out of kilter with the Irish temperament and culture.

To see the Irish, cowed and somber, in Church, and to see them singing in beer gardens.... Many not drinking; just singing joyfully, as opposed to the dire warblings of rural Church choirs..

"Religion" has been inflicted and afflicted, fostering the darkest elements of human nature. Cruelty breeding cruelty.

Food for deep thought indeed.

Blessings this day

Riches and rain

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 05:19:16 GMT

When a homeless person gets soaked to the skin, they stay that way. No safe place to go; no protecting roof.

Wet clothes clinging to shivering skin. Shoes squelching.

As a tiny newborn baby also; exposed to the elements.

Washed by rain, chilled by wind, burned by sun; naked and defenceless.

The continuing storms on Saturday saw a new meaning to wetness. We have no "parapluie"; no trading booth. And it was not possible to work from the back of the car.

There was not the let up that had been forecast; strong gales and sideway rain.

A young Iranian, selling all kinds of olives and sweetmeats gave shelter in his tent. And there we sat, knitting and watching the storm, drenched from trying to protect our stock.

Few of the stalls opened.

Our total sales were four jars of jam and one tea cosy.

As we were stacking the crates and boxes - it was impossible to load them into the car without major damage, and there is night security there, so all would stay in the Iranian's stall overnight - chilled hands were clumsy, and two crates of jams went crashing to the ground.

And every young French stallholder ran to help and console.

Back here, socks could be wrung out, and every layer of clothing was dripping cold water.

But a roof, safe, dry clothing, heating....

We are not poor; we are rich and blessed.

We have no rights to these things.

And unless we give, others will not stop being cold and wet and naked.

This is why we work as we do. In deepest gratitude and thankfulness and awareness of our great riches.

This is why we buy and do nothing that is not needful; so that we may give to those whose basic needs can never be met unless we, who know Jesus, will give.

We explain this so often, as it seems to have become lost in the mire of these days.

If you stay in touch with these realities, then all the campaigning and protesting, all the clamouring for "rights" becomes the hollow echo it is.

Sunday brought calm and SUN!

And the French Market was alive. Who needs to travel? The air rang with greetings and hugs and laughter.

We were there early, to rescue our stock and set up properly.

Many of the stallholders are young, itinerants, and they work hard. Watching the garlic potato stall couple.. great skillets of steaming fragrance. All day long they cooked.. the aromas totally un-Irish.

A kind lady bought some for us, and the hot delicacies were welcome.

And the crepe lady! Watching her work was to see an artistry. Fascinating.

All day they toiled.

Two of the men busking with music on accordion and guitar. French cigarettes in the air...

It is a world apart.

And sales were good for us too. Better than since our last day with this market.

And so many seeking prayer and to talk. Always this, for that too is why we are there. Touching the world at our point of need and ours.

From the sanctuary and struggle of our lives as Nuns. Firmly and fully based in that and in that alone.

So supportive for once to be cared for; the car loaded, ,and all hands there for us.

So now we check and dry out stock, for the deluges started again before we left. Jams need relabelling as the computer ink runs easily.

They laughed as they asked if I were coming with them to their next venue! Itinerant nomad nun! Wonderful thought indeed, for they go to Co Cavan next.

So as we write this, they will be all packed up and that a job in itself, and on the road now.

Leaving us with warm smiles and good memories. And always holding them in prayer .. children of God, with warmth in their hearts for a stranger.

So different from the suspicious faces we can see here. Or the over-deferent

So onwards now, seeing what next there is to do and make and write.

For the care of lives is a daily one .

So that tiny naked babies may be fed and clothed and loved; and the homeless know that there is love and caring for them in this wild and windy world that seems not to care.

Please, will you not help us in this work? Buy from us, give to us? We are all so very rich are we not? Maybe use or spend a little less to spare for these blameless ones who suffer so?

Some kind ones save small change in a jar, then cash it in and send a cheque; all helps and our banks here accept all curriences and make no charge when we are depositing.

Others send a set amount each month; a dollar a day is little to spare and we can do so much with that.. and if we know that that is coming in we can do so much more.

A dollar a day will feed one of our wee ones.

Please; think about it? And pray on it?

Thank you and bless you...

Our sales page is always there... and we are always here to serve you.

http://www.xanga.com/sistersofgraceofchrist

Blessings this sodden and chilly day.

Verses...

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:08:27 GMT

Odd how verses come through many sources.

The norm, the acceptable.

Titus 1:6-9: "An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife,"

And Jesus...

	Luke 20:27-40
Some Sadducees – those who say that there is no resurrection – approached him and they put this question to him, ‘Master, we have it from Moses in writing, that if a man’s married brother dies childless, the man must marry the widow to raise up children for his brother. Well then, there were seven brothers. The first, having married a wife, died childless. The second and then the third married the widow. And the same with all seven, they died leaving no children. Finally the woman herself died Now, at the resurrection, to which of them will she be wife since she had been married to all seven?’ Jesus replied, ‘The children of this world take wives and husbands, but those who are judged worthy of a place in the other world and if’ the resurrection from the dead do not marry because they can no longer die, for they are the same as the angels, and being children of the resurrection they are sons of God. And Moses himself implies that the dead rise again, in the passage about the bush where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is God, not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all men are in fact alive.’ Some scribes then spoke up. ‘Well put, Master’ they said – because they would not dare to ask him any more questions.

Luke 20:27-40

Some Sadducees – those who say that there is no resurrection – approached him and they put this question to him, ‘Master, we have it from Moses in writing, that if a man’s married brother dies childless, the man must marry the widow to raise up children for his brother. Well then, there were seven brothers. The first, having married a wife, died childless. The second and then the third married the widow. And the same with all seven, they died leaving no children. Finally the woman herself died Now, at the resurrection, to which of them will she be wife since she had been married to all seven?’
Jesus replied, ‘The children of this world take wives and husbands, but those who are judged worthy of a place in the other world and if’ the resurrection from the dead do not marry because they can no longer die, for they are the same as the angels, and being children of the resurrection they are sons of God. And Moses himself implies that the dead rise again, in the passage about the bush where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is God, not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all men are in fact alive.’
Some scribes then spoke up. ‘Well put, Master’ they said – because they would not dare to ask him any more questions.

Qualifying...

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 05:38:55 GMT

... some of the last entry..

ALL sin is contamination.

ALL are welcomed who know and love the Lord Jesus and strive to live in obedience to Him, willingly and gladly.

NO ONE is ever turned away who lives the laws.

But how to welcome those living openly what is sin? Saying that this is right?

That then becomes their choice.

And, most of all, all of us, each one, will answer to God fo our own sin, our own failings.

Many Religious Orders include "gays"; but they of course live celibacy as all do within the Vows.

And it is no different in the outside world.

Chastity and purity, and humility before God.

Love for others.

Not the hatred and anger that we see and hear it seems every day from campaigners.

Nor the hatred and anger we see and hear it seems every day from those who oppose ..

There is no intolerance here; simply the love of Jesus and the abiding in a life lived in purity. Because the Word is Lord.

NB it says so much that we have deemed it needful when posting today to block messages. Those who know us have our private email and mail is filtered there anyways. It is the aggression that tells truth.

Blessings this stormy day.

Contamination; August 1st

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 05:13:25 GMT

Isn't it interesting that the weather icon on yesterday's posting updated itself last night?

So now you can see the weather in Ireland here, every day!

Contamination?

Oh yes.

See

http://clericalwhispers.blogspot.com/2009/07/jubilation-as-quakers-endorse-same-sex.html

Well, their statements have no basis in the Word of God; quite the opposite as they worship the great god sex.

Maybe a good thing as now the Quakers will become a "gay" church, along with many branches of the Anglican church.

There is pretty hotel here, that advertises itself as "gay friendly"; so now it becomes a mecca of course.

Do these non-Christian, secular campaigners really think that those who know and love the Lord Jesus will respect and join with them?

We who know that in Him we have no rights that are not of Him? Only graces and deep privileges? Lost in love and desire to serve Him and His needy ones.. all else set aside.

Someone said re mass here that we should go, anger and all, and "offer that up"; we refused to contaminate Holy Mass.

And the same applies to this.

It has become a political, rational organisation, preoccupied with matters that have nothing to do with the worship of God.

No grace, no humility.

And such intolerance of others as they bludgeon their way.

Whatever voice these persuasive ones are listening to is not the Voice of God.

One of the dangers with the current abuse furore here is that true morality will be lost. So many abused turn to corrupt practices.

And on these issues there can be no compromise.

So now the Churches will purify as the ghettoes take shape.

******************************************

Today, our true battle is against the elements as we prepare for market in high winds. A pure struggle. And one we undertake gladly.

It will be an...... interesting day! Yesterday's gales were high and all the stalls are tents. Yet these are strong men and will be used to these conditions.

Please God we can keep the Nunmobile with us and thus get some shelter. We use no tent as it was impossible to hold in the weather here. The last time we tried saw us crossing the road hanging on to our canvas for dear life...Almost took off that day...heavy rain running down arms. Ugh!

Would we be going out if it were to our usual place? Not in this weather! No way.

But such is the need of our babies and children and a chance to trade with a good market is rare.

Blessings this day... August here!

Summer Friday

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:56:41 GMT

Heavy rain driven by gales force winds.

Incredible that it is cold enough and dank enough to need to put a little heating on, for the first time since March. Thankful for the oil that was donated. So deeply thankful for that kind and generous gift.

Pity the market, due to start today; keep them safe for tomorrow...

So we hunker down and knit and pray. Newborn baby booties in pretty pink, and lemon and blue.

Hats to match if there is time.

And always the pure white sets.

Always stock to build up, good housekeeping.

And the grace of work always. Always that; simple repetitive hand work that is prayer.

Blessings this wild day...

Pottering...

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 04:46:48 GMT

It is interesting, pottering on the web after a long day.

A weblog from an old religious order in an ancient tradition. They speak of their lives and charism being "all for God" and that they are to do thus nothing "pragmatic"

Meaning that as a contemplative order they must do no active work ...

Yet their weblog just now is full of photos of the new kitchens thay are having built; of the workmen, of fund-raising for the new kitchens.

And always of photos and detail of their life within the Enclosure, where no one is allowed to walk?

This seem an anomaly to us; we never even allow photos and sometimes this can cause even anger as happened last weekend.

And never inside our Enclosure.

Yet this order would see us as... pragmatic....because we care for the homeless?

The divisions have become corrupted, diluted, distorted.

The life of a Nun in an Enclosed order is pragmatic and physical. More than in any active Order.

Every task is for the physical need of others. Which by definition is... pragmatic.

An active order may farm some of this out to others...

Or may not

We do not; our whole focus is Jesus, and of course it is more than possible, if the emphasis is on prayer, to live a deeply contemplative life while serving others.

Because faith is physical. Period.

We have physical needs; those around us have physical needs.

And for us, as is the basis of following Jesus, everything we do not need, be that prayer, time, skills, energy, money, goes to others.

That was the basis of the Church Jesus founded and taught.

That is what Monastics need to live and to know always.

We need so little, and thus can give so much.

This was always true of the old Monastic traditions.. sad to see it changd thus.

For a Solitary Nun, living physically away from the Mother House, but spiritually at its very heart, the opportunities for the joy and grace of giving are even greater.

There are no other Sisters to care for physically; no cooking or nursing. And needs here are so very simple. Living Holy Poverty is wise and a blessing.

So all that we have beyond these simple needs can be given.

To others, who are Jesus in need.

Need no knitting for self, so all can be made to feed the hungry.

Need so little money so all spare is given thus.

That is the basis of our faith as it is lived in reality.

Nothing for self; as much as can be for others

And that is Prayer.

As are the long. solitary hours here.

We all need to assess what we do surely and this deepen our faith and flesh it out with how we live.

************************************

This weekend, we will be trading with our friends of the French Market at a big local music festival.

We are so thankful; sales are way down this year, by over three quarters, and we are struggling constantly to feed our babies.

Please God this weekend will see good sales. And so good to be with these lively people again.... Praying now for fine weather as we are stuck in a cycle of storms and deluges and an autumn chill already.. while in Canada they languish in a heat wave.

This is our Consititutional Enclosure lived fully as we explain time after time; out only to work. It seems somehow much more sincere and true than allowing the world inside on the web.

Our Enclosure here is a carefully guarded reality.

But then we are Monastic Nuns in a very old tradition indeed, that transcends all Rules.