Reflective Moments with Angela

By Sister Michele Morek

In the novitiate I worked in the Diet Kitchen with Sister Mary Laura, who would sing “Don’t let the stars get in your eyes …” but I beg to differ.

Now eagerly awaiting the Green Comet and the end of cloudy weather, I have been reflecting on how I love stars, which keep popping up in my life for contemplation.

Once when I was visiting Sister Marie Julie, she regaled me with funny stories about her neuropathy (which makes your hands and feet numb). I was sad as I remembered how her fingers twinkled over a keyboard.

But Julie was laughing about how she couldn’t pick things up, and ended her stories of frustration with a demonstration of how she had decided to deal with it: “I just decided to let it go!” she grinned, opening her hand wide. It looked just like a star. I got chills. She was a star!

Another time I was practicing Twilight Imaging, a meditation technique of the Progoff Journal program. The process raises images from your unconscious so that you “dream” them without controlling them.

In my dream, I was sitting on a beach looking up at the stars. Three little stars caught my eye, winked at me, and I invited them to come down for a visit.

As they floated down, I looked around frantically for something interesting to show them, someplace to take visiting stars that would show them what Earth is like. Nothing much to see on a beach at night – but wait! There was a bright light in the distance. I will take them to that McDonald’s for a cheeseburger!

They were very chatty as we sat over our cheeseburgers (they did not eat theirs), and asked if that’s what we did for fun down here – consume things? I had to admit they weren’t wrong. They bounced up and invited me to their house.

Whoopee! I was a star, radiating energy and light to Earth below. I was giving instead of taking, and it was fun. I was also feeling a little abashed about the contrast of our two visits: McDonald’s versus the universe. Consuming things versus radiating energy.

I’ve been mulling over that dream for years; the stars are still teaching me things. The Bible uses stars on me, too. You know how a Scripture verse jumps out and grabs you at the most unlikely moment? Suddenly, something you have read many times becomes vibrant and relevant.

Like: “God numbers the stars and calls them each by name.” What a tender image of a personal God, caring enough about each of us to remember our names! Remembering names is a gift I have always envied. When you remember someone’s name and call them by name, you affirm them and let them know they are important to you.

God knows the stars (and us, and presumably the sparrow) by name. Try making up some star names: Telah, Shila, Murgho, Oolah – and put your own name in there too!

(Some parts of this reflection also appeared in Global Sisters Report.)

Comments

  1. Mary Ellen Backes

    what a heartfelt and endearing sharing, Michele. I surely will remember your contemplative take on a star or two when I look up at a starry night and remember your words. Be more like those twinkling stars that radiates light, in my human self, laughter, joy and trust in a bigger reality out there that knows each of our names! Thank you! Mary Ellen

Comments are closed