It would have been easy for the disciples to assume that everything was over. The call, the commitment, the commission could have all ended on that fateful Friday, when the one to whom they had committed their lives was murdered. Even in the face of the resurrection, there did not have to be an understanding that what began three years earlier would continue. The trauma of the crucifixion of their teacher, friend, messiah had sent them scattering in fear and grief. And as much as Jesus had tried to prepare them, they really weren’t ready for life and work without him. It could have been over.

But something happened after they received the testimony of the women. “He’s not dead. He’s alive!” they said. “Go and meet him in Galilee.” And when the disciples gathered at the Mountain of Galilee, the resurrected Christ, the living Lord, Jesus, met them there.

God has a way of showing up and showing out in mountains. God met Moses at the back side of a mountain–Mt. Horeb–where God gave Moses the message and mission of liberation of his people. God met Moses at the back side of Mt. Horeb, where God revealed God’s self to him and God’s purpose for Moses’ life. God met Elijah at Mt. Carmel, where God declared once again that God was God, and God’s people believed, because God showed up and God showed out.

Jesus took Peter, James, and John to the Mount of Transfiguration where once again they were given an epiphany, a glimpse of the eternity and glory of Jesus. Yes, there’s something special about God and mountains. Other Gospel writers did not necessarily mention a mountain. Mark and Luke had Jesus meeting the disciples around the dinner table. John had them locked up in a room and Jesus coming through the door, but Matthew, Matthew, the one who wrote to a people who understood the power of mountains, Matthew, the one who wanted to connect the Jesus of his day with the Hebrew scriptures, Matthew mentioned that the disciples met him at a mountain in Galilee. The Galilean mountain signified that something new and powerful was to be initiated. It’s not over.

As Jesus greets them and they’re worshipping him and even in the midst of their worship, there is still some question, there is still some uncertainty, Jesus declares to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Jesus commissions the disciples, he gives them their job description. He gives them their purpose. He gives them their mission statement. It was Jesus’ way of saying to the disciples, “It’s not over.

Jesus commanded the disciples to move, to move beyond where they were standing. Don’t get stuck in where you’ve been. Don’t get stuck in where you think you are, but dare to move out! , “Go! Move from where you are. Go out and be about the business of making disciples.”

But it’s not over.

We have work to do. It’s not over. It’s not over! In a society in which healthy self-esteem is so difficult consider what Jesus does for us: he gives us the power to continue his work….It is not over!

By Michele Ristich Gatts

Angela Merici was a courageous woman. She was also fortunate. She was educated. She had strong faith. But what Angela witnessed in her community saddened her so greatly that she was moved to action.

“She saw that there were needs – young women who were being sexually abused by soldiers,” reflects Sister Mary McCormick, a member of the leadership team for the Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown. “She believed they could have a life of service, a safe life, rather than a life on the streets.”

And so, says Sister Mary, Angela employed perhaps her greatest gift. “She was somebody who networked. She gathered together people to help her from various backgrounds. She had businessmen of the day who were advisors to her, she had widows who had some affluence, plus, she had a close group of advisors in the church.”

The movement that Angela – St. Angela Merici of Italy – began in the 16^th century not only improved the lives of people in her community, the ripple effects of her faith, strength, caring and good works continue to this day, changing and improving the world.

St. Angela was the founder of the Ursuline Order of nuns, who are celebrating 475 years of serving others.  “The struggles and the fears and the needs of people – St. Angela was able to be there and be with them in a pastoral, supportive way,” says Sister Norma Raupple, also a member of the Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown leadership team. “I see her as a great model for us in our time.”

The Sisters marked the anniversary of their order’s founding Nov. 25 with mass and a celebratory brunch at the Motherhouse. A video of Sister Mary’s reflection presented at the occasion can be viewed elsewhere on this site.

For 136 years, the Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown have ministered in education, hospitals and health care facilities and in parish and outreach programs for the poor and disadvantaged.

Like their founder, the Ursuline Sisters build bridges between the more fortunate members of our community and those at risk of becoming lost.

“We can provide for that networking so people in need – women, immigrants, HIV positive people or families of those with autism – find the resources so they have a future that’s hopeful instead of a life on the streets,” explains Sister Mary, who’s also an associate professor of systematic theology at St. Mary’s Seminary and Graduate School of Theology in the Diocese of Cleveland.

Some of the Sisters’ past and present good works locally are the founding of and continuing educational endeavors at Ursuline High School, Youngstown Community School and Millcreek Children’s Center, Youngstown, and The Ursuline Preschool and Kindergarten, Canfield. Some of the sisters teach other schools and in higher education. They founded Beatitude House, with locations in Youngstown and Warren, which aids women and children who are often fleeing abusive situations. Its educational arm, The Potter’s Wheel, Youngstown, helps disadvantaged women succeed in educational and employment opportunities.

The Sisters also offer HIV/AIDS and Prayer Shawl ministries, work in Social Work and as Chaplains in area healthcare, rehabilitation and nursing-home facilities, and offer Spiritual Direction. The Sisters’ Ursuline Center hosts numerous activities and classes; swimming and water-aerobics classes are offered at the Ursuline Pool. Both facilities adjoin the Motherhouse.

But as much as the Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown minister to the needs of others, they are currently struggling with a need of their own. The Sisters are aging, with their membership declining to fewer than 60. If their good and vital works in our community are to continue, the Ursuline Sisters need new members to build on their heritage.

“I think the challenge is for young people or middle-aged people to just know us,” Sister Norma posits, “to come and volunteer with us in our huge variety of ministries, or to come and pray with us.”

One such opportunity is Wednesday evenings during Advent, where all are invited to Evening Prayer with the Community at 6:30 p.m. in the Motherhouse Chapel, 4250 Shields Rd.

The Ursuline Sisters also are utilizing social media. They blog. They’re on Facebook and post videos  online. Soon, video profiles on this Web site will tell the stories of many of the Sisters and how each is answering her call to serve God.

In addition, a service group for young women in high school and college is in the works.

Sister Norma, who ministers with immigrant mothers, says she was drawn to life as an Ursuline Sister of Youngstown because “they appeared to me to be happy and lead meaningful lives. I wanted to be part of something bigger and make a difference, put my life in with a group of other women.

“I wanted to build my life and continue to grow in my longing for God and my relationship with God. This way of life gives you the support that helps you to do that,” she continues.

Sister Mary agrees that her life has been enriched by being an Ursuline Sister. The vocation has helped her receive her education and introduced her to numerous people locally and nationally.

“Most of all, I’ve come to see so many things in my life as a great blessing, and I think that’s really rooted in prayer,” Sister Mary states. “That’s one of the blessings of community life — you get to see those blessings over and over and over again.”

Through outreach efforts, the Sisters hope women thinking about a religious vocation will consider life as an Ursuline Sister of Youngstown.

“If our lives have made a difference in our local church and local community,” Sister Mary says, “then we hope other people will join us to continue to make a difference.”

Sister Norma says the next generation of Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown could “build on history, build on our heritage, build on the vision of St. Angela, but then to create it and establish it for their time.”

Our lives are inevitably shaped by those for whom we wait. “You’d better not shout, you’d better not cry, you’d better not pout, I’m telling you why. Santa Claus is coming to town.” As children, we looked at the season of Advent as waiting for great surprises.

As we grow older we realize our lives are inevitably shaped by those events in our lives that change us. In our Gospel, Jesus’ warning of  “Stay awake’” has to do with having clear vision. We are to see what in our lives needs to change. We are also to see how our good living now is already preparation for the unexpected Second coming of Christ.

Advent always begins by looking to the second coming of Christ. Advent is not just looking into the future. Christ came in the past and Christ is coming to us now in Word and Sacrament and in each other.

Our behavior is inevitably shaped by the one for whom we wait, for there is a sense in which even as we live out our days in the interim, we already possess and are possessed by the one for whom we wait.

Karen, a student at Union Theological Seminary, was living and studying in New York City while her newly lawyered husband had gone to work for a law firm in Harrisburg. They saw each other only on weekends. In homiletics class, Karen described what her Fridays were like when John came into Pennsylvania Station on the train in time for supper. “I usually get up early on Friday to clean the apartment before coming up here to school,” she said. “Then, after classes, I make a kind of safari down Broadway. I stop for groceries, pick up a bottle of wine, stop at a favorite flower stall for fresh flowers, and when I get home, I have just enough time to get myself and supper ready. Then John comes.” Only Karen went on to add, “The funny thing about it is that from morning until he arrives, I have this strange feeling that he is already with me…not really…but really.

In Advent the one for whom we wait is already here shaping and giving substance and hope to our lives. Not really..but really.

Here it is Thanksgiving Day and the 475th Anniversary of the Founding of the Ursuline Sisters.
We have much to be thankful for: our lives, our health, our family, our friends, our community. In a particular way this year we are grateful to God for this anniversary. There is no word that immediately comes to mind for a 475th anniversary. If you were to make one up from Latin roots, you might say we are celebrating our dodransquincentennial, a word that means 1/4 century less than 500 years. No matter what you call it, 475 is a long time.

People mark anniversaries for 2 reasons: to look back and to look ahead. What we remember is pretty well known to most of us…Sr Mary McCormick’s reflection for 475th Anniversary Nov 25 2010

Local news coverage

If you walk into my office you will find a small sign – “Gone fishing”. This saying can either be read literally, indicating that I have really gone fishing, or it may mean that I have taken a break from the demands of my ministry. In our Gospel today, little does Peter realize that his fishing trip will end up immersing him ever more fully in the demands of a different kind of work.

It would seem that the disciples are missing the point of the Resurrection and how the Resurrection changes one’s life because Peter and the others revert back to what they know – they’ve gone fishing! The two scenes in our Gospel, the miraculous catch of fish and Jesus’ dramatic encounter with Peter capture two interrelated Easter mysteries- abundance of new life and love that overflows into following the risen Christ to the point of death. We give our lives because we have first been loved by God. Following Jesus isn’t easy for it means dying to self, even to the point of death for the sake of the other.

We share in this new life only if we are willing to share in its cost -dying to self for the sake of the other. Let us take care that our actions announce God’s blessings and God’s care.

For most of us,  Holy Week unfolds like many other weeks: work, school, preparing meals, doing laundry. Palm Sunday begins an unusual week – a week – concentrated in a few days on the ultimate meaning of our lives. We are invited this week to reflect on these questions: Why are we here? What have we been called to do? What are we willing to die for?

We have journeyed from Ash Wednesday to this day. This week, we will experience the last hours of the life of Jesus. We must slow down and make choices so that this week does not go by without our taking time to enter into its meaning.

In our Gospel today, even in the midst of great suffering, Jesus extends his compassion to others, so total, that he  willingly empties himself to the point of death. As we enter this week, let us pray that our self-emptying for the good of others will be so total.

We celebrate in the liturgies of this week what we live every day – all the dying to self that characterizes our faithful discipleship. The triumph of this week is in doing our tasks with joy, being kind to those around us [even those cranky folks], meeting setbacks as paths to learning. Then, with Jesus, we can commend ourselves into God’s hands.

As a child growing up around Lake Erie, there were many occasions to set out early in the morning on one of the many fishing boats. And as may be there were times when we sat out all morning with nothing to show for our efforts. Professionals we were not. And as we came to shore we were exhausted for our efforts. None of us would even think about going out again that day!

In our Gospel today, we find Jesus sitting in Simon Peter’s boat after the crowds have gone. Jesus knows that Peter is exhausted from his own efforts at fishing all night. He knows that he has caught nothing, but even still he turns to Peter and invites him to do something. “Go out into the deep water,” he says, “and there let down your nets.” It sounds pretty simple doesn’t it? But is it really? What is Jesus really asking here?

Jesus  is asking Simon Peter to trust him. To trust him so much that Peter would be willing to leave the shallow places in his life and in his work and begin to explore the depths. To go to the limits of what he thinks is possible, not only for him but for those all around him. “Go out into the deep water,” says Jesus, “trust me and see what happens.”

Peter becomes a model for discipleship. It happens in the moment when Peter responds to Jesus’ call and says, “but, if you say so.” Then off he goes—perhaps reluctantly—out into the deep water and there he finds abundance like he has never imagined.

Jesus doesn’t call Peter to be anything other than who he is. He doesn’t call Peter to be a rabbi like him, or even to a career in carpentry. Jesus calls Peter to live in the depths of his own life, not to try to live out Jesus’ life. Peter remains at heart a fisherman who has a heart for Jesus and for the humanity that Jesus serves.

For most of us, Jesus does not come in dramatic ways.  Rather, he comes in the ordinary events of the day. Our ordinary daily living can be a radical response to Jesus. The Good News is that God calls us as precisely we are and works through our humanity.

There are times when I create expectations about the way things should be that it destroys my ability to appreciate how things actually are.   For example, does this restaurant really serve the best meals one will ever eat? It’s natural to have expectations, but they must be realistic. Often there is nothing wrong with reality, rather, my expectations of it!

The disciples get a surprise in our Gospel today.  Jesus asks them a simple but puzzling question. “Who do you say I am?” After all, how long have they been with him?  Peter answers with the preconceived notion of who Jesus is and who the Messiah would be. Their expectation of Jesus and the reality of what it means to be the Messiah and what it means to be his disciples do not jive! For Jesus tells them, disciples must “take up their cross.” The disciples are hardly prepared for that kind of relationship.

It is no coincidence that our Gospel begins with the question of identity and then ends up with the cost of discipleship.  Jesus’ reality check about discipleship opens up possibilities for a richer life.

By being united with Jesus through our Baptism, we also participate Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, giving of ourselves for the good of others.