Fall 2009: Number 61

LIVE+JESUS! LOVE NOW!by S. Mary Frances Reis

NEWS from the Northside

Twenty Years ago on October 2, 1989, Archbishop John R. Roach missioned Sisters Mary Frances, Karen, Mary Margaret and Mary Virginia to found a new Visitation monastery in North Minneapolis. It was born out of “a desire to ex-press the Mystery of the Visitation in a new way-a commitment to be one with economically challenged and marginalized persons.” —Mission Statement

Four Hundred years ago, another bishop, St. Francis De Sales, had this to say to the first Sisters of the Visitation: “Go, then, full of courage to do whatever you are called to do, but go in simplicity; if you have any fears, say to your soul: the Lord will provide for us; If the consideration of your weakness troubles you, cast yourselves upon God and trust in Him.”

As we mark the 20th anniversary of this monastery and as we anticipate the 400th anniversary of our Order in 2010 we have some plans to celebrate this amazing movement of the Holy Spirit.

Internationally:We published a book on the history of our monasteries around the world and the spiritu-ality of Jane and Francis that energizes them. The English version is available for purchase through our website: www.visitationmonastery.org/minneapolis

Nationally: In July there was a 400th anniversary pilgrimage to Annecy, France and our other holy places of origin.Sisters Katherine and Suzanne had the joy of joining 35 other pilgrims. Also in July, Sister Mary Frances traveled to our Monastery in Tyringham, MA to record with 20 other Sisters, Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, and lay persons a vocal music CD entitled LIVE JESUS! by the 400th Anniver-sary Choir. It will be available by October 15th and can also be purchased through our website.

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Something more to celebrate! Our Sister Joanna returned to us this summer. We welcomed her at the airport in "English style attire"!

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News from the Northside is published three times a year by Visitation Monastery of Minneapolis, 1527 Fremont Ave. N., Minneapolis, MN 55411612-521-6113

We are an urban monastic community. Please contact us for more information.

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Locally:We begin with this newsletter! Each Sister has written a short reflec-tion on what “the first 20 years” has meant to her.On October 3rd we will kick off our yearlong celebration with a Mass, tours and reception. Be sure to see the invitation in this issue. Other activities will be posted on our website. We hope you'll visit it often!

LET THE CELEBRATIONS BEGIN!

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LIVE+JESUS! LOVE NOW! Continued from page 1

•by S. Mary Margaret McKenzie

With profound gratitude I reflect on our 20 years in North Minneapolis.We have been nourished by living into a paradigm shift from separation to communion; then celebrating the oneness: "There BECAUSE of the grace of God I go." I experience it in the magic of laughing with philosophical Philip—homeless for a cause, now too vulnerable to live on the streets— become our neighbor.

We are in awe of every day faith founded on inviting the living God in our midst to be-with-us to LIVE JESUS. With presence as a constant I am given heart for the depth of neighborhood spirituality that rises to a “visitation” with Salesian Spirituality to bond in love and to develop the incarnational dimension of contemplation.

I am drawn to that depth in witnessing Mary Johnson’s journey. Her dance of faithfulness with God brought her to an open relationship with her only son's killer that resulted in the reconciliation that gave him to her as another son.

We are confounded by the children’s vision. Ten year old Ben tells us, “Jesus came to me while I was sleeping. He gave me flowers, showed me heaven, and introduced me to the father.’” This occurred after a year long crisis of faith fearing Jesus was mad at him, because he wasn't speaking to him. The Kingdom IS theirs.

Six year olds searching for identity agree, “We is a gang; ‘The Sisters’ is a gang; we is ‘The Sisters.’” Children will claim their BELONGING.

Continuing to live prayerfully in community with intentionality, we know and believe that relationships holds the message: it is LOVE.

You can read the newsletter online at our website. If you prefer this format, please contact S. Joanna at Vmonastery@aol.com.

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by S. Mary Virginia Schmidt

My Visitation vocation for these last 20 years has proved just as enriching and challenging as my first 45 years in St. Louis as a teacher in the Academy: chanting the office, finding time for prayer and keeping a quiet spirit in the midst of a full schedule. Just as in St. Louis we would get to know and love a group of students but would have to say goodbye as they left us at graduation (and sometimes before), so now we get to know and love children and their families but have to say goodbye when they leave our neighborhood as they do frequently due to eviction, foreclosures, and other reasons.

What has been new for me is learning to live a new style of community that involves a life of mutuality in leadership and continual discernment. Learn-ing from the poor and needy who welcomed us from day one has been one of the loveliest graces I have received during this time: gratitude and patience.North Minneapolis has had a reputation for violence and drugs for a long time. No one wanted us to choose this area for our new foundation. We have not been afraid since we arrived. We pray daily in the Benedictus, “that we may praise you without fear.” This prayer has been answered along with many others.

by S. Katherine Mullin

“Time flies,” isn’t that how the saying goes? As engaged as I was in doing “my school thing” as teacher and Admissions Director at the Vis School in Mendota Heights, the bi-monthly overnights afforded me a chance to con-nect with my sister friends at the “new monastery” and do a little of their ministry. Little did I suspect that the God of surprises was preparing me to come be part of the Visitation on the Northside. In June of 2001, I began living Visitation monastic life with a new twist. I was welcomed by the Sisters with the hospitality characteristic of Salesian spirituality, but to my surprise, I was also welcomed by our neighbors in the same spirit. I found the people of the neighborhood had a deep spirituality that was “worn on their sleeves” and in reality too. Kids were the same, open and loving. Just last week as I walked the neighborhood, I turned a corner and, there was eight year old, David. He reached for my cross and with his big eyes ablaze said, “I want God.” “David, you have God and God has you.” His eyes calmed. This little story just might illustrate what the sisters have been doing over the last twenty years: confirming the God in neighbors who might not themselves see or experience this sacred and sustaining presence.

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PresenceS. Joanna O'Meara

Inviting, moment by momentawareness.Tuneful melodies of front and back door,lead us into the now.The years have not exhausted the mysteryof how it came to “be.”Seen and unseen holding the gift,aware of all that must return to the giver.

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•My very first introduction to this entire community was in May of 1991. I came as this monastery's first retreatant AND it was my first visit to ANY monastery. When I left, I knew the experience had been life changing. I left a note in the desk of the retreat room for those who were to follow: “...this is a holy place, a PORCH BE-TWEEN THE WORLD AND THE SANCTUARY OF YOUR OWN HEART...blessings on your time spent here...”

I felt this monastery and the Sisters were a buffer between the realities of the world and my own fragile heart.

As I journeyed through my own formation time, profession of vows and day-to-day life as a member of this community, my perspective has changed. It is the very fragile neigh-bors and friends who come to our door that have become the buffer for my own fragility and the harshness of the world’s realities. They have given me the tools and the encouragement and love to take what is in my own heart to the streets in their persons and in my actions in the world I “left behind” to become a Sister.

Today I see we are all fragile...and we all meet on this porch of ours. We

come together to enjoy prayer, a quick lunch or cup of tea, and often to remark on the beauty of the garden, to lament the world’s problems (and think about solutions), and to all be here together as an outward sign of the human fragility and courageous strength we carry within our hearts. I no longer see this place as the porch, I see this community and our extended community of friends and neighbors as the gateway to the city of God we are co-creating every day...blessings on the road ahead!

Ice cream, ice cream! We . . .

A Porch Between the World and My Heartby S. Suzanne Homeyer

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Twenty years ago, Visitation friends hosted a “household goods” shower before our move to Fremont. The now time-worn gift that Mary Jo Bies gave us still rests on the floor of Fremont’s dining room closet: a brown paper covered box with a glued on handle and the label, “junk drawer” defining its contents. Inside this treasure box a medley of practical items awaits any given need.

I have reached for the tape, tacks or twine, the sand paper strip, perma-nent marker, adaptor and other pre-cious ware hundreds of times during these past years! Like digging for buried treasure, I go to this box for the “must have’s” and wonder what

I would ever do without our now dilapidated junk/treasure chest!

This junk drawer is, for me, a meta-phor of our shared life here. It has been by digging into the ordinary “stuff” of life that I have recognized the treasure of living my Visitation vocation in our beloved neighbor-hood. The blessing of the “daily” complements our prayer and liturgi-cal life, and the Salesian spirituality that is our heritage encourages me to look for the treasure everywhere, especially in the most unlikely spots.

I delight in this kind of search and in the simplicity and joy of our life in the ’hood. Nuns, neighbors, Vis

companions, discerners, street guests and windsock kids alike all have ac-cess to the junk drawer. In fact, we cannot do without it!

We don’t have to know how to “fix” all that may be in need of restoration, but practical help is as near as that junk drawer and our willingness to be a community open to the designs of God through the Visitation motto, “Live Jesus.”

Jesus says, “The reign of God is like a householder who can bring out both the new and the old...” He also says, “Where your treasure is, there also is your heart.” During this anniversary year, I’m ready to keep reaching!

by S. Mary Frances Reis

Along with my five siblings, I was raised with my parents’ value system: “ALL ARE WELCOME AND IF WE HAVE IT WE SHARE IT.” While we did not have an abundance of material things, hospitality and loving service were the hallmarks of our family home. Perhaps these sentiments resonated within me the first time I heard Willie Mae Allen—our earliest neighbor and now gone home to God—describe our community to a visitor. “These are my Sisters and this is my home,” she exclaimed. The “visitor” happened to be Mother Philom-ena, our Federation President, who had come so see for herself how this unique expression of our Visitation charism was working out. To my thinking, Willie Mae said it all in a nutshell, with un-adorned simplicity, as St. Jane de Chantal might say it.

Twenty years ago, shortly before I was missioned to North Minneapolis, and while I was receiving the Eucharistic cup at Mendota Visitation, I distinctly heard these words: “I have formed a contemplative heart in you, Mary Fran-ces; now take it to the Poor.” I have grown to understand that a contemplative heart is a place of welcome where all are at home. I am deeply grateful to live in a community where hospitality and loving service are at the center of our daily life—in a community where those we welcome invite us to touch the Sacred in themselves. With Willie Mae I can truly say of North Minneapolis, “These are my people and this is my home.”

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. . . all love ice cream!

Non-profit Org.U.S. Postage PaidMpls., MNPermit No. 4690

Visitation Monastery of Minneapolis1527 Fremont Avenue NorthMinneapolis, MN 55411-3232www.visitationmonasteryminneapolis.org

“Go then full of courage to do whatever you are called to do, but go in simplicity.”

—St. Francis de Sales

Address services requested

The Visitation Sisters of Minneapolisinvite you to our

20th Anniversary Celebration October 3, 2009

1 pm Mass at the Church of the Ascension1723 Bryant Avenue North

followed by a procession and receptions at Fremont, at Girard, and at the St. Jane House

Please RSVP by September 25612-521-6113, 612-529-8215 or

vmonastery@aol.com