Easter recedes in memory, yet the season remains - even builds - through to Pentecost. I seek for ways to hold my consciousness of the Easter mystery, even as I continually give my attention to the matters of every day. How do I sustain my Easter energy, my Easter joy?

I remember attending a retreat a few years ago with Mary Ellen Sheehan, IHM, on the Mystery of Christ. Mary Ellen suggested to us a bit of new language which awakened in me a new way of knowing. "When you hear of the Kingdom of God," she said, "think of it as God's emerging newness." 

God s emerging newness. Yes - the birth of a child, the forgiving embrace of a friend, the commitment of a group to raise resources in order to help in a situation of need. Each of these offers an instance of God's emerging newness into our world today...furthering the Kingdom of God, we used to say. This new language offers me stronger awareness that it is God's activity bursting through our human actions; that God's purpose continues the unfolding creativity of the universe moving always towards harmony amidst amazing diversity; Resurrection and new life in consequence to death and destruction. My heart is uplifted again with Easter joy, and springtime seems to shout an Alleluia to be heard across eons of time. God's emerging newness is the vibrating theme to be recognized wherever we ponder life's unfolding.

Each morning - in the newness of morning - I give some time to meditation, opening my heart and mind to Divine energy desiring my attention, my union. In these days I am brought back to an image from Genesis 1:1-2, the formless chaos of pre-creation, and God's spirit hovering over the water. It is here that I am invited, that creation has always been invited, to open inner spirit to union with Divine impulse...all that follows is God's emerging newness. My day is blessed by such a beginning meditation; my actions aligned to Sacred intention.

I pray that you find your own entry point into this awareness; that you be sustained in the entry points you have already found. Easter flows around and through us; our faces are alive with the deep energy of life's continual song:  Alleluia!

Mary Frances Uicker, IHM
Coordinator of IHM Campus Spirituality, Monroe

Contact Us - If there is anything you'd like to share with us, e-mail riverhouse@ihmsisters.org.

Past Reflections (in PDF)
2012 - January  February  Lent 2012 (all) Easter 2012  Spring

2011 - New Year Reflection  June  July  September  October  November  December
Advent - Week One  Week Two  Week Three  Week Four
2010 - January  February  April  Summer  July  August  September  October Founders Day Reflection

Sister Sandra Schneiders, IHM - GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD....MINISTERIAL RELIGIOUS LIFE IN 2009, a paper on vowed religious life, June 2009.

Nature Stations - The new IHM Nature Stations booklet, a gem of education, reflection, poetry, images and ritual, has been published and released for sale.

Four Stories - Four Stories integrates our 13.7-billion-year-old Universe story, our 4.6-billion-year-old Earth story, our 4,000-year-old Judeo-Christian story and the 162-year-old story of the IHM Sisters of Monroe, Michigan.

A Time to Sow
A Time to Sow is a quarterly publication offering additional reflections which focus on the spirituality of sustainability.