Sister Claude Got It Right This Time… A Groundhog Day Reprise.
I was inspired to bring this post from last year back to the surface tonight when I read some thoughts on "getting it right" in my friend Debb Janes EcoBroker and Bernie Stea JD 's post.
Enjoy the inspiration in both of our posts, and I hope that you and I can both Get it Right.
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It was a busy day, and week, at Franciscans Downtown with preparations for the Mercy Marathon, Easter, and many other activities.
Most of us who work there do it as a side job that we fit in around our real jobs, (those jobs that pay the bills so that we can be there).
Father Placid's real job is to be one of three friars who work as the chaplains for a large convent near Green Bay.
One of the realities of these large convents is that they are the place where the nuns who have dedicated their lives to God and worked in parishes throughout the world come here to retire and spend a few years before their final heavenly destination.
With this being the case, one of the frequent celebrations that Fr Placid, Fr Finian, and Fr Hilliard precide over is funeral Masses.
This week Sr Claude after 106 years on earth and nearly 90 years as a Franciscan Sister, decided that it was time to move on.
After celebrating her funeral this morning Fr Placid rushed back to Point to head up another important job, hearing confessions, something that he does a lot more this time of year during the season of Lent.
While he does this I always try to be available to keep things going well in the front room so that he can concentrate on the important meetings with those who take advantage of this opportunity for reconciliation in the back office.
Always a crowd in the place during the few hours of reconciliation meetings, with me making plenty of coffee, and visiting with our guests, and Father doing the more important work in the back.
After the frenzy died down and most of the guests had left, I was visiting over a cup of coffee with a couple of fellow Third Order Franciscans named Homer and Victor when Father came out and we had a chance to share the joys of our day.
Sister Claude Got it Right…
After helping with reconciliation events many times over the years I am always impressed at the way the priests look when they come out.
You would think that they would be a little down after listening to peoples' failings in life, but it is generally the opposite, they are more often glowing, since as they point out, it is not about the failings, but more about the new opportunity to go forth and do better in the future.
So Father came out in his full Habit and Sash, glowing with joy and ready to tell us about Sister Claude’s funeral.
Of course no story from Father Placid is ever a short one, something that I rib him about often, which elicited a reply where he counted out on six of his fingers.
“Mercy Experience Is Getting It Right” .
Then he proceeded to give the thousand word explanation…
After Sr Claudes wake last night Father retired to the friary and was thinking about what he would talk about in the homily of her funeral mass the next morning when he started watching Morgan Freeman on one of the late night talk shows.
Morgan was talking about his upcoming National Geographic series on various religions.
One part of the conversations that really caught Fathers ear was on reincarnation and the idea of having to keep repeating life over and over until you get it right and move on to Heaven.
I won’t repeat the whole discussion that this led to which was an interesting one, though long.
But it did eventually lead to Father’s homily for Sr Claudes Funeral Mass, where he had the opportunity to share some thoughts on this topic and how Sister Claude spent her 106 years doing some very important work for God and “Getting It Right”.
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