Provincial Ponderings: July 2023

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Dominican mystic, Meister Eckart, once wrote “if the only prayer you ever said was ‘thank you,’ that would be enough.”   I come to this July pondering with a deep sense of gratitude for the many blessings that I have experienced with people, at celebrations, and in the happenings of my life and ministry since last month.  My sense of gratitude impels me to say, ‘thank you’ and to express appreciation.   

While time and space obviously do not permit me to speak of everything that awakens my thanks, please allow me to express my thanks for the goodness, generosity, and giftedness of people from a few highlights of the recent past. I do so with the hope that my sharing them may inspire your awareness and expression of grateful thanks for the people and experiences of your own life.

Thank you to the wonderful people of God that I was so privileged to companion on a weeklong silent-directed retreat at San Alfonso. Your quest for God and your deep faith have inspired me in my own prayer and life journey.

Thank you to my Redemptorist confreres for the blessing of your presence and our gathering as brothers for some leisure time and relaxation at our Province picnic at West End. The blessing of our fraternity and community is indeed real and it is good when we come together to enjoy one another’s company.

Thank you to our Jubilarians who gathered in person and/or in spirit to praise and thank God for our religious life and priesthood and the privilege of serving God’s people.  Your unfailing commitment, unwavering dedication, and faithful witness to the love of Christ and the Church is a great blessing of encouragement, inspiration, and thanksgiving for me and for all.

Thank you to Frater McQuain Clovis, C.Ss.R., our newest professed member of the Province, who recently made his first religious vows as a Redemptorist with five other confreres from our North American Conference.  Your presence among us brings with it a sense of hope and joy, along with the promise of prayer, presence, and support as you continue to live into your life as a Redemptorist.

Thank you to Katie Carpenter, our Province Director of Communications (and editor of the Baltimore Beacon!), as she completes her tenure with us this week, for her generous sharing of her gifts and talents and for the blessing of her support, creativity, and colleagueship over these past three years. Katie will be relocating to Colorado with her husband who serves in the military and who has been reassigned there. We Redemptorists wish Katie well in her move to Colorado and every success in her next professional adventure. Thank you, Katie, for the legacy of professional competence, diligence, and service that you have shared with us.  You leave behind so much vision and work for us to continue to build upon and to grow. Thank you and Godspeed as you begin a new chapter in your life!         

These expressions of thanks and gratitude brings me into a deep awareness of God, the Giver of all Gifts, and into a heartfelt experience of the Love of God that opens me up to my soul and to others. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel speaks eloquently to the grace and power of gratitude for fullness of life:   
 

Only one response can maintain us: gratefulness for witnessing the wonder, for the gift of our unearned right to serve, to adore, and to fulfill. It is gratefulness that makes the soul great.
 

My hope and prayer for all of us in these lazy, hazy days of Summer is that we all make and take time to rest and reflect on the events, experiences, and people of our lives that awaken our gratitude and inspire our ‘thank you’ to God and to one another.   God is good, grace is real, and an attitude of gratitude makes all the difference in the world! “Always be thankful (Col. 3:15).”

Blessings and all the best for a restful and relaxing August! Thank you, as always,  for your presence, support, and encouragement of our mission and ministry as Redemptorists.

Gratefully,

John Collins, C.Ss.R.

Provincial Superior of  The Baltimore Province