Sister Mary Ann Sullivan, ocso
of Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey,
died on May 13, 2017.
More here.
Afterwards, I opened an envelope containing the newsletter from Our Lady of Mississippi Abbey, and sure enough, Sr. Mary Ann was on the first page. Moments before, I thought - I should open my mail, I bet Sr. Mary Ann died. (I don't open my mail as soon as I receive it, I like to pretend it's an exercise in detachment to set it aside until Sunday. I'm not at all detached though - just nuts.)
Anyway, Sr. Mary Ann was always very kind to me. I thank God for her holy life and fidelity. It is a great thing to persevere in the monastery until death.
Sending my condolences to you and praying for the repose of Sister's soul. At the same time - the date of her passing is not lost on me.
ReplyDeleteThe date of her funeral is not lost on me either.
DeleteIsn't that a coincidence though?!
DeleteSister Mary Ann lived a full and interesting hidden life from the short history in the newsletter. She appears to have had a true calling that she was faithful to. My condolences for your loss and congratulations for the friendship and interests you shared with her. How interesting the thought came to you before the fact. I dream sometimes of deceased friends and family which is also curious to me. Is their a message? I can never figure it out, but it is comforting.
ReplyDeleteThings like that happen to me quite often. For instance, I knew my mother was dying before she did. Another time I woke up in the night to pray for a guy I hardly knew and hours later at Mass, a friend came to tell me he had died during the night. I also had a strong inspiration to pray for a former co-worker several days in succession and after a week or longer, I tried to find him on Google and found his obituary. I kept praying for him since it seemed he wanted/needed me to do so.
DeleteBut the best story is one of a friend's mom who had died. Every year on the anniversary of her death and again on her birthday I would dream about her - without remembering it was her b-day or anniversary of course. I'd call my friend, her daughter and ask if the day was special to her mom and she always confirmed what day it was for me - after a couple of years she said, "I tell you this every year." It was then I thought that maybe she wanted something - I always pray for her but maybe she wanted something more. I told her daughter and she had a series of Masses said for her - Gregorian Masses. After that was accomplished, I never had another dream about her.
Make of it what you will, but I think it means that we remain in touch with those who have gone ahead of us. I also think our time spent after communion is a time of we are most disposed to understand such things.
God gives us hunches as to show His presence. It's probably more that Sister Sullivan was thinking of you rather than the opposite.
ReplyDeleteInteresting blog - I appreciate your honesty and openness. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.
Thanks for reading.
DeleteThis all reminds me of a true story told to me by the priest who experienced it and who is now deceased. Many decades ago he was stationed at a large urban parish and it was very early before sunrise on Christmas morning. He was surprised upon entering the locked church (via the sacristy entrance) that there was a group of rag-tag people of all ages praying, fervently & devoutly, before the Blessed Sacrament. They were dressed in all fashion of "throw-together" clothing, but as this was San Francisco in the hippie 1970's, the priest wasn't particularly surprised. He was a bit miffed and gruffly shouted towards them, "Who let you in? How did you get into this church?"
ReplyDeleteNo one jumped at his bark, but one lady, arose and walked towards him. He said she was very clam and serene, smiling, she said, "Father, don't you know that strange things happen at Christmas?" He left them alone since they were all very focused in their prayers. Father had to return to the sacristy for just a few moments to turn something on...and when he came back into the nave the church was totally empty! He thought to himself, "No way could that group of people have left this large church in seconds and without noise of movement." Father told me that he was convinced they were souls doing their purgatory by prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, perhaps because they had been a bit negligent or irreverent towards the Sacrament while on earth.
I never forgot that story and I heard it from him several times over the years. It reminds me that, as our liturgy says, death does not end life but simply changes it. We transition from temporal existence to the spiritual. But we all remain united, connected, interdependent. It's called the Communion of Saints.
Thank you for sharing that - beautiful!
DeleteI love that story. Significant that they needed to be before the Blessed Sacrament for prayer. I wonder how many RC churches get these visits at night that no one deiscovers.
DeleteI love that story. There's also a pious legend that many souls are released from Purgatory on Christmas. I don't have a reference for that off hand. Also I was told once by an Irish priest that those who die on Christmas go straight to heaven.
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