In the fall of 1964, a group of exuberant young women entered the Maryknoll Novitiate in Valley Park, Missouri. Awaiting their arrival were the still exuberant Sisters who would transform them into women who could work, serve, and pray while surviving the elements and the absence of basic amenities. A second group of exuberant young women
entered the Maryknoww Novitiate in Topsfield,Massachusetts. The two groups would receive the same tough, creative training, and at the end of two years they woiuld merge. Several women didn't make it to the merger. They left Maryknoll instead. Some wanted families, children. Others were needed at home to help care for an ailing parent. And then there were the two who simply could not stop smoking. I left to take care of my mother. I never met a single woman who'd been part of the Topsfield group. As a result, whenever I see a name I don't recognize, I think,
"Oh, she must have been in the Topsfield group. She was probably exuberant." As for me, I'd left Maryknoll. I expected my prayer life and my exuberance to fade with time. Who could have predicted that the unexpected would happen?
Whether in Maryknoll proper or out in the world improper, many of us who entered in 1964, have remained connected. I think it's another friend's fault. She was getting a lot of e-mails asking for prayers, and inspiration struck. We, the Mary-knollers of 1964, could become a force, a powerhouse of prayer, a Mach One. One of our sisters, not necessarily a Sister, would e-mail an appeal. At a given time, we'd drop the cares of the day for a few minutes and pray. We, Mach One, would be praying together. Has Mach One worked? I don't know. I haven't kept track. All I know is that it has been wonderful for me. After one of my Mach One sessions, I feel absolutely, well, exuberant.
Mach One didn't work for one of the dearest among us. She recently died, and I sent out an e-mail to those I know and to those I don't. In return, I received a beautiful e-mail of condolence. This woman received her first Mach One e-mail last summer, the appeal for prayer. She didn't know any of us, and she was irritated.
Why was she on our list? Why, indeed. She had entered Maryknoll in 1963. She doesn't know us, and we don't know her. Yet, she read Mach One letters. As she became aware of how wonderful our friend was, she joined us in prayer. And when she
got the news that our friend had died, she, like the rest of us, wept. Should we remove her from our lists? I don't think so. I think she'd be a grand substitute for our friend on the Mach One team. Let's adopt her!
And, we already know one thing about her. She entered Maryknoll in 1963. She must be exuberant.
As I well suspected, we are not contending with a simple Old Baguette, but a rather complex Old Baguette with many twists and turns in her navigation through life. Hmmmm! Interesting, a successfully failed novitiate. There is much more to this Old Baguette than she lets on.
ReplyDeleteMach One is not measure of power, my dear, it is a measure of speed. It is the speed of sound, but you probably knew that. It does sound powerful and is often used to denote power in a popular sense, but it is speed.
But think of this what is the speed of prayer? Obviously in our heads prayer operates fairly slowly. Probably about the same rate as speech. Nothing Mach about that. But stop and think again, what is the velocity of prayer when it leaves our head or heart or where ever prayer comes from and it transmitted to God? Mach 1? Mach 100? The speed of light? The speed of thought? I believe its velocity to be infinite. Or perhaps zero. If it is instantaneous, as I believe it to be, then it has no velocity.
It may be like asking how long will the center of gravity of your body remain precisely over a line of longitude if you are walking 3 mph due east. (A very navigational question for you Old Baguette.) But now what if you are traveling Mach 1, or 60 MPH, or the 99% the speed of light? Always due east or west. The answer is zero in all cases. Your center of gravity has no physical dimension, nor does a line of longitude. The alignment is only an immeasurable instant in all cases. Is an instant zero time? Head due north with your CG aligned with a line of longitude, then you have a problem with an answer.
But the speed of prayer? Infinitely quick, zero transit time. I have no proof. It is simply a thought experiment.
I am afraid of exceeding 4096 characters again, so I am going to post and continue in a new comment.
Continuing from above. You mentioned that Mach 1 didn't work for your friend. Are you sure about that? Perhaps it didn't work for your expectations, not giving the outcome that you wanted, but I am not so sure that it didn't work for your dieing friend.
ReplyDeleteDo we have any right to demand outcomes of prayer? We must all die. I mentioned in one of my posts on my blog that we are as condemned as any death row inmate, only lacking the luxury of a date. Naturally our mortal selves think this to be a big deal, a rather horrific big deal. But is it? To our Souls, which I believe to be Divine, is dieing a big deal? Do we have any right to ask a Divinity to stick around in this biological claptrap a nanosecond longer than it desires?
And did Mach 1 really not work for you and your friends? Yes your friend died. But you and your group were drawn together in a mutual love. Weep for your loss by all means but know that it is a bittersweet loss, and not all is lost. I believe nothing is lost, only changed. I can't prove any of this, I have no faith in any of this, but I doubt we really die. Dieing is so absurd. So I think Mach 1 really works, it comforted your dieing friend, it comforted you and your sisters, and it brought a new sister into the fold, who by all means should remain on your list.
I am curious about your use of exuberance, and exuberants. Is this your own term or was it a facet of Maryknoll?
Old Baguette, I find you to be rather fascinating, and I believe you to be a rather Old Soul navigating your way to Infinity.
Oh, Sextant!
ReplyDeleteYou've nailed that Old Baguette very well. She is a wise one. But so are you.
Omega Croissant
whiteironlake: Thank you for the kind comment. I have a blog here called Navigating The Finite:
ReplyDeletehttp://navfin.blogspot.com/
Please come by and check it out. The Old Baguette seems to be my only reader, and I could use some company. (Old Baguette, I am not trying to steal your readers, just borrow them.)
"Omega Croissant" I like that, a good one to add to the Old Baguette's French Bakery Shop of Internet handles. I think I shall take up "Vicié Beignet" (Stale Doughnut according to Google Translate) as my handle. Thank you again for your kind comment.