Busy Bee

It happens to everybody after moving to a new place and I am no exception.  It will be a month tomorrow since I moved to the Motherhouse.  So far it has been good.  Busy, but good.  The Motherhouse is like a melting pot of activities.  Here we have the Formation House, Retreat House,  Avila Institute of Gerontology which sponsors workshops and classes.  So the house is bustling with activities when the calendar fills up with events.  But the miracle with the Motherhouse is the silence that still prevails despite everything and one is still able to enjoy this silence according to one's ability to appreciate it.  More and more I understand how interior silence plays a big part in keeping us anchored to what really matters.  When the heart knows the reason for things, one is not weighed down by the anxieties of the bustle, even though the soul gets impatient at times because it longs for that retirement and quiet which  Carmel offers.
My room overlooks the Hudson river and for several nights now it has been very windy and the weather has been rough.  It feels like old man winter is back again up here in the Catskills.  Driving out today I saw several torn down limbs of trees on the property grounds.  But one can still glean a lesson from Mother Nature.  After the very heavy, howling winds last night and a bleak day today, the sun came out in the afternoon and the wind died down around sunset.  Then I thought how many times in our lives, it can get very bleak and the noise of concerns and problems seem to have no end.  And then the calm after the storm  and we feel right all over again.  I love it here at the Motherhouse.  God is everywhere even in the busy days.
We crowned Mary today and I loved singing the traditional Marian songs we have in our "black book."  They brought me back to my early years of childhood when we celebrated "Flores de Mayo" in the Philippines.  Our Postulant crowned our Lady.  The Mass was subdued but beautiful.  We had a special meal and sang "Happy Mother's Day" to our Mother General.  The Postulant and the Novice gave a performance of song rendered in our Postulant's  Nigerian dialect.  The Sisters enjoyed it tremendously!