Sister Mary Margaret 12-23-17

Sister Mary Margaret December 23, 2017

I was afraid of Catholic nuns for years. Growing up in a small town and attending public school didn’t put me in the experience of the Catholic school system, but I heard the

stories of the “strict nuns” and the things that they did to punish and/or reprimand students.

As an adult I heard more negative, even horrendous stories, about how nuns treated students and how their lives were affected with much to overcome as a result of those experiences.

Suffice it to say, when I was given the opportunity to meet with the Visitation Sisters of Minneapolis through my boyfriend decades ago, I was more than reluctant to oblige. At the time, Robert was working on a sculpture of Christ and the sisters had offered him a space to work. One that was supportive and loving, he said, and at some point I said reluctantly said yes.

As I first walked into the Monastery all those years ago, into a beautiful Victorian home on the North side of Minneapolis, I was struck by the sense of peace in the space, and I found that my long held fears would soon be abolished. The Sisters were friendly, inviting and loving. And even my critical skeptical mind had to, at some point, relinquish all of those long held beliefs and I opened myself to the experience of their charism.

Many years have passed and I have long since referred to them as “my Sisters” and “my family”, the experiences have been rich and they have played a very large part in the development of my Spirituality, not from religious practice but from a place of love and the freedom to explore who I am spiritually.

Which brings me to Sister Mary Margaret; one of the original Sisters of the Visitation Monastery in North Minneapolis. Robert and I were with her just last evening. In the past few years she has had many health issues and now she is in a nursing home. There has never a time visiting with Sister MM that hasn’t proved to be spiritually fruitful. Even now in her fragile state, eating little, bed ridden, her spirit soars and reveals a loving and healing God.

She spoke of the transition of her life. She is completely comfortable and at peace. I asked her if there was something in her life she would like to share; something that was particularly meaningful to her. She reflected on Carl Jung’s statement in transition to the new life to come:

“When I was young I would fall to the ground and lay in the grass with my arms open wide. I felt the earth below me and marveled at the connection to the earth, it was real and tangible. Then, as I looked up to the sky, I would marvel at its expanse both during the day and night. I knew how it felt to fall to the ground and that it was real, but then I would ask, “How do I fall into the sky?”

From Carl Jung:

“In the second part of the book there comes the “Hymn of Creation.” This is the positive expression of the unfolding of energy: or generating power—it is the way up.

The “Song of the Moth”4 is the way down; it is light created, and then creating going to its end, a kind of enantiodromia.

In the first case it is the period of growth, of youth, of light and summer.”

Mary Margaret began a contemplative life as a child. A true calling to Spirit at a young age, she marveled at all that was and was aware of the Divine in all things. This was her “Period of growth, of youth, of light and summer”.

And as she began her journey of connection with her Soul and Spirit, a consciousness was born. She has spent her life guiding, mentoring and shining the light of Christ for all to see. Many have received from her grace.

As I sat listening to her, and we continued our conversation, I felt a calm and peace within me. I felt warmth and an all-encompassing sense of connection to love and oneness. As I observed her in her bed I witnessed a light in her eyes, a knowing, and a light around her body.

It was clear that Sister Mary Margaret, through her spirit and connection to Spiritual Divinity, continues to administer to others even though she is now infirmed, bedridden and frail.

It matters not, in matters of the spirit.

I received a healing last night and it was neither her intellectual conscious choice to direct this to me, nor my intellectual conscious choice to receive. Her Soul and Spirit are evolved to such an extent that this simply happens. God is present, and I received through her.

I am grateful for the experience of last night, and grateful for Sister Mary Margaret and our years together. She was born to this and she made a conscious choice to live a live a life that is lifted, above the clay, and in the light.

She has said, our journey is “From the cave to the cosmos”, and we are all called to this evolution of Soul and Spirit.

I love you Mary Margaret, thank you….