Remembering Mother Agnes ~ 1847-1905

Death Anniversary of Mother Agnes Hazotte ~ March 6

Foundress

Mother Agnes – Leading through Courage, Initiative, and Inspiration

“Our sisters go out as mission sisters and we teach the poor and care for the orphans. We take such places where many other communities would not take.” ~Mother Agnes Hazotte

• Anne Marie Hazotte was born in 1847 in Buffalo, New York, the youngest child of Christoph and Mary Ann Hazotte, who had emigrated from France just in time to escape the Revolution of 1848.

• Before the age of 15, Anne Marie lost her mother, father, two sisters, and a brother – difficult trials that shaped the heart and spirit of this determined, future woman religious leader.

• On a cold January day in 1862, 15-year-old Anne Marie became the “child of destiny,” as she was called by the congregation’s founder, Father Caspar Rehrl. Two years later, at the age of 17, she took her final vows and was elected as the first superior general on the same day. She served in that capacity for the next 40 years and came to be known as Mother Agnes.

• Pioneers in the frontier territory of Wisconsin, the Sisters of St. Agnes were dedicated to the education and faith training of the children of German immigrants who had settled in the region. Father Rehrl sent his sisters to schools throughout the area, relying frequently on the hospitality and generosity of the area settlers for food, lodging, and other needs.

• Moving the congregation in 1870 from Barton to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, was the culmination of ongoing tensions between Mother Agnes and Father Rehrl, whose missionary zeal and frequent absences due to his demanding responsibilities often left his candidates and sisters ill prepared for the challenges of teaching. Recognizing the need for more spiritual, educational, and ministerial opportunities for the sisters, Mother Agnes and most of the sisters made the historic move and continued to thrive under the spiritual guidance of Father Francis Haas, a Capuchin.

• As superior, Mother Agnes accepted the challenges of sustaining the congregation through prudent and innovative financial decisions. Throughout the course of her leadership, conscientious foresight and compassionate insight guided her decisions and led the congregation to become a foundational pillar of community development, both in Fond du Lac and in other communities around the nation, where the sisters were sent to teach and heal.

• Responding to the needs of the community and the requests of the doctors in Fond du Lac, Mother Agnes took up the challenge of opening and staffing St. Agnes Hospital in 1896, and purchased Cold Springs Farm on the outskirts of the city to provide fresh food for the patients and the sisters in 1899. (The current convent and motherhouse are now located at this site.) In 1903, the Henry Boyle Catholic Home for the Aged was established as the first facility for seniors in the area.

• After years of suffering from tuberculosis, diabetes, and a heart ailment, Mother Agnes Hazotte passed away on March 6, 1905, surrounded by the prayers of her sisters – leaving behind her a legacy of courage, determination, and faithful devotion to mission, and paving the way for generations of sisters who continue to inspire and transform lives.

Writings of Mother Agnes:

"Where there is union, there is strength.” (Letter to Sr. Angeline, August 20, 1902)

“Love your God, and give yourself entirely to Him.  He is the true friend.” (Letter to Sr. Seraphine)

“I shall never forget the evening when we knelt at the little altar, poor as it was, and offered our first vows to God. We were both young and inexperienced but god directed us wonderfully during these 25 years.”  (Letter to Sr. Bernardine, June 29, 1888)

St. Agnes Convent Barton, Wisconsin 1858-1870

Two Wolves . . .

 

An Old Cherokee Tale of Two Wolves

One evening an old Cherokee Indian told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, ‘My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’ inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.’

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: ‘Which wolf
wins?’

The old Cherokee simply replied, ‘The one you feed.’
(Source Unknown)

The Gift of Hope . . .

 

Rough Translations

Hope nonetheless.
Hope despite.
Hope regardless.
Hope still.

Hope where we had ceased to hope.
Hope amid what threatens hope.
Hope with those who feed our hope.
Hope beyond what we had hoped.

Hope that draws us past our limits.
Hope that defies expectations.
Hope that questions what we have known.
Hope that makes a way where there is none.

Hope that takes us past our fear.
Hope that calls us into life.
Hope that holds us beyond death.
Hope that blesses those to come.

From: Circle of Grace, Wanton Gospeller Press, Orlando, FL, 2015
 http://www.janrichardson.com/index.htmlichardson.com 
©Jan Richardson. janrichardson.com
Photo by sjh-osu

Carry an Umbrella of Hope!

The Umbrella Prayer . . .

As a drought continued for what seemed an eternity, a small community of farmers was in a quandary as to what to do. Rain was important to keep their crops healthy and sustain the way of life of the townspeople.

As the problem became more acute, a local pastor called a prayer meeting to ask for rain. Many people arrived. The pastor greeted most of them as they filed in. As he walked to the front of the church to officially begin the meeting he noticed most people were chatting across the aisles and socializing with friends.

When he reached the front his thoughts were on quieting the attendees and starting the meeting. His eyes scanned the crowd as he asked for quiet. He noticed an eleven year-old girl sitting quietly in the front row. Her face was beaming with excitement. Next to her, poised and ready for use, was a bright red umbrella. The little girl's beauty and innocence made the pastor smile as he realized how much faith she possessed. No one else in the congregation had brought an umbrella. All came to pray for rain, but the little girl had come expecting God to answer.

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A Tired World . . .

Sweet Darkness

When your eyes are tired                          
the world is tired also.

When your vision is gone                       
no part of the world                     
can find you.

Time to go into the dark     
where the night has eyes                        
to recognize its own.
There you can be sure           
you are not beyond love.
                                               
The dark will be                          
 your womb tonight.
The night will give you a horizon
further than you can see.

You must learn one thing.                
The world was made                                  
to be free in.

Give up all the other worlds
except the one to which you
belong.

Sometimes it takes darkness
and the sweet confinement
of your aloneness
 to learn

Anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive
is too small for you.

- David Whyte

Stand still to be found . . .

 

"Lost"

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.

                                    
                                                           -- David Wagoner
                                                              (1999)

Seventh Sunday Reflection . . .

Readings:

1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23

Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13

1 Corinthians 15:45-49

Luke 6:27-38

 “[A] good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you” (Luke 6:38)

The expression “you have to learn to give as good as you get” in American idiom refers to the ability to hold your own in a group of strong-willed people. Sometimes parents say it to their children to encourage them to stand up to bullies. What “you get” is thought to be something challenging or difficult. In today’s gospel, the meaning is just the opposite. What we get from the Divine Giver is overflowing abundance of compassion, pardon, and love. Among a people who struggled for enough food, to be given an overflowing measure of grain is an image of the Creator’s care and providence. How is one to respond to the unearned gift of God’s gracious mercy? The gospel gives the answer: by emulating the One whose child we are.

Jesus spells out some of the ways that God’s children do as God does: loving enemies, doing good to those who do hateful things, blessing those who speak abusively, and praying for such people. This manner of acting is not unique to Jesus. The first reading also gives an example of how not to retaliate evil for evil. David chooses not to harm Saul, even though King Saul had been trying to kill David.

Beyond individual actions of nonretaliation, Jesus invites his followers into a fundamental stance in life that must be chosen so that we reflect the image of the One who made us. By continually opening ourselves to the immeasurable goodness, compassion, and love of the Most High, our puny capacities are stretched and expanded. The more we become conscious of how much we graciously receive, the more our measure for giving to others increases.

Such a life stance demands relinquishing what is our more natural reaction: to want to return in kind what we get. If someone strikes us, our instinct is to hit back. If someone speaks unkindly of us, our urge is to match the ugly words with even more hurtful ones toward the other. If something is taken from us, we want repayment with interest. Measure for measure, and then some—that is what we instinctively seek. But Jesus points out that when evil is returned for evil, all it does is increase the measure of evil in the world. Meting out goodness, compassion, pardon, especially when that is contrary to what is directed toward us, subdues and transforms evil. It ruptures the power of evil and redirects energies toward filling the world with gracious mercy.

This manner of being is not something we are able to accomplish on our own. In the second reading today, Paul speaks about how we are like the first human being in our frailty and corruptibility. But we are also fashioned in the image of the “last Adam,” the risen Christ, whose life-giving Spirit does its work of transformation in us, so that our capacity to receive and give love grows to immeasurable proportions.

The final verses in the gospel may at first seem to say that we will be treated by God the way we treat others. But the two previous verses (vv. 35 and 36) give us as the starting point God’s unearned goodness and mercy toward us. What enables us to be compassionate, nonjudgmental, forgiving, and giving is that God has first been that way with us. Such divine action in us then shapes our ability to measure the way God does.

Sr. Barbara E. Reid, O.P.

President

Carroll Stuhlmueller, CP Distinguished Professor of New Testament Studies

Excerpted from Barbara E. Reid, Abiding Word. Sunday Reflections for Year C. Liturgical Press, 2012. Pp. 69-70.

https://learn.ctu.edu/

Richard Rohr on Authentic Transformation

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Walking Trees . . .

 In the gospel of Mark (8:22-27) there is a story of how people from a village brought a blind man to Jesus for healing.  The story unfolds with Jesus taking the blind man by the hand and leading him beyond the village.  “He put spit on the man’s eyes, laid hands on him and asked, ‘Do you see anything?’”  The man responded that he saw people, but they looked like trees walking.  So Jesus had to lay his hands on the man’s eyes once again and the man recovered his sight with 20/20 vision! 

This is a great story of how we come through the process of discernment.  The spirit often invites us to leave our comfort zones so that in our discomfort we can be detached enough from our illusions and certainties to notice how we feel within, so that we can learn to trust God’s grace and light.  Much like the man in the story, we are never alone. God is present with us as we encounter new events, circumstances, relationships, and experiences that are part of our search for what God desires of us.  

Discernment is a way of deep listening that cannot be forced.  There is no “drive-thru” for discernment; there is no App for quick and easy answers; and there are no flashing lights with bells and whistles pointing to the right path!  Often, we find clarity and peace a little at a time – we get “blurry-clear” insights and begin to notice more and more of God’s purpose for us with each step on our journey. We are invited to notice signs in our everyday lives that God seems to put in our path to point to the way that will give us peace and joy. This movement is often slow, so as to allow God to gently take us by the hand and to touch our hearts again and again, so that our seeing becomes a vision of how we are being called to a new way of being and becoming.  

The Gift and Grace of Love . . .

Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is,

than falling in love in a quite absolute final way.

What you are in love with,

what seizes your imagination,

will affect everything.

It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning,

what you do with your evenings,

how you spend your weekend,

what you read, who you know,

what breaks your heart,

and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.

Fall in love,

stay in love,

and it will decide everything.

Pedro Arupe, sj

 

From the Heart!

 

Heart of Love, source of kindness,

Teacher of the ways of goodness,

You are hidden in the minutes of daily life

waiting to be discovered among us.

Heart of Gladness, 

Joy that sings

in our souls, 

the Dancer and the Dance,

You are Music radiating in our

cherished times of consolation.

Heart of Compassion, 

the Healing One weeping

for a world burdened and bent,

You are the heart we bring 

to the wounded and weary world.

Heart of all Hearts,

You are the Gift living 

in the depth of our lives,

connecting us with others.

Holy One, in every moment we live in your expansive love and your tender embrace.  

All around us we behold your presence.  

May we continue to expand our lives and our living, accepting the responsibility 

to be co-creators with you.  

May we live in such a way that generations to come will and say, “Radically Amazing!” 

(Judith Cannato: Radical Amazement)

The Gift of Falling . . .

 Story: The Land of the Mighty Mountain

There was once a country famed far and wide for its holy mountain.  People from all over the world had heard about the holy mountain, but the strange thing was, the people who actually lived in that country had a habit of walking around with their eyes always focused on the ground.  They never lifted their heads. And if you asked them what they were doing, they would tell you: ‘We are searching for the holy mountain, of course. Why don’t you join us in the search? This is where you must look.’

And so they lived their lives, restless, moving round in circles, walking up and down the many lanes and alleyways of their country, poring over their maps and arguing with each other about where, exactly, the holy mountain was to be found.

Meanwhile, the holy mountain soared to the skies, waiting patiently for the people to discover its beauty and its power, and saddened to watch them picking their way through the world and never stopping to look up.

In one part of the country, there was a large lake, with water as smooth as glass. The mountain was reflected in this lake, and many of the people of that country would gather around the lake, point to the reflection and claim that they had discovered the mountain.  Some of them jumped into the lake and were drowned. Others thought that the mountain had an evil influence and turned away from the lake. Others decided that, after all, there was no such thing as a holy mountain.

Then one day, amid all the hustle and bustle of the people’s desperate search for the mountain, one of them fell over, and was almost trampled to death by the milling feet all around him. He lay there, flat on his back, thinking that his end must surely be close, when to his amazement; he looked up and saw the holy mountain towering serenely above him. He tried to tell everyone what he had seen, but no one believed him, so he set off alone to seek out the path that would lead him to the mountain.

It was a hard journey, for the path was sometimes steep and perilous, and he kept losing sight of his goal. Many times he fell in his journeying, and every time he fell, he would see, once more, the mountain he was searching for, and be encouraged to keep on walking.  And as he walked, he noticed that the only other people on the path to the mountain were disabled or sick, or were carrying some great load that had made them topple over in their need.  He realized that only those who had fallen were ever able to see the mountain, and only those who knew the full meaning of the word ‘down’ could ever look up. (Source Unknown)

 

"Nourish the flame . . ."

 

 For Courage

When the light around you lessens
And your thoughts darken until
Your body feels fear turn
Cold as a stone inside,

When you find yourself bereft
Of any belief in yourself
And all you unknowingly
Leaned on has fallen,

When one voice commands
Your whole heart,
And it is raven dark,
Steady yourself and see
That it is your own thinking
That darkens your world,

Search and you will find
A diamond-thought of light,
Know that you are not alone
And that this darkness has purpose;
Gradually it will school your eyes
To find the one gift your life requires
Hidden within this night-corner.

Invoke the learning
Of every suffering
You have suffered.
Close your eyes.
Gather all the kindling
About your heart
To create one spark.

That is all you need
To nourish the flame
That will cleanse the dark
Of its weight of festered fear.
A new confidence will come alive
To urge you toward higher ground
Where your imagination
Will learn to engage difficulty
As its most rewarding threshold!
(From To Bless the Space Between Us by John O'Donohue)

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To Hope . . .

 

“To hope means to be ready at every moment for that which is not yet born, and yet not become desperate if there is no birth in our lifetime.” (Erich Fromm)

Hoping within the Darkness . . .

 Humming In The Darkness

Hope means to keep living

amid desperation

and to keep humming

in the darkness.

Hoping is knowing that there is love,

it is trust in tomorrow

it is falling asleep

and waking again

when the sun rises.

In the midst of a gale at sea,

it is to discover land.

In the eyes of another

it is to see that you are understood . . .

As long as there is still hope

There will also be prayer . . .

And you will be held

in God’s hands.

_ Henri Nouwen

  With Open Hands _

Listening . . .

    

The Power of a Whisper

Slow me down today, Lord,

and whisper a word or two - or more,

in the quiet of my mind and heart...

When I'm cursing myself or others,

whisper words of blessing...

When I'm judging another's words and deeds,

whisper words of patience...

When my voice is still and silent,

whisper words that I might speak...

When I'm saying much too much,

whisper words to shut me up...

When I've failed and when I've sinned,

whisper words of pardon...

When I'm facing loss and grief,

whisper words of consolation...

When I'm stuck in my own foolishness,

whisper words of wisdom...

When I'm confounded and confused,

whisper words of counsel...

When I'm caught up in my lies,

whisper words of truth.

When life is just too tough to take,

whisper words of hope...

When my heart is broken, hurt and wounded,

whisper words of healing...

When I'm at war with my neighbor or myself,

whisper words of peace...

Slow me down, Lord,

and help me find a quiet place to hear

the whisper of your word...

Slow me down today, Lord,

and whisper a word or two - or more,

in the quiet of my mind and heart...

Amen.

- Rev. Austin Fleming

Prayer for Hope . . .

 

Help Us to Hope 

O loving God,

we thank you for bringing us the rivers and streams of this world.

May the rivers we know be an image of the stream

that you want to flow within each one of us.

Teach us now, take away all fear,

dare to let us believe that we could really be a small part

of a reconstructed society, that we could build again.

Take away our cynicism.

Take away our lack of hope.

Take away our own anger and judgments.

We thank you for the faith and the desire that is in our hearts.

You have planted it there. Now help us to preserve it,

protect it and increase it.

We long for vision, God.

We need vision and we know we will perish without it.

Help us open each new day to a new meaning,

to a new hope, to a deeper desiring.

Show us your face, loving God, and we will be satisfied.

We ask for all this in Jesus’ name.

AMEN. 

(Richard Rohr, ofm:

Hope Against Darkness: The Transforming Vision of Saint Francis in an Age of Anxiety (2001)

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