The Art of Waiting | Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C. | The Foreword to "Come, Lord
Jesus: Meditations on the Art of Waiting" | Ignatius Insight
The Art of Waiting | Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C. | The Foreword to Come, Lord
Jesus: Meditations on the Art of Waiting | Ignatius Insight
http://ignatiusinsight.com/features2010/mmfrancis_frwdclj_oct2010.asp
In the fall of 2003, when Mother Mary Francis was waiting at the Chicago
airport for her return flight to Roswell after the completion ofa visitation to
our youngest daughterhouse, she began her new book on Advent in the following
words:
THE ART OF WAITING
1. Waiting as a child
2. Waiting in fear
3. Waiting in joyous expectation
4. Waiting in peace
5. Waiting to understand
6. Waiting in airports
7. Waiting to see the Face of God
There is this about waiting: it is multifaceted. We can wait in fear. We can
wait in joyous expectation. We can be content to wait to be understood when God
strikes the moment rather than trying to turn the clock, the calendar, ahead to
our preferred moment of "now!" We can stand patiently or irritably in
line at the airport. We can wait with the deliciousness of a child's waiting
for Christmas. We can wait in peace for God to strike his own moment, reveal
his own plans, unveil the demands of his love. And we can see all life and its
often bewildering hours and events as a waiting to see the Face of God, which
vision is less the explanation of life on earth than a revelation of the
mystery of his love. It is ours to determine how to wait. And Advent dawns upon
our hearts and souls each year to educate us in the art, the bliss, the peace,
the pain, and the wonder of waiting.
It is our Lady who shows us how to wait.
There are two species of humanity as regards reading a book: those who begin
reading on page one and arrive eventually at the final page, and those who must
read the end before reading what precedes and leads to the end. All of us
belong to a crossed species, even our Lady. The foremost handmaid of the Lord
wanted some details, some explanation of God's doings. "Behold, I am the
handmaid of the Lord." But also: "How shall this be done? I know not
man." And the angel's reply was hardly something to answer the human question
satisfactorily. "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee." But who is
the Holy Spirit? "And the Holy to be born of you shall be called the Son
of God." These are scarcely explanations that would have elicited a reply
of "Oh, I see." No, she did not see.
"Be it done to me according to your word." But how will this word
function, so to speak? Blessedly comforting for us are those words of
Scripture: "She did not understand." Not then, nor later, either.
Gently upbraiding her boy, who was the Son of God, she was later to exercise
her maternal rights by asking: "Why have you done this?" when he had
been missing for three days in the temple. The reply of the Divine Child was
hardly an explanation. "Did you not know that I must be about my Father's
business?" What business? But we do not find her presenting more
questions. "She did not understand this word that he spoke to her."
So, she just went home and cooked supper for him and Saint Joseph.
Alas, because her notes were set aside for "later", this was as far
as the new book had progressed before the Great Advent of the Lord in Mother's
own life. He came for her on February 11, 2006, unveiling all the mysteries of
the Gospel that she pondered in the passage above. We, her spiritual daughters,
were left with a great legacy in the conferences Mother gave to our community
during her forty-two years as abbess. She had planned to edit her conferences
for Advent into a book; but the Lord changed her plans, as he had so often done
before.
Eager to share the treasures she poured out upon us, we feel impelled to make
them available to a wider audience. Mother did not give an orderly commentary
on the Scripture readings of each day of Advent but spoke to us on whatever
subject our Lord put into her heart as certain passages in the liturgy struck
her. She would often reflect on the Sunday readings; for the rest, her chapters
explored any of the other multitudinous facets of Advent, touching on a number
of passages more than once and opening out new vistas of meaning each time. As
a wise spiritual guide, Mother knew that repetition is indispensable in
teaching and it was also an element of her literary style.
We have gathered together her Advent conferences given from 1967 to 2001 and
spread the rich viands of her thoughts over the course of the season, striving
to match the daily Mass readings as far as possible. May these ponderings of
Mother Mary Francis' heart help each reader to learn more fully the art, the
bliss, the peace, the pain, and the wonder of waiting!
The Poor Clare Nuns
Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Roswell, New Mexico
December 12
Solemnity of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Come, Lord Jesus: Meditations on the Art of Waiting
by
Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C.
These Advent reflections by the abbess of a Poor Clare monastery, an
accomplished spiritual writer, focus our attention on the coming of Jesus into our lives. There is a double movement to
this coming; both our active preparation to be ready for him and our patient waiting for the Lord to arrive in his own
good time. There is also an art to this simultaneous preparation and waiting, and no one knows better than the beloved
Mother Mary Francis how to encourage us in our attempts to master this art.
Meditating on passages from Scripture about the coming of the Messiah into the world and our hearts, Mother
challenges us to persevere in overcoming our faults and keeping our eyes on the Lord who has called us to himself-for
it is he, through the gifts of his grace, who will complete in us the work of sanctification which he has begun.
Though written for Advent, the wisdom of Mother Mary Francis collected by her sisters is profitable at any time
because a Christian life is one of constant growth into the very likeness of God.
"But it is a wonderful thing that we are not happy with ourselves, because the most terrible thing would be
that we are at peace with our faults, absorbed in ourselves, blaming our faults on other people...the tenderness, the
sweetness of Advent is wedded to that great mystery which begins with the call: Now is the time. Now is the hour. Wake
up and be made perfect in holiness."
- Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C.
"In these meditations, Mother Mary Francis teaches us that the liturgy keeps offering us precious insights
that most of us do not perceive as precious jewels, for we have not learned the art of listening to the Divine voice
speaking to us through the liturgy. All this is sketched with the powerful hand of someone who has lived it."
- Alice von Hildebrand
"The Poor Clare Abbess opens her precious sanctuary, the inner life of her vocation, disclosing the simplicity of
the Franciscan gifts for a life of prayer by artfully sharing meditations on the weeks of Advent preparing for
Christmas. With wit and sometimes deft humor, she redefines perennial values through contemporary analogies. Anyone
needing to be re-established in the essential goodness of our Catholic traditions will find these meditations healing
and consoling. You will certainly have found a new friend in the Franciscan cloth--as a Benedictine nun, I did!" -
Mother Dolores Hart, O.S.B. Prioress, Abbey of Regina Laudis
Related Ignatius Insight Articles, Excerpts, and Interviews:
• Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C. | Ignatius Press Author Page
• Mother Mary Francis and the Renewal of Religious Life | Archbishop Raymond L.
Burke | The Foreword to Chastity, Poverty and Obedience
• The Life of Mother Benedict Duss | Preface to
Mother Benedict: Foundress of the Abbey of
Regina Laudis | Antoinette Bosco
• The Gift of the Abbey of Regina Laudis | An Interview
with Antoinette Bosco
• "God's Little Trojan Horse on Crutches" |
An interview with Raymond Arroyo about Mother Angelica
• The Transformation of Mother Teresa | Carl E. Olson
• "This book is the fulfilment of my vow" | The preface to
Franz Werfel's The Song of Bernadette
• The Relevance of Holiness | Patricia A.
McEachern on the life of St. Bernadette of Lourdes
• Near Death, Nearer to Jesus | Fr. Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R.
• Forty-Four Hours in Lourdes | Stephen Sparrow
• St. Thrse of Lisieux: Patron Saint of Common Sense | Stephen Sparrow
• The Story of a Nun and a Medal | Stephen Sparrow
Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C., (1921-2006) was for more than forty years the abbess of the Poor Clare
Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Roswell, New Mexico. She became recognized as an authoritative voice for the renewal of religious life through her many books,
including A Right to Be Merry, But I Have Called You Friends, and Anima Christi.
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