The Company of St. Ursula In the United States

Current | Previous Entries

Tending the vine – For fullness of life

What makes a full life?

Death forces us to ask the question.
        Is it length of years?
        Is it celebrity?
        Is it comfort?

Kathleen Hallinan’s death
        calls us to focus on the question and
        suggests an answer.

A WISDOM-TEACHER

The approach of death puts life into perspective. It focuses our eyes on essentials. At the end of her life, Angela Merici pondered what essential last word she would leave to her daughters. Here is what she said:

My last word to you, by which I implore you even with my blood, is that you live in harmony, united together, all of one heart and one will. Be bound to one another by the bond of charity, esteeming each other, helping each other, bearing with each other in Jesus Christ.

For, if you strive to be like this, without any doubt, the Lord God will be in your midst….

How important is this union and concord! So, long for it, pursue it, embrace it, hold onto it with all your strength; for I tell you, living thus united in heart, you will be like a mighty fortress, or a tower impregnable against all adversities…

And I shall always be in your midst, helping your prayers.

Therefore, continue courageously in the task you have begun. And at the same time rejoice, because, without doubt, what I say to you will be so.

Not to mention the immense and inestimable grace that my Lover, or rather ours, will grant you at the supreme moment of death, for in times of great need, true friendship is recognized. And believe firmly that then especially, you will recognize me to be your faithful friend.

Now I leave you; be consoled, and have a lively faith and hope. But first I want you to be blessed, in nomine Patris, et Filii, at Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

REFLECTING and DOING

1) List three ingredients of a full life, as you envision it. Are they active in your life?

2) If so, give thanks. Consider how to share one of them.

3) If not, what step will you take to make one of them your own?

SCRIPTURE PATHS

Kathleen chose the following scriptural texts (excerpted here) to be read at her funeral.
1. Select one to read aloud to yourself. Listen for the voice speaking to you through the words.
2. Look up the full passage cited. See what other gift it imparts.
3. Consider what scriptural passage speaks to your soul about your own life.

Isaiah 25:6-9
    “.... God will wipe away the tears from all faces.... This is God, for whom we looked; let us rejoice and be glad that God has saved us!”

1 Peter 5:6,7
    “Bow humbly under God’s mighty hand, so that in due time God may lift you high. Cast all your cares on God, for God cares for you.”

John 20:1-10
    “.... Then the disciple who had arrived first at the tomb went in. He saw and believed. (Remember, as yet they did not understand the Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) With this, the disciples went back home.”

PRAYER

May all the baptized experience God’s love through one another and serve the least of Jesus’ brothers and sisters! Loving God, hear our prayer.

May Kathleen enjoy the fullness of life at home in heaven with her parents Bridget and Michael! Loving God, hear our prayer.

May the Ursulines in all the Companies of the world and in the Order shed Christ’s light around them! Loving God, hear our prayer.

May the Company of St. Ursula of the United States grow and fulfill its mission of being a Gospel presence in the world. Loving God, hear our prayer.

May Kathleen’s relatives and friends be consoled, and may they be inspired by the memory of her courage and faith, her generosity and wit, her passion for life and for justice. Loving God, hear our prayer.