My Aunt Regina, otherwise known as Sister Esther, turns 100 today.  Longevity runs on her side of the family.  Aunt Re is an amazing woman who has influenced many through her teachings (she was a high school French teacher), her family interactions and her focused, orderly living.  Too often we are celebrating people we love at the time of their death.  I am grateful that we get to celebrate Aunt Re on her 100th birthday.  Aunt Re has been a mentor, a teacher, a novice director, a friend, a family member and an inspiration to many many many people.

She told me once to remember that the Old Testament are stories told around the campfire.  They are full of truth - but maybe not of facts.  I learned that truthful "full of truth"  doesn't mean the same thing as factual.  And I would choose truth any day.  How often do we see folks bending the "truth" using different facts in hopes that we will see things the way they want us to see them.  Having studied statistics this was brought home even more so.  

Aunt Re taught me about the rule of St. Benedict, about an orderly way of living.  She has inspired me with the knowledge that "always we begin again".  Every day, every moment is an opportunity.  We get to choose to keep going, keep learning, keep moving - or not.  We can choose to stop - to opt out - and we will miss out.  At 95 my Aunt was working with a Microsoft Access data base and managing it better than many 40 year olds.  I believe this is due to the fact that she never let an opportunity to learn, grow and use new ideas pass her by.  All within the framework of a strong community.

After Vatican II, Aunt Re was part of a group of women who started a new community in Maryland focused on living out the tenants of the council.  Twenty three women joined together and started to bring about this new community in July of 1971.  Aunt Re, at the age of 60, participated in this new creation, a new beginning.  So many of us think of our 60's as retirement.  For Aunt Re it was a time of new beginning.  "Always we begin again".

I was extremely blessed by this move of my Aunt's.  I can't remember a time when she wasn't a part of my  world.  We moved to Illinois in 1972.  Aunt Re would come every summer and Christmas to visit my grandmother (her eldest sister) who lived with us.  Oh, how I would throw a fit when Aunt Re had to go back to her community.  I loved hanging out with her and playing games.  I loved her stories.  She was my advocate when I wanted to explore other denominations.  She was my rock when I struggled.  When I decided to go to seminary in 2004 she was supportive and a sounding block, providing recommendations on reading material and many thoughts.  She continues to be a strong influence in my life and I am looking forward to seeing her this weekend.

The second youngest of 9 children, Aunt Re was born on September 15th, 1911.  The world was different a century ago.  Automobiles and motion pictures were relatively new inventions. Women couldn't vote.  The Wright brothers had only just flown their first flight.  Disney didn't exist (Mickey Mouse's first cartoon was in the 1920's) Sliced bread didn't even exist.  World War 1 (1914-1918) was the backdrop for her early childhood.  She lived her teenage years in the Roaring 20's.  The first talking movie was 1927.  The Great Depression hit just as she became a novice in the Benedictine order.  World War 2 saw her brothers and her students fighting in Europe.  Israel wasn't a nation until 1947 - Aunt Re would have been 36.  When she was my age, she was living in New Jersey and wearing a habit.  Hillary and Norgay climbed Mt. Everest.  Segregation was still the norm.  We hadn't yet entered the Vietnam conflict.  How many things that we take for granted has she seen come about?

9.11 thought

I met a man for whom 9/11 was much more personal than it is to me.  He lost a good friend that day, was close enough that he watched through binoculars the second plane hit.  He lived through the confusion only to see the aftermath - Not just of physical destruction - but of emotional destruction.  People who were trusting - became less so.  People who wanted to hate - had more reason to do so.  Fear of anything and everything different grew.  He saw those who had lived by his side look at him with concern and step back a little.  His home is in India.  Yet in many ways he is much more connected to this event than I am.  

9/11 for me was waking up to a news story that was awful.  I knew no one in New York.  I watched the events over and over again on t.v.  It was slightly unreal.  The tsunami in Japan this past year was similar for me.   Huge destruction - far away  - lives lost, how could this have happened - What is going to happen next - What clean up is necessary?  How do we keep moving forward?  What i s the fallout?

Political speeches -  the world changes - For good?  For bad?  Both it seems - changes.  

9/11 was a rallying cry for Americans to become patriotic.  I think it should have been a rallying cry for Americans to be more connected to the world as a whole.  My friend, this man I met, is one of many international folks who lived through that day and for whom it was much more personal.  The world cried with us that day.  

The world is a very large place - and yet oh so interconnected.