{"id":1753,"date":"2011-10-14T14:03:00","date_gmt":"2011-10-14T19:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/?p=1753"},"modified":"2026-02-27T08:14:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:14:12","slug":"coming-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/2011\/10\/14\/coming-home\/","title":{"rendered":"coming home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest blogger: Sister Sarah Hennessey<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Family life is messy.\u00a0 If you are part of a family you probably know what I mean.\u00a0 To be church is to be family.\u00a0 To me this means that we are more than some institution or club to belong to; as family we belong to each other.\u00a0 Our lives weave in and out of each other through birth and death, joy and sorrow, sudden tragedy and daily victories.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I recently celebrated my perpetual profession as a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration<\/a>.\u00a0 My Franciscan sisters were joined by family and friends from across the country to celebrate a mass I had been planning in my head for years!\u00a0 Secretly, I had been afraid that if my crazy quilt of a family and my FSPA community and my parish came together in one place that world war three would break out or at least a minor explosion. But instead it was an explosion of joy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

My five year old niece carried flowers down the aisle with me as I carried a precious lard light<\/a>.\u00a0 My home priest presided in joy and song.\u00a0 Friends sang a psalm I had composed.\u00a0 I professed vows to the leadership team, received my blessed ring, and signed the official papers.\u00a0 We processed out smiling and clapping to \u201cThis Little Light of Mine.\u201d
\n[youtube http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=NJOUt2KhUrM]<\/p>\n

To me the day was a homecoming.\u00a0 As Sister Eileen McKenzie said in her reflection, in Jesus and my FSPA sisters I have found my home.\u00a0 Home as you know is a complex place.\u00a0 The people we love the most are often the people we hurt the most.\u00a0 And as we come to forgive each other we love each other more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Henri Nouwen comments on this characteristic of home when he says:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Community is characterized by two things: one is forgiveness, the other is celebration. \u00a0 Forgiveness means that I am continually willing to forgive the other person for not being God- for\u00a0not fulfilling all my needs\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The interesting thing is that when you can forgive people for not being God, then you can\u00a0celebrate that they are a reflection of God.\u00a0 You can say, \u201cSince you are not God, I love you because you have such beautiful gifts of his love.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

We celebrate the gifts of God in one another, while continually forgiving each other for not being divine and omnipotent.\u00a0 My family, my true home, is this circle I know of the People of God.\u00a0 It includes my birth parents and siblings, ninety-six year old nuns, and fourteen year old parishioners.\u00a0 My family holds a place for the immigrant and the resident, children and prisoners, the suicidal and addicted.\u00a0 Whatever label sticks to some part of our life, we are all children of God.\u00a0 Day by day we learn to forgive and celebrate and forgive again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Guest blogger: Sister Sarah Hennessey Family life is messy.\u00a0 If you are part of a family you probably know what I mean.\u00a0 To be church is to be family.\u00a0 To me this means that we are more than some institution or club to belong to; as family we belong to each other.\u00a0 Our lives weave...","protected":false},"author":7668253,"featured_media":25450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[115341],"tags":[20786359,66473413,66473343,66473342,1935140,17713976,66473341,2566397,284687,44653934,95043,22474762,9789165,18434753,29856689,1927961],"series":[698756626],"class_list":["post-1753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-equity-and-justice-equity-and-justice","tag-catholic-sisters","tag-eileen-mckenzie","tag-final-vow-ceremony","tag-franciscan-community","tag-franciscan-sisters","tag-franciscan-sisters-of-perpetual-adoration","tag-franciscan-women","tag-fspa","tag-henri-nouwen","tag-mary-of-the-angels-chapel","tag-nuns","tag-religious-vows","tag-religious-women","tag-sarah-hennessey","tag-st-rose-convent","tag-women-religious","series-messy-jesus-business"],"acf":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/a-tranquil-countryside-scene-with-a-solitary-house-amidst-lush-greenery-and-cloudy-skies.-18877855-scaled.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/feed\/podcast\/messy-jesus-business","embedCode":"

coming home<\/a><\/blockquote>