Living Hope H
November, 2012
one day at a time
What do you think of when you hear the word Sanctuary?
A first thought probably is the sanctuary of the Church in which we find the ambo from which the Word of God is proclaimed and the altar. In this case, the word sanctuary is associated with sacredness, holiness, the presence of God, maybe a personal sense of purity, forgiveness, and hope in eternal life. Those who are running from oppressors who are perpetrating violence against them since Medieval times could run into a church seeking and expecting sanctuary…to be safe, protected, and to have their basic right to life respected.
Bird enthusiasts would probably pull up in their mind’s eye their favorite bird sanctuary. In this case the word sanctuary refers to an area of land where birds (or other wildlife) are protected from human beings or predators who are hunting them. Finally, when people are fleeing persecution, they seek sanctuary in another locale…someone’s house or another country for example. From these four examples, we could say that the word sanctuary makes us think of safety, the sacred, and support. Pauline Books and Media makes a promise to you: we will be a Sanctuary for you. Now certainly you are not fleeing the world, you aren’t a fugitive seeking refuge, you wouldn’t want to move into a PBM Center to live apart from the world in safety, nor would you want to leave the every day “stuff” of life to live in an ethereal “holy place.” In today’s world, however, we have to admit that sometimes at least we wish we could go somewhere to just talk about things important to us and have someone listen and understand and appreciate what we are saying. Sometimes we wish we could step out of some of the “craziness” of our relationships, civic involvement, and family obligations and be fed with meaning and grace and God’s tender care for us, so we can face life with a new perspective and a new energy. Sometimes we just need silence and the wisdom of authors from the Christian tradition to find our own inner voice or to follow the direction in which God is leading us.
We do need sanctuary because we need the sacred, safety, and a refuge from the “elements” of the world, in order to return to the world enlightened by the Church’s wisdom and teaching and nourished with the Word and presence of the Lord. As a place of Sanctuary rooted in St. Paul’s spirituality, we offer you a message of hope and gratitude. Everything is grace. Everything is a cause of blessing God. Everything reveals to us our dependence on God. Everything opens us up to desiring to love and be loved by the Eternal Father in Christ. This is the secret of happiness. Happiness – everyone wants it. Every product strives to provide it. Commercials proclaim where to find it. We are not lacking in self-help books to achieve it. The awesome secret is that God wants our happiness and can help us be happy even in the midst of the dark valleys of our life. Why are some people happy through thick or thin, and others aren’t? One difference is support. In each of our examples of sanctuary, the person seeking refuge finds support for their beliefs, their needs, and their way of life. In a place of sanctuary, a person’s attitudes are affirmed as meaningful and worth pursuing. Their beliefs are held sacred. Their life, even their basic right to life, is respected. Through the media we carry and through the sisters’ and staff’s presence to you, Pauline Books and Media makes you a promise: we will support you in your Christian journey, your walk behind the Master and Teacher, Jesus Christ. Have you ever found a book that has changed your life? Now, the sisters tease me because I am forever saying, “This book has changed my life….” But it is really true. A book or author, a song, a film, an app can touch a chord within me so deep that I never look at life with the same eyes—I approach problems with a new attitude, a variety of options open up before me for how to relate to others, and I discover more and more a felt sense of God’s desire for my life. For instance, someone once suggested to me that I could apologize to someone whom we both knew clearly had been out of line, expressing sorrow that I hadn’t really taken account of her feelings…. Well that certainly didn’t happen, but the suggestion worked on me. Why couldn’t I apologize? Why couldn’t I put the other person first? Six months later after much reading, reflection, and self-work, it is an option, and my relationships have improved as a result. Certain books had become my teachers along the way. I had found sanctuary from myself and from the storminess of this relationship in the wisdom of an author, in a book I could read over and over, day after day, sharing it with another, thinking about it, practicing what it said, praying about it. Books are teachers, they can also be a sanctuary right in your own home, as near as your bookshelf, your purse, or your car. So as we celebrate this month the great celebration of Thanksgiving, we find ourselves grateful for all the ways God offers us sanctuary and all the ways we can be sanctuary for others, you, us, other people in our life, the Church, the organizations to which we belong, our families…. Sanctuary is a gift we receive and provide others. Sr. Kathryn Hermes, fsp
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