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      Irish Blessings (Traditional)   May the road rise to meet you,May the wind be always at your back.May the sun shine warm upon your face,The rains fall soft upon your fields.And until we meet again,May God hold you in the palm of his hand. May God be with you and bless you;May you see your children’s children.May you be poor in misfortune,Rich in blessings,May you know nothing but happinessFrom this day forward. May the road rise to meet youMay the wind be always at your backMay the warm rays of sun fall upon your homeAnd may the hand of a friend always be near.                        Image: www.pexels.com  

    “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7i6c54KEfc

  Sister Mary Christine Morkovsky, CDP December 13, 1931 – March 2, 2024       Sister Mary Christine Morkovsky (formerly Sister Theresa Clare), CDP, Ph.D., entered eternal life on March 2, 2024 at the age of 92. She was born on December 13, 1931, in San Antonio, Texas, to Henry J. and Mary L. A. (Kucera) Morkovsky. She had three brothers and six sisters and was proud of her Czechoslovakian heritage. Sister Mary Christine made her first profession of vows on June 22, 1951, and her perpetual vows on June 22, 1957. Sister Mary Christine was a Sister of Divine Providence for 72 years. She ministered as a teacher, graduate student, researcher, historian, Congregational leader, author and spiritual director. She utilized her God-given talents to manifest God's Providence in all that she did. In her early ministry Sister Mary Christine taught music theory at Providence High School and private piano and organ at St. Mary’s. She was also an instructor of English, music, algebra, and journalism at the Our Lady of the Lake Aspirancy. This led her to become a formation director and attend graduate school. She obtained her M.A. in Philosophy from St. Louis University in 1961 and began teaching philosophy at Our Lady of the Lake College. While working on her doctorate, Sister Mary Christine worked at Mission San Jose as an exhibit consultant. She earned her Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of St. Louis in 1966. Sister Mary Christine was conducting her post graduate research in Paris, France when she was asked by the Texas Parks and Wildlife to research information about the Spaniards who established the Missions. Researching in Madrid and Sevilla, Spain, she once again used her gifts where she was called. After returning from Europe, Sister Mary Christine served as the Philosophy Department Head and taught at Wadhams Hall Seminary College in Ogdensburg, New York for nearly a decade. Her contributions also extended beyond the classroom. She was a respected author, historian, and spiritual director, influencing many with her deep knowledge and understanding. According to WORLD CAT Mary Christine is listed 47 times as author, translator, contributor, or creator of 23 print books, 14 ebooks, 28 articles, book reviews or other media. From 1999-2005, Sister Mary Christine served on the General Council and was liaison for the Mexico region of the Congregation. She continued to serve the community at the Mexican American Catholic College in San Antonio, Texas, focusing on teaching, writing, and music until 2011. Her lifelong dedication to education, her commitment to her faith, and her unwavering support of the Congregation of Divine Providence left a lasting impact on all who knew her. Sister Mary Christine collaborated on a regular basis with the national organization called the Women of Providence in Collaboration (WPC.) The WPC is comprised of the congregations of women religious who recognize Providence as their charism. She shared her writings and presentations exploring the applied theology of Providence and contributed regularly to their Providence retreats, conferences, publications and events. Internationally she also shared her writings, knowledge and spirit with her sister congregations founded by Blessed Fr. Jean Martin Moye. Her focus of manifesting God’s Providence allowed her to move from one kind of ministry to another. She said, “I didn’t enter the convent to do one particular thing. I entered because I wanted to be of service – to follow Christ and manifest God’s Providence.” She is survived by her sisters Helen (Edward) Cyr; and Agnes (Joe) Raz; brothers Henry, John, and Paul Morkovsky, and all her Sisters of Divine Providence. She is also survived by numerous nieces, nephews, and their families. She was preceded in death by her parents Henry J. and Mary L. A. (Kucera) Morkovsky; sisters Rose Ann (Sam) Hauger; Ann Frances (Gerald) Adam; Teresa Clare (Bob) Auburn; and Katherine Angela Morkovsky. The Rosary is Sunday, March 10, 2024, at 4:30 p.m.; Wake, at 6:30 p.m. Mass of Resurrection is Monday, March 11, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. All services will be in Annunciation Chapel at Our Lady of the Lake Convent Center. In lieu of flowers, you may wish to make a memorial contribution to the Sisters of Divine Providence, 603 S.W. 24th Street, San Antonio, Texas 78207-4619.

We commend to your charity the soul of our beloved Sr. Mary Margaret Paliotte Who departed this life on February 15, 2024 I n the seventy-fifth year of her religious life Age: 91 years, 3 months, 25 days     Sister Mary Margaret Paliotte was born Mary Louise Paliotte, in the small town of Monaca, Pennsylvania, on October 22, 1932, along with her sister, Margaret. The twins were the fifth and sixth of seven children born to Nathan Paliotte, an Italian immigrant, and Margaret Chleba. Eight days later, the girls were baptized at St. John the Baptist Parish by Fr. Emilio Farri. Sixteen years later, in September, 1949, Fr. Ferrari would recommend the young Mary Louise for entrance into the Sisters of Divine Providence. Sister Mary Margaret, known fondly to her Sisters in community as M&M, later wrote, “I believe it was the faith of my parents that I entered religious life. I came from a loving family and leaving home was difficult. I knew that religious life would have joys and sorrows like any other life. As a young person, I wanted the challenge of following Jesus by helping others.” For the next fifty-five years, Sister Mary Margaret dedicated herself to elementary school education, teaching the lower grades in the Pittsburgh area and later in Detroit, and Warren, Ohio. She once shared that both she and her sister struggled with school academics and this experience helped her to encourage her own students who needed extra help. She often told them, “I don’t want to hear you say that you can’t do it because there’s always a way and we’re going to find it.” One student’s mother credited Sr. Mary Margaret’s words of encouragement with her daughter’s success in life. In her retirement, Sr. Mary Margaret returned to Pittsburgh and volunteered at Providence Connections Family Support Center, where she lovingly rocked and comforted the babies in daycare. She is known to have said "Those babies will never know how much joy and happiness they gave me. I often tell Jesus to have a rocking chair in heaven. Then I can rock all the babies in heaven." Sr. Carol Kampert, a longtime friend of Sr. Mary Margaret, shared a home and teaching responsibilities at St. Isaac Jogues elementary school in Detroit. These days, Sr. Carol looks back on the time with fondness, describing Mary Margaret as a gentle, caring, prayerful, and welcoming presence. She credits Sr. Mary Margaret with “teaching me how to teach” and when asked if she enjoyed living with Sr. Mary Margaret, Sr. Carol breaks into an easy smile saying, “Oh yes! I just remember liking her so much!” She recalls their comfortable evening routine of going for walks after supper, returning home to sit in the living room together to grade papers, and ending the evening with a little television. In her final years, Sr. Mary Margaret dedicated herself to a ministry of prayer and presence at St. Joseph’s Center where she also enjoyed reading, doing word search puzzles, and listening to music. The nurses who cared for her described her as a quiet, cooperative, and appreciative person with aide Joann Benacquisto saying “There’s a love about her. There’s a warmth that comes from her.” Sr. Mary Margaret once said, “When I enter heaven, I’m hoping to hear God say, ‘This is my beloved daughter in whom I am well-pleased. Well done, M&M!” There is no doubt that is exactly what God is saying to her now, and we echo those sentiments. Well done, M&M! Birthday: October 22 Sr. Judith Connor

We commend to your charity the soul of our beloved Sister Rose Marie Lipke Who departed this life on February 9, 2024 In the eightieth year of her religious life Age: 96 years, 7 months, 11 days     “Let the little children come to me”   Sister Rose Marie Lipke came full circle in her Religious Life. Born in Allegheny, PA on June 30, 1927 to Joseph and Marie (Schmittan) Lipke, she was one of five siblings, including Virginia Lipke Vole, Joanne Lipke Anderson, Rev. Joseph Lipke, and Germaine Lipke Bathen. Just before 9:00 this morning, Sister Rose Marie peacefully took her last breath and went quietly home to God. Until a few days ago, she had been sharing meals in the main dining room. Being such a loving person, she enjoyed the Sisters’ company and they hers. Sr. Charlotte, one of the Sisters with whom she had lived in Kingston, sat by her side and made sure she had plenty of her favorite coffee. Prior to her “retirement “as a fine educator, Rose Marie taught in a number of schools, including Stamford Catholic Regional in Connecticut. But she found her niche in Pastoral Ministry. In a number of parishes, she ministered as a pastoral associate as in St. Eulalia’s in Winchester and Holy Family in Concord, MA. During their liturgies, Rose Marie often took on the role of baby sitter. It was not uncommon for her to be seen carrying one of her “little ones” around during the Mass. Her love for them was so evident. A number of years ago Sr. Rose Marie enjoyed a wonderful experience offered by our Community. She wrote about this as follows: “It’s good to be back! The Summer has been a great experience for me. Our Community offered for the first time an International Community Summer Program at our General Headquarters in Rome. Yes, overlooking the Vatican! St. Peter’s was my parish church for four weeks. The Program itself was excellent - - and concluded in Germany. The highlight of the Summer was the invitation for our group to attend the Holy Father’s Mass at his Summer residence, Castle Gondolfo. Being a Sister of Divine Providence - - God’s Providence was very evident this Summer. I remembered you all in the many churches and shrines.” Sister Rose Marie surely knew where to find God’s Providence evident. And we now know that she will continue to see the face of our Provident God, as she enjoys the fullness of God’s life, love, and peace. May she always remember us!   In God’s loving Providence Birthday: June 30 Sr. Claudia Ward  

Ash Wednesday     "You are merciful to all, O Lord, and despise nothing that you have made. You overlook people's sins, to bring them to repentance, and you spare them, for you are the Lord our God." (Wisdom 11:24-25, 27)   Image: www.google.com

Lent, 2024   Dear Sisters and Associates,   They say in the game of life, timing is everything. Satan thought it was good timing, coming to Jesus after he had spent forty days and nights fasting in the wilderness. Jesus must have been exhausted, hungry, and alone. Surely the devil thought Jesus would be a perfect victim – but the devil’s timing was really off! What about our timing this Lent?  Will we begin, like Jesus, with a time of contemplative silence in the desert?  Will we take time to prepare for some radical change in ourselves?  We humans usually like things the way we like things…we are creatures of habit.  And yet, each Lent we are given the opportunity to ponder anew our life, our vision, our longing for the Lord.   Pope Francis says, “We have to learn how to dialogue, how to forgive, how to trust, and how to give people the benefit of the doubt.”    We enter the Lenten season early this year.  In mid-winter, here in the Northern hemisphere, Ash Wednesday falls on Valentine’s Day in the USA – typically the celebration of hearts and love.  Will our focus be on hearts or ashes?  Maybe it should be on both.  Certainly, we begin this time of Lent by receiving ashes and promising ourselves to change, to spend more time in prayer, in spiritual reading, in service of others.  (Prayer, fasting, almsgiving—what we have learned over the years).    Lent is a time to return to God with all one’s heart.  It’s a time of yearning to begin again, to seek forgiveness, and to experience the tender understanding of a God that loves us beyond our wildest dreams.  As I wrote in the recent Global Connections article, “our God is a God of overwhelming, undeserving, reckless love” for us.  That kind of unconditional, generous love of God for each of us can spill over not only in our lives, but through us to the vulnerable ones we meet along the way.  This year, as we celebrate the beginning of Lent and the feast of love, Valentine’s Day, may we also consider how we can reach out and share God’s goodness with others and with our world.  The timing is definitely now.  Our world is being devastated by wars, poverty, hunger, hateful speech, and leaders who seem to be concerned only about their “kingdoms.”  But Jesus tells us to change and accept the kingdom of God, which is what’s good for the whole of humanity.  Jesus tells us frequently, “the reign of God is at hand.”  Aren’t we, as Providence people, being called to use this time now—for change, for justice, for peacemaking?   My dad played basketball in high school and also loved to watch professional games. He often used the game as a metaphor for a lesson he wanted to share. One such lesson was timing is everything.  He explained that in life, like in basketball, things can change quickly, partly because there are three-point shots, partly because of the last second foul shots, or perhaps because of the height of players who can dunk from the free-throw line.  In other words, the score, the balance of power, can change in an instant.  Two minutes left on the clock in a basketball game seem like an eternity.  Games can be won or lost in those last two minutes.  That’s why, even if a team is down by 20 points, there’s still a chance.  It’s nail-biting, blood-pressure-raising moments like these that become not a test of skill, but the moment that timing becomes everything.      So, is our timing off or on?  Are we about ashes or hearts – or both?  Are we willing to change so that we can become freer and more dynamic as a congregation?  The Spirit is speaking to us and, hopefully, our hearts are listening.  Lent is our graced opportunity to walk individually and communally, together, seeking God’s will for our future – as a congregation moving toward oneness – for a world in dire need of hope and healing.  In our justice making as God’s people, we will be the face of Providence in our world.   May the timing in these six weeks of Lent be filled with abundant blessings! Sr. Barbara McMullen Congregational Leader    

Reckless Love   Sister Barbara McMullen       “Overwhelming, undeserving, reckless love of God for me” are the lyrics to a song I heard last summer while attending Mass at a neighboring parish. Something stirred within me as I heard that song sung and it has stayed with me ever since. I’m not exactly sure why, and yet as I awakened this morning, thinking about my article for this Global Connections, these were the words once again in my mind and heart as I slowly opened my eyes. What is it God that you want said? I’ve learned over the years to pay attention to these little signs. As we begin a new year of Global Connections the Congregational Leadership Team has chosen this line from our Directional Statement as our theme: “caring for creation and the vulnerable on the periphery.” God has been revealing God’s overwhelming love, beauty and goodness from the very beginning of the natural world.  As Genesis 1:31 says: “God looked at everything God had made and found it very good.”  Through all of creation we see God’s grandeur and beauty in so many varieties of species, in the land, in the sky and the stars, and in human beings as well.  In the time just before dawn we see the dark lighten, a bit of pink peeks into the edge of the night, and soon the sky is golden with the sun’s rays and the azure sky beckons us into a new day.  This is the “book of nature” in all its finest.  The theologian and mystic, Evelyn Underhill writes:  “The very meaning of Creation is seen to be an act of worship, a devoted proclamation of the splendor, the wonder, and the beauty of God.  In this great Sanctus, all things justify their being and have their place.” And yet, as human creatures we often fail to recognize the overwhelming, undeserving, reckless love of God for us.  We fail to understand how we are all connected and that connectedness is really fundamental to our reality.  Our own ecological crises stem from this notion that we are separate from, better than, or even more important than other members of creation.  We forget that relationships are key to our very existence, and as the Synod tried to teach us, our vitality depends on our capacity for communion with the other.  In his message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, September 1, 2023, Pope Francis said:  “In order to grow as a people, we need to harmonize our own rhythms of life with those of creation, which gives us life.” ........................ To read the full text, see the attachment ...........................  

December 1, 2023   Dear Sisters and Associates,     Advent, the beginning of a new liturgical Church year, offers us the opportunity to once again look at our spiritual life and growth. For many of us it awakens us to a realization that the kingdom of God is upon us. Now. Right now. It is a time afforded us to reflect on how God comes to us, speaks to our heart, and challenges us to simply “be” in God’s love. Advent’s waiting trains us in essential patience. The virtues of hope, love, joy and peace in these four weeks remind us that we can share these gifts with a weary, hurting world. To do that we must be open to the invitations of grace God sends us. Pope Francis has emphasized often that we should not delay in seeking God, but should seize the present moment. The present, after all, is where we live and where God finds us. Recently I was reminded of the movie, The Dead Poets Society, starring the late Robin Williams as Mr. Keating.  He is an English teacher who tries to inspire a love for literature in boys of privilege.  Mr. Keating challenges his students’ indifference toward poetry with this lesson: “We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute.  We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race.  And the human race is filled with passion.  And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life.  But poetry, beauty, love, these are what we stay alive for.  To quote from Whitman, ‘O me!  O life!...of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless…of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, o me, o life?  Answer:  That you are here—that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.’  What will your verse be?” As we travel through the four weeks of Advent, we might ask ourselves, as Mr. Keating asked his students, “What then will my verse be in this powerful play called life?”  How will I be a verse of hope, of joyful anticipation, a beacon of light in the darkness?  Will the verse of my life reflect love and peace?  Will my words, smiles, heart and presence be the one verse that will affect another’s life?  In answering the question “what is our purpose in life,” Whitman says, “that life exists, that we exist, that we are here.” As Providence women and men, I hope our verse will be a canticle of thanksgiving and praise, a litany of all the ways our Provident God has blessed us and continues to do so each day.  I wish each of you a happy and holy Advent!  I wish for the verse of your life to echo through the land and give glory for “God-with-us,” as we sing: “O Come, O Come Emmanuel. In God’s loving Providence, Sr. Barbara McMullen Congregational Leader

September 29, 2023   Dear Sisters and Associates,     Today we celebrate the 172nd anniversary of our Foundation Day! Celebrations are those wonderful times when we celebrate the moments of life that bring with them a sense of what it means to be our truer and deeper selves. Today we celebrate the great moments of the faith of two holy people, Bishop Ketteler and Mother Marie, who have given us a legacy of light, trust, and hope.  Through their lives they have taken us deeper into what Providence means and given us the sacred task of making Providence visible in the world of our day.  What we do today, how we live today is built on the foundation they gave us.  Together their lives, down through the centuries, have formed and shaped us.  They are the voices we hear in our hearts.  They tie us to our past, but they also free us to find a newer, better future because of the wisdom we have learned from them. The prophet Isaiah tells us: “Remember not the former things nor consider the things of old.  Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”  Today we have many opportunities to embark on new and challenging adventures.  As we know, Providence sometimes takes us in surprising and unexpected directions.  The good thing is that we don’t travel this journey alone.  Together we can grow in our understanding of each other, learn more about interculturality, participate in the challenges that come through our Laudato Si Commission to care for our common home, and share our resources among the congregation. As you read this letter, the Congregational Leadership Team, the Provincials and Mission Director are meeting in Lima, Peru for our annual Board meeting.  On September 29 we are dedicating the new building in Peru and celebrating with our Peruvian Sisters another Foundation Day celebration!  How appropriate that we are there at the beginning of a new venture for them.  Who knows what Providence has in store for their future and ours, too! With the wisdom of Bishop Ketteler, Mother Marie, and our first pioneering Sisters supporting us, we can see these moments of life with new eyes.  That vision for the new will reveal itself slowly, perhaps, but it will surely spring forth.  When those moments come, they will astound us, transform us, and shout out to us and all that Providence is the very foundation of our lives, here and now, and forever. Happy Foundation Day! Sr. Barbara Sr. Barbara McMullen Congregational Leader