Sister Regina is a fictitious Handmaid who appears almost every week on this site, on our Facebook page, and in our Twitter feed. She gives those outside the cloister an idea of what life within the monastery can be like. Click any cartoon to see a larger image.
Sister Regina the cartoon is not published during the seasons of Advent, the Christmas Octave, Lent, or the Easter Octave to not only allow the Handmaids to more deeply enter into those times of more intense prayer, but also to encourage others to do so as well.
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. If you had everything you needed and wanted - could you hope for anything more? Would that mean you had no troubles? Having hope doesn`t mean having no problems. It means you can trust the One to handle your problems and never abandon you in them. You shall not want for what? You shall not want for his presence, his love, his safety, his protection and guidance. The Good Shepherd didn`t say we wouldn`t have trouble (he said just the opposite) but we would always have him and he is the One who has overcome the world. This is the Shepherd we want with all our hearts.
Who doesn`t want a life of ease and comfort? Who wouldn`t want a calm life free of stress, anxiety, and hard work? Well, if you`re looking for that, rest assured you won`t find it, even in a monastery. You`ll find lots of hard work, of course, and little ease or comfort. As to stress or anxiety? No matter your walk of life, you`ll find some of that. So, if "all we do is pray" sounds overly cozy and pleasant, read on.
We haven`t entered into monastic life to escape the stress and anxiety of the world. We come to this life to enter into a long spiritual combat that consists of our entire lives offered up to Christ for the sanctification of his priests and the needs of the entire world. Combat implies you automatically have an enemy to contend with. Most often that is our own selves, our fallen nature. But when our mission encompasses others, in this case priests, we can`t ignore the enemy outside ourselves whom we know, beyond doubt, is after their Christ-marked souls.
Knowing the devil is after priests, and thus also after all those who pray and sacrifice for them, actually need not cause any stress or anxiety either, because it grants us the calming assurance that every hardship can be transformed into grace purchased for priests. Even the roughest situation can be offered up with tranquility of soul. The `stress-less-ness` of our lives is in this exchange: our little battles for their peace.
It`s difficult to describe prayer. Imagine the near impossibility of conveying in mere human language what transpires between God and a soul. The cartoon may help disabuse some folks of the notion that nuns have prayer come easy to them or that prayer is only for priests and nuns and not everyone else.
The truth is that not only are all called to an intimate prayer life with the Almighty, but also that achieving this union with the Trinity really isn`t an `achievement` at all. It`s a gift. We don`t do it. We can`t schedule it. We are expected to do our part to cooperate with the grace that God gives in growing in holiness, but it is never solely our doing.
Prayer is communication with God but often we need to remind ourselves that listening to him in silence is far more important than whatever we tell him.
On the secular level, today`s world is one of global intercommunication and connection of such astounding speed that it has passed boggling the mind and has settled into the arena of expected performance. Now, something is no longer a wonder if it`s done by instant information exchange across the planet. It`s the status quo and when it fails the assumption is that something is very wrong. In the business and education world, messages, and entire conversations, are sent back and forth with no more effort than it takes to talk to a person standing by your desk. Now, you don`t even need a desk.
It can happen, given that environment, that `monastery speeds` seem a bit slow. But that`s on purpose as our first duty is to pray, not check the inbox. Does that cause a backlog in correspondence? Yes. Are good people left waiting for answers or long overdue, but sincere and grateful, expressions of thanks? Yes. Does it frustrate and perplex folks on occasion? Yes. Are even nuns left with messy desks and office papers? Most assuredly. But fear not! Recall the famous photo of Saint Maximillian Kolbe at his rather busy looking desk? He probably was behind in his letters too...but he was never behind in putting the only thing that matters first; God!
We thank you all for your patience and understanding whenever we aren`t able to answer the mail (regular or electronic) immediately. God bless you!
Asking nuns when they retire or get to go on vacation is like asking a mother when she stops being a mom. As we are, in a very real sense, spiritual mothers, especially of priests, it is true that we don`t take vacations or retire. While that may sound onerous and tiring to some, it is not when examined from the perspective of generosity. Think of it this way: it means that there always will be days full of gifts and graces to offer back to our Savior, to console his Sacred Heart, each moment of our lives, however full and busy they may be. This is just like the moms who never stop giving of themselves all their lives.
And whenever we do feel a little tired, we can look at the tabernacle or the crucifix and remember how much Jesus gave us. He gave us himself. With him, we can continue serving until he chooses to call us home. #sisterreginacomicstrip...
xperiencing the beauty of a person transformed by Eucharist can lead them to experience the beauty of the Person of Jesus Christ truly present in the Eucharist. There is a very good argument for the pursuit of Truth by the way of beauty. Because many people, convinced there is no such thing as truth, will nonetheless be drawn to the wonder of beauty and that can lead them closer to God. Not everyone is going to experience a tangible, life-changing encounter the moment they are in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament the very first time. Perhaps they have little knowledge or experience of the practice of Eucharistic adoration. Maybe they are distracted by the various elements of Catholic devotion and may feel too uncomfortable. But what if their introduction to this ancient form of prayer was through a person already deeply living in contact with his Real Presence in such a way that its effects were manifest in every other aspect of their lives? The Eucharistic Revival is not limited to processions and holy hours. But it is rooted and grown from there by the very devotees themselves. His love reflected in them will be an attracting force. To "polish" our own mirrors up to reflect Our Lord in our lives means we need to spend time with him in this way, kneeling at his feet, as it were, like Mary who chose the better part. #sisterreginacomicstrip...
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Website note: September 2020 – We switched to posting Sister Regina’s Comic Strips on Instagram, but you can still enjoy her past comics in the archive below.
Humor helps. A cartoon from the not so distant past.
