2016 Christmas Greetings

A child is born to us, A Son is given

King of King

Lord of Lords

                Prince of Peace

Frater Max Schmalzl, CSsR – 1850-1930

                                                                                                                                                                                        December, 2016

Dear Ones,

            This message comes to bring you joy! May that joy begin with this photo. Matilda welcomed her brother into the family of Teresa and Andrew Pleva on September 16, 2016. They live in Kingston just two blocks away from the house where I raised my sons. That house now belongs to Heidi and Matthew Pleva along with their son Harrison, age 2. Having three little ones nearby makes for lots of time together and my ability to assist a bit in their care.

November 8^th marked one year since my departure from the Redemptoristine Community in Beacon, NY. The emotional and logistical complexities were so complicated in 2015 that many heard little from me last Christmas. I relied on email and Facebook to remain connected. Fortunately, I can now report that the year 2016, while a busy one, allowed for good adjustment and happy resettling in a comfortable new home. My two bedroom apartment in senior housing provides a safe, convenient, sunny hermitage of sorts with ample space for my creative efforts, as well as overnight guests, all only a short ride from the little ones.

Shortly after relocating I began reorganization of the library at Linwood Retreat Center in Rhinebeck. There was a good bit of driving involved at that time as I was also visiting my mother in a Brewster Nursing Home. The day after I finished the library project, my mother died. My sister and I knew that she was slipping away but we did not expect it on that day. She was laid to rest alongside my father in the graveyard of St. Mary’s Church, Tuxedo, NY. She was 92 years old. Unlike the situation surrounding my father’s death in 2013, this was a much more peaceful time because house and possessions had already been dealt with. We are fortunate to have so many of my parents’ beautiful things, especially my mother’s paintings. Most of all, we are blessed with the intangibles; values, memories, and heritage. How often during this current election cycle I have wished to discuss it all with my father! How often I think of my mother’s beauty when I handle an accessory or piece of jewelry which she enjoyed wearing in her stylish manner.

            It has been lovely to reconnect with old friends and make new ones. In their company I enjoy concerts at Bard College (Puccini last summer) live via HD video performances from the Metropolitan Opera, strolling through the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool and New England Fiber Festival and leisurely luncheons. I have joined St, Joseph Parish in New Paltz, became a lector and offered an introduction to Sacred Scripture class. Am also blessed by friendship with the Brothers at Holy Cross Episcopal Monastery. My friendship with and affection for the nuns of my former community continues. We have enjoyed visits particularly those with a grandchild in tow.

Most lovely of all discoveries is that in spite of being removed from the heart of the family for 15 years the connection with my sons remained a deep one only to be picked up again where we left off. Now there are three wonderful daughters-in-law involved and five grandchildren. It seems that it is a mutual joy to be present to each other but also respectful of the individuality of our lives. At this time, I am reminding them that they are the greatest gift given to me.

Today I mark one month of a bout with a bug common these days which has left me with what I have diagnosed as a chronic bronchitis. This kept me at home for Thanksgiving and caused me to miss lovely activities including singing at the holiday concert of the chorus I have joined. But last Sunday I took Matilda to see “The Nutcracker”. Each week I have Harrison with me for the day. He just turned two and I am mesmerized by his acquisition of vocabulary, exploration and manipulation of new construction toys and his observations of the world around him. Matilda is asking about another sleepover at Nonna’s. She just turned three and in caring for her one day a week for the spring and summer this year I found her such good and loving company. Homer is 3 months old; a happy little baby greeting all with a smile. My bug has kept me from spending more time with him. This summer, through their generosity, I spent a few days on the Maine shore with Jonathan and Kim and grandsons Nicholas and Benjamin. Later I had the pleasure of being with the boys while their Mom and Dad were in New Orleans. Interesting to spend a week with a 12 and 9 year old. We had fun both in Chelmsford, MA where they live and down here in Kingston. All the cousins just love being with each other. Matilda loved cuddling with her big cousins and they are so good to her. We will all be together during New Year’s weekend.

In reporting all of this to you and in listening to the news each day I am keenly aware of my blessings in a very troubled world and nation, not to mention the extreme suffering of so many. Since the presidential election I have been asking myself how I can respond as just one little person, merely able to feel her way through Baby Boomer Seniorhood! Wary of being consigned to the ranks of the educated elite living in ivory towers, I struggle to find my voice and ways of expressing the viewpoints of a longtime student of history. Guess that is one of goals for 2017.

I look forward to more amazing time with my little and not so little “Chicklets”.  Time with them is pure gold.

Thank you for all of the support and encouragement I have received from you. I look forward to hearing from you about your year. Thanks to those of you who have patience with and accept email delivery of this message. The time and money saved in the process allow me to connect via surface mail with those who have not discovered the wonders of online communication.

May the joy of Christmas bring peace and hope to your hearts.  Much love,

                                                                                  Hildegard

hpleva@gmail.com                                                   Facebook.com/HildegardPleva                       

Etsy.com/shop/NeedlesInHand                       ContemplativeHorizon.blogspot.com       

History Makes Demands

Among the many gifts received from my father is the fruit of his deliberate effort to make me a student of history beginning in my early childhood. Just before my 7^th birthday he planned a family vacation in Washington, DC. My sister was just 5 years old. We flew to D.C., stayed in a hotel on Embassy Row, saw every monument and historic site in and around the city and we walked, and walked, and walked. It is amazing how much of that trip I remember in detail – the Declaration of Independence under glass, the very cramped box at Ford’s Theater in which Lincoln was assassinated, the awesomeness of his famed Memorial, and precision of the guard change at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

At home we watched Walter Cronkite reporting the news every evening and what we heard was discussed at the dinner table. And there were books all around, especially American history and historical novels. Once off to college I very naturally became a history major.

All of this is reported so as to establish my ‘creds’ as a life-long student of history. It is that background that brings me to urging everyone to vote in the election facing our country. It also gives me the courage to forcefully ask outright that votes be cast for Senator Hillary Clinton. I have never before directly requested support for a specific candidate. But this election is so horrifyingly different, has so distorted democratic values, so distracted the ‘better angels of our nature’, so annihilated standards of civility and human respect, and so buried the real requirements of the office of president that, as a student of history, I find I am obligated to speak out.

In the past I have written about why so many are angry and afraid. I do not blame them for being so. Elected representatives of both political parties have for so long protected and promoted the top 10% in the financial picture of our country and now the inevitable gaps in wealth, services, benefits, education, employment and housing have become intolerable; a grave danger not only to individuals and families but also to the future of our democracy.

Just as the greedy and powerful have in their avarice become myopic about the consequences of their policies; those suffering are myopic about the consequences of their support for a candidate so unsuited for the office of President of the United States. They have become deaf and blind to actions and words that in the past would have caused any political party to send him packing after recognize him as dangerous excess baggage. These considerations seem to matter no longer. Truly we have been reduced to the lowest common denominator. Students of history remember that President Harry Truman fired Douglas MacArthur, a five-star general, for disrespecting the office of the presidency.

As for Senator Clinton, I recognize her short comings; see the dangers inherent in the degree to which she has formed relationships with the high and mighty in all sectors national and international and I worry about errors in judgment. However, these concerns are tempered by the mouthy irresponsible and ignorant nature of her opponent as well as the cranked up scrutiny to which all women aspiring to positions of power are subjected in our society.  It still seems that men can get away with almost anything but women are dissected under a microscope. Free for discussion is the tone of her voice, color of her hair, practices as a mother, choices made in a long and at times troubled marriage, as well as her attire. And then there are the complaints about emotional reticence. Wonder how all the former male presidents would score if subjected to this contest?

It troubles me that it seems easy to ignore a life-long dedication to service, persistent effort consistently applied, creation of a huge tool box of experience acquired as attorney, First Lady, senator, and Secretary of State. Her curriculum vitae should be envied and valued; particularly so in the troubled, on the verge of self-destruction, world in which we live.

We know virtually nothing about Donald Trump’s financial holdings and machinations. We have not been told how he will separate himself from the ongoing management of his business interests if elected. He has thoroughly revealed himself to be a non-reader. He has no record of public service as a volunteer, philanthropist, or elected official. He is a one-man show, surrounding himself with people he thinks he can trust. These are largely family members who we might consider tied to him only because they know on which side their bread is buttered. In the first presidential debate he unabashedly admitted that he uses every loophole in in the law favoring the wealthy to reduce his taxes and cheat those to whom he owes money.

History has reveal that the elections of such leaders can destroy democracies and countries as well as unleashing of terrible hardship, suffering, death and even genocide. Check out any documentary account of the time of Hitler and the Third Reich for affirmation of this assertion.

So get out there and vote. Urge family members and co-workers to vote. And, by all means, even where a vote has never been cast for the Democratic candidate, cast your vote this year for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. Too much is at stake. The study of history reveals this necessity.

Coincidental Feast?
Blessed Maria Celeste on 9/11

Today marks the first celebration of the feast day of Blessed Maria Celeste Crostarosa, foundress of the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer, the Redemptoristine contemplative nuns. This otherwise obscure 18th century native of Naples, Italy is being honored today all over the world in the monasteries of the order she began in 1731.

Death mask of Blessed Maria Celeste Crostarosa

1696 - 1755

It was not until my pastor began his homily at Mass this morning that I thought about the coincidence of Maria Celeste's feast and the memorial of the tragedy of 9/11, the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City in 2001. For Americans, at least, this significant day will always merge remembering her with remembrance of  an horrific event, lost lives, and sorrowing survivors. Our fine priest focused on the question, "Where was God in all of this?" He emphasized God's presence in the generosity, bravery, service, community, cooperation and all good things and people we witnessed on that day and the days that followed to this time. He said that these were the presence of God and pointed to love as the response God invites us to have in the face of such horror - a turning away from vengeance, violence, prejudice and rejection of human beings.

Those who know Blessed Celeste's story will know that she endured more than her share of being misunderstood and rejected; of exile and pilgrimage to find her place. She also wrote a great deal leaving us an inspiring heritage of her spirituality. The image of her used here is my favorite because it is so real. Some in the order speak of her as Mother Celeste. I think of her as Madre Celeste or, even better, Mama Celeste, a wise and mature Italian woman who has been through her share of sorrow. She is a wisdom figure constantly pointing to her salvation; an extremely intimate relationship with Jesus, our Savior. In her writings I did not find a directive for severe personal penances or rigidity in community life. Her constant directive is for LOVE; love for Jesus and love for one another. What better antidote for the horror of the 9/11 tragedy? This is what my pastor was emphasizing. Was the Holy Spirit at work in the coincidence of these memorials?

Blessed Maria Celeste painted a picture of a precious hidden garden which she said was the image of the human soul. God wants to enter that garden and spend intimate time with the soul who generously opens the gate of the heart. Sharing her own experience of the interior garden she reported what Jesus told her, "If they ask you who I am, tell them I am PURE LOVE." It is this PURE LOVE which is our finest offering on this day of remembrance.

The Tone of Compassionate Capitalism

Meeting with The Nuns on the Bus last Sunday was the best lead into experiencing the Democratic National Convention. It was so much easier to connect with the determination of Bernie Sanders supporters knowing more of the import of the platform about which they are so passionate. The group of women, mostly women religious, who turned out to caucus with The Nuns work where the rubber hits the road; with the homeless, hungry, undereducated, hungry, mentally ill, physically abused, undocumented, uninsured, the rejected and underserved in our country.

 Sr. Simone Campbell led us through thought provoking and substantive table discussion and reporting to the larger group. Her last request was that we describe what things would look like if all these issues of justice, equality and opportunity were remedied. Here is a partial list of the responses:

* immigrants would not longer be perceived as "societal takers"

* there would be no hoops to jump through in order to exercise the right to vote

* geographic borders of voting districts would no longer be gerrymandered to favor political parties

* employers would no longer reduce work hours to avoid offering health insurance covers to employees

* minimum living wages would prevail eliminating the need for multiple jobs for parents

* there would be adequate food or all

* justice would prevail in the distribution of national wealth

* universal health insurance would assist all

* concern for the welfare of workers and their families would win out over greedy protection of profit margin

* homelessness would not be a crime and everyone would have an affordable home

* there would be easy access to service across the spectrum for those who need them

These were just the tip of the iceberg. These discussions enriched my appreciation for all those who have worked so hard to support promotion of governmental programs to achieve these goals. It seems who owe a huge debt of gratitude to Senator Bernie Sanders' campaign. He took on a giant and forged ahead. He and his followers have truly made a difference.

At the end Sr. Simone directed us to cultivate these

"Necessary Virtues"

- Joy, an attitude that is contagious, opens doors, encourages communication and makes change possible

- Holy Curiosity, make it a point to look and to listen being contemplative in your observation of the world, people and events around you

- Responsibility for Sacred Gossip, engage in conversation wherever and with whomever you can on the bus, in the doctor's waiting room, on line at the supermarket asking how people are doing, what they are thinking

- Doing Your Part, whatever you can knowing that even the smallest actions have the power to change the whole