Polished Worry Stone

Rubbed Smooth by Faith and Prayer

Glories in the Cross

by Sister Moira Quinn, OSsR, Prioress Mother of Perpetual Help Monastery (Redemptoristine Nuns) currently in West Park, New York - Remarks to the community, Ash Wednesday, 2013 after presenting each sister with a pocket
sized worry stone.

Very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had just risen, the women went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, “Who  the tomb?” When they looked up they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled away. Mark 16:2-4

 

Hear the worry in the women’s voices? They say rubbing a worry stone calms the soul. We all have our share of worries: Hilda away community caring for her aging parents, Paz with her sister awaiting brain surgery; all of us under a deadline to find a place to call our permanent home, sorting through real or imagined treasures of what to bring along and what to leave behind; the actual move, how we will be community in the future… How do we handle these worries?

 

If we look to our foundress, we see that despite all the blessings bestowedon Celeste throughout her life, she had her worries also. But reflecting on the life of her Beloved in faith and prayer she wrote, “In your humiliations all the sweetnesses of your infinite glory are hidden. How can I ever thank you for these marvelous humiliations while you invite me to keep you company (on the cross) and you in your mercy deign to gaze on me with your divine light.” Florilegium 117

 

And Jesus answers, “Give your attention to the treasure which I disclosed to you on the cross in which my eternal glory is enclosed.” Florilegium 123What is this treasure? All our trials, humiliations, our frailties, ourchallenges; all our mundane tasks are hidden treasures.

By our own faith and prayer during this time of transition together we experience transformation of being rubbed smooth when we unite ourselves to Jesus on the cross and discover the graces and gifts, the wisdom andaccomplishments in sweet acceptance of those hidden graces of the cross in order to obtain the glories of Jesus, our Beloved. The stone has already been rolled away!

 

Let us polish our worry stones then, basking calmly in the merciful gaze of Christ’s divine light as we begin this Lenten season.