Newsletter Update December 2022

Dear Family and Friends!

Merry Christmas to all of you from College Station, Texas. As I had mentioned in my last newsletter, this year I was reassigned to our house that serves the students of Texas A&M and Blinn College. What a humbling blessing to be able to return and serve in a place where I received so much as a student. I have only been here a semester but, in good Texas fashion, I have been warmly welcomed and already feel so incredibly known and loved. It is truly a gift to call this place home.

My new house and new local community!

In this newsletter you will be able to read a little about the important events that have happened this year and that are upcoming as well as hear a detailed story from my time here so far, receive a little heart sharing of mine, and learn how you can support me with your prayers for my intentions.

Important Events

-          August: I moved from Rome, Italy to College Station, Texas and, after a week of family time, I officially started campus ministry here at St. Mary’s Catholic Center.

-          September 2: We moved into our new house that St. Mary’s provided for us since we have a larger community here this year - 5 Sisters and a young woman in formation arriving in January!

-          December: our community is spending its first ever Christmas in Texas!

-          December 26 – January 2: I get to spend a week at home at the same time as my brother and his family

-          January 5: the AVI Missionary Semester begins and a young woman will move closer to our community in order to continue her discernment. As Vocation Director I will be accompanying her in these coming months.

-          January 7-10: the AVI Vocational Retreat will be happening in Kansas with the participation of 9 young women open to consecrated life and specifically knowing more about our community.

-          January 11: Alexa, one of our young women in formation, moves into the Texas house for a semester long pastoral experience as part of her formation.

-          February 10: I’m entering into a new decade as I turn 30 this year!

Story Time

On September 29th of this year, I experienced my first ever Eucharistic Procession on the campus of Texas A&M. In fact, it is only the second time that this has ever been done, and what an experience it was!

Just imagine: 700-800 students gathered in St. Mary’s main church as Jesus, present in the most Blessed Sacrament, is processed out by the priest (both preceded and followed by altar servers holding candles and creating a dignified space for our Lord to dwell in). Slowly, one-by-one, everyone filed out of the church onto the street headed towards North Gate where we would then cross University Drive (with the assistance of very kind police officers) onto campus. Alternating songs of praise with silence and the prayer of the rosary, the procession continued with both reverence and simplicity.

A part of the crowd, myself included, was dedicated to evangelization and had the joy of simply informing those on campus of what was happening. Each of us had a small stack of flyers that directed their recipients to a more detailed explanation of what we Catholics believe about the Eucharist on the St. Mary’s website.

I still remember the emotion I felt as I watched the procession depart from the church. I was strategically placed a little in front of it so that I could encounter those who would see it from afar. As the priest moved slowly and yet surely along the path mapped out for the procession, I couldn’t help but delight in the Lord’s desire to go out and encounter those who are not coming to meet Him in the Church. I also felt a surge of pride: this is my Bridegroom, the One to whom my whole heart belongs, and look at all of these people who want to walk with Him out on campus, who want to be recognized as His followers and counted among those who belong to Him.

I don’t have any conversion stories to share with you from that night but I did have many different encounters and conversations in which I was able to testify to the Lord’s presence in the Eucharist, share about all that is happening at St. Mary’s, and even pray with and for two young women who were struck by such an event. I can still see the faces of those I met that night, although I must admit to no longer be in contact with any of them. But I keep trusting that the Lord will use that encounter, perhaps just one of a whole string of encounters, to bring those young people closer to Him. I trust that it may be part of His plan to give to them the gift He came to give us all – the gift which deep down we all seek – “life and life to the full” (Jn 10:10).

Where is my heart?

As we enter into this Christmas season my heart is really resonating with the Psalmist as he sings: Let the Lord enter; He is the King of Glory (Ps 24). For me, this first semester doing campus ministry at St. Mary’s Catholic Center in College Station has been one of many firsts. I’ve encounter quite the learning curve! But it has also been a time filled with discovery, wonder, joy, and gratitude.

I say that I have experienced many firsts because that’s just the reality of things here in Aggieland. I know the place pretty well – I spent 5 years here back between 2011 and 2016 – but I’ve never lived here as a consecrated woman, I’ve never been involved in campus ministry here (if not but on the receiving end), and I’ve never lived with some of my sisters that I now share a home with. And as the psalmist invites me to “let the Lord enter” I can almost hear Jesus’s gentle voice: “yes, let Me enter; let Me live each moment with you; let me be a part of every decision, difficulty, joy…” It’s what my heart yearns for – to share life with the Lord – but it is also what I find myself often running away from. When that learning curve gets real steep I turn to myself, to my own strengths, and try to “figure things out” or “push through”. But the Lord doesn’t ask me to do anything alone, and He doesn’t even ask most of the things I ask of myself, namely perfection and worldly success. What He does ask of me is to do things with Him, to be in relationship with Him. If I do succeed, He wants us to succeed together, and if I don’t, He still wants to experience that with me.

And when new discoveries (about myself, the world, or the Lord) bring my heart to wonder, joy, and gratitude, I hear that Voice yet again whispering to me: “let Me enter; let Me dwell there with you; let’s marvel, rejoice, and give thanks together.” There have been some mornings in which I’ve woken up with a smile almost unable to believe that this is my life, that this is what I get to do every day (i.e. serve in campus ministry as an Apostle of the Interior Life at St. Mary’s Catholic Center). And there have been evenings in which I’ve looked back over my day with sheer happiness thinking to myself “what a great day!” These are always beautiful moments but they even become more beautiful when that smile becomes a gift, that thought becomes a conversation, that reflection becomes a prayer. When the everyday events of our lives become places of encounter with the Lord, it is then that we are letting the Lord enter; we are allowing the King of Glory to reign in our hearts.

This is where my heart is. It’s in a good place, a warm and cozy place, but it’s also being called into new places, into a new deepening, into a more intimate encounter. It is being called to “let the Lord enter” with trust and love for Him who “is the King of Glory”.   

Singing at St. Mary's

Prayer Intentions

-          AVI Vocational Retreat: please keep the 9 participants and our team of 4 Apostles in your prayers as we prepare for this event. May it be a blessed experience for these young women in discernment.

-          AVI Missionary Semester: please pray for this young woman and her discernment as well as for me and my accompaniment of her throughout the journey.

-          The young women in formation: please continue to pray for Alexa, Kate, Liz, and Laurita as they continue their years of formation seeking to learn more about themselves, the community, and God’s will for their lives.

-          In a special way please pray for Alexa as she moves into our house here in Texas this January in order to live a semester long pastoral experience as part of her formation.

-          Please continue to pray for my family: my parents (Robert and Margaret), my brother and sister-in-law (Brandon and Jen) and their two kids (Shepherd and Emma Kate) – may they all, especially the little ones, continue to grow, stay healthy, and know more and more deeply God’s personal love for each of them.

United always in Him,

Sr. Cherise

*to be added to this email list serve email me at: cheriseklekar@gmail.com

**to unsubscribe at any time, reply to this email with “unsubscribe” in the subject headline

***my blog (that I try to post on every now and then): cheriseklekar.blogspot.com.

A New Front Door

Last week our local community moved into a new house after fourteen years in our dear ranch style home on Oaklawn. Over the years many Apostles called it home and several of us lived there as young women in formation. I personally spent much of my discernment of the community in that house, praying in its sweet little chapel, and seeing for the first time what consecrated life looked like from the inside.

It was a bittersweet parting. On one hand I could feel the excitement of what was new: a new local community (our combination of sisters have never all lived together), a new quantity of sisters (we’ve never been so many in an American house), and all of this in a new home! But of course, as boxes and furniture left through the front door and the house became emptier and emptier, a layer of sadness coated the immense gratitude that filled my heart.

Gratitude was the primary and overwhelming sensation. That house became a home for me long before its keys resided in my purse pocket. In it I experienced a variety of encounters. Firstly, with the Lord who, during my college years, pursued my heart in a way that I had never been pursued before, and slowly but surely conquered it and claimed it as His own. It was also a place of encounter with my neighbor. The different sisters who lived there revealed to me, through their simplicity of life, the beauty and joy of giving one’s whole self to the Lord. The students who visited their home along with me taught me that it’s possible to seek virtue and holiness, all while maintaining a healthy “normalcy”.

But a knot did creep up into my throat as we prayed one last prayer in the chapel and accompanied Jesus to His new home. It was a simple prayer, one of thanksgiving and intercession: for those who had passed through its doors and for those who will come in the future. That it continue to be a place of encounter with the Lord even if in a new way, and that our new home be filled with His presence as this one had been.

Interestingly enough, or perhaps fittingly so, once the Blessed Sacrament was out of the house, I began to move boxes and furniture with more ease. It was as if He preceded us to the new home and was now calling us to follow Him. In fact, His presence was the defining one under that roof. He is the source and center. It was never about that particular sister who lived there (she comes and goes). And it was never about those certain students that came more frequently (their turnover rate remains stable at 4 years). It has always been Him. And it will be His presence that characterizes the new home as well.

There is still a lot of unpacking and organizing to be done. By no means are we “all settled in” but He is here. And so, our little local community comes together as a response to His call and with trust we begin a new adventure ready to create new memories with new sisters and new students, all behind a new front door but in the presence of the same Lord who is as good and as loving as ever.

 

Thanks for all of the memories Oaklawn house: birthdays, Easter lilies, community life, baking kolaches, celebrating victory (KU National Championship), and Night prayer with the students. You will be missed but there are many new memories to come!

 

 

Newsletter Update July 2022

July 20, 2022

Dear Family and Friends!

I am writing to y’all from a new location: Assisi, Italy! This year our community is doing its vacation and planning time here. What a gift to be in such a peaceful place where many a saintly foot has trod! Know that I am holding every one of you in my prayers in each of the special places we are able to visit while here. That said, let’s jump right into our normal newsletter format…

BUT FIRST! I have an important piece of news and life update to share: I have received a new mission and will be moving back to Texas! I will live in our house in College Station and dedicate my time to campus ministry and vocational work in the States. As you can imagine, this will be the overarching theme of the rest of the Newsletter so keep reading to find out more!...

Important Events

- July 1-21 – community time in Assisi with all of the sisters (vacation/planning for the new year)

- July 24-30 – my annual Spiritual Exercises (I will do them again in Loreto, Italy)

- August 1 – I fly to Texas (without a return ticket!!) (and my parents celebrate 35 years of marriage!)

- August 1-8 – family time at home

- August 8 – arrival in College Station to start my new mission

- Late August/early September – move into a bigger house in College Station

- December 7 – third anniversary of my consecration

Story Time

Sometimes, unfortunately, we consecrated people can seem to be immersed in a one-sided relationship. Our Spouse – the Divine Bridegroom – is invisible to the naked eye and so, externally, it would appear that, apart from community activities, we do most things alone: we pray alone, we sleep alone, we rejoice alone, we grieve alone, we succeed and we fail…alone. This can be the impression one has from the outside looking in but what about the vantage point of us consecrated people? How can we fall into this one-sided view of our relationship with the Lord?

I noticed this happening to me recently as I was planning my goodbyes to people here in Italy and making a schedule of my last visits to favorite sites in Rome. As I made out my long detailed list and inserted it into my google calendar, it honestly never occurred to me that Jesus might also have people and places that He wanted to see and to visit with me before my departure. And as I stressed and got frustrated when days passed and didn’t go “perfectly” according to plan, I had no idea what joy He had in store for us.

In those last full weeks in Rome, I finally started to accept that I just wasn’t going to see certain people or places. My “failure” in planning left me with some unexpected “free” moments. Unbeknownst to me, the Lord would soon fill these with encounters that I did not even dare to desire for as much as they were “impossible” – friends who normally live in different countries, continents, and even hemispheres that traveled to Rome in those very days! He organized day trips in which I got to see historic parts of Rome that we usually don’t have tickets for. He even had me “randomly” run into people who I had only seen one other time in my life just to bring to mind a special memory with Him! The experiences I had jam packed into those few days put to shame the measly little schedule I had put so much thought and effort into.

When that last week was finally over and I found myself packed and ready for our month of community time in Assisi before my flight back to Texas, I sat down in awe. The week that I had dreaded for months – the one that I couldn’t decide if I wanted to never have to live or live really fast just to get it over with – that week had been, more than anything else, filled with Him, saturated with His presence: the presence of the Bridegroom who gently and creatively weaved everything together for His beloved bride. It was as if He wanted to ever so softly and yet firmly remind me that He isn’t just a part of those big existential questions of my life but wants to have a say in every little aspect. He has memories, favorite places, and friends too. And He wants to share them with me and be consulted about how we use our time together because our love is not one sided… it goes both ways.

Where is my heart?

So…the month of June was my “goodbye month” in Rome. Needless to say, it was a month of many emotions. As we say in Italian, some days I was more “up” (su) and other days I was more “down” (giù). I learned a lot that month: about myself, about the Lord…about my heart.

At first everything was a bit heavy. I hadn’t started saying my goodbyes yet and the thought of them immediately brought tears to my eyes and a knot to my throat. The temptation was to slip into “nostalgic mode” and mentally list off all that I would no longer do, see, have…once I moved to Texas. This did not help to lift my low spirits. Rather, it pulled me deeper into the heaviness I was already experiencing.

What was the game changer you ask? Living in the present moment. Once I actually started saying my goodbyes, I experienced anew the grace that lives in the here and now. It wasn’t as terrible as I had imagined, and if I didn’t manage to see that person or place I wanted to, the Lord had something else in store.

The pain of saying goodbye to people that have become dear to us – or even to places that have been important for our journey – is normal and healthy. It is a sign that love and goodness existed in those relationships and that the Lord manifested Himself in concrete places. But this pain isn’t meant to be desperate or bitter. Rather, it should bring about hope and be sweet because it is a reminder of God’s goodness and a promise that He will continue to bless us with life-giving relationships and concrete places of encounter with Him.

Once I was able to collocate myself in the present moment, immense gratitude began to blossom in my heart. How great is Your goodness oh God! How much You must love me to give me such good gifts! What ever can I do to thank You, to praise You adequately, for all You have done in my life? What other wonders must You have in store for me in this new adventure?...

And so it is in this place that I now find my heart: settled in the ground of His goodness, overflowing with gratitude and joy. Peace and excitement for what is to come. I make my own the words of the former U.N. Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld: “For all that has been, Thanks. To all that shall be, Yes!”

Prayer Intentions

- For my Spiritual Exercises: that I may live them with openness to whatever word the Lord wants to speak into my heart.

- For my transition into the new mission and the new community in Texas: for graces of patience in adjusting to a new atmosphere and rhythm of life; as well as trust that God’s will is the “better part” for all who embrace it with joy.

- For the community in Rome that I am leaving and for the sisters who are transitioning from a mission in the States to life in the Eternal City.

- For our work in campus ministry at St. Mary’s Catholic Center; for all of the students, new and returning, and for all of the staff: that the Lord may be generous in encountering each of them where they are at.

- For our young women in formation, for their discernment and journey towards consecration as an Apostle of the Interior Life: Alexa, Kate, Liz, and Laurita.

- For the young women discerning a possible call to Consecrated Life and in particular to our community: that they may be open to God’s invitation and that we may be ready to accompany them in their journey.

Pictures

Enjoying the beautiful sunsets in Assisi



With Laurita after an afternoon of evangelization in St. Peter's Square



With Aunt Sharon and Karin at the Colosseum!



Taking a walk by the Trevi Fountain

Taking a last look at the ancient beginnings of the Eternal City

United always in Him,

Sr. Cherise

 

*to be added to this email list serve email me at: cheriseklekar@gmail.com

**to unsubscribe at any time, reply to this email with “unsubscribe” in the subject headline

***my blog (that I try to post on every now and then): cheriseklekar.blogspot.com.

Peace Starts Here

After weeks of attention on the Russian-Ukrainian border, I find myself holding my breath every time I open my phone or computer to search for any breaking news updates. With a Russian invasion under way, the military conflict is escalating too quickly for me to stay on top of the latest news.

I’m finding it hard to put into words what is going through my mind and heart. In some ways it all still seems so far away from my daily life: I can still walk around freely outside, meet up with friends, carry on my normal apostolic activities, and return to a warm house where I never lack food or any basic needs. On the other hand, I feel within me that something is different, that I can’t ignore what is going on in the world just because I am not experiencing any direct consequences (…yet).

And this isn’t even the only conflict currently plaguing our all too war torn world. Sure, it happens to be the one in which more countries are involved in some way or another, and as a consequence, it is the one with the most media coverage. But what about conflicts in other parts of the world…those other humanitarian crises that are ongoing with seemingly no end in sight?

All of these reflections have left me feeling helpless and powerless. What can I, a young consecrated American woman living in Rome, Italy, do to help? What has to change about my daily life because of my awareness of these realities? Can I really just keep living as I have been?

In the midst of these questions three little words have been resonating in my heart: peace starts here.

In today’s Gospel we read: “A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks” (Lk 6:45).

Conflicts like the ones existing in our world today are not born overnight. They are a result of a series of choices, a chain of concrete actions, a terrifying and seemingly unstoppable domino effect. What needs changing in our world is not so much a certain ideology or political system – those come and go. It is from the heart that comes forth either good or evil. It is the human person that chooses how to employ the freedom given to him by his Creator. What needs changing – what needs constant conversion – is each single person’s heart.

And so I ask myself: What goodness is stored up in my heart? What evil is housed there instead? Do I harbor positive or negative thoughts about those around me, those with whom I live? Do I tend to carry grudges or have I learned to forgive? What is the “main ingredient” of the fullness of my heart from which my mouth speaks? In a word, do I cultivate peace within me and in my relationships?

Today I feel invited to allow peace to start with me, to make choices that create around me a peaceful environment characterized by dialogue, humility, and forgiveness. I don’t pretend that it will be easy or that I will be “successful”. I know too well my own selfish tendencies and the pride I carry within. But I have to start somewhere at some time and where better than here and now?

Just think, if each one of us takes this verse of the Gospel to heart and sincerely tries to store up goodness in order to sow goodness, how much more goodness would there be in the world as a result? It only takes the conversion of one heart and one concrete action to start a new domino effect…

Peace starts with me. It starts with you. Peace starts here.

May the peace of Christ reign in your hearts. Col 3:15