Inspired by Scholastica

 As we mourn the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, we also rejoice in her inspiring life. She overcame many obstacles to reach her final achievement as a Supreme Court judge. Nothing seemed to daunt her; she was brilliant, determined, and fearless. She is best known for her fight for gender equality.  When she married Marty Ginsburg she was still attending law school at Harvard, and soon was juggling studies with a child and a sick husband. She graduated at the top of her class, but when she applied for jobs at law firms in New York, they were not ready to hire a woman. So she began to teach law at Rutgers University School of Law and at Columbia Law School. She was also director of   the influential Wom en’s Rig hts Project of the American Civil Liberties Union during the 1970s.  President Jimmy Carter appointed her as a district judge and then President Bill Clinton  named her as a Supreme Court judge in 1993. Although shy and diminutive, she h...

It was just a little thing. Tiny vases of flowers on the  tables in our dining room. They brought smiles to our faces during the stress of this pandemic. The bright colored zinnias and daisies came from our garden and many of us can't go outside to see them due to the heat or disability.  A friend who goes out walking early in the morning picks a rose  to put on someone's desk. It's a nice surprise to begin the day. Another woman puts a joke on her door every day to tickle visitors. It doesn't have to be anything big. It's the thought that counts.  We might think, "I don't have time to do things like that. Those who really care make time. It's amazing the rewards it brings.  I'm blessed to belong to a community that cares. That old saying, "Little things mean a lot" is true. We might send a note to someone who is ill. It's a picker-upper when one is weak or in pain. Or we stop to talk to someone who seems lonely or depressed. It's ...

I just read a story about an Indian widow with two children who was homeless. She wanted to open a bank account, but she was illiterate and had only 13 cents, so the bank refused. So the woman began learning to read and write and do basic arithmetic at a local after school program run by sisters. After two years she went back to the bank and they let her open an account. After several more years she had the money to build a tiny house for her family. This widow certainly had courage and perseverance. She refused to take no for an answer.  All women need this kind of determination. If at first you are told no, do what you need to do, until you get a yes. This may be a loan for a house, a job that requires an education, or a law suit ruling that is unjust. Too many times we just give up after the first rejection. You have to do your homework and find out what you need to do in order to reach your goal.  You may may need a little help. Sisters working in the widow's village in In...

           “ Above all, trust in the slow work of God. ” Teilhard de Chardin When I was a novice, I thought that by the time I was 60 or so, I would be pretty close to holiness. I would have developed a deep prayer life, and have overcome most of my defects. But look at me! I’m past 80, still sloughing along, sinful and lazy, distracted and complaining, far from the person I want to be. I often ask God to give me humility, give me courage, give me patience, give me a generous heart. Yet, my progress is so slow, almost infinitesimal. How long, O Lord? I cry out with the prophets of old. I reflect on Chardin’s advice. “Above all, trust in the slow work of God.” Since God has no sense of time, past, present, and future are all one to him. We have to believe that God knows what he is doing, or he wouldn’t be God. So slow is good, as God is good. Even when I do not realize it, God is slowly drawing out the good in me. Most of us are so impatient to reach t...