Thank You, Mother McAuley

I may or may not have mentioned this before, but I attended a Mercy high school. As in, the school was run by the Sisters of Mercy, although there were only two employed by the school at the time. I loved the experience of being there, especially in the all-girls environment, and it was an all around good time.

During my time there, I was in all three choirs, and it was there that I cultivated my love of singing and various type of choral music. But, as with every choir, there will be pieces that you love to sing, and pieces that make you want to cry, because you just dislike them that much. Thankfully, the latter wasn't often the case for me, but one of the times it was was when the Advanced Vocal Ensemble had to sing the Sucipe of Mother Catherine McAuley, the foundress of the Sisters of Mercy. It's a very simple piece, with no interesting harmonies, and lyrics that don't quite speak to the heart of the average 21st century teenage girl. The director of our choir also wasn't crazy about the song, and every time we sang it, she'd say, "Okay, I know you hate this, but please try to sing it like you're not dead." A ringing endorsement it was not.

I still hold the song in low esteem, having all those memories of trying to sing it like I believed anyone could really feel that way, but hidden in there, I've rediscovered a beautiful little sentiment which has been too long overlooked. In the second verse, Mother McAuley writes "Take from my heart all painful anxiety, Let nothing sadden me but sin, And then let my delight be hoping to see Your face, God my all." Not riveting material, certainly, but a beautiful and under appreciated expression of Mother's trust in God. I can only imagine trusting God so completely that the only thing that bothered me was sin, and to be hopeful each day merely with the chance of seeing God one day. It's much more profound and touching than anything else we're told to feel that way about in this day and age. It's the kind of faith we should all strive to have in living out our universal call to holiness.

Some of you no doubt saw the post I wrote early Monday morning, and believe me, that intention still needs all the prayer it can get. However, I remembered that particular verse from Mother McAuley's Sucipe this morning, and it shamed me into remembering that as a human, there is only so much I can do to affect the outcome of Intention X, and that at some point I am going to have to trust God to take care of it. It also shamed me that I laughed at the sentiments of a holier woman than I, but that now they carry the weight of truth, and I'm looking to them for guidance. So thank you, Mother McAuley, for that little prayer I had to sing so often, and for reminding me of the comfort and trust it takes to be a true woman of God.

Here is a video of the Sucipe, just in case anyone was interested in hearing it: