Sister Julia Walsh is one of my favorite writers from a Christian tradition. She is FSPA, Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration and based in Wisconsin. I got to meet her several times over the last few years when my partner and I were in ongoing work with FSPA — a participative leadership approach to General Assembly and an Elections Assembly. I’m super happy to call her a friend.
One of the things I love about Julia, and her voice, is that she is honest. She tells it like it is. She shows her vulnerability. Her doubt. What I love even more about that is that this isn’t a departure from her Christian living. It isn’t a whisper only to be heard in carefully protected places. It isn’t a departure from vows. Rather, her honesty and transparency are central to her Christian living.
Once upon a time it seems that many of us felt we had to deny imperfections, as if that would somehow be a better representation of the good, the divine, the community. But Sister Julia, accepts those imperfections (or tries to like most of us), and shares them out loud. It’s so much easier to connect with someone this way. And then, I would suggest, to connect to the divine within each of us.
One of Julia’s latest blogs is entitled Enough or Not. She shares in an open way her “in progress” relationship with simplicity and yet wanting things. I love these words:
Honestly, my yearning for more-than-is/more-than-I-have-right-now isn’t always about the ideals I hold close to me. Some of my dreams are embarrassingly superficial, completely basic and ordinary. Like Oh, how I wish I had a panini maker to cook this sandwich or This hairdryer is too loud and clunky, I should get a new one. I am regularly creating mental lists of objects that I think will create more convenience and efficiency in my busy life, just because I too fall for the lies of American commercialism and capitalism. I have to catch myself. When I find myself thinking that more stuff will be a solution, I must gain new consciousness.
Beautiful, right. Her full post is here.
