The Christine Center

 Canticle Meditation Circle and Sculpture

by

The New Christine Center Canticle Meditation Circle and Sculpture

By Sr. Gabriele Uhlein, OSF, PhD

Dedicated in honor of S. Johanna Seubert, FSPA and S. Henrita Frost, SSND.

This place of tender oneness with all nature and all beings celebrates  the providential and visionary leadership of these outstanding sisters.

Between them they share 40 years of compassionate and conscious service.

  1. Johanna, from 1987 – 2017 and continuing presence…
  2. Henrita, from 2007 – 2017 and continuing presence…

Celebrated by the Board of Directors and all the Christine Center Staff: June 20, 2017

This sculpture entitled Unitive Insight is by metal artist and long-time friend, Henry Eisenhauer. Grounded in the center of the Canticle Contemplation Circle, it represents the human awakening of the physical, the emotional, and the intellectual centers. 

Activating these essential centers of perception allowed St. Francis to transcend appearances and to enter fully into the divine resonance that is the true nature of all God’s creation. 

With all his being, St. Francis was able to hear the music of heaven in all things.  As you experience the presence of this sculpture you might recognize it as the moment insight comes.

Nearing the end of his life, St. Francis desired to teach his little band of followers a song or canticle that summed up his spiritual path.  Naming them one by one, St. Francis gives God thanks and praise for what he most loves; singing how each element of creation reveals to him a certain aspect of the Divine. 

Showing the full wisdom of his spiritual insight, he praises God not only for the beautiful experiences through which the Divine can easily be sensed, but also for the great mystery of suffering and difficult times, even in the presence of Sister Death. 

St. Francis has learned in deep contemplation, how to know God in all things, no exceptions!

This beloved Canticle, often called the Canticle of the Creatures, summarizes the Franciscan heritage of the Christine Center where all are welcomed as Divine Guest.

We give thanks and praise for the way in which Sisters Johanna and Henrita live that mystical vision and will continue here at the Christine Center in a ministry of prayer,  presence and inspired spiritual guidance.

You can print out the Canticle of the Creatures.

The Christine Center: My Alma Mater

by

From Mary Pendergast, Sisters of Mercy, Cumberland, Rhode Island

1982 – 1987  studied meditation with Sister Virginia and Sister Davina: Or some early history of the Christine Center

My journey to the Christine Center in 1982 was preceded by painful rheumatoid arthritis. Sister Virginia was conducting a meditation retreat near my home several years earlier and one of my friends had told me that Virginia was a healer.  I attended the retreat, learned some meditation skills and as I had hoped, I had a healing session with Sister Virginia Mary. Over time, with an ever deepening meditation practice, my health improved greatly. This led me to request and to receive permission to travel to the Christine Center to study meditation with Sister Virginia.

S. Charlotte Schmidt, left, S. Mary Pendergast, and S. Virginia Mary, right . All meals were prepared and eaten in the farm house.

For five years I studied and worked at both building the meditation center and building my own spiritual practice with guidance from Virginia and the many teachers who made their way to Willard. In that time I became principal cook, bread maker, gardener, tractor driver, laundress, construction worker and welcomed all who came to work and meditate at the Christine Center.

These were formative years for the Center. When I arrived, there was a house and the barn and one hermitage. The barn still had a long way to go before it would be transformed into the meditation loft and library, showers and kitchen.

S. Virginia Mary hard at work.

During my recent visit with Sister Gabe we were laughing over pictures of her literally pitching out the muck from the cow stalls one weekend and me shoveling out cow manure from a truck that would form the basis of our gigantic organic garden. Sister Virginia would quote, “As above, so below.” We would wonder about the level of our spiritual life when it seemed that all we ever did was move cow dung!  In time the barn became the heart of the meditation center.

S. Virginia working with wonderful farmers.

Several retired farmers would come to help us build the hermitages, and I learned the additional skills of shingling roofs and digging post holes.  There is a defined spiritual energy in this land.  I experienced it both as a still point and an outward radiating force of light and love and power, excluding no one and nothing.

Presently I am the Ecology Director for the Sisters of Mercy in the Northeast. It is an educative and justice activist role which also includes future planning for the land of the Sisters of Mercy. My brief visit to the Christine Center was, in a way, returning to an alma mater to see the old campus, now much expanded, beautiful and growing. “This experience was foundational for a life of contemplation and action. I will always be grateful for knowing Sister Virginia and for the privilege of my time here.”