October 2025

Dear Friends,

"Almighty God, who inspired your servant Luke the physician to set forth in the Gospel the love and healing power of your Son: Graciously continue in your Church this love and power to heal, to the praise and glory of your Name."

October is famously the month of St. Francis of Assisi, but October 18 is the feast day of St. Luke. Years ago I served a church dedicated to St. Luke, and each year I call them to mind and ask God to bless them.

But that's not what inspired me to write about St. Luke today.

I remember a Jackie DeShannon song from the 1960s:

"What the world needs now is love, sweet love

It's the only thing there's just too little of

What the world needs now is love, sweet love,

no, not just for some, but for everyone."

Sounds trite, huh? Too simple?

Tell that to St. Luke. Tell that to Jesus.

Our world seems to be drowning in a sea of hate. The tide of resentment and fear grows each day.

And yet, love continues to do its work. Each day I read of acts of kindness, of far-right leaders converted to peace, of healers of all sorts. They give me hope, which gives me eyes to see the love and healing power that is around me.

Most of the stories I read do not include a reference to the Church. It seems that goodness just grows like a mushroom, flowering randomly. I'm grateful for the flowers.

I also know that many churches are doing what they can to share in the love and healing power of Jesus Christ. This, after all, is what we are called to: not to our own comfort (though hopefully we find great consolation in service), but in continuing this gift we have received.

I have experienced this love and healing power, in the Church and beyond. I've received it from people of many faiths and no faith (at least none they avowed). But there is a special power in Christ that I treasure.

In the past I shared in the ministry of healing prayer during Eucharist. Lately I've awoken to this possibility again, and I'm exploring ways to share it. But I know that God's love and healing power are not exclusive to the clergy, or to Eucharist, or to church buildings. It is shared by smiles, by calling one another by name, by reaching out. It is shared through ministry formal and informal, by all the ways we care for one another. Sometimes it is shared by confronting another with the ways they are harming themselves or another. Sometimes it is shared by crying with another, or writing letters of encouragement. Sometimes it is shared by intercessory prayer. Sometimes it is shared by public protests or demonstrations of support. If we are guided by Christ's love, we will find our way.

We are all "the Church." God's desire will be answered, not by some other in the name of "the Church," but by us.

In the end, we are the gainers. We can only spread the power to love and heal by loving and healing; and when we do, we receive that very love and healing ourselves. We don't have to force it; it comes naturally. Like smiling improves our mood, even if there's no one to see it. In the same way, aiming to love and heal strengthens us.

I don't say this as someone who's just got this down. I say this as a pilgrim, seeking that love and healing power. I trust Jesus' promise that loving is the way. I pray that you experience that love and healing, and that your life may manifest it and sprout it in the world around you.

Blessings,

Sr. Shane, for the Companions

Nothing is more practical than finding God,

that is, Falling in love

in a quite absolute, final way.

What you are in love with

what seizes your imagination

will affect everything.

It will decide 

what will get you out of bed

in the morning,

what you do with your evenings,

how you spend your mornings,

how you spend your weekends,

what you read, who you know,

what breaks your heart,

and what amazes you with gratitude and joy.

Fall in love, stay in love

and it will decide everything.

                     Padre Pedro Arrupe, SJ

Oblate Companions

August brought a beautiful time of gathering and renewal in our community life. Our vowed and oblate Companions met at Bon Secour Retreat Center in Maryland for a good, full weekend. We prayed, talked, played and were all enlivened in our common commitment to Christ and to the Companions of Mary the Apostle. One outcome was the desire to share more broadly the good news that the Oblate way is available for people who feel called to explore it. We agreed to spread the word, so here it is! 

Oblates find their roots in the Benedictine tradition. Individuals who become oblates strongly resonate with a monastic way of deepening life in Christ. They feel drawn to a particular community and desire a different relationship than vowed monastic life. The word oblate comes from the same root as oblation. Oblates give their lives to God in thanksgiving, and in relationship with a monastic community. As one of our oblates puts it, he desires to “accompany and be accompanied by monastics.”

Monastic Companions and Oblate Companions gather via Zoom as a community for study, prayer and fellowship. We worship together (also via Zoom) when that is possible, or at the same time in our respective geographic locations. We also gather annually for a few day's retreat in person. More ways exist to engage, and are opening up as we have ideas about how to live our mission: to proclaim the renewing and transforming power of encountering Christ in our lives and in the world.

If you are asking “Is this for me?” prayerfully spend some time with the Charism (our statement of the “Spirit of the Community”) and the Rule of Life of the Companions. You can find these on our website, companionsofmarytheapostle.org. 

Then, we ask, do the Charism and Rule pique your curiosity? Are you wondering if you have a call to be an Oblate?  Reach out to the Companions via email at companionsma@gmail.com. Either Sister E Broyles, CMA, or Sister Shane Phelan, CMA will get back to you.

Bless you on your journey, wherever it leads!

Please pray with us

For the people of Gaza and Israel, for just peace there and the across the globe. For an end to wars everywhere.

For the United States, for a spirit of compassion and responsibility to all the people and the planet to move our President, Congress and the Courts.

For an end to ICE raids, mass detention and deportations of immigrants.

For sharing of the earth's gifts and an end to poverty and the accompanying hunger, houselessness, lack of good water and medical care.

For love to flourish throughout humanity--for God, one another and the planet.

For comfort, companionship and healing for all who suffer in body, mind, heart or spirit.

For all who are dying, and those who love and care for them.

For those we love who have asked our prayers, and for those who have no one to pray for them.

For each of us to have the courage to ask "What is mine to do?" and to do it.

In thanksgiving for the beauty of creation, for community--and all communities of good will--for all good gifts. For peacemakers and those who cry for justice.

Join the Companions'

Coffee Table Community:

Communing with the Scriptures and Each Other

Come for rousing conversation about the coming Sunday's Readings, and for prayers

Fridays at 9:00 a.m. online

Write us for the link at

companionsma@gmail.com

Inquiring minds want to know: Why Coffee Table? Before the pandemic we gathered for Eucharist, with Bible Conversation, around a coffee table at the Companionary,

the home base of the vowed members of the Companions. We still gather in person on occasion, but using Zoom lets us to welcome people at a distance. It's easier to hear!

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