VIRIDITAS: SOUL GREENING
One day, I bumped into Maryknoll Sister Anastasia Marie when I was out working in a village. She asked me what I was doing. Later, she said, “When do you play?” She continued, “If you want to be your best and to give the best of yourself to your students in religious education, then you have to take a day off to take care of yourself.”
I like the idea of a day off to just read and relax. At St. Damien Church (on Molokai), the parish administration does take off Monday for rest and renewal, however as I am a bit over 80 years old, that is kind of relative, as there is always so much more of life to share.
Last year, there was a man who used to play the piano for Mass, but he moved on. Several years previous, our church piano lay fallow. There are different groups that play stringed instruments, but not the piano. Only on occasion, someone might pass through and play it, like when Robert Mondoy comes home. It just so happened that during our novena in May to the Blessed Mother, one of the parishioners said that we should sing more often. I thought that was a good idea. So, I gathered all the songs I was familiar with — old as in St. Basil’s Hymnal and new — and with Rose as the cantor, we sang a song after each Mass. I also began teaching the parishioners new, simple songs. So when Father Bill Petrie asked me to play the piano on a regular basis, even though I haven’t touched a keyboard for a very long time, I started to practice again.
This brought back childhood memories of my time at St. Anthony School in Kalihi when I did take piano lessons and when one of the Maryknoll Sisters taught me to play the organ. I remember how she would sit right next to me as she prompted me when to start playing and how to listen to what was going on. I was also a member of the sodality and choir. It was also at St. Anthony’s that I was first introduced to the beautiful practice of night adoration. I remember a priest asking us to choose one day out of the month to reserve for prayer. We were to keep this same hour, always. What did we do during that hour? In the silence of our own homes, we were asked to pray for priests and to pray for the church.
Later, when I attended Sacred Hearts Convent school, I saw the Sacred Hearts Sisters in formal adoration. During lunch hour, I used to go to the chapel. It happened to be at the time the sisters would be changing guard to continue their perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. When I entered the convent it took me a while to learn the practice of silence, often being reminded to keep quiet during evening recreation, or not to run up the stairs with my shoes making a loud and noisy clatter. But the enjoyment of silence and adoration has become such a rich part of my being able to be open to greater calls of fullness of life.
Sister Marie Christine Plateros is a Sister of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and of Perpetual Adoration. She entered the convent in 1956 and has served in the Philippines, Gardena, Calif., and Indonesia. She lives with her sisters at the Molokai Community in Kaunakakai.
