Her nephew told a story that beautifully captured the spirit of the holy woman we laid to rest on Friday.
Deployed in Iraq many years ago, Tim had opened a letter from his Aunt Judy – better known to many as Sister Joyelle Proot SSND – and out of it tumbled a cascade of glitter, sparkles and colorful craft-stars. A smidgen of beauty, delivered by APO, to a war zone.
Who knows how Judy expected that tender payload to be received? But in fact, it caused a bit of a stir in the unit – an officer or two wondering out loud whether this unsuspecting soldier had unleashed contraband into a crowded room.
That’s an Army officer’s job, I suppose: to view all of one’s surroundings through a lens of threat. Judy – my Sweetie’s first cousin – had a much different perspective on her vocation, what Christ had called her to do: “I just want to be about bringing beauty into this world.” This is the desire one dear friend reported as having heard many times from Joyelle’s lips through the years. And the nun pursued her vocation with remarkable energy and determination. “Joyelle leaned into the curve of life,” the friend said. “She not only leaned into it, she bent it!”
I learned to celebrate this indomitable spirit of Judy’s in many ways through the years, even as her energy just as often flummoxed me. In 2003, for example, she invited me to join the Renovation Committee at Holy Trinity parish in Hyde Park, where she served as Pastoral Associate. Judy had grand plans for her beloved parish – indeed, for the entire downtrodden neighborhood. “A renaissance!” she often enthused – recalling the Christ we meet in today’s gospel: “Zeal for Your house will consume me!”
Frankly, I just didn’t see it happening. Too many needs, too little interest among the Powers That Be in the city and archdiocese. Still, I stuck around. I served as scribe for the Renovation Committee for a full decade, in fact, in large part because I enjoyed the way Joyelle expanded my heart and challenged my spirit to breathe deeply of hope. She changed me, even though very little about the physical needs of that site ever changed over the ten years I served there.
No less stirring were the encounters Joyelle and I had over language, over words, through the years. This blog of mine – it intrigued her. She reveled in my gift for writing. And from time to time, she confronted it … taking me to task early on for relying solely on masculine pronouns to refer to God, the Holy One. I was blessed back in the day by her observation – and I’ve done my best ever since to “open up” the God-language I use in this space.
In this same context, she sent me a link to an article a couple of years back reporting on a Church of England controversy that cast the words “Our Father” as potentially problematic. I replied that those advocating for a more “inclusive” intro to the Lord’s Prayer might be pushing a very large rock uphill. And her response was “classic Judy”: “Jesus models hope even as he pushes one large rock after another … with great love, the burden is light.”
Yes, Joyelle was some nun, indeed. The gift she gave us, as another dear friend said on Friday, was encouragement … to live life just as she learned to live it. It was an invitation to “Step back and allow God to ‘wow’ us!”
Godspeed, dear Cousin, dear Friend, dear Prophetic Voice. And may our world continue to embrace the beauty, hope and Joy that you shared so generously with us!
Let us pause now…to recall that we are in the presence of the Holy & Merciful One.
IHS
With Us Still 