The pandemic has challenged all of us. We've missed milestone celebrations and more simple everyday encounters. From now on, so many people may always be questions for me. I may never see them again.
As sisters, we come together in community as strangers brought together by the love of God and our desire to build God's reign of peace and justice. But it is not an easy task.
Day after day, we are reminded that our world is so in need of healing. The spirit of ut unum sint ("may they be one") guided our founder, Louis Marie Eugène Bautain.
Horizons - Community life, especially living in an intercultural, intercongregational house, has broken open the meaning of Pentecost and speaking in tongues for me. And it's not just about sounds and spoken words.
As a musician, I find a reflection on the Trinity that is helpful and prayerfully stimulating to me is given by St. Ignatius Loyola; others in music and art provide further insight. (The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity is May 30.)
The Cross of Chavanod Sisters started Asha Bhavan hostel in India's Berhampur Diocese. For poor disabled girls who were considered a burden for their families, Asha Bhavan is an opportunity for medical care and education.
The voice is rapturous, out of this world, so that even the lips of Christ smile because nothing is set in stone, not joy, not tears, not yesterday and, certainly, not tomorrow. Sing, sisters, sing.
Contemplate This - Our awareness and presence every time we act communicates who we are and generates an energy that can be life-enhancing or life-threatening.
Many of our world problems stem from racism and white supremacy disguised as white saviorism. An acknowledgement of that in this country, in our church and religious communities would be a good starting point.
My afternoon walk has become a lifesaver for me. Not only does it oxygenate my brain (which helps me relax and stay calm), but it also makes my heart and spirit well up in gratitude and love for life!
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ursuline Sisters have four communities in the Katanga province, an area with constant conflict. COVID-19 has impacted our ministries and our spiritual life, but God guides us.
Religious life, living in community, can provide a model for how all of us can strive to look outside of ourselves, stop being individualistic, either-or people and reconnect with others. It takes true listening.
May the cries of Creation and all creatures, and the wounds of suffering humanity, be conduits of grace to us, and enable us to take action to improve the lot of the less fortunate.
Horizons - Between the lines of the Easter narrative engrained in my heart is a story I'd rather not tell — a story made up of agonizing questions and the intensities of death and division.
A sister who served as a spiritual adviser to a death row inmate shares a reflection from years ago: "I was never one who seriously prayed for a sign from God. But all that changed. Here's how it happened."
Understanding the implications of our era, some parishes in Vietnam — especially parish priests, chaplains, sisters and catechists — are really very concerned and interested in educating Vietnamese children of the parish in the faith and Scripture.
The COVID-19 crisis was a wake-up call for sisters who were not prepared for such an emergency. Congregations need to rise to the challenge of training members on how to care for their elderly and sick members as a priority issue.
We do not know how the Resurrection happened; the speculative questions do not fit. Their goal is not the news itself, but to inform and to feed the faith of the community.
Horizons - Almost everyone I know is affected by the second wave of COVID-19 in India in one way or the other. I and most sisters in my community had the virus the first week of April, and we had to isolate ourselves immediately.