Giving Voice to Our Dreams

I told myself when I started this blog that I wanted to make sure I remained consistent. For a number of reasons, that hasn’t happened.

As I have continued getting to know the Sisters of Providence and myself, I’ve been continually challenged to go deeper. This past weekend, I spent three days with 17 other women religious under 40 years old, representing 13 communities, at a Giving Voice retreat for sisters in their 20s and 30s. We laughed and prayed and played and dreamed. We broke bread and broke boundaries. We dreamed of intercommunity collaboration and honored each others’ distinctive communities and charisms. It was beautiful.

And as I return for four days of the daily grind, I’m reminded of those times within my own community when we laugh and pray and play and dream together. I’m reminded of those times I’m challenged by the people around me to grow into new spaces and new ways of being in the world. And I’m grateful for the intentionality and strength that can come with community.

I return to four days of a “regular” schedule before my own community’s gathering of newer members. Women in initial formation (WIFs, those who have not yet taken final vows) will gather for our own retreat this coming weekend. Together, the seven of us will laugh and play and pray and dream. And then we’ll once more return to the daily grind of bringing Providence to the world and being love, mercy, and justice in the world around us, however imperfectly.

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I’m beginning to see the role of women religious in the world as an invitation to all of us to go deeper. I’m grateful for the special ways I’m challenged to bring contemplation, depth, and intentionality into my life.

As someone reading my blog, you may or may not be called to religious life. Either way, how is it that you are being invited deeper? How are you being invited to the joy of community, the joy that God desires for all of creation?