When We Let Go Together

When my dad read my recent article on Global Sisters Report, Socially Distant Spiritually Connected, he shared it with his spirituality group and connected it with a poem by Lynn Ungar:

Lynn writes, “We are connected in ways that are terrifying and beautiful… our lives are in one another’s hands.” Our lives have always been in each other’s hands, from our first moment to our last breath. We can insulate ourselves from the terrifying connections: the call of empathy, the loss of loved ones, the suffering of our world. We can soak ourselves in social media, TV, and comfort food to numb the pain. The cost is steep, though. Numbing the pain of connection removes us from real life, the sorrows and the beautiful joys. We cannot experience one without the other.

I experience the terrifying and beautiful connection of life in community. Joining with my sisters in the highs and lows in their lives means I will never be alone in mine. Yet, it is not a tradeoff. There is a synergy in the connectedness of communal life; we are stronger together, and yes more vulnerable too, but the connection grants us the grace of resilience.

Rooting our communal life in the Sabbath experience of letting go strengthens resilience and opens us to receive the grace of the moment- sometimes unexpected delights and at other times backhanded gifts. The commitment of our vowed life binds us together. We let go in the promise all of our unknown tomorrows to each other and to God (Sandra Schneiders IHM) and receive the gift to live each day as a Sabbath.