In Horizons, younger sisters reflect on their lives, ministries, spirituality and the future of religious life.
Horizons - The last two years, for all the turmoil they have contained, have been clarifying in many ways. While the election results have sure implications for the future, so do the lessons learned during this election season.
Horizons - As I pray with this All Souls' Day morning Scripture for the people killed in our country this week, an image arises in my heart. I imagine an enormous, sustained embrace in heaven. At the center, God is pulling our dear departed brothers and sisters close, holding them to God's eternal heart of love.
Horizons - Solidarity isn't a gentle probing of the spirit or a sweet Christian suggestion when lives are on the line. It's an insistence to get to work. In fact, that's what some of my sisters have done.
Horizons - One Saturday a few years ago, I missed the convent carpool to Mass and opted to go to a funeral Mass at a neighboring parish. Little did I know that God had a message for me there that would last a lifetime.
Horizons - Our Father. Our daily bread. Forgive us as we forgive. Lead us. Deliver us. In giving us this prayer, I think Jesus is desperately calling us to remember that we, all of us, even those we most vehemently disagree with, are beloved children of God.
Horizons - The summer of 2012, I gave God an ultimatum. I would train to run 26.2 miles and pray all along the way, and by the time I reached the finish line in November, God would answer the question on my heart: Was I being called to religious life?
Horizons - Humility gives us an opportunity to hold the reality of what is without having to make excuses or provide solutions. In that space, we are on the ground floor of what is.
I am uncomfortable when conversations seem to seek replacements for vowed religious life. The truth is, God is still calling people to make lifelong, vowed religious commitments, and people are still saying yes.
Horizons - The heartache of the church's scandals and infighting is dizzying, confusing, painful. I wasn't sure how to be a Franciscan Sister anymore, how to be a public face of the church.
Right here and right now, the broken heart of Christ is evident in the wounded members of his body, most especially the victims of sexual abuse and the victims of abuse of ecclesial power.
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