Women of Spirit

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Close your eyes for a moment and consider women of spirit you know and love, or have known and loved.  They may be members of your family, or teachers, or high school and college friends.  I had a few occasions recently to think about women of spirit who have inspired me – and thousands of others!

We Sinsinawa Dominicans recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of our Associate program.  At the closing ritual, we stood in a circle, hands on one another’s shoulders and sang with gusto “We are standing on the shoulders of the ones who came before us/We are stronger for their courage/ We are wiser for their words…”   The faces of so many women floated across my mind’s eye, faces made beautiful by lives lived with passion, love, and courage.

Then just this past week I went to our Motherhouse in Sinsinawa to attend the opening of our Heritage Center.  It tells the story of our founding sisters, and displays artistic and photographic treasures from our earliest foundation.  Their story never fails to renew in me a desire  to carry into the future the values that sustained them:  love of life, of God, and of God’s people, and a hunger for truth and for justice.

Who are the women in your life who have touched and inspired you?  Be grateful for them!

Kaye Ashe, O.P.
Westchester, Illinois

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