Step By Single Step

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I’ve been joking lately that I am becoming a very good Dominican: between visits to friends and family and getting ready for another move, I’ve taken itinerancy to a new level!

All this travel brings to mind a favorite poem by Jan Richardson, called “For Those Who Have Far to Travel: An Epiphany Blessing.”  The first two stanzas read:

If you could see
the journey whole
you might never
undertake it;
might never dare
the first step
that propels you
from the place
you have known
toward the place

you know not.

Call it
one of the mercies
of the road:
that we see it
only by stages
as it opens
before us,
as it comes into
our keeping
step by
single step.

How true!  I could scarcely find better words to describe my journey into religious life.  Many times I have longed to see just a little further ahead; yet I realize that if I could have seen the whole picture perhaps I wouldn’t have dared to take the first step.  It’s a beautiful journey, but two years ago I wasn’t ready to be where I am now.  The process takes time, conversion comes about gently and gradually, and the invitation to keep journeying is renewed each day.  Now that’s a blessing!

What is the next “single step” to which God might be inviting you?

Sr. Christin Tomy
Racine, WI

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