Community

-
Community
“The search – for self, for wisdom, for love, for truth, for justice, for God – is strenuous and unending.  We need good companions in order to persevere in it.  In good company, in a community of conviction, the quest never loses its relevance, its urgency or its savor.” -  Kay Ashe, OP

These words by Sinsinawa Dominican Sister Kay Ashe have been a source of much reflection for me lately as I continue through my candidacy year.  I find myself surrounded with “good companions” with whom I share not only vespers and meals, chores and groceries, cars and bank accounts, but also deeply challenging and deeply beautiful moments. 

As someone who works directly with immigrant children, the national news has been deeply disturbing.  On a personal level, I have grieved some losses of loved ones in past months.  In the midst of this, life in community has been a source of genuine support, encouragement and growth. 

“We have all known the long loneliness and the answer is community,” wrote Servant of God Dorothy Day.  Her words resonate as I reflect on how community makes me more aware that I am both broken and blessed, and that life is infinitely richer when it is lived in common.     

To what communities do you belong?  How does community reveal your own blessedness and brokenness? 

Rhonda Miska
Sinsinawa, WI


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nuns can have nose rings? (and other frequently asked questions)

-
Image
One of my favorite things about being a young sister-in-formation is allowing people to ask me their burning (and sometimes silly) questions about religious life.   Questions like: Do nuns have jobs?   Can you still go dancing and swimming?   You mean you get to keep that nose ring? Becoming a sister right now is an interesting thing: religious life has changed drastically in the past fifty years, but many people’s stereotypes about it haven’t.   Many of these stereotypes seem superficial (ie- all nuns wear habits; nuns don’t dance) but they may reflect deeper misconceptions about religious life… like the idea that sisters are somehow more holy or less human than “normal” people.   For a long time, my own misconceptions kept me from really considering religious life. And so I enjoy the questions.   I love making people feel free to ask them, and I love surprising them with the answers.   After all, they aren’t really asking about my nose ring;...
Read more

Happiness and Joy in Religious Life?

-
Image
I never wanted to be a religious sister (nun) because I felt I would never be happy.     This calls me to reflect on what is happiness.     Some say that happiness is a feeling.     It is when you feel good and cheerful about something that happened or is happening in your life.     However, I think that true happiness comes from when you make others happy.     After I went out of my way to assist someone and they unexpectedly tell me how much my helping meant to them.     I experience an unexpected warm feeling inside.     True happiness I think is a sense of fulfilment you feel even if what you did was not acknowledged, yet you know that deep down inside you did and gave of your best to help someone without any conscious ulterior motive.     You did it because it was the right and necessary thing to do at the time. Everyone searches for happiness and many know that true happiness cannot be found in things,...
Read more

HOME

-
Image
  I am fortunate to have an iPhone and I use the maps feature regularly when I travel to different places. What I like best is that on my return journey all I need to do is hit the HOME button and  no matter where I am it routes me safely home. I’ve been thinking about the significance of HOME lately especially as I and so many of our sisters have recently moved and settled into new spaces.  Can you find yourself at home in the gift of this day? Do you find yourself at home in your heart? I have returned to live at Sinsinawa mound and feel deeply at home. It is the space from which our sisters are sent out on mission and to which they return for their final resting place. I think of all who have been forced or bombed out of their homes. All the millions of displaced people searching for a place to call home, all the unhomed peopled on our own city streets especially veterans and those with mental health problems who have no place to call home. How am I called to respond o...
Read more