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Sisters gathered for first session
On 13th September,
Sisters from five of our communities gathered in the Mother House,
Littlehampton, for a Congregation Day with input by our novices. The
topic was 'needs' and we discussed what was essential for our lives
as Sisters in today's world. After Morning Prayer, coffee and
welcome, novice Sisters Attracta and Innocentia gave a presentation
on various types of necessities which human beings could experience
and how these were ordered in Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
They also demonstrated the difference between needs and wants in a
drama sketch about shopping. After this, Sisters divided into two
groups to discuss the question of what was essential for us and how
we might prioritise our needs.
From the summary of
feedback from the two groups, it was no surprise that all agreed on
God, understood as Love, as our most essential need, and all other
necessities we could identify flowed from this. As the closing
reading from our Form of Life (chapter six) reminded us, Jesus showed
us that, by emptying ourselves for others, we would have all we could
ever need in the love of God, as 'heirs and kings of the kingdom of
heaven'. And so, our father St. Francis urged us to follow His
example and 'neither possess nor defend anything' as our own. Of
course, the greater goal, which we always have to strive for, is to
express the gospel priority of love in our lifestyle, rather than the
opposite priority of consumerism - the 'need' of acquiring goods and
money, which shapes the society in which we live. The ongoing
challenge of authenticity - of wholeness or 'holiness' of life, is
that we continue to question ourselves in the light of the Gospel, as
individuals and as a community. This means we have to remain open to
change, in a lifelong process of conversion to Christ.
After lunch and some free time, the day concluded with
tea together, while our novices entertained the group with their own
version of the Channel Four News!
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| Presentations by our Novices: Sr. Innocentia |
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| and Sr. Attracta |
Our two groups in discussion
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