Gathering of the Daughters

I thought I would share with you all an article I wrote for Interim, which is our communities way of sharing news with each other and our associates each month. After attending Gathering of the Daughters I offered to write something about the Gathering for it.

          In,April, Sisters Rosemary, Linda and I attended Gathering of the Daughters. Gathering of the Daughters is an opportunity for newer members, as well as forma­tion personnel in the U.S. Federati­on of Sisters of St. Joseph, to come together to learn, share, pray, and vision the future. We spent three days together and were hosted by the Sisters of St. Joseph in Latham, NY.

          Our presenter for the weekend was Judy Cauley, SSJ from the Congrega­tion of St. Joseph. You could sense the peaceful, listening energy of the spirit as she shared. We experienced God calling us into an unknown future as she shared about emerging consciousness through the lens of

our charism. As we shared and prayed, one thing became certain for me; we can trust the God who knows us as we journey into an unknown future.

          Experiencing her energy and hope for the future left me encouraged. I desired to come back home to say, “you sti­ll have vision.” As we move into the future as a community here at home, I hope and pray we can bring that same prayerful spirit to the fore; trusti­ng in the quiet that God will birth something new in us and through us.

          Throughout the weekend we were also blessed with ti­me for less formal sharing. I was able to reconnect with those who journeyed with me in Chicago during the Federati­on Noviti­ate program, as well as make a few new friends. It is clear that building and nourishing connec­tions is important for all of us as we move into the future. The growing reality is that as the demographics of communities shift there is going to be a greater need for collabora­tion and unity among our newer members to continue the SSJ mission of unity of neighbor with neighbor and neighbor with God.