Community Days: ‘Listen, Do, and Pray’
by Mary Howard Johnstone, OP
In The Pilgrim’s Map, Murray Bodo, OFM, writes this of a pilgrimage:
Mainly it’s the stories we carry with us, the tales of those who’ve gone before, those who’ve made their own map, as we will make ours.
The stories and rituals passed down from generation to generation. They will help us make our map.
The stories, rituals, the Spirit of God. Of these shall we be created anew.
Of these three is pilgrimage: story, ritual, spirit.
How we listen and do and pray becomes the map we make.
From left: Srs. Mary Howard Johnstone, Mary Therese Mahony, Donna Quinn, and Margaret Marrin
Sr. Mary Ellen Winston (left) leads the choir.
From left: Srs. Margaret McGuirk, Janice Hasselo, Mary Margaret Murphy, and Virginia Helmann
During August Community Days, more than 400 Sinsinawa cartographers gathered as mapmakers at the Mound to reflect and build on the stories, to ritualize our call to mission, and to embrace the Spirit among us. We were joined by those who’ve gone before us and by the stories of our Sisters not able to be present, stories of our faithful Associates, and stories of our committed stakeholders.
Stories
Since inception, we have engaged in storytelling. It is part of who we are. Be it a dinner conversation, a remembering service, a chance meeting―stories abound. We are often found stringing tales together and unfolding scenes of life experiences and memories.
The Appreciative Inquiry journey began with what we do best―the intentional storytelling of how we came to know the Sinsinawa Dominicans and a story of a major change we were part of within the Congregation. For us, those stories really begin in the middle because we begin where we are. What we seek is to explore who we are and can become. The endings are likely beyond our control.
Ritual
Someone has described the Christian ritual as “gather the folks, break the bread, and tell the stories.” Community Days were filled with the folks gathering, breaking bread, and telling stories. Side by side we journeyed down the Emmaus Road as pilgrim companions. Our prayer encompassed our ritual of Scripture, song, and powerful holy preaching by our Sisters.
In the tradition of hospitality and welcome, we ritualized Srs. Priscilla Torres’ and Christine Wolcott’s continuing discernment in their non-canonical year. Gail Jagroop expressed her desire to continue her journey to full membership and to be received into the novitiate. As a sign of a deeper relationship with each of us, she became Sister Gail and received our Constitution.
The sacred ritual of profession was most poignant with requests from Monica Oboagwina, OP, and Lystra Long, OP, for the “mercy of God and yours” and the placement of their hands in Pat’s [Mulcahey, OP] as they publicly proclaimed their commitment to live out the gospel values in their lives as Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa. The diverse music, dress, preaching, and forms of prayer provided a festive setting for the embrace of joyful, contemplative women committing themselves with their Sisters to participate in the building of a holy and just society.
Spirit
We often imagine our spirit as the exuberance we witness when the foyer doors are first flung open to the final shuttle ride. The excitement and enthusiasm are tangible in our mere coming together. The spirit was evident in our table conversations of strengths and core values. It was apparent in the creative metaphors including windmills, trees of all kinds, tool boxes, bridges, flowers, prisms, etc. It could be heard in every corner of the Mound and beyond.
However, maybe the deeper Spirit we experienced was “the whisper in our souls”―the same whisper in which God was present to Elijah. The Spirit of Monica and Lystra as they chose to freely commit themselves to listen to and respond to in communion with us.
Elizabeth Johnson, in her 2008 address to the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), presented a “Banquet of Faith” in which she broke open the Creed. She described the Spirit as the Giver of Life with the power to form community. She, the Spirit, fortifies our hearts with hope in transforming us into a new creation. In Elizabeth Johnson’s words, “the Creed begins with the maker who creates heaven and earth, and closes with the giver of life who brings about something more after death. God who had the first word will also have the last, and it is the same word: let there be life.”
Our stories, our rituals, and our spirit are full of life. They tell of who we are, what we hold dear, what invites us, what stretches us, what we fear, what challenges us, and what decisions we face together. We seek a way to explore all that we are and can become. “How we listen and do and pray becomes the map we make”―the map written on our hearts, the map to Emmaus and far beyond.