Reflections

My Mission

Are there people who will dream my dream? I hear God asking

What is your dream? I ask

It is the dream of Jacob:

He knew the promise of God walking with him, keeping him safe,

Bringing him home to his own land

It is the dream of Isaiah:

The dream of hope against the despair of hopelessness.

It is the dream of a God, who suffers with the people,

A dream of fruitfulness, of banquets and fine food,

Of water gushing in dry land and deserts becoming fertile.

It is the Dream that Hosea dreamed:

He accepted his culture and his situation,

Reflected on it and dreamed it into a new vision of God’s love.

He challenged rather than destroyed, he accepted and purified rather than condemned.

His dream was of a God who continually calls us back with tenderness and love, warmth and compassion.

It is the dream of Micah:

To act justly

To love tenderly, to walk humbly with your God.

It is the dream of Jesus:

A dream of a compassionate God who is so close and so loving that Jesus called this God, his Father.

A dream of a kingdom, a kingdom of justice and peace, of healthy reconciliation, of love and acceptance, of freedom and abundance, of life in its fullness for all.

A kingdom where evil is overcome by Goodness.

A dream in which Jesus crossed barriers, moved through stormy seas.

A dream in which he accepted those rejected by society, and freely chose the way of the poor, becoming one of them.

A dream that led him to stand alone, that put him in conflict with others, and that finally led him through suffering to his death.

It is the dream of Paul.

A dream for our hidden selves to grow strong and become filled with the utter fullness of God.

A dream of God’s power working in us, doing infinitely more that we can ask or imagine.

It is the dream of Euphrasie Barbier:

A dream of being so utterly overtaken by God that her only goal was solely the Mission of the Incarnate Word, sent by God to redeem the human race, and the Divine Mission of the Holy Spirit, sent by the Father and the son, to bring about the sanctification of Christ’s Church.

Her dream was for sisters to find their inspiration for Mission in the well-spring of Trinitarian life by the contemplation of the Trinity itself.

It is the dream of RNDM women today

A dream of women who believe that:

We are impelled by the Spirit to move out of ourselves, we are called to be with the poor and the marginalised and the oppressed of this world, and through emptying, suffering dying and death,

Mission will always lead to New Life for all.

Are you ready to explore my dream? I hear God asking.

Can I dare to get out of the boat and walk on water

Believing that the compassionate God of Jesus will be supporting and holding me?

Can I dare to wait in patience in what is sometime s a seeming emptiness,

Nurturing the seed of God’s love conscious of God’s aliveness within me?

Can I dare to sing my own song long enough and strongly enough,

Confident in knowing that as we sing and dance together, we will sing in harmony and we will dance the dream into reality?

Can I believe in God’s promise that in a vision of fragile simplicity there is a call to life giving fulfilment?

Can I dare the dream?

Are you ready to dream with me? God asks again.

Carmel Cole rndm

Returning To Our Roots

RNDM Renewal Programme in France, England and Rome 2019

It was a great joy this June, to again spend time with our sisters on their renewal programme in St Rambert en Bugey, Lyon, France. Here eighteen RNDM sisters participated in the programme carefully prepared by Lucy Wambui, one of our CLT members.

Jo Kane, our Congregational Leader and other members of the Leadership team contributed also, as did Kathleen Prendergast from Christchurch. They all helped make the two months a time of renewal, of pilgrimage and of “Returning to our Roots.”

I was very happy to lead the seven day silent retreat for the group. It was a time of deepened prayer and encounter with God, who is the source of all.After the retreat, the group continued its pilgrimage in the footsteps of Euphrasie, in England and then in Rome.

Kathleen and I stayed on at L’Abbaye for Pentecost and helped around as the Sisters of the French Province gathered for their Assembly at that time.

That too was a real joy, catching up with the sisters again, especially Mary Rose, Trish Boyd, and the sisters who had attended English courses here, Cecilia, Regina, and Papa Win.

The last part of the time away was in Rome with Carmel our archivist as we continued our work on the “Virtues of Euphrasie” – for her beatification process. All in all, it has been a most interesting and charmed month. With many thanks to all,

Clare Murphy