A cherished tradition

Today is renewal Sunday, a day of prayer and reflection, in many of our local communities. This practice is one of the cherished traditions of my religious community.  It is a time to focus on Our Way of Life, its challenges, its invitation to grow in community, to engage in communal discernment, and to deepen our relationship with the Lord and with one another. It is a call to solitude, to that place where we are open to the Spirit speaking within us and within the Sisters with whom I reflect.  Today, my local house community is doing part of the preparation for our 21^st General Assembly which will be held in Rome, Italy in October 2012.  We are specifically looking at how we have grown in implementing the directives of the 20^th General Assembly and what challenges we have faced over the past five years.  One of the things that excites me about the past five years is the efforts we have put into a deeper appreciation of our Foundress, Mother Frances Streitel, in studying how she practiced the virtues of  faith, hope,  love of God, love of neighbor, prudence, justice, temperance, fortitude, humility, poverty, obedience, and chastity. Obviously that study led to looking at how we, in turn, are growing in these virtues individually and as a community.