Together
Being together – “insieme” – is what St. Angela Merici recommended so strongly to her daughters that one directive to the Company’s leaders uses the word four times:
“Take care to have your daughters come together from time to time in the place you think best and most convenient… so that, together like this, they might also meet each other as loving sisters, and thus, talking over spiritual matters, rejoice together, and together encourage one another, which will be no small help to them” (8th Legacy).
In Maine last weekend we experienced the wisdom of these words. The annual gathering of our small Group (five USA members from five states) is not our only way of being together. In between these events, we stay connected by Skype, phone, email, visits, Facebook, and national and international Ursuline gatherings that we attend in pairs or threesomes.
None of these substitutes for the flesh-and-blood presence we enjoyed in Maine:
Praying together – and straining to figure out our different prayer books and prayer apps…
Eating together – and negotiating about restaurants that meet different dietary needs…
Chatting together – and discovering both charm and annoyance…
Playing together – and exposing our silly side…
Laughing together – and teasing sister-to-sister…
Sharing together – and discovering depths of inspiration…
Celebrating together – and solidifying our unity…
St. Angela was one smart lady!
– Mary-Cabrini
