The Not So Silent Week in Racine

 by Paula Danforth

Last week the Dominican Novices went on a silent directed retreat at the Siena Center in Racine, WI.

We were told ahead of time to have an idea of what we wanted to accomplish and share that with our spiritual director for the week.  It was also suggested that we not be too surprised when the Holy Spirit considered our agendas, giggled, and totally sent us down a different path for the week.  Well, that was not the exact wording but the sentiment was similar in my recollection.  That is exactly what happened for me.  I did not have a specific agenda and was open to where the Spirit would lead.  

This week the Holy Spirit was more like crashing surf plowing loudly into the shoreline than a calm white dove gently leading me along in comfort and ease...Seems God had a great deal of trust in my capacity for learning this week.  Silly me for being open and having no plan of my own to follow.

 My not so silent retreat...I really tried.  Mostly I spent the week in silence.  Occasionally I had to talk to the food service people.  I also talked to this little guy who taught me a lesson in trust.  I thing it may not count against the silence pact.  I am pretty sure he doesn't speak English and I don't speak chipmunk.  Here is the story.

I went for a walk and stopped in a boggy section of the property and a little face peeked up from under the bridge I was standing on.  He popped up again through the grate of the bridge and then dipped under again.  He got brave and jumped up on the rail side of the bridge.  He ran toward me but stopped about five feet away from me.  He seemed to be assessing the situation.  Could he cross the bridge with me on it.  I stood very still but he turned around and ran back to shore.  He tried again, this time coming within three feet of my shoes.  He looked around and hightailed it back to the shore again and promptly hopped down onto a fallen log and used that for a path instead of crossing the bridge around me.  He did make it to the other shore.

I thought about my encounter with this 4 ounce bundle of fur.  This is how I (maybe we) approach God sometimes.  I / we take a few steps toward God, then get nervous and retreat.  Then take a few more steps closer to God and then retreat a few steps back.  

My director for the week seemed to know exactly how to challenge me.  The very first day she reminded me of John 21:15-17 where Jesus asks Simon Peter three times if he loves him?  Then my director asked me, "What might you answer if God asked you... Paula, do you trust me?"  Three times.

Maybe someday you and I will be sitting down to lunch and I will trust you enough to tell you how that conversation worked itself out between me and that wonderful, insightful, spiritual director.  

In the mean time, I will say that like the chipmunk to me, I spent a great deal of time assessing my ability to go closer to  God. 😇  I know how I answered my spiritual director that week.  This is a big question for those of us in discernment.  I "got to the other shore too."  I'd like to challenge you to think about this, if you dare.  How would you answer when God asks you...do you trust me?  

 

Relationship is Where Collaboration Begins

Written by Sr. Julie Rambin, Published by Sr. Terri Schell

As novices, some of the skills we have worked on this year are relationship-building and collaboration. We have been learning to listen more deeply to God and each other, to discover the hidden fruits of working together, to remain open to the unexpected. These skills and approaches help us in learning to live a healthy and joy-filled life together. 

All of us entered community life as adult women. We came to our congregations as independent adults, with careers, cars and even houses of our own. Though we come from different cultural and family backgrounds, we had all lived in the U.S. for some years prior to the novitiate. 

The dominant U.S. culture highly values independence, and we have all internalized this value to some degree. Independence is an important life skill, but it’s not the only important one. 

As someone strongly inclined toward independence, I had to learn the value of collaborative work. As a college student, my experience of “group work” was that one person (usually me) would complete the bulk of the work on any given project. 

In the novitiate, I have worked together with others on all sorts of group projects, and contributed in varying ways and degrees. I have also benefited significantly from the hard work of others, and appreciated their gifts especially in areas where I would have struggled. 

When the whole group is really committed to collaboration, sharing gifts, and working together, great things can happen.

Recently, we five novices were able to visit the McGreal Center at Dominican University in River Forest, IL. Together with Dominican novices of the Central Province, we toured the center and learned more about its history, as well as the history of Dominican sisters and friars in the United States. 

As we saw in some of the old photographs in the center, collaboration is an important element of our history. We have been collaborating across congregations in many ways for years.

We were grateful to Chris Allison, McGreal Center archivist and tour guide extraordinaire, who introduced us to a number of the center’s important collections. 

It was good to meet other members of the Dominican family, to get to know the current Central Province novices.

We enjoyed our lunch too!

While the friar-novices were in town, we invited them to our house for evening prayer and dinner.

It was wonderful to have the opportunity to spend time with other newer members of the Dominican family, to make connections and develop relationships. “At the heart of ministry is relationship”...and relationships are where all of our collaboration begins.

As we look toward the future of Dominican religious life, we wonder what it will hold. In this time of preparation for Pentecost, we pray for the Holy Spirit's outpouring on the whole Dominican family. May the Spirit surprise us with the fruits of collaboration and joy-filled lives.