A Cloud of Witnesses

The week has arrived.  After saying our good byes this past month to our ICN community, to our friends at Aquinas, to our Dominican family and to our brothers, we approach the time of saying goodbye to one another.  D-Day: June 12.  I found myself anticipating this week, with mixed emotions.  On one hand, I’m looking forward to the next adventure religious life will bring.  On the other hand, I will miss the relationships and community we built in St. Louis at the CDN.  As one of the novices recently said, “This year I got so use to my ego being four people wide…living without my fellow novices will be a huge adjustment!” 

And so I look back over the year I can name many treasures gained from this experience at the CDN.  All year we “marinated” in the “seasonings” of Dominican life and values, self-awareness and introspection, resistance and growth, and were held in heart of God.  We were graced with opportunities to explore religious life, ourselves, our faith, the Dominican family, and the Church in ways that I never could have imagined.   I find myself grateful to the original midwives of the CDN and to my sending congregation for collaborating in this joint investment that has yielded a deeper sense of identity. 

And so, tonight we celebrate our closing ritual, a ceremony of celebrating the community we were and saying our farewells to one another.  But we know that our year has caused a cosmic entanglement has forever changed the fabric of our lives.   We will live our call of itinerancy, moving on to new horizons, but along those roads, we bring each other as witnesses of the journey.

We offer prayers and blessings to the new novices coming to St. Louis is the fall.

And with that, we, the CDN Novices of 2013-2014, bid you farewell.