It has been a very full and blessed month: the month of the Sacred Heart and also the month of midsummer, when light lasts longest and nature is bursting with life. Halfway through the month, on the Feast of the Sacred Heart, along with RSCJ across the world I renewed my vowed commitment to our life and mission. I then accompanied retreats at a Llannerchwen often bathed in surprising sunshine and teeming with idyllic lushness and wild beauty, making easier my contemplation and inner stillness. It more than made up for absence from our own gloriously lovely garden!
While there I quietly celebrated the twelfth anniversary of my perpetual vows. As I walked in the woods behind Llannerchwen one day I felt such a sense of plenitude: the sun-soaked, life-filled, silently singing fullness around me resonating with the fullness within. That plenitude remained as I sat watching the sheep contentedly grazing, and somehow found its way into the car as I drove home. It joined me on a vocation discernment weekend, underpinning my sharing and reflecting on call and response, on the Heart of Jesus and the depths of our charism and vows. It is always affirming to be with women taking their first generous if tentative steps on this journey, to hear their questions, ideals and observations, and always good to be able to share from the fullness I have received.
And then on Saturday, at Mass, I suddenly realised the significance of the date: the 45th anniversary of my First Communion. There were no epiphanies or mystical moments at this realisation, just profound gratitude for so many years of deepening union and communion - so many years of fullness, whether recognised or not.
And so, at this halfway point in the year, as June's pearly late-evening light turns dark and slips towards July, I look back at what I have lived and written about this month, what I take with me into this new month, and this is what I see...
(And yes, it's bursting untidily out of its clearly defined margins, but that's a good reflection of how writ-large and untrammelled nature has been this month...)
While there I quietly celebrated the twelfth anniversary of my perpetual vows. As I walked in the woods behind Llannerchwen one day I felt such a sense of plenitude: the sun-soaked, life-filled, silently singing fullness around me resonating with the fullness within. That plenitude remained as I sat watching the sheep contentedly grazing, and somehow found its way into the car as I drove home. It joined me on a vocation discernment weekend, underpinning my sharing and reflecting on call and response, on the Heart of Jesus and the depths of our charism and vows. It is always affirming to be with women taking their first generous if tentative steps on this journey, to hear their questions, ideals and observations, and always good to be able to share from the fullness I have received.
And then on Saturday, at Mass, I suddenly realised the significance of the date: the 45th anniversary of my First Communion. There were no epiphanies or mystical moments at this realisation, just profound gratitude for so many years of deepening union and communion - so many years of fullness, whether recognised or not.
And so, at this halfway point in the year, as June's pearly late-evening light turns dark and slips towards July, I look back at what I have lived and written about this month, what I take with me into this new month, and this is what I see...
(And yes, it's bursting untidily out of its clearly defined margins, but that's a good reflection of how writ-large and untrammelled nature has been this month...)
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