Image of Joy

I went to find an image to express my feeling after our Provincial Assembly and came across this one that I had filed under the title of "Image of Joy." I was glad to see that it expresses hope, prayer, transformation by the Spirit, as well as some of the joy I feel we all experienced in just being together. It was evident that face to face meetings are important for us and life-giving. I felt renewed by the energy that I received from all my sisters. At my table, we were a good mix; two of us had worked for years out of the country; one is working with the Indians, one is head of a school, one does counseling in a school situation in Washington, D.C., and one has been in formation and retreat work for many years for our Province and then we had one of the lay administers with us for two days who is on the Mission Advancement staff. I mention our backgrounds because I think each table was rich in the experience of the group. My first "boss" at the University always used to tell us "the sum is greater than its parts" and I find that so true.
Tomorrow I will share a few of the statistics given in a marvelous talk by our United Nations representative, Cecile
Meijer, RSCJ, who gave us the world context for our Mission Reflection. It is also the Feast of St. Ignatius and a great day for RSCJs as well as for all our Jesuit friends.