Sheep and Community

When we live in community, we are never alone. We may all be engaged in different ministries, but there is a union that comes from living together and sharing the same charism. In our new formation booklet it mentions that the three basic elements: community, interior life, and a simple life with the poor, are a blessing and a challenge. I am reflecting on the blessings and challenges of each of these calls beginning with community. The people I feel closest to are those with whom I have lived in community even if this was years ago. One gets to know people in the daily duties that are part of community life. I am aware that much of what I reflect on about community is also true of family life. The beauty of community life is that we come together as mission and for mission and we grow together as we struggle to love one another and allow each to be herself. We are only like the sheep in the sense that we follow the same Good Shepherd, but each of us has her own personality and here the blessings and challenges come together. We respect each other, but we do have different backgrounds, different ways of doing things, different views on many things, but we are all striving for union with Jesus. I am just thinking this out for myself but know that people I lived with over sixty years ago are still counted among my best friends.