Called to a Journey

Below is a message from Sr. Patricia Murray, CJ, The Anna Trust Chair

In consecrated religious life, we are called to be pilgrims and to undertake a life journey. It is a journey of service, of sacredness and of spirituality. It is a journey not taken alone but taken together in community.

It is a lifelong journey and that means it is also a journey of aging. Aging is not the end of the journey; it is just part of the journey. Our elderly sisters are as much on this journey as our postulants. Those whose cognition may be weakening are as much on this pilgrim journey as our sister with a new Ph.D.

What does that mean? As I journey on this aging stage of life’s pathway, there are four important aspects that I want to remember.

First, it is a journey not of darkness but of light. It is a journey on which I have come to understand what truly matters, after so many years. It is an opportunity to share that understanding with others. After so many years in mission - teaching, involved in conflict resolution and in peacemaking, in administration and leadership, I can recognize the value of each stage. For all of us, there is the contribution that we can bring to the world on this pathway. No matter our age, no matter our frailty, at this stage of the journey we can bring the light of experience and the hope which emerges in wisdom gained.

Second, it means from time to time, perhaps, to be honest, more often than I would prefer, that I must turn to others. It includes dependence. I cannot simply journey into aging by force of will. I need the help of others. This new Church, this new synodal way, emphasizes that we must walk together and learn to listen to one another. But it also means that we must be prepared to act together, and that means leaning on one another, collaborating together, for the good of all.

Third, aging continues to be a journey of ministry, perhaps not in the way I have known, but ministry none the less. To bring to a world that places so little value on life, an example of a life lived in elder years in commitment to dignity, to engagement, to the outpouring of friendship, to the sharing of experience with the young, to the joy of prayer…this is a truly graced ministry. Indeed, this journey of our aging, across the global sisterhood, can be a world-changing and a life-changing ministry. We can change the way the world’s “throw away culture” treats its growing numbers of elders. We can demonstrate a culture of care that will be a shining example.

Finally, it means that the aging part of this pilgrim journey is not a burden but a treasure. That may be hard to perceive when a flight of stairs, or a long hallway, or a lonely evening loom ahead. It is often hard to convince myself that physical limitations and vulnerability are a treasure. It certainly does not seem so when everyone else arrives at the conference room five minutes before I do! But it is a treasure. I have often said that vulnerability and fragility are graces. It is where God finds us, and where we find God. This embrace of the fragility of aging, is a specially graced part of an authentic lifelong journey with God.

And this is why I am Chair of The Anna Trust. We are determined to dedicate resources, create new thinking, invest in innovation, develop education, and promote advocacy to sisters on this journey. We do this for the journey itself because it is part of God’s plan. We do it for sisters so that we can develop spiritual, healthy, dignified, sustainable models of collaborative care that can be adapted anywhere in the world. We do it so that the examples we are all creating together can point the way to an equally dignified journey for the elderly communities that we serve in ministry and the leaders who set the moral tone for their nations. This is what it means to be prophetic.

The Irish poet John O’Donoghue wrote this beautiful blessing. May we pray it for one another.

May the light of your soul mind you,
May all of your worry and anxiousness
about becoming old be transfigured.
May you be given a wisdom with the eye of your soul, to see this beautiful time of harvesting.
May you have the commitment to harvest your life, to heal what has hurt you, to allow it to come closer to you and become one with you.
May you have great dignity,
may you have a sense of how free you are, and above all may you be given the wonderful gift of meeting the eternal light and beauty that is within you.

May you be blessed, and may you find a wonderful love in yourself for yourself.