On Tuesday night, we at Columbus shared in a truly Cabrinian time at table and prayer. WIth sisters in the city from all over the world, we were 12 together at table. Seven of us from Columbus, Yolanda from Nicaragua, and Lúcia, Noberta, Gloria and Mary Angela from Brasil. The prayer I chose for the evening was from Sacred Space and it truly was a 'sacred space'!
Diane had the great idea of using the Sacred Space in Portuguese so that the Brasilians would be able to read along too! It was so beautiful to have the exchange of both languages, and thanks to Yolanda we had all that we needed translated!
After the beautiful reading from Ephesians, which I'll include so you get the idea, too, I passed around a bowl. In the bowl were some of the most powerful words that were in that part of Scripture (call, unity, faith, hope, love, Spirit, gift, etc.). The papers had the word in English and Portuguese, and the direction was simply to take the word and sit with it. Maybe it was the word that we each needed to hear, maybe there was something else from Sacred Space that stood out....it was quiet.
When the sharing began, Mary Angela, a member of the laity from Brasil shared her word and a beautiful expression of having your what we do should come from the head, then go the heart, THEN go out in action. The sharing continued, thankfully not in order so that no one felt pressured to share! By the end, everyone had decided to share their word!
Diane shared her word, "Come." She laughed! At first she saw it as the word 'come' in Spanish, which means to eat. But the word in English, 'come.' is the idea of us all gatheirng together. We were 12 at table. We shared a meal of physical nourishment, but more importantly shared in Eucharist in the way that we were all able to share our faith's, despite language barriers. HOW BEAUTIFUL! It was really quite emotional for me to be in the presence of 11 strong women, both religious and laity, myself included. It was touching to hear everyone's perspective, most via their word, on what the Gospel says our mission is as part of the Cabrinian and greater Christian community. It was beautiful to hear what people from other countries had to say and how relevant their ideas were even though they are from other places of the world. The part that we really awesome for me was to watch my sisters, the one with whom I live in community share their own spirit-filled reflections on their words from the Gospel. Pretty cool, huh?
I just keep finding that no matter how God-given the experiences here are, ...they never run out! He just keeps giving us more opportunities to experience Him in all that we do - in our prayer, our community time together and in each of our ministries!
(Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13) I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift. The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.
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