Doing a Little Homework

This week I attended a confab of contemplative nuns; a meeting of Formation Directors (aka Novice Mistresses) along with postulants and novices from six different contemplative communities of women in the metropolitan area. We have been meeting for workshops given by our own home-grown talent for the benefit of those in formation in our various monasteries. This year's meetings have focused on prayer and our asignment for this week was to present an overview of our particular charism and then speak about how that charism is reflected in the spirituality and prayer life of the community. It is interesting to note that in the past some who shall be nameless held the fear that if contemplatives of different communities got together their charisms would get watered down, that we would some how spoil the beauty of our very specific charisms. This fear has never been realized. We learn from each other, support and encourage one another, help each other, respect each other but we go home very happy to be Redemptoristines, or Carmelites, or Dominicans, or whatever. The post below is an adaptation of how I attempted to complete my homework assignment. Since we do not have anyone in formation, that is a postulant or novice, at this time, the task fell to me. I hope you find it informative.