Contemplating ‘potholes’*

By Sr Christina Araujo OP

At the invitation of the Episcopal Delegate for Religious, Sr Susan Gopaul OP, and her committee, men and women religious and consecrated persons, assembled at Green Meadows in Santa Cruz, on Saturday, October 14 for a Day of Reflection on the topic ‘Manoeuvering Community Potholes’.

Led by facilitator Judy Joseph Mc Sween, we reflected prayerfully on our experience of family life, the things that brought us joy in our family homes, the fun, the good times together and then the times of conflict, what had caused the conflict and what we had done to resolve them. We were helped to reflect on these conflict experiences as ‘potholes’ on our journey, similar to the potholes we

faced as we drove along the road on our way to Green Meadows.

One of the other groups begins preparing its presentation

We reflected as well on life in our religious communities: the high points of our life, the experiences of joy we have and what has made them so joyful. We also identified the conflicts, the ‘pothole’ experiences that continue to challenge us along the way and hinder us from moving ahead.

Later on in the day, we split up into small groups. Each group was made up of one person from each of the different communities represented (St Joseph of Cluny, Holy Faith, Corpus Christi Carmelites, Dominicans of Sinsinawa, Dominicans of St Catherine of Siena, Spiritan, and Living Water Community).

Each group discussed what it meant to be human on a journey together and we created a visual to illustrate that. We shared with each other the challenges we face and we identified the major potholes that we deal with on a daily basis: things that jar us, and things that hinder us from moving ahead on our journey.

We were reminded that we can deal with potholes in several ways. We can avoid

them; we can go straight into them and cause destruction to our vehicles; or we can repair the pothole. It was a good day, both reflective and thought provoking.