Young Nuns in the Sun

I'm headed to spend the weekend with other Catholic Sisters in their 20s & 30s. I jokingly call this weekend "Young Nuns in the Sun." Really, it's an opportunity for us to gather with our peers in religious life for prayer, discussion and celebration. (Although we are young - relative to most women in religious life - and it's usually in a sunny locale. This year we're headed to a retreat center in Arizona.)

I went to my first Giving Voice under 40s gathering two years ago. In reflecting on my first GV MLK weekend, I wrote this:

This was my first Giving Voice experience, and I found it re-energizing and grounding, like a much needed shot in the arm. In the faces of those gathered, I found hope for the future. ... At the Florida gathering I found love for life, love for religious life, reflected in the eyes of those gathered. I found women looking to follow Jesus and live this life with their whole hearts, come what may. I found my belief that religious life is here to stay affirmed and confirmed by those who are helping to co-create that future.

I've been to two other Giving Voice gatherings since then and have made some good friends in the group. I look forward to reconnecting with some of them this weekend, and meeting some new faces. Most of all, I'm looking forward to spending time with people my own age who are also following Jesus in this crazy wonderful thing we call religious life.

I'll be away from the blog until Monday.

Please join me in praying for the future of religious life, and for women and men who hear the call of Jesus to a religious vocation to stop, listen, and open themselves up to what God might have in mind.