Jet Lag

Early Sisters of St Joseph of Peace
travelling on the Great Northern Railroad

Greetings from Chicago.  I made my way home yesterday afternoon without much ado.  I continue to be amazed at jet travel. It's commonplace.  We take it for granted.  Morning I'm in the UK. Later that day I'm in the US.  Sure I'm a bit jet lagged and ready for my own bed, and have spent a great deal of money on the plane ticket, but it's relatively painless.

Then I think about our early Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace.  Within 10 years of our founding in 1884 we had Sisters in the UK, New Jersey and Washington State/British Columbia.  They didn't have the internet or even long distance telephones to communicate but wrote letters, which had to be copied by hand.  And they traveled by boat and train, long distances.  You might think, given the comparative difficulty of travelling, that they stayed put where they were.  But when you read the early stories of our Sisters you soon find yourselves amazed at their mobility and connection given that each province was 3,000 miles away from the next!

So today I'm a bit jet lagged to be sure, but I'm also filled with gratitude for having spent the past two weeks with our Sisters in the United Kingdom.