This time of the pandemic is a challenge to everyone. The pandemic has brought lockdowns, isolation, loneliness, mental illness, and as for lately, it has become the seed of division. Everything seems to be hanging from a thread, on the brink of collapse.
And yet, even in the midst of the instability that surrounds us, we can find God’s hands leading us to create spaces where we can get together, enjoy the company of one another, be able to check on our loved ones, and above all, to bring faith and hope to one another.
The Catholic Women’s League has a beautiful tradition in the way its members treat to each other. Each of the members has a strong sense of belonging to the league, and strong sense of sisterhood. It is a family that gets together, and brave together the storms that they have to face.
Today’s meeting is just a glimpse of that sense of sisterhood, of togetherness, of fellowship. With ingenuity each of the members have found ways to be at the disposal of the rest of the sisters, to be present and to the of service. With ingenuity, each of the sisters of the League is able to bring their own contribution, thus building up a strong group of women who continue to work for God, the Church and Canada.
So in the midst of the challenging times in which we live in, that sense of fellowship and sisterhood has to become stronger every day. Pope Benedict in a reflection of the spirit of fellowship reminds us.
“Just as in the commercial world there is an insidious devaluation of currency when the coins in circulation are no longer backed by a corresponding weight of objective assets and production, so too the currency of the mind- the word- is in danger of being emptied out by a kind of inflation when the force of convictions and views is no longer able to keep the scale from tipping toward the surplus verbal coins that are issued so carelessly. Many of the greatest words of the human mind -heart, love, and happiness, for example- have succumbed to devaluation in this way; the profound Christian word "brotherhood" or “sisterhood” seems today about to suffer the same fate. We said before that words are the currency of the mind because in them the mind of one person imparts itself to another; someone who values the word for the sake of the mind will do two things when inflation threatens to consume the word: he will use the great coin of the word sparingly and not take it upon his lips when it is doomed to meaninglessness; on the other hand, he will try to strengthen those convictions which lend life and strength to words.
What is the intellectual backing behind the word “Christian brotherhood/sisterhood”? The central point on which this word lives, in which its force is rooted, is nothing other than the central point of Christian reality in general: the table fellowship of the faithful with the risen Lord. People have always experienced sharing a meal as the most effective way of creating fellowship; here, though, when they eat the one divine bread that the Lord himself desired to become for us, this is raised to the highest power: it is in the final analysis nothing other than incorporation into the Lord´s body, into the realm of the Risen Christ.”
The sense of fellowship, and among the members of the League, the sense of Sisterhood is at stake nowadays, if we take the term lightly. Sisterhood cannot be condemned to be a meaningless word, losing its value as a word and above all, losing its value as what it really means.
Christ teaches us, by his example the meaning of fellowship, of relationship, of brotherhood and of sisterhood. He took it all the way to the Cross, but in between, the left for us the milestones that bring us together even closer in him. The Eucharist, the summit of our faith. Sisterhood cannot be a reality, if we do not break bread, if we do not break the bread that Jesus gives us in the Eucharist, the sign of the fellowship Christ shares with us. It is in this intimate place that Jesus invites us to be part of him and part of one another, thus we become a is community.
So the community, the Church, is another gift from Jesus to us. A real community is where sisterhood is found at its best. It is in sharing and caring for one another that the bonds of the sisters is strengthened. It is in the community that each person gets to know each other. It is in the spirit of selfless giving of each other that the love, goodness and kindness of Christ is displayed in the community.
It is in the community that faith is exercised, with no hint of shame and shyness, because, God invites us to exercise this beautiful gift in the midst of the community. Faith, thus, strengthens the bond of fellowship.
Fellowship sisterhood, invites us spend is intentional time with God & with your sisters.
It is in fellowship that we are “devoted” to God & to each other.
Fellowship doesn’t happen by accident. In order to be in true fellowship with each other we need to do so intentionally, and not just making plans to hang out, but making sure that we are spending time with the focus of giving God Glory.
It’s hard to be accountable, bond, trust, that you only see once per week in minimal doses. And like I said earlier for many of us in church context “fellowship” has been boiled down to this once per week thing.
Therefore, as we get together, even though it is virtual, we are still making it tangible, in a way, the sense of fellowship and sisterhood among the members of the League. The sense of sisterhood that engages the mind and heart, is what keeps each of the councils active, each of the members engaged in the different activities. Sisterhood, in its real sense, the sense given to it by God, is to be a relationship of love, goodness and kindness.
Presented by Fr Pilmaiken Lezano at the 25 September 2021 Calgary Diocesan Fall Meeting