Befriending Life’s Transitions
November 15, 2024
This article appears in the November Issue of Reflections and Connections
On September 27, 2024, many sisters gathered for the CSA Grief & Loss Reflection Day. The day was comprised of prayer, a presentation by Sister Sharon Pollnow, time for personal reflection, and small-group faith sharing.
Sister Sharon welcomed those gathered with a quotation from Sister Mary Pellegrino, CSJ, reminding the sisters that, “tending our grief over our own many and great losses and over the heartbreak of the world …, and inviting others to do that with us is one of the most generous and generative acts of service that we could possibly render for our grieving sisters, for our hurting neighbors, for our broken world. Our own grief is a gateway to grace, not only for ourselves, but for our world.”
Together the sisters explored their own personal and communal history with grief, such as skills and learnings they had gained along the way and how they have coped with the many different types and quantities of loss. As they reflected on their lives, the group explored how they had moved through the various stages of grief and spent significant time working together on how they found meaning within each transition or loss.
While the workshop could certainly have been done virtually, the choice to gather in person was intentional. Sister Mary Ann Czaja was one of the attendees who made a special trip from her ministry in North Carolina to attend. She appreciated that choice, “The value of coming together, being open to a presentation, and having time to both express my thoughts and listen to others made the workshop have character!” The in-person conversation sparked a desire for longer discussion, and several sisters plan to continue their reflection together virtually.
Sister Sharon closed the day with a reminder that, “grief is a gateway to grace, not only for ourselves, but for our world. … It will open us to the vitality that lies deep at the heart of communion with God, with one another, and with the wider world. It will help us to speak new languages and apprehend new images and tell new stories. It will remake us.”
