During this pandemic, the sisters of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame are also living in confinement and adapting to this new reality in a spirit of service and solidarity. We asked some of them to describe their new everyday life.
Mother House
This time of confinement is particularly intense for me for several reasons. The disruptions we are experiencing bring me back to the things that are essential: being close to God and to others. Most of my current commitments are carried out thanks to various means of communications: online teaching, accompaniment via Skype® or by phone, writing biblical commentaries in an effort to rekindle our living flame, etc. While the Mother House, where I live, is usually a place where people from everywhere meet, we are now a handful (13 sisters) who together assume a good part of the domestic tasks.
Earth Day at Andrews of Charlottetown
The sisters appreciated our being in touch with the 50th anniversary of this important event. Some took the opportunity to reflect on its significance as we sat in the community room at different times during the day. We pray that we will continue to hold in our awareness, in spite of these difficult times, that “the whole universe is filled with the grandeur of God.”
Anne T. Gillis, CND
A little girl kneels at her window at night and prays to God for her family while she gazes at a cross on a hill in her city. A priest from that city is on the hill blessing the city with holy water. An Archbishop blesses the Easter water in an empty church but then goes to the steps of his cathedral and sprinkles the water over the city. Another priest offers Mass on the balcony of his apartment for his city, while yet another goes up to a high tower and blesses his town with holy water. A mayor stands in the street as a hearse drives by with a deceased victim of COVID-19. Religious communities gather every evening to pray the rosary for the virus-infected world. Every Mass offered for the past two months has included prayers for the pandemic: prayers for healing, for consolation, for patience, for gratitude, for research progress.