Reflecting, Respecting, Rejoicing

Dear Friends of the Ursulines,

It has been a full year since we entered into the new world of Covid-awareness. In March 2020 we first began to work from home, watch Mass on TV or via live-stream, stay home more, have virtual meetings and celebrations with families and friends outside or online. What a year it has been!

Now in March 2021 we seem to be moving in a positive
direction. New cases of Covid are down and more people
have access to the vaccine. We also have the regular signs of
spring – more hours of daylight, warmer weather, and the
beginning signs of green in our yards and on the edges of trees.

If nothing else, this past year has taught all of us to look again at every aspect of our lives. We have learned to adapt to changing situations and found ways to innovate that have proved valuable.

“Looking again” is another way to speak of “respect.” When we offer respect to a person, we look again at one’s life, we see from another perspective.

Respect is one of the core values of the Ursuline mission. It is rooted in the intrinsic dignity of the human person. That the Creator fashioned us in God’s own image and likeness points to the esteem with which we hold each person.

It also seems to me that “looking again” is one of the practices of Lent. Each year the Church calls us to examine our lives, to adapt to the situation in which we find ourselves, and to see life from the perspective of the resurrection of Jesus.

As we move to the Easter season we pray in thanksgiving for God’s promise of new life.  We trust that the resurrection of Jesus will be our destiny. And we rejoice in the ways that God’s life here on earth adapts to the situations presented to us.

May God be with you and those you love in the days of Easter.

Sincerely in Christ,
Sister Mary McCormick, OSU
General Superior