Sisterhood among Catholic sisters and nuns is a powerful, Spirit-filled experience. I’ve been thinking a lot about sisterhood after having been home at the IHM Motherhouse for a couple of days. I was with a group of sisters doing some planning for our community’s retreat/celebration days this summer. Throughout the meeting and at supper following our meeting I was overwhelmed with the bond of sisterhood. It’s something that I never even imagined prior to being an IHM Sister. It’s not easy to define or explain, but let me try to put words around what it feels like.
Sisterhood is …
- always having a home, a real home
- knowing that your nun has your back
- being part of something bigger than yourself, bigger than the sum total of individuals
- falling in love with God and mission, and falling in love with how God and mission are expressed in your sisters
- sharing the deepest things of the Spirit with another sister or group of sisters
- praying together, laughing together, grieving together, working together
- the sparkle in the eye of a sister that lets you know that all will be well
- mentoring one another in religious life, ministry, and prayer
- having a common history and shared core values
- daring and risking together for the sake of the Gospel
- becoming more yourself than ever
- relating to one another with great tenderness
- being in real, tangible community even when ministry takes you to away from your sisters
- holding all things in common with your sisters
- being held up by your sisters’ prayer when you can’t find the strength to pray
- having sisters in heaven who keep watch over us
- working through disagreements, misunderstandings, failings without forgetting that we belong to one another and to Christ
- being willing to lay down your life for your sister
When people ask me what it’s like to be a sister, how we are different from other people committed to God who pray and do good works, this is what I want them to experience, this sisterhood, this dynamic of how we are with one another which is incarnate in how we are with the world.
Archived Comments
- March 27, 2009 at 7:42 am
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This is a very comprehensive list, Sister Julie. Well done!
This statement in particular touched my heart: “being held up by your sisters’ prayer when you can’t find the strength to pray.” I was the soloist for my mother’s funeral, singing “Shepherd Me, O God” and the Bach-Gounod “Ave Maria.” Not wanting to toot my own horn, but I nailed both of these hymns. I had to sing for Mom. She was my biggest fan and the reason I got into music ministry. But I was able to sing because I knew that my sisters were holding me up in prayer. There was no way I could do this without their help.
I was part of the Sisters in Song project in 1993, when 50 sisters from various orders throughout the US came together to record two albums, the proceeds from the sale of which went to help retired religious (through Tri-Conference and to SOAR). We were 50 sisters from dozens of orders and various ages, but do you know what? We all had the same stories! It didn’t matter what area of the country, what ethnic group, what order, what age–we all shared common experiences, and we laughed our heads off at each other’s antics.
Yes, Sisterhood ROCKS!
- March 28, 2009 at 1:42 am
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Your list just made me wish I were a sister more than I already did! in my own experience, sisterhood means knowing your sister sees the true you even on days when you aren’t acting the part.
- March 28, 2009 at 3:20 am
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Thank you so much Sister Julie! This post really helped. I, myself, am not a sister, but I have visited the IHM motherhouse in Immaculata. Amazing how a lot of my views on the sisters were on your post! But I would like to add one more that took me profoundly when I was there: A love that remained eternally–and not only physically portrayed, but spiritually. A love you felt, although it was not tangible. The love I felt was a love for God which I was lucky enough to experience though I am not even apart of their “family” yet.
Who knows? Maybe I’ll join.
