Happy New Year!! Liturgically speaking, of course. We look forward to the new beginnings promised by the birth of Christ. We can look to the Holy Family a little more this year, as our Theresian Prayer of Solidarity asks us to pray for women who seek to restore relationships in their families, with spouses, children, and extended family.

Advent usually has wonderful religious ceremonies, taize gatherings, sacred carol choirs and the like. Advent also starts a season of holiday events and gatherings that we’ve looked forward to all year. This year it is possible that some of those will be curtailed. But at this darkest time of the year, we bring our own lights to the banquet of love:  Christmas lights everywhere, candles lit, fireworks for New Year’s-- the more lights, the better!
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We Theresians will keep our lights on, our lamps lit, and expect a banquet to happen anyway, at any time. And we’ll be ready!

Theresians are meeting again, hallelujah! Inviting all women to join us in living our Gospel values should be the order of the day. We were locked up too long, away from the spiritual banquet that nourishes us any time Theresians meet. Hearts of wisdom always fill each other up, and we need that more than ever. In all our “little ways” we serve up hospitality, warmth and nurturing. If you spend a little time thinking about your friends, you can probably think of someone who would love Theresians. Please invite her to a meeting. There’s nothing like the welcome of a group of Theresians. 

Start Spreadin’ the News………

​Theresians are looking for women who can support one another on their faith journey, make spiritual development their priority, deepen their relationship with Christ, live a life rich in Gospel values all the while having fun and creating new friendships. After a long and challenging year, we have lost many Theresian sisters and Communities so it’s a great time to bring in new members. The NLT Evangelization and Outreach Committee is excited to announce our
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The New Membership Campaign will run the month of February, 2022. We will be in contact with the District Leadership Teams and will have suggestions to make your Campaign a huge success! Being part of the Theresian Family is such a joy and fills the need for friendship and faith so let’s share it with others! 

It happened when my teen daughter came out of Walmart. She slumped in the passenger seat and turned to say those words to me with a scowl that could curdle milk. “What?” I asked.

“You know how you are always talking to people in line at the store?”

“Yes.”

“You know how I ask if you know them and you tell me you just met them. Well, I just smiled at someone at the checkout and they told me their life story! Mom! I have become you!”

Underline the word “you” for full emphasis. I smiled a mama’s smile and drove home. On the way I filled her in on the finer points of the Welcome to the Grown Women’s World-Wide Bonded Club.

We women intuitively do that a lot. Right? We meet people anywhere… Checkout lines. Elevators. Parks. PTOs. It doesn’t matter. We meet people and there is this freedom, this openness to take people where they are. We talk on playgrounds and eagerly serve up pointers on teething and handling toddler tantrums. We hold doors for strangers with a smile. We keep babies entertained in long lines and are patient with the new clerks at the desk knowing they are struggling.  We can swap recipes and stories of our kids with anyone. Yes. It is usually with women. Women we have never met before, but have an invisible instant rapport. Our husbands don’t. Our teens won’t.
With all that we have been through with the COVID crisis, we can breathe a collective sigh. We made it! A year and a half of isolation, insulation, (incarceration?) has pushed us ladies to the frontlines. So much has changed. Women maintained their jobs, lost their jobs, moved their jobs home along with schooling their kids. With everything beginning to open again the question we all have is what are we called to do now?   

What we have shown and what is so desperately needed now is a spirit of hospitality. Hospitality is usually associated with receiving guests, visitors, strangers into our home or a restaurant or hotel. But hospitality is more than that. It is the virtue of being magnanimous - of having a great soul. It is the way we treat others wherever we are. St. Paul says: “Rather we must be hospitable, one who loves good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.” (Gal. 6:10). 
Fr. Anthony Padovano wrote in Dawn Without Darkness that this all has to do with home. He states these words I love: “Home is not a place, it is an attitude….an attitude which depends upon how much we are able to feel at home with ourselves as well as with others…makes us comfortable with ourselves…takes from us the strangeness we feel at being who we are. We are loved when we are no longer frightened with ourselves.”

Isn’t that so true! God continues to touch lives though loving women. It is being centered in Christ and looking out to others that we see the good in them. It is making people feel special. It is open hands. Open hearts. Open doors. It is paying it forward by paying for the food order of the car behind you at the drive thru just because.  

For me my Theresian community has been a place where I gather to be with women who are so much themselves. We take off masks, kick off our shoes and gather round the campfire to stop and really listen to the whispering of God in our ears and our hearts. That is so desperately needed now for so many women so they can be hospitable themselves. Is your community like that? Are you helping others to be at home?  Don’t we need women on fire with the Spirit to really change hearts for the better now more than ever? Can we reach out and invite others to gather with us?

Ladies, in this issue of Dimension Connections we reflect on Wisdom being the light on the pathway to the ultimate banquet of love. I believe so many of us, as wise women, young or old, have these Open-for-Business hearts every day as we are called on now to reach out to a hurting world. By golly we have to stick together and support one another. Be bold! Believe!
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I could go on more but I’m busy. I said hello to this person in the checkout line and she is telling me her whole life story!  

Have you ever reflected on how important it is to be invited?  Some invitations can have a life changing effect on those who receive them.  An invitation made sincerely, with love, can reach far beyond the intended initial recipient.  That single invitation can expand and possibly extend to others, allowing many more to receive the gift of love and community.  
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The best invitations are extended out of generosity and sincerity to share something beautiful, something life affirming, something spiritual.  A great invitation is like a gift you would love to receive yourself, but made even better when you give it away. 

Some invitations are not always received or accepted immediately.  Patience and persistence are sometimes necessary. The invitee may not be ready to receive the invitation, maybe they are afraid, unsure about the commitment the invitation brings.  The invitation should not have an expiration date.  Ask again.  When the time is right, the opportunity will present itself and the invitation will be accepted.

The invitation I am referring to is an invitation to join a Theresian meeting and learn about what it means to be a Theresian.  As I reflect back on my first invitation to attend a Theresian meeting, the person extending this beautiful invitation to me was someone I love and respect.  I know now that the invitation was extended to me because she cared about me, and knew I probably needed it in my life. 

About 13 years ago, my morning routine involved going to Curves to exercise before work.  There was a group of about 7 or 8 ladies that would meet at Curves every morning at 6:30 a.m.  This is when I first met Mary Clare Albrecht.  Mary Clare has been a Theresian for 56 years and is an original member of Day One Community, the first community in Houston.
Often times while working out at Curves, I would take my place right next to Mary Clare as we would travel around the circuit together, exercising all of our muscle groups, and enjoying great conversation while we did so.  Group conversations ranged from what had happened on Grays Anatomy with McSteamy or McDreamy the night before, to how our kids were doing in school, to community or neighborhood news and events.  Mary Clare and I often talked about our families and Strake Jesuit High School.  All three of my sons had attended this school, so did Mary Clare’s four sons. And at that time my youngest son, Tim, was a classmate of Mary Clare’s grandson, Will.  I grew to love Mary Clare’s honesty, sense of humor and motherly wisdom.  On one occasion the group conversation was about a new New York Times best-selling book, 50 Shades of Gray.  Several women in the group were reading this book and discussing it.  I had never heard about this book.  During the group conversation about this book, Mary Clare leaned over and whispered in my ear, “Bridget, you don’t want to read that.”  Enough said.  In that 7-word sentence, Mary Clare demonstrated the motherly love and wisdom that my own mother would have imparted to me if she had been there.

Occasionally, Mary Clare would mention something to me about a women’s support group she belonged to.  She would mention how the ladies within her community had seen each other through the many ups and downs and joys and losses experienced throughout life.  This community experience sounded interesting to me, but I still wasn’t sure about it when her first invitation came to join her at a monthly meeting of her community, Living Waters.  After all I was so busy with work, helping care for my mother-in-law who was suffering from dementia, and dealing with other family issues, and volunteer commitments.  Or was I just throwing up road blocks?  I did have a few legitimate time conflicts. Mary Clare persisted. So, by the time the second or third invitation came, I went.  I was so glad I did!

After that first initial invitation, I was invited to join Living Waters or be a part of a newly forming community.  I was so excited.  I immediately shared my experience of community with several of my close friends and we all attended a Theresian Information Night a few weeks later at Maribeth Anderson’s home.  From that meeting two communities were formed, Spiritual Springs and Fountains of Grace.
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Today I marvel at the gift of that loving invitation extended to me by Mary Clare and the profound impact it has had on all aspects of my life.  What a blessing it has been and continues to be!  Sharing the gift of Theresian spirituality and community is something we should all want to share.  Who will you invite to the banquet of love and community?

A few years ago, as I first began my work as the communications director for the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, I had an opportunity to spend some time in conversation with one of the sisters who was serving in leadership. Having previously been a vocation director, Sister Michele was helping me better understand how each of us is called to serve in different ways. She summarized the call of the Holy Spirit in one question: How are we called to love?

That question has stayed with me through the years and is a touchstone for my moments of discernment, like when I was offered the opportunity to become the TI executive director. When I find myself at crossroads in life, I try to pause and ask how God is calling me to love. Occasionally, the question reveals a clear direction. More often, I simply take a step forward in loving faith, not knowing where the path leads.

Through the challenges of the pandemic, the ups and downs of the world’s turmoils, and the many changes we have been forced to make in our daily lives over the past couple of years, I continue to wonder how God is calling each of us to love. What path are we being directed to take? What are we being asked to leave behind? What new tasks are we being invited to do? And, perhaps, most importantly, are we ready and willing to take those steps forward, even when we are unsure?
The scriptural inspiration for this issue of Dimension Connections is the parable of the bridesmaids from Matthew 25:1-13. We read in this parable that the wise bridesmaids brought extra oil as they waited for the bridegroom, while the foolish bridesmaids brought none (Mt 25:3-4). As I reflect on this parable at the beginning of my journey as your executive director, I question if I am one of the foolish bridesmaids who is ill-equipped for the task or if I am one of the wise ones with my oil lamp well-fueled and ready to go. Honestly, I think I am a little of both.

Yet, beyond the contrasts of wisdom and foolishness in this parable, there is another message that really speaks to me in these times of transition. It is a message of rest. As the bridesmaids waited, they fell asleep (Mt 25:5). They didn’t chase. They didn’t run about frantically trying to figure out what to do. They paused and slept. As a fan of afternoon naps, I really love this part of the parable.

The uncertainty of transition – whether it is caused by a pandemic, by political crises, or by the change of leadership in an organization -  is often accompanied by a frenzy of activity. Endless to-do lists. Never-ending questions. Calendars full of meetings and events, even if they are all on Zoom. Phone calls. Emails. Texts. Oh, and did I remember to update Facebook and Twitter so that my friends know I’m in a whirlwind of activity? With all that chatter, how can I hear the quiet whisper of God’s call to love?
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This first year as your executive director will inevitably be a busy one. There is a lot to do and to learn. However, I hope to follow the bridesmaids’ example and remember to rest. It is my restful moments in prayer, on walks through nature, or even during Saturday afternoon naps that I am most able to experience the embrace and call of Divine Love.