There is a story in the Hindu scripture in which the Lord Krishna is depicted as a flute player who entices the young women of the village with his music. Attracted by his flute they leave their homes, their families, their husbands to dance the night away with Krishna who multiplies himself so that each one feels herself totally loved. Hearing his call, they have no option but to follow even if to do so is to break convention and tradition. Mary Oliver’s poem the journey expresses the same sentiments when she says that one day you know what you have to do as you “strode deeper and deeper into the world.”
Recently I’ve been part of a small workshop in which the participants were to reflect on their life and answer the question Who am I? I became aware that like the young women attracted to Krishna or the attraction to life in Mary Oliver’s poem my life has been a journey to move in ever wider circles, attracted by future possibilities. Another way of expressing this is to see it as a call, a call that I believe is at the heart of a life in which all of humanity participates and which comes to each of us from the beginning of time. We all have our own journey but this is mine:
I have been called forth since the beginning of time when 13.7 billion years ago, with a great flaring forth of light, the universe was born,
I have been called forth through the formation of a planet of burning molten rock and its transformation into birds and bees and butterflies and into the emergence of human thought and music and love,
I have been called forth through the emergence of homo sapiens and all the ages and stages of the human journey to be given form at this moment in history, enriched by the gifts and wisdom of the past but constrained by its present limitations.
I was called forth into this present existence when I was born in my grandparents’ home in Glasgow towards the end of the war and given faith and nourishment in a loving and committed catholic family, particularly through my grandmother to whom I feel particularly close. I treasure and am grateful for an abiding memory that I have of sitting by her side while she read stories of the lives of the saints from small highly illustrated books. These captured my imagination, and I am sure sowed the seeds of my religious vocation.
The call into life and faith was deepened through a loving and committed family and church life as well as a catholic education which nurtured and deepened my belief in God and my attraction to religion and spirituality. Training to be a teacher at Notre Dame college consolidated this attraction so that I entered the novitiate of the Sisters of Notre Dame, which was a difficult experience as in the silence I had to face up to my inner demons and struggles.
The call to service came through my experience of ministry in teaching and lecturing before going to study at Lancaster University.
Lancaster turned out to be the catalyst for a profound call, which was not immediately recognised, but changed my life, my faith and my understanding of religion. I came to see it as the most graced moment of my life. It was a watershed so that I could think of my life’s journey as pre-Lancaster and post-Lancaster.
Through the experience of studying world faiths and the responsibility for teaching world religions at Notre Dame college and my involvement in the Glasgow Sharing of Faiths I was able to pass over into the world of other faiths through reading and reflecting on their scriptures, studying and teaching their beliefs, visiting their places of worship as well as parts of the world such as Israel, India, Pakistan, Japan and China where faiths other than Christianity were dominant. But more importantly I came to know and appreciate friends within those faiths who were living good and upright lives and were obviously in a loving and real relationship with that Reality we call God.
I then came back to my own to know myself and my understanding of my Catholic Christianity as changed. I struggled with traditional expressions of faith as found in the creeds and liturgy as I prepared and taught theology, grateful for the openness and inclusiveness of the theology coming from the Second Vatican Council, a theology not always acknowledged in church. The call now was to reach beyond the confines of one faith to embrace others and to work in the field of interreligious dialogue and religious education in an ecumenical context which was a source of many graces so that interreligious dialogue has become the very air I breathe.
The initial call that came to me at my grandmother’s knee has continued throughout my life. I still feel the attraction to spirituality, theology, interfaith relations and am grateful for the opportunities I have to continue this interest and hopefully to grow in wisdom and faith. I am particularly grateful for the modern developments in theology that take seriously the story of the universe and the work of ecology which, along with Buddhism has helped transform my understanding of God, self and life. Now I have come to understand the gospel message and my Catholic faith in new ways so that I see the core of the Gospel message as being about the fullness of life.
The call will continue, and the time is coming when it will lead to death and whatever follows after. This gift of life has been an adventure and like all adventures it has had its moments of light and darkness, joys and sorrows. It has been a journey of exploration. It has led me to face up to my inner self through study, prayer, retreats and spiritual direction. It has also led me to explore and teach theology, justice issues and world religions. The opportunity to study, read about, dialogue with other faiths and encounter many wonderful people has been a transforming one, both for my understanding of myself and my faith. I am very grateful for all that my life in Notre Dame has given me and for the community that has made this possible. I hope that I have contributed in some way to what Christians would call the Kingdom of God and that whatever the future holds I can continue to contribute in whatever small way I can to the well-being of all sentient beings and so take the human family a little further on its journey towards love. It’s a great adventure and one we are all engaged in if we but knew it.
Recently I’ve been part of a small workshop in which the participants were to reflect on their life and answer the question Who am I? I became aware that like the young women attracted to Krishna or the attraction to life in Mary Oliver’s poem my life has been a journey to move in ever wider circles, attracted by future possibilities. Another way of expressing this is to see it as a call, a call that I believe is at the heart of a life in which all of humanity participates and which comes to each of us from the beginning of time. We all have our own journey but this is mine:
I have been called forth since the beginning of time when 13.7 billion years ago, with a great flaring forth of light, the universe was born,
I have been called forth through the formation of a planet of burning molten rock and its transformation into birds and bees and butterflies and into the emergence of human thought and music and love,
I have been called forth through the emergence of homo sapiens and all the ages and stages of the human journey to be given form at this moment in history, enriched by the gifts and wisdom of the past but constrained by its present limitations.
I was called forth into this present existence when I was born in my grandparents’ home in Glasgow towards the end of the war and given faith and nourishment in a loving and committed catholic family, particularly through my grandmother to whom I feel particularly close. I treasure and am grateful for an abiding memory that I have of sitting by her side while she read stories of the lives of the saints from small highly illustrated books. These captured my imagination, and I am sure sowed the seeds of my religious vocation.
The call into life and faith was deepened through a loving and committed family and church life as well as a catholic education which nurtured and deepened my belief in God and my attraction to religion and spirituality. Training to be a teacher at Notre Dame college consolidated this attraction so that I entered the novitiate of the Sisters of Notre Dame, which was a difficult experience as in the silence I had to face up to my inner demons and struggles.
The call to service came through my experience of ministry in teaching and lecturing before going to study at Lancaster University.
Lancaster turned out to be the catalyst for a profound call, which was not immediately recognised, but changed my life, my faith and my understanding of religion. I came to see it as the most graced moment of my life. It was a watershed so that I could think of my life’s journey as pre-Lancaster and post-Lancaster.
Through the experience of studying world faiths and the responsibility for teaching world religions at Notre Dame college and my involvement in the Glasgow Sharing of Faiths I was able to pass over into the world of other faiths through reading and reflecting on their scriptures, studying and teaching their beliefs, visiting their places of worship as well as parts of the world such as Israel, India, Pakistan, Japan and China where faiths other than Christianity were dominant. But more importantly I came to know and appreciate friends within those faiths who were living good and upright lives and were obviously in a loving and real relationship with that Reality we call God.
I then came back to my own to know myself and my understanding of my Catholic Christianity as changed. I struggled with traditional expressions of faith as found in the creeds and liturgy as I prepared and taught theology, grateful for the openness and inclusiveness of the theology coming from the Second Vatican Council, a theology not always acknowledged in church. The call now was to reach beyond the confines of one faith to embrace others and to work in the field of interreligious dialogue and religious education in an ecumenical context which was a source of many graces so that interreligious dialogue has become the very air I breathe.
The initial call that came to me at my grandmother’s knee has continued throughout my life. I still feel the attraction to spirituality, theology, interfaith relations and am grateful for the opportunities I have to continue this interest and hopefully to grow in wisdom and faith. I am particularly grateful for the modern developments in theology that take seriously the story of the universe and the work of ecology which, along with Buddhism has helped transform my understanding of God, self and life. Now I have come to understand the gospel message and my Catholic faith in new ways so that I see the core of the Gospel message as being about the fullness of life.
The call will continue, and the time is coming when it will lead to death and whatever follows after. This gift of life has been an adventure and like all adventures it has had its moments of light and darkness, joys and sorrows. It has been a journey of exploration. It has led me to face up to my inner self through study, prayer, retreats and spiritual direction. It has also led me to explore and teach theology, justice issues and world religions. The opportunity to study, read about, dialogue with other faiths and encounter many wonderful people has been a transforming one, both for my understanding of myself and my faith. I am very grateful for all that my life in Notre Dame has given me and for the community that has made this possible. I hope that I have contributed in some way to what Christians would call the Kingdom of God and that whatever the future holds I can continue to contribute in whatever small way I can to the well-being of all sentient beings and so take the human family a little further on its journey towards love. It’s a great adventure and one we are all engaged in if we but knew it.
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