Motherhouse Musings

The Grace in Aging: Awaken as You Grow Older   by Kathleen Dowling Singh is a book whose title I came across in an article by a Sister of St. Joseph writing on spirituality and aging in a National Religious Retirement Office  (NRRO) newsletter. Sister Liz Sweeney, SSJ, a Sister of St. Joseph of Chesnut Hill, Pennsylvania, wrote an article, "Contemplation's Impact on Aging: Rooted in Mystery and Poured Out in Contemplation" in the Spring 2017 issue of Engaging Aging , an NRRO newsletter.  Sister Sweeney said over the past five years she had studied two books by Kathleen Singh: The Grace in Dying and The Grace in Aging.  Due to their scope and depth, the books qualified for her as wisdom literature. She writes that Singh emphasizes that "while the dying process is naturally transformative, the transformation offered in the self-surrender of aging must be freely chosen and embraced, moment by moment." In the Forward of The Grace in Aging, Singh writ

One of the things we do as consecrated Religious women each year is to make a retreat.  For us, as Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine, Florida, our Constitutions say the following: "Annually, each sister sets aside at least six consecutive days for retreat." (p. 52) The times and the places of our retreats vary, but many make them in the summer.  A retreat for us is different from those retreats made by corporate teams. For Catholic women Religious it is a time of silence, prayer, and solitude except for meals, liturgy, and meetings with directors or confessors. Some sisters make preached retreats, some make silent directed retreats, and some make other types of retreat such as contemplative or centering prayer, nature retreats, or artistic retreats of some kind. Some make private retreats, often using books or tapes or CD's for input and reflection. Silence is needed in order to quiet one's mind and heart and really listen to God. This year there w