22 Apr Teams Re-Gathering Day 2

Our Second Day

After yesterday’s introduction to our weekend, we were all treated to a beautiful opening liturgy, which covered the Wedding at Cana, and introduced the theme of “Serving in imitation of Mary”.

Sadly Father Eamonn Mulcahy, CSSp was unwell and could not join us.  This was a great sadness as we were very much looking forward to his input.  We all hope that he will be able to be with us at another time.

The opening liturgy with the scripture reading from (John 2:1-11) about the Wedding at Cana and the Mixed Teams meeting “Serving in the imitation of Mary” allowed us to reflect on Mary in a different light.  What did she have in her that carried her through such times when her son was in need of protection, and through to a time when he was pilloried by some and lionised by others?  How did she show strength, and give comfort? What carried her through her life as a woman, a wife, a mother, a refugee and gave her the courage to accept God’s will?  How can we be open to develop those qualities ourselves?  How did Joseph and Mary have such trust in the call to leave and take refuge in Egypt?  Some wonderful insights came through in the mixed teams meeting, looking at her story from many angles.  It would be a wonderful discussion topic for Teams meetings and so I’ll not share more about this here, but let you all make up your own minds.

Some excellent presentations by Paul and Annette O’Beirne had us discussing how to communicate with each other, and how we can strengthen our bonds by entwining the love of God with in our married lives.  There were some practical considerations in how we respond to difficulties and how good communication is at the core of our relationships.  I hope that we can share on the website more information about this, so that there can be further conversations around these areas in our own Teams.

Other sessions gave us time to consider how to take Teams of Our Lady forward by considering what we do well and what challenges there are for our future.   Internationally the more members we have the better the funding is.  The feedback from these discussion groups was taken away and will be used to develop a strategy for the future.

Tiring though the day had been, the social evening that began after Evening Prayer was welcome.  There was a little dancing, quizzing, fun and games and most importantly a celebration of our newest members, through to those who have been members of teams for over 60 years.  Thoughts of those who were unable to attend were lovingly shared.

We are really tired and very much looking forward to a good night’s sleep, so we can enjoy our last day tomorrow.  Signing off for now.

Our Posts

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