Sisters in First Profession

After much time and discussion, we gathered at St Mary’s Convent, Birmingham.
We had come from the north, south, east and west.
We are from different congregations and cultures.
That was the beauty of our time together.

One of the participants had recently learned how to facilitate Bibliodrama, and we were delighted to learn this form of praying with scripture.  She decided on the theme of Mary, and we used “The Annunciation” and “The Magnificat”.
 
The Annunciation
The session opened by taking a word from the focal point that spoke to us this morning.
 
We chose this passage so we could look with fresh eyes, experiencing Mary's struggle and hesitation to say yes, but that her yes was joyful.
We read the scripture aloud and shared what words stood out to us. Next, it became interesting! We were invited to imagine   being The    Angel Gabriel and could take a scarf to help us into the role. 
Individually we were interviewed about what we were about to do. Then in pairs, we participated in a role play - Mary and the Angel Gabriel. It became apparent how each of us was affected by this.

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We regrouped in our prayer space. From here, the invitation to each sister was to take a scarf and decorate the chair with it, naming the attributes of Mary that most stood out for us. The next instruction was to ask any questions we might have from Mary. Directing these questions at Mary, 'The Chair'. If an individual felt called to answer the question, they were asked to stand behind the chair and answer on Mary's behalf.
 
We concluded this prayer time by taking a word of encouragement from the box. This time the word chose us, and we were all surprised at what we received.

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​The Magnificat
We began by reading the passage in turn and reflecting privately. The verses of this beautiful text had been printed on cards and laid out in a circle on the floor; individuals participated by walking backwards around the loop, reading each piece of the Magnificat slowly. Sisters found this powerful as we pray this text every day. Still, walking backwards encouraged us to read it more mindfully, and every line seemed significant and more critical than previously.

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​After selecting the text that spoke to us the most, we formed pairs and shared our reasons. In the same team, we took turns presenting our work of scripture aloud. We could either deliver our chosen piece ourselves or ask our partner to do it, explaining how we would like the verse to be spoken, for example, by proclaiming the scripture boldly or saying it prayerfully or gently.
 
Following this, we used art to express our interpretation of the text and then shared it with the group before concluding this prayer time.
 
We also spent some time reflecting on how we wanted to take this group forward, as everyone felt it was a life-giving experience. We also had plenty of opportunities to share and chat over mealtimes and explore a bit of Birmingham on Saturday afternoon.
 
We all appreciated our time together, but we are incredibly grateful to the community at St Mary’s for welcoming us and having a wonderful space to enable us in our reflections.

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Sister Nicole Keenan rsm