Exploring Communio

Good Samaritan Education's formation theme for 2021 is  Communio. In conversation with host and colleague Gabrielle Sinclair, GSE's own Director of Formation and Mission Integration, Pat O'Gorman, shares her insights and story as we explore what this word "communio" is all about.  

Join Gabrielle and Pat as they take deep dive into what communio means for GSE and our community of communities. 

Transcript

GABRIELLE        Welcome back to 'Communio Calling'. I'm your host, Gabrielle Sinclair.

As our Good Samaritan Education community continues to pivot and provide stability to its members with this constant challenge to reimagine how we connect with each other, I am very happy to share this time with you on this journey of life and faith.

Today I'm sharing with you an interview with my colleague, Pat O'Gorman. I often ask my guests to provide a bit of a bio to ensure I can give you an overview of who you are about to hear from. Today I'm going to read word for word some of what Pat provided for me, as I could not possibly do justice to her way with words and the insight into her character that they provide. Here we go.

Pat O'Gorman is an Oblate of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan. She is also an earth creature, a product of the Big Bang and part of the 13.7 billion years of evolutionary history of life on Earth. She gratefully resides in Tharawal country, in the beautiful valley of Jamberoo. Pat is currently the director of formation and mission integration for Good Samaritan Education. She has worked for over 40 years in Catholic education and is passionate about nurturing spiritual growth and building capabilities for God's mission, underpinned by the belief that what we do comes as a consequence of who we are.

My conversation with Pat explores the concept of Communio - what it is and what it means for us as a community who seek communion. So, without further ado, let's dig in.

Well, welcome Pat to 'Communio Calling'. It's wonderful to have you here. Well, I'm here on Wiradjuri country today. So where are you joining us from?

PAT                  Well I'm on Dharawal country here in Jamberoo.

GABRIELLE        'Communio Calling' podcast, as you know, is about celebrating the stories of what... that join us together. So first, if you don't mind, Pat, would you tell us a bit about your story? What led you to your involvement with the Good Sams and Good Samaritan Education?

PAT                  Oh, wow. Where to begin? Well, I guess the Sisters of the Good Samaritan, they've been part of my life for over fifty years. I was a ten-year-old living on the migrant hostel at Fairy Meadow when I was enrolled in year 5 at St John Vianney's and I was taught by Good Sams.

The nuns were a really big part of the community, known for their kindness to everyone and they used to come visiting people on the hostel and supporting families like mine to get established in Australia.

I particularly loved my year six teacher, Sr Anthony, who took great care to prepare me to sit for a bursary that then enabled me to go on to be educated St Mary's College in Wollongong. And I remember she gave me a beautiful Parker pen when I was successful, and I just loved it. I loved my time at St Mary's and the Good Sams who taught me there and I've always been really grateful for those first encounters with Good Sams.

GABRIELLE        They were very much part of your formative years then.

PAT                  Very much so and in fact, when I first went to Teachers College, I actually lived for a few weeks at the Good Samaritan novitiate at Pennant Hills at Mount St Benedict's. And it was such a generous act of kindness by the Sisters. I lived there, I ate with the novices, I shared in some of their recreation time. And all I had to do was remember not to talk to them and to get them in trouble by speaking to them during the grand silence every night and sometimes I failed. But I have fond memories of sitting in the kitchen with Sr Loretto and just being looked after.

And then I guess I was very lucky that many years later, when I was a teacher, I taught at a former Good Samaritan school, St Francis Xavier's in Wollongong and so was lucky enough to encounter that charism and that ethos again.

And then I was privileged to work with various Good Samaritan Sisters during my time at the Catholic Education Office in Wollongong. And I acknowledged as one of my great mentors in my life Sr Margaret Anne Kelly, who is a vibrant woman of such great creativity and wisdom and hospitality. And it was actually through her invitation that I was drawn further into Good Samaritan life and I worked as part of a formation team with another wonderful mentor of mine, Sr Anna Warlow. And the diocese I worked in ran a number of formation programs for teachers over very... over many years at Mount St Benedict's, and... which were led by Anna and by her various teams.

And so I became deeply immersed in Good Samaritan Benedictine spirituality and a way of life. And I guess this led me to becoming an Oblate with the Sisters of the Good Samaritan and I actually made my oblation, I looked it up, on December the 8th, 2004. So nearly 17 years ago and...

So I just feel deeply privileged. I belong to a wonderful oblate group on the South Coast here and that continues to nourish and sustain me.

I guess in talking about Good Samaritan Education, it would have been over ten years ago now. I remember I got a phone call from Sr Clare Condon who was the congregational leader at the time. And she invited me to think about becoming part of an exciting new church entity that was called Good Samaritan Education. And I gladly accepted and became part of that and was actually part of the first Assembly and part of the first Governing Council of Good Samaritan Education.

And then five years ago, it was like all my Christmases had come at once when an opportunity actually came to apply for my current role as Director of Mission Integration. And this opportunity to bring my spirituality together with my professional life and my passion for formation into a coherent role, was just too good to be true.

And so, I couldn't believe it when I was successful. I had worked for over thirty-six years in Catholic Education in Wollongong Diocese, and so this was a major change and when I was appointed, I'm sure everyone could have heard my loud, loud, call of thankfulness, quoting from Polding.

So, here I am. Over fifty years of being Good Samaritan in my way of thinking of life.

GABRIELLE        Wow. So in your early years and then, obviously Good Samaritan spirituality has woven throughout your life then, what is the thing that kept calling you, in those initial years, when you kept on making connections? What was the thing that stood out to you as driving [indistinct] something that you wanted to be nourished or connected through?

PAT                  If I think about it, it was just an overwhelming feeling of hospitality, of someone making a space for you, of being welcomed into, and I always enjoyed sharing in the prayer life. So that commitment to, you know, to grounding my life in a life of prayer, but then being impelled to some sort of practical action, you know, in life. Like, and I always think about that with the Good Sam's. They were always out there in the community doing something with or for someone, and I guess I was always inspired by that, that fidelity to just walking with people in life and just the invitation. I was always constantly there, to come, just come, be part of it. So...

GABRIELLE        That's beautiful. Today we're going to take a bit of a look at this idea of communio. So Good Samaritan Education is immersed this year in a Year of Communio as part of our formation cycle. Can you tell us a bit about what that formation cycle is before we delve deeply into what communio is?

PAT                  Well our formation cycle basically is a three-year cycle that's organised around themes which focus on our core Benedictine values and on aspects of our Good Samaritan Benedictine tradition. So this year, as you mentioned, is the Year of Communio which we're viewing through the lens of Compassion and Stewardship. Next year's going to be a Year of Lectio and then 2023 the Year of Neighbour.

So I guess the themes provide for us a spiritual underpinning and a communal dimension to our way of praying, our way of working and building relationships together across our community.

So we look at the things as being like points of connection, you know, and they are, kind of, are touch stones to our shared vision for the transformational growth of our communities and of each of us individually as well.

Ongoing formation is always viewed as a critical responsibility for everyone who's part of Good Samaritan Education. And so we try to have a variety of formation pathways that can develop a sense of identity and community as Good Samaritan Education. And we seek to ensure that people, whatever their role is within our community, whether they're company members or board directors, part of leadership, on staff at our schools, whoever we are, that we feel equipped to exercise our roles and our responsibilities in terms of fulfilling our canonical and civil governance.

So I guess the formation cycle provides us with a way of engagement that shapes a sense of who we are and what we are called to be within our Good Samaritan Benedictine tradition. And so the intention of the cycle is to deepen and nurture our collective understanding of who we are, as this communion of communities. That's really important, that we are a communion of communities working together to serve God's mission through the ministry of Catholic education.

So, the cycle is grounded in the richness of our tradition and it's adaptive to need, to roles, to competencies and basically it's just a useful springboard for further reflection and connection to an unfolding story, which is Good Samaritan Education.

GABRIELLE        So it very much links everything we do from a day-to-day and gives us that grounding in something that we hold in common.

PAT                  Yes. What we hold in common and gives us that point of connection and something we can keep touching back into to inspire us, I guess, and to challenge us as well.

GABRIELLE        Yeah, absolutely.

I guess after all the disruptions of 2020 and the continuing disruptions of 2021 with COVID, the governing council were really keen for this year to be a Year of Communio. Why communio?

PAT                  Well, communio really is the heart and soul of Benedictine life and it's that thing, that inspiration that calls us to live in communion with God but also with each other and our entire cosmos. So when we think about communio, it's critical to who we are and how we actually go about our work and our business.

If we looked at the statutes of Good Samaritan Education, they talk about the purpose of Good Samaritan Education as being to foster ecclesial community which is a communion of life, of charity and of truth.

So when we talk about communio, we see it really as the starting point that actually preserves our unity, our connection, but also preserves our diversity in unity. So we are individuals but we are persons in community. And so communio is that concept that underpins the participation of all members in the community but also our shared responsibility in the mission. So it's actually communio that shapes our collective identity and our communal seeking of God.

So when we talk about community, we often use a beautiful quote from the Good Sam Margaret Malone, who talks about communio as being a commitment to that web of relationships which is at the heart of who we are as Good Samaritan Education. So communio is something that we live out daily, on a daily basis where God is encountered in the other.

And so why were the Governing Council keen for this theme this year? Well, I think, as you've already said, and as we already know, everyone, including our communities, has been affected in some way by the COVID pandemic and it continues to interrupt our world. So a sense of fragmentation, of loss, of vulnerability and uncertainty characterised the experience of last year and it continues to impact. I mean, just today, we're already hearing about probably lockdowns in Sydney extending for another week.

So the challenge to stay connected and supportive of our communities became critical, particularly in a socially distanced world and... that was poised - what was the term - to pivot at any moment. So, while the benefits of technology have made many things possible, like these podcasts for example, but it also has its drawbacks and limitations and really can never replace being together in community.

GABRIELLE        I guess being in such a vast country and being separated by just the geographical nature of Australia and having such diverse communities across our country, we've always had to make an effort to keep connected and I guess... But in that, we've also taken for granted that face-to-face connection we haven't been able to have.

But this year having to reimagine what that can look like as we move forward in these uncertain times and we, depending on how rollouts of vaccinations go, it might be for a little while yet that we have to keep reimagining and taking the time to do that well to keep those connections and communio.

PAT                  Exactly right, Gabrielle. And I think one of the wonderful learnings for me is to recognise that our Good Samaritan Benedictine charism actually has something very important to contribute in a COVID world. And so that's why we thought communio would be a very meaningful theme for this year because in building communio, we actually become a community that vulnerably shares each other's burdens. That's a beautiful thought, you know, that sharing of each other's burning burdens. So ensuring that all needs are taken care of, that all are truly served as Christ.

So I guess communio, you know, encourages us and challenges us to structure places and opportunities of encounter and opportunities for listening and communication. So whether that's virtually or face-to-face, that's what communio is asking us to do. To challenge these places for encounter, for listening and communication, places which actually show the face of God's love and compassion to the world.

So whether virtually or face-to-face, that's our mission and that's our challenge. So, I think it's a pretty good theme for this year, when all is said and done.

GABRIELLE        Absolutely. And I guess it's an old Latin term that's not used very often outside the Catholic church and when we're talking about it where that connectedness and through the communion of saints, the body of Christ is very much something that is connected to the concept.

So how does that help inform our Benedictine lens of communio as participation?

PAT                  Wow, that's a great question. Communio as participation.

Look, one of my favourite feasts in the Benedictine calendar is the feast of All Benedictine Saints. We celebrate it in November usually. And when you think about this, these Benedictine saints are part of that great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, whose shoulders we stand on and whose lives are, you know, continue to be an inspiration and invitation to us.

When you think about these saints, they're simply those people who are open to God's call, to God's invitation, allowing God's grace to enter their lives and transform them.

So for me, when I look at those saints, they remind me to live a life of daily fidelity to God's invitation. And that's not a passive invitation. It's an invitation to take up their work and to participate in the continuing work of God's mission.

So, that's what I think about when I think about as communio as participation. I think about it as continuing that work of the body of Christ in the world, continuing that work of those saints whose shoulders we stand on.

In the Rule of St Benedict, we often read the part where Benedict calls his monastery a school of the Lord's service. So we learn together with others to seek God and how to engage in the mission of God.

So that's what communio as participation is about, for me. It's about that sense of that realising that sandpaper living, where people rub up against one another on a constant basis, is actually a healthy way of living our life, an ideal context for our own growth emotionally and spiritually.

So communio as participation helps us to know that we flourish best really as a community of persons, that we in doing that, we're actually mirroring our Christian understanding of God as a community of persons.

GABRIELLE        I think that for me too, the connection and concept of the body of Christ in this is that... the inclusion element of that. So it's participation, but it's all-inclusive. It's every part of the body, just the fingernails and the... the whole, the whole gamut of... and that everybody's welcome too.

PAT                  Yeah. And we need each other, that none of us can do it on our own and each part plays its role and it might be a different role, but it's still a vitally important role to our community. And that's an enormous thing. We just can't do it all alone.

I guess for me, that's one of the biggest lessons of humility. Constantly that I have to keep working on in myself, is the knowledge that I can't do it all on my own, that sometimes I actually have to be vulnerable enough to ask someone.

GABRIELLE        Well I think that's very much the challenge for all of us in this individualised society, that everything's moved towards individual needs rather than the corporate idea of the common good. So it's definitely a challenge that we all face.

PAT      Yeah, yeah.

GABRIELLE        How do you think we're doing in terms of living out this idea of communio in the community of communities that is GSE?

PAT                  I think, like everyone, we have our good and our bad days. We do it well and sometimes not so well.

When I visit many of our school communities pre-COVID days when that was probably more frequent, it always... I always used to walk out of those places feeling so inspired by the community, by what I was seeing around me, the way people were working together and the great inspirational things that were... that happen with our students. So I think that's when you see it. When you see it come to life in each of our school communities, when you're working with some of our wonderful young people who, you know, who are part of our schools, when you're working with a group of staff members, you know, that's when you see communio in action.

GABRIELLE        We've had a very privileged opportunity of seeing how it's lived out differently in each of the schools.

PAT                  Exactly right. But that sense of that common vision, that shared sense of mission and why we're here. When you walk around and you see, you know, our Benedictine values in action, you know, the care for our environment, for stewardship, you know, for peace, all of those types of things, that's, I think, when I really see communio lived out.

I saw it, I think, in a very incredible way in 2019, when we hosted the BENet conference and to see how our community came together to host that international conference was just absolutely extraordinary. Like the gifts of all of the community that came together then for that BENet conference.

GABRIELLE        Certainly was a gift.

PAT                  Oh, it was... like, it was just so amazing. But I also see it in the day-to-day when we're dealing with the challenges and difficulties in our way of discerning. So that commitment to a discerning way of life, to discernment as a way of reaching decisions, I think is an important expression of communio. That, you know, we realise that it's not always going to be easy, that we have to consult, we have to listen to all voices in the community and that things will be changed and shaped by our commitment to that.

So I think the way we support our vulnerable in our community, that we're ready to support those who might be struggling, that's what, for me, communio is really about and how we live it out in our, you know, in our community together.

So it's in the good times and the not so good times. You know, in those times of struggle and those times when we really do need to bear with each other with patience, when we're trying to work through a particularly difficult scenario.

GABRIELLE        And I guess we're still learning what that looks like across... I mean we've been Good Samaritan Education now for 10 years but we're still learning what that looks like, what that... that sandpaper rubbing up against each other and knowing how we are individual and how we are collective too and how that that works in tandem and sometimes how it clashes and... but how it is all part of the one, the whole.

PAT                  Yeah, totally, right Gabrielle. And also, you know, in the ways we exercise authority or lead... or, you know, we lead. All of that is about communio, and we've got so much to inspire us from our tradition, you know, when we start to mine the depths of the Rule of Benedict and to look at authority and leadership in that, you know, that document. You know, we kind of learn a lot about how to be and how to lead and what is at the heart of community.

And I guess for me, if I wanted to sum it up two things, I think we're doing well living communio if we continue to be a listening community and if we continue to care about the common good. I think if we get those two things right, then we're well on the way.

GABRIELLE        Yeah, that's wonderful.

So this year of communio, we're actually looking through the lens of compassion and stewardship. So how does that interplay of values, and what does...well what does that interplay of values call us to this year?

PAT                  When you think of the word compassion, I always love that definition of compassion as being that deep gut-wrenching response to and embracing of the situation of another. So, when I think of compassion, it's something that's calling me to action, it's calling me to empathy, to be with the other person. And it encourages, I think, that kind of building of community that honours the sacredness of each person. So if we're compassionate people, then we really honour that sacredness of each member of our community. And so that ensures that we will treat everyone, without exception, with justice, with equity, with respect.

And so, when I think of the word compassion, it's something that takes us beyond ourselves and compels us to reach out, to actually carry the burdens of others, to alleviate their suffering, and to be particularly mindful of those in our community who are most vulnerable.

And so in seeking to embody the compassion and mercy of God, amidst the fragility and weakness of the human condition. We actually become a community that stewards everyone in our community, that looks after everyone in our community and ensures that all are taken care of.

So I guess that's the other value of stewardship, that sense of taking care of, of treating all of the goods of the monastery as sacred vessels of the Lord. You know, that we steward people, we take care of them. So I see a beautiful interplay between, you know, that compassion, that is a movement of ourselves towards the other with that sense of stewardship, which is about holding in sacred trust the other. So they work with each other.

GABRIELLE        It's a great interplay too, because sometimes when we talk about those values and we talk about stewardship, some people forget the personal part of that element. And so that interplay of the compassion and the steward really, in that lens, really pull all of those things together.

PAT                  I think that's one of the great gifts of our tradition. And that concept of, and particularly our modern theology is taking us that way in terms of an integral theology, that all things are connected. So our Benedictine sense of stewardship and our... the parable call for us towards a movement towards compassion is actually about the whole of creation.

GABRIELLE        Yes.

PAT                  So, you know, we are called to steward each other. But we're called to steward the whole of creation, you know, we're called to compassion, to our neighbour but also to our earth as well.

GABRIELLE        Yeah, and not forgetting ourselves, the compassion to ourself

PAT                  And ourselves as well. And we have to steward ourselves too in the way we look after, you know, our own self-care.

So I think, yeah, they're a beautiful interplay of values but basically they're at the heart of how we keep nurturing and nourishing and sustaining community as well. Because we always do it together. It's together that we seek God, so...

GABRIELLE        Thank you so much for sharing with us about communio and giving us a bit of a better knowledge and insight into that formation theme for this year because we're all... we're on this path together of learning and it's always lovely to have a conversation and going deeper into that. So, thank you, Pat.

PAT                  Thank you for the thoughtful questions, too.

GABRIELLE        Oh, that's alright. I've got more for you yet. For each of our guests that come on board we've got a couple of questions to round up that we hold in common.

So, the first question is, Pat - do you have a favourite quote from the Rule of St Benedict, and then why does it speak to you?

PAT                  Oh, that's almost like asking the hardest question last.

GABRIELLE        There's so many to choose from.

PAT                  Yeah, there are so many and I have to say my favourite quote changes constantly because it depends on what's happening in the world, in my world and around me.

But lately a quote that keeps crossing my consciousness and it's going to sound really weird, it's from chapter 4 of the Rule of Benedict, the chapter on the Instruments of Good Works, and it simply says this: "Keep death daily before your eyes."

Now, you might think it's a bit morbid or a bit dark or depressing, but really, for me, it's a wake-up call. It's a wake-up call to live in the present because I'm really hopeless at doing that. I'm always living somewhere in the future worrying about what may never happen. So, "Keep death daily before your eyes" says to me, "Don't let life pass by."

GABRIELLE        Yes.

PAT                  "Live a richer life now."

And it says to me something about being conscious of what is taking up my attention every day and to hopefully be grateful for whatever comes my way today.

A very good friend of mine often says to me, "You're a long time dead." And I think it actually means the same thing. Don't sweat the small stuff all the time. You know, try to be dazzled by the ordinary. Don't let fear keep holding you back. Can you tell I'm giving myself a pep talk?

GABRIELLE        I think we all need this pep talk though, Pat. I think... and certainly we... our society tries to distance itself from death and its just... like, we don't exist without death. It's all part of the living and the cycle of life, so...

PAT                  Yeah. Life's part of all of it and loss and, you know, is part of that as well.

GABRIELLE        Grief and... Yeah, so it's an important thing that we need to keep bringing in front of ourselves each day.

PAT                  It is. Look, last year during COVID, I had a little... actually I've still got them next to my desk, a little list of questions I used to go through each day and I used to ask myself. And one of my favourite questions from that little list was, "What beauty am I either creating, cultivating or inviting in today?" And I just found it a beautiful little practice that kept me connected and feeling deeply grateful for my life, for the life I've been given, my family, my friends and so forth.

So I think "Keep death daily before your eyes" says the same thing to me.

GABRIELLE        Yeah, it's a great one. Thanks, Pat. Okay, I have two more questions for you.

So the parable of the Good Samaritan impels us to be neighbour. What do you think is one of the great challenges or barriers that stop us or what challenges us to be neighbour to the other?

PAT                  Oh, look... I think fear. Fear and vulnerability, I think, hold me back often and I think they hold other people back as well. You know, we're so often fearful of the unknown, of not having control of a situation or of not having all the answers, that it actually holds us back from immediately responding to another person. If you're like me, you're often plagued by doubts and... or tormented by your own incapabilities. So, I think they're the kind of challenges that we have to overcome to really be neighbour.

You know, a lot of people in society, we're fearful of difference, of something that looks different to us. We get caught up in a crowd mentality. And so we justify our action or inaction based on the majority rather than our own good powers of discernment. So, yeah, I think fear and vulnerability are big barriers and big challenges.

We tend to learn our behaviours from what we see others do and we don't necessarily want to be the one to make the change or to think outside the square. So I think often we can just really hold ourselves back.

I think for me, another challenge or barrier to think about are our own biases or prejudices and we may not even be aware of some of those until they're challenged. You know, that we hold these deeply rooted beliefs about something until somebody shakes that belief or rattles us a little bit. And, you know, they often can be our own blinkered existence. Our own blindness, I think, can be a barrier or a challenge to being neighbour.

And I guess, for me, linked to that is, you know, what we're inattentive to around us, the things that don't grab our attention, you know. I'll be inattentive or ignorant sometimes to what's happening around us and that keeps us uninvolved, you know, keeps us blinkered.

We talked before about how, you know, we can lose that sense of common good if we become too individualistic and too caught up in our own world. And sometimes I think that can make us immune to the cries of others and to our neighbour.

You know, I think the way society acts at times, keeps us all divided and separated, you know, we can become socially excluded in our world and I think the parable, for me, challenges us to critique this. It, you know, asks us to break down those restraints and it's not easy.

GABRIELLE        The parable, certainly reflecting on your first... the quote certainly calls us to be present and to be more attentive. So, yeah, it's... We all have a lot of work to do personally and as a society on that one.

PAT                  I mean, I know we've heard this said so many times, you know, it's so easy to love or to help or to go to the assistance of those people who we love or we like, but to challenge ourselves to go beyond the safe, beyond the comfortable, beyond, you know, what we know, it's really, really difficult.

And I guess, you know, we are called to be in God's image to others. And I guess the thing is, it's not just when it suits us but it's about in those circumstances when it's the most troublesome and that's what the parable, for me, sort of says.

GABRIELLE        And I guess that being it is such a familiar story even beyond Church, like, everyone knows what a Good Samaritan is, that certainly holds a lot of hope because it is something that is... it's a hero in even beyond the churches, the use of the story and Jesus.

So, okay, on that notion of hope then, what is it about the Good Samaritan Benedictine charism and tradition that gives you hope and inspiration for the future of our community?

PAT                  Well, I think, if I think about our charism, I see it as something that's so shaped by the gospel call. And so shaped by what I would call a timeless spirituality, our Benedictine spirituality, that is basically grounded in common sense and applicable, I think, to any issues of any age. So I think that's such a sign of hope for me, that this charism that's shaped by a spirituality that's so adaptable and so accommodating to our, you know, weaknesses, that it's something that gives hope to me.

I think when I look at our charism, you know, its fidelity to inclusive community, is inspirational. That sense of searching for God with others is something that gives me hope because I know I don't have to do it on my own. That I've got support along the way. I think its commitment to listening, to partnership, to empowering leadership, to stewardship of creation, a sense of love of neighbour, which is talked about in the parable, to justice and peace. They're all things that continue to inspire us to action. And so I think if we can be communities that continue to live that and are reflective of that charism, then that really is great hope for the future.

I think our charism is something that engages with life. It's not trying to live something from the past or something that's unattainable or idealistic. It's about engaging with life in the now.

GABRIELLE        Yeah.

PAT                  Yeah, in the reality of where we find ourselves and it keeps challenging us, I think, to be our best self, to be attentive to God in the ordinary. And if we do that, then we never will lose hope in God's mercy because that's what the Rule reminds us. So in the same, I think it's in chapter 4 as well, like, it tells us, "Keep death daily before your eyes" but never lose hope in the mercy of God. So I think there's so much there, for me, that gives hope for the future of our communities.

GABRIELLE        As always, it's a pleasure, Pat, to spend time with you and hear your words of wisdom and your great knowledge of the Rule and our charism. And, yeah, thank you for joining us.

PAT                  You're very welcome. And they're not my words of wisdom. They are the words of wisdom of many saints over time. So, it's all good. It is from the communion of saints that we were talking about, so...

GABRIELLE        I am very fortunate that I get the pleasure of working with alongside you, Pat, and sharing your wisdom often. So, thanks again and we'll talk again soon.

PAT                  Thanks, Gabrielle. Thank you.

GABRIELLE        I hope you enjoyed that conversation. Pat's passion for our charism is such a blessing for our community.

So communio, huh? Wow. What a worthy goal and invitation for the life of our community. Much to chew over, reflect on and revisit.

So what's coming up next for 'Communio Calling'? We have a few exciting episodes in the works for you over the coming months. So if you stumbled across this episode, don't forget to subscribe and enjoy future episodes as they drop. But for now, as you continue through your day, may the transforming table of hospitality be wide, inspiring you with mercy and compassion to go and do likewise.