Following Jesus
October 10, 2022
How do we honor the dead?
October 28, 2022
by Sister Ann Marie Emon
How can we see that both Companions and Community are similar? The hymn “Companions on the Journey” tells us how much we are loved by our God and one other. The same can be said about community. All of us share our hopes and dreams for now and into the future. Our mission challenges us to be joyful servants among all people. We as messengers of peace, commit ourselves to works that reverence human dignity, embrace the poor and marginalized, and respect the gift of all creation.
A couple of years ago we were given the “Prayer for Migrants and Refugees” from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. As a community we have been given opportunities to enter dialogue with refugees. Recently our community has a Welcome House near campus that is the home for a refugee family for one year. Many Sisters are giving the refugee family encouragement and help with becoming independent. This ministry is being companions for refugee families and community.
There is a prayer that teaches us to recognize Jesus through the hopes and dreams of refugees. It teaches us to recognize Jesus:
- in the migrant who labors to bring food to our tables
- in the refugee seeking protection from persecution, war, and famine
- in the woman and child who are victims of human trafficking
- in the asylum seeker imprisoned for fleeing without documents.
We can be companions in prayer with those who are refugees and with our Sisters.
Sister Ann Marie Emon
“Once a teacher, always a teacher,” says Sr. Ann Marie Emon who spent many years in the education ministry teaching Junior High and High School in Ohio, Michigan and Minnesota. Today Sr. Ann Marie finds the time she ministers as a computer lab assistant at the Thomas Wernert Center very rewarding. The Center provides recovery and support for people with a mental illness.
Thank you Sr. Ann Marie for your reflection on Community and Companions. We as a Community are trying to do just that with our interaction and dialogue with our refugee brothers and sisters.
Thanks for the reminder of our ministry of compassion and community