Communication and Separation

Recently I've seen a lot of talk about how often sisters get visits from their families. Now this varies hugely from community to community, in both how they are allowed to communicate and how often they are allowed to communicate. 

Communication is taken for granted nowadays. You can find anyone at almost a moment's notice. You can ring them, text them, email them, Facebook them, tweet them, the possibilities are endless. While sometimes it's nice to be able to talk to someone right when you need them I think on the other hand it makes us stop valuing the contact we have with our loved ones because so much of it is so frivolous. There's no need to filter what we communicate about because we can talk about anything at any time. 

The limited contact in religious life makes what we do have all the more precious. There's a need there to make what we talk about important because we don't have endless empty space to waste. We have to filter what we talk about because we only have the space for what is actually meaningful. I do believe that the limited contact with my family will make us closer. 

That's not to say there are things that won't be sad. I won't be at my friends or my sisters weddings or at their birthdays or baby showers. And I am on some level sad that I will not have those experiences. But at the same time in the grand scheme of things I know that the joy I will get from my vocation will far outweigh any of those occasions. 

A very wise nun once said to me that even though our vocations separate from their families we know it is not a final separation. For us as Catholics we know we are united with our families every day in prayer and at the celebration of the Mass and will one day be united in Heaven.