by Sr. Jo Anne Kelly MMM                                    Ireland                                04.12.2024

I occasionally dip into a favorite book of mine called “Gold in the Memories”, a book that sometimes helps me to find jewels in my own memories. One such memory came to me recently and to me it is precious.

I received a new and unexpected appointment to do with formation of young sisters. It was shortly after Vatican 11 and so much was changing. As yet no courses on Formation were available so I joined one of the first renewal courses for missionaries. I had never done any theological or scriptural studies and was apprehensive about going into this as I didn’t know what to expect.

On the opening day I arrived at the place, was welcomed, shown my room and invited in for a cup of tea. I went into that room, like a big kitchen, priests and sisters all around a long table all chatting and laughing as if they all knew each other. I was shy then and very self-conscious. I was handed a mug of tea and I tried to greet everyone generally. One man seemed to be the leader and put out his hand to welcome me. As I tried to greet him I tripped on his foot and my mug of tea spilled all over the place. I was mortified and started apologizing. To make light of it he said “O don’t worry that’s my cork leg, I have a cork leg” I was even more apologetic then. There was more laughter, then someone kindly said, “Don’t mind him – he is a Cork man.” It wasn’t a good start for me and I wondered how I was going to get through this whole month.

Of course, as I got to know the group there were others in the same boat as me. The lectures were good, there was a great atmosphere in the group. I made many friends. There one sister in particular, from the same mission area as myself. We became good friends for the rest of our lives, though we don’t meet now as we have grown old. Formation was not a topic mentioned but for me the course was certainly formative. I learnt a lot about myself. It, at least, opened me somehow to a new way of thinking for which I am still grateful.
The last Sunday of that month was a beautiful sunny day. One of the men had a car and invited four of us for a drive to Avoca, the place of “The Meeting of the Waters”. Here the Avonmore and Avon beg rivers meet to form the Avoca River. It was here that the famous Irish poet, Thomas Moore wrote the Irish song “The Meeting of the Waters” It is a place of great natural beauty. Being in the midst of it we were very aware of God, the Creator of so much beauty and prayed for a while.

I cannot remember everything exactly, but as we went down from the main road towards the waters there was a wall or a bridge and on it was written the words of that Irish song. A woman was there alone. She turned to us and said, I would love to sing this song. I don’t want to sing alone would you join me? We had one good singer and the rest of us could sing a bit. We agreed. She started, with a beautiful voice, obviously a professional singer. She encouraged us to sing out and we did with full voices, over the sound of the water. When we finished we stood in silence. Then all of a sudden there was a burst of applause behind us. A busload of American tourists had arrived up on the road. They came quietly down behind us. Thinking we were part of the tourist attraction, those who were late arriving asked us to sing it again! We explained what happened, but we did sing it again and some them joined in.  It was a really touching experience.

And I will end my little story with the last verse of that lovely song, quite appropriate for today.

“Sweet Vale 0f Avoca how calm could I rest
In thy bosom of shade with the friends I love best
When the storms that we feel in this cold world will cease
And our hearts like our waters
Will mingle in peace.”