Our experience as animators of the liturgy

Dolores Aleixandre and Mary Mc Gann 

We read in the book of Exodus that when the Israelites had crossed the Red Sea on the night of Passover, Miriam, sister of Aaron and Moses, took up a tambourine and all the women followed suit and, with their drums, began to dance and sing a song of joy to the Lord.  (Ex 15,20-21). In some ways, we have lived a similar experience in our service as animators of the liturgy in the Chapter.

We have been attentive to the « seas » that the capitulants have been crossing and to the new steps that they were taking as they crossed the sea, so as to choose which drum to beat or which dance to invite them to join, at each moment.
 
We have discovered a wonderful community of « dancers » who have picked up, with creative agility, the rhythms that we were proposed, (in song, reflections, times of silence, gesture, dance and words…).  We have rejoiced in the profound desire to pray that was evident in the group.  We rejoiced too in the ease with which the group responded to no matter what initiative we offered.
 
We began each day with a time of prayer nearly always prepared by different provinces ;  the more solemn Eucharistic celebrations on Sundays and feast days were also prepared by the provinces with an enormous wealth of expression, gesture, rhythms and symbols. All this has enabled us to experience the distinct sensitivities of each culture as we express our spirituality at this moment in our history.

The experience of having lived and worked together harmoniously as a team, even though we are very different, has also contributed to making our « music » come across on the same wavelength.