One of the work assignments I have here at the convent is helping to keep the many music papers organized for chapel services. A few weeks ago I was getting the daily office binders ready for Advent. The papers for morning and evening prayer had all already been assembled; all I had to do was to put them in the binder and make sure that everything was complete.
I came across one where the last page of evening prayer was missing. Sister Anne, who oversees the chapel, showed me where to find an extra copy of the missing page and instructed me to write the appropriate page number on it as well. And as I was writing the page number, in pen, I felt that I was leaving a very permanent mark here in this place – that this page number, in my handwriting, would still be here long after I leave at the end of this year.
And I was wondering what mark I am leaving here on this community. What mark will it leave on me?
I am reminded of the words we use at baptism: “I sign you with the cross, and mark you as Christ’s own for ever.” Does it show in my interactions with others, in the choices I make, in the way I live my life, that I am Christ’s?
I might never know what mark I will leave here, and it is too early to tell what mark this place and the people with whom I share this life will leave on me. But already I feel that this daily rhythm of work and prayer, study and rest, time with others and time alone, is changing me.
By Christine Stoll, a Companion on the Way from Port Coquitlam, B.C.
