Come. Journey with IHM Associates

This is the call I heard deep within my heart twenty years ago.

The Associate Program was a new endeavor that Sister Jean Louise Bachetti was coordinating for the congregation. At that time, I was living alone in North Beach, MD, and was willing to explore this emerging IHM invitational relationship. I invited some of my co-workers to begin this journey with me in 2004. Since then other men and women have been commissioned and I am now blessed to meet monthly with ten Associates who are dedicated and faith-filled.

When the Sisters of IHM left LaPlata in 2007, I reached out to some former faculty members from there and that journey with additional Associates began. Along with new members being commissioned, I now meet monthly with thirteen from that Maryland location.

Last year I began meeting with the principal from St. Pius X school in Bowie. She was an Associate from Clinton. She and a newly commissioned teacher also gather with me and share our IHM bond in deep, faith-filled conversations.

On September 14, the first Region Two gathering of Associates from Maryland and Delaware met at the Redemptorist Parish of St. John Neumann in Annapolis. Our theme for the day was, “Energizing and Celebrating Our Shared IHM Relationship: Living Our Call, Mission and Charism.” Seven Sisters joined the twenty-nine Associates, including nine of them being commissioned at the conclusion of our day. That event was truly a life-giving and holy experience. The spirit of IHM hospitality and interaction was evident during our time together, as well as the faith-sharing experiences related to our theme for the day.

Looking back over my monthly interactions with Associates these past twenty years has been challenging, inspirational and life-giving for me in many ways. These are some of the blessings I have experienced in my journey with the IHM Associates.

I have discovered a deeper awareness of what it means to be a “community of disciples”

• Our Charism and Core Value awareness of “redeeming love” had been shared and experienced
• Our relationship with Mary, the first disciple, has become very meaningful
• Being rooted in the Gospel has become a source of deep faith-sharing in relation to our Direction
  Statement and life experiences
• The importance of mutual support and community has become evident through the expression of our crosses and diminishment as well as our awareness of the redeeming love of Jesus

I am most grateful for my “call” to journey with the IHM Associates and consider them to be a great blessing in my life and for our IHM Congregation.