First Virtual Day of Reflection
By: Nancy Belmont, Director of Faith Formation
On Sunday, April 26 MCCW hosted our first online Day of Reflection on what was supposed to be the last day of Forum 2020 in San Antonio. We honored our patroness, Our Lady of Good Counsel, on her feast day, and we walked with the disciples on the Road to Emmaus. Inspired and bolstered by the Holy Spirit, the day connected, united, and inspired military-affiliated women in a new and innovative way.
A Full Day of Programming
Instead of meeting in person, we met on our MCCW-Worldwide Facebook page for Mass with Archbishop Broglio. We moved into our closed MCCW Facebook group for Zoom talks on the hour from Alexandra Sullivan, Father Luke Goymour, Lynda MacFarland, and Father James Peak. Alexandra spoke about our invitation into the “hidden life” of the Holy Family during this time of quarantine; Father Luke Goymour taught about icons; Lynda MacFarland invited us into “the practice of the presence of God;” and Father James Peak discussed devotion to Our Lady of Good Counsel and Our Lady of Monte Berico, reminding us that she tells us “do whatever He tells you.” Father Nicholas Reid led us in lectio divina to prayerfully explore the Sunday Gospel. Moving back to the MCCW-Worldwide public page, our Forum liturgist, Kristen Foss, led the Illuminated Rosary, an MCCW signature program we include at all of our retreats.
Connected Across Time
Our unity transcended time zones. While our program started at noon Eastern time, our sisters in Europe were able to join us at their dinner time (5 p.m. in England and 6 p.m. in Central Europe) while our Hawaii ohana enjoyed an early breakfast with us (6 a.m.). Even though our Pacific ladies were likely asleep during most of our Day of Reflection as it started overnight for them, they innovatively hosted a replay of the event on their regional page on Monday afternoon.
United in Positivity
My favorite part of the Day of Reflection was the true excitement and sense of unity conveyed by the participants. The Facebook comment boxes were overflowing with positivity. The level of participation and enthusiasm was heartening, and knowing that these materials are archived in the group for even MORE people to utilize moving forward is encouraging.
Inspired to Continue the Discussion
If you weren’t able to join us live on our Day of Reflection, don’t worry. All of the talks are still present in our closed MCCW Facebook group. You can even create a “watch party” and broadcast these talks into your CWOC Facebook groups. Then, you can discuss these talks with women from your chapel. Go to our MCCW website to find links to the talks and questions to stimulate discussion in your online gathering.
We at MCCW are committed to bringing you engaging content that will build up you and your chapel groups during this difficult time. We would love to execute another Day of Reflection in the future. In the meantime, look for ongoing opportunities to connect with other military-affiliated women on our Facebook pages and groups.
We invite you to complete this quick survey to let us know what you thought about the virtual Day of Reflection concept, whether you participated in real-time, on replay, or have been unable to watch it yet.
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