Editor's note: Evolving Religious Life, a series from Global Sisters Report, explores how Catholic sisters are adapting to the realities of congregations in transition and new forms of religious life. While we often write about these trends, this particular series will focus more closely on sisters' hopes for the future. As we journey through the later stages of life, we may find ourselves invited to turn inward, reflecting on the experiences, choices and spiritual depths that have shaped us.
This inward journey is not one of isolation but of discovery — a pilgrimage that offers profound psychological and spiritual gifts. In my past column , we reflected on a surprising gift that comes to many of us in older adulthood: an invitation to explore the inner landscape of our lives. There are at least two psychological benefits to embarking on this inner pilgrimage.
First, there's the possibility of discovering dimensions of our lived experience that have been ignored or denied, yet still shadow our lives and contribute to our actions and attitudes. Becoming aware of them provides the opportunity to integrate them into our sense of identity. The second gift comes from the natural life review that is part of this stage of life.
Tripping down "memory lane" serves to assess the worth of our lives. If I can say, "This is my life, the one and only one I could have lived," then I have successfully resolved my last ego task. However, if my assessment is more negative, I am left with feelings of hopelessness, bitterness and failure. But we need not stay there. Embedded in this apparent failure is an invitation to take what we have seen and heard and bring it to Jesus for healing.
We know that God waits to heal and forgive. This act of faith and trust is an important lesson of the inner journey. Let's now reflect on the "spiritual gifts" that can be ours as we journey within. I single out two very special ones: becoming a mystic and becoming one's true self. For many of us in elder adulthood, our understanding of mystics and mysticism has been tainted by debates over infused contemplation and by some external behaviors of mystics.
