Earlier this month, notes were up on the bulletin board for days, asking for Sisters to take turns sitting in prayer with Sister Bridget Kiniry as she hovered between life and death. And then she woke up—again (for this was not the first time Sister Bridget has been near that horizon of death). She reflects with Sister Jeanne on the meaning of Easter in light of her experience.
Sister Bridget: I'm so flabbergasted at what has been given to me. Usually, as we think of prayer, of Easter, we think of so many words, readings, images, everything. And I think, every Easter, most of us resolve to pay more attention, to really dig into those words. But it doesn’t really matter. For me, this year I am experiencing Easter in a new way.
What is it to go to the bottom and to pray out of the depths? And that's where I was. Really. In terms of my physical strength and well-being, I felt like it was gone—and it was almost gone. And spiritually, I really felt that abandonment. Now, I don't ever remember feeling that before. I was in a place that was very different.
Sister Jeanne: It sounds like a Good Friday.
As I was starting this Lent, I was in a very different place, I was afraid. I had a lot of support around me and so on, but when I would be by myself it was scary. But now however, as we come to Easter 2024, we look at this springtime popping all around without any of us helping it—it's doing what it's going to do!
So, this Easter, I have known what it is to say, “Out of the depths, I have cried to thee, O Lord.” And I say this, rising from those depths. I feel almost like a puffball, that it’s really the prayers of others who have hung on with me, and the mercy of God, really, and the forgiveness of God, and the goodness of God, that are making this puffball lighter and bringing it to the top. It's rising and coming up to say, “Happy Easter.” This year that is really something I feel deeply. It's not just something that you say in a greeting card. It's deeply, deeply felt. And so much so, that I can’t always figure out how to say it or to tell you.
Sister Jeanne: Well, that's what they say: the most serious spiritual things you can't really express in words.
Sister Bridget: Right. You can't. And that's where I am today.
Sister Jeanne: Wow. I am so grateful for your sharing this with us. What would be your word of hope for us this Easter as we navigate a world so filled with death?
Sister Bridget: I believe that God's tender mercy, forgiveness, and love is greater, and that faith can help us. Just hang on and, really, try to believe. And as we try to believe, that very hope will come to answer our prayer—sometimes in little pieces and sometimes in big chunks. But it will come. Amen.
– Sister Bridget Kiniry, OP
A resident of Dominican Convent, Sister Bridget is a preacher and
coordinator of the Days for Girls program.