Bethany:
a Place for Friendship and Healing

by Anette Saffian

“I have been coming to the Bethany group for over two years now. In the gospels, Bethany is where Jesus’ friends, Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived. It was a place of human friend­ship, as well as a place for healing. For me, the Bethany group is about spir­i­tual friend­ship and healing, with God and one another. I am thankful for the oppor­tu­nity to listen to Sister Regina share her insights on how to authen­ti­cally live our Catholic faith.

Sister begins the day with a talk or dis­cus­sion of a text. She often acknowl­edges how her reflec­tions only touch the sur­face of the vast topic she has chosen to talk about. This year some topics have included Edith Stein, her life and her under­standing of what it is to be fem­i­nine, and most recently the day’s reflec­tion was about the life and work of John Paul II. In the past years, topics have included Theology of the Body, prayer, and joy. The talks are also often in keeping with the litur­gical season.

After lis­tening to a talk or reading a text together, we spend an hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament, and on many days we have the oppor­tu­nity for con­fes­sion and Mass. As with all things, we can judge them when we step back and examine their fruits. For me being a part of the Bethany group has been an oppor­tu­nity for prayer and reflec­tion in my own life. At the last meeting, Sister advised that how­ever much we pray, we ought to pray more. I would go even fur­ther to say that through the monthly meet­ings, Sister is teaching us how to live prayer­fully. I know that since I began being a part of the group I have renewed my attempts to pray, and I go to con­fes­sion and Mass more often. I am grateful for Bethany’s friend­ship and healing in my own life.”