August 11, 2022 Dear Lady Clare, As an imperfect Franciscan Sister, I extend my gratitude for the inspiration and care you provide to me and my Franciscan family on this, your feast day — 769 years since you died in that humble abode at San Damiano, outside the walls of beautiful Assisi, Italy. I am…
Yesterday I finished packing up my classroom. A somber weight pressed upon my shoulders as I cleaned out my desk, dusted shelves and put books and picture frames in boxes. In the silence I prayed in gratitude for the room that has held so much life and energy for me during the past four years….
Soon after I decided to ask to make my perpetual vows and was approved to do so, I became a bit obsessed with fire. It’s not a dangerous obsession or anything, it’s more that I am paying attention to all the ways that fire images and metaphors are incorporated into our culture and faith. I…
Over eight years ago, I had a conversation about table manners that continues to challenge me. At the time I was a canonical novice and fairly new to religious life. During that stage of formation, I was trying to make sense of what it meant to be a Catholic sister and sort through my ideals….
“How can you be a nun? You’re the most boy-crazy girl I know!” My good friend first jokingly teased me with this question when we were both still teenagers. I was in the earliest stages of my discernment at the time, and I couldn’t give her a good answer to her question. That was nearly…
Last fall, I heard a story on the radio that caused me to have all sorts of physical reactions. It was the end of a busy day of ministry, and I was cooking dinner for the sisters I live with, a group of Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. I was casually listening to the evening news while…
