I am wide-awake in a dark hospital room. I survived a gruesome hiking accident that left me bloody and alone in the bottom of a ravine, but I’ve been told that I’ll have reconstructive jaw surgery the next day. My family and Franciscan sisters have gone home to sleep for the rest of the night….
My most vivid memories of elementary school are from second grade. I had spiked hair (I’m not sure if it was cool back then or not), lost many of my baby teeth (earning a special certificate with each one) and played lots of playground football games. However, these were not my most important or formative…
Red broth, steaming soup, vegetables just picked, now my lunch; I slurp life in. Phone rings Sister Laura on the line, “Sister Rita is dying. I’ll put the phone to her ear. Say what you’d like. She can’t talk, won’t respond. Say your good-bye.” A pause. My lungs expand, mind races, I search my heart…
Lately, falling has been on my mind. The season for this is approaching, as leaf after leaf will soon let go and make its journey downwards, trusting the winds to take them where they need to go. I have been thinking about the sensation of falling, but not for the reasons you might expect. It…
Recently—and a bit ironically, considering my vocation—my life has offered me an opportunity to learn all sorts of lessons about prayer and parenting. When I was in temporary vows a few years ago I agonized about my vocation a lot. I agonized about why it was that I was called to be a Sister, especially since…
Last summer, I sat in a small circle of with other sisters my age at the Giving Voice conference. We were praying in silence, integrating the question our speakers had invited us to consider: What sort of borders do we desire to cross? In the quiet, I recalled a fear that had surfaced earlier, when…
This afternoon Pope Francis will arrive in the USA! Even though I can’t go the East Coast to greet him, I am very excited! During these first few weeks of school I have been doing different things with my students to get us all pumped up for his visit to our country. (I made the local…
The past few weeks have been very busy and full of life for me. I went on vacation and then retreat and then made my Final Vows on July 11th. It was all amazing! Thank you very much for all of your support and prayers! I am in awe and overwhelmed by all the love and…
I am proud that several sisters in my community have served in El Salvador. In fact, some of them acquainted as friends with the American church women who were martyred in 1980 during the Civil War. The sisters in my community who were in El Salvador were ordered to return to the United States in…
What will I be when I grow up? It’s a familiar question. As a happy and energetic farm girl in Iowa, I frequently imagined what my life would look like as an adult. While I helped my mother with chores or ran around exploring the woods and the farm buildings, I dreamed about how I…
Union with God: we pray for it, long for it, work for it. But, are we prepared for what it can do to us? How much could we be transformed if, for example, we start to see the world as God sees it? And, what does love got to do with it? Last night I renewed my…
Guest blogger: Sister Sarah Hennessey Family life is messy. If you are part of a family you probably know what I mean. To be church is to be family. To me this means that we are more than some institution or club to belong to; as family we belong to each other. Our lives weave…
