Associate Lucy Strohl and her Ministry in Great Bend, KS

If she could, Associate Lucy Strohl would take you all to her home. Though she resides in Great Bend, her true home is about 70 miles away: a south-central Kansas farmstead. Always buzzing with John Deere activity, this was where she grew up working long hours with her family preparing soil, planting seeds, and praying for a good wheat harvest.

When asked to reflect on her experience as a Dominican Associate, the family farmstead image came to mind. As a farmer’s daughter, she's been deeply shaped by seeing, touching, and tasting the lessons, losses, and ongoing surprises that come alive in God's unpredictable and uncommonly beautiful Word of Creation. Her family and friends taught Lucy about some preaching basics: accepting life as it is and not as one would have it; listening with honesty, trust and simplicity; and celebrating where God's Word and our own words of hope and struggle intersect, affecting one another and the world.

Many from the Order of Preachers, but especially those from Great Bend, have influenced Lucy's life through their teachings of joy, truth, and encouragement. Years ago, she was a member of the former Great Bend congregation. During that time she attended Aquinas Institute in St. Louis where the spark of preaching was ignited and nurtured by mentors Joan Delaplane, OP, and Ed Ruane, OP. Their deep dedication and groundedness in the Word of God inspired and challenged her, especially when she wasn’t seeing the potential preacher in herself that they were. Colossians 3:16 stays with her from those days: "May God's Word, rich as it is, find a home in your heart."

Through more turns in her journey, she knew her heart was most at home as an Associate. Lucy continued the work she loved as a registered occupational therapist for 30 years before ending her employment. Here now – home – she feels blessed with the opportunity to grow more fully into the person God calls her to be. Lucy first preached at a few Associate retreats, then was privileged to preach at Mass during one of the Sisters' General Chapters, and for several years she has been invited to share reflections on the scriptures regularly during Communion services at the Great Bend Motherhouse.

The Dominican Sisters' and Associates' commitment to study and prayer, their honesty and earthiness, pushed Lucy to keep listening, learning, and returning to God’s Word in scripture, creation, and her daily encounters. That the Word of God is uniquely enfleshed through each of us gives Lucy hope. She finds herself challenged to be a preacher of peace, whether behind the pulpit or by her window, embracing life as it unfolds more slowly now. When she gets to enjoy her favorite pond or see the fields again, she finds herself praying once more that the grains of wheat of life unfold into deeper and deeper fidelity and gratitude. The seed of God’s Word remains rooted within us. As a Dominican preacher, Lucy continues to pray: "May God’s Word, rich as it is, find a home in our hearts," reflecting, "isn’t this our true home place?"