Fernando Amigo Llama likes to meet new friends! (So do the Alpaca at Heartland Farm, Kansas!)
Have you decided how to begin your summer? I would like to invite you to consider participating as a volunteer in our annual Service Week, May 13-19, 2013 in Columbus, Ohio at Shepherd’s Corner or at Heartland Farm in Pawnee Rock, Kansas. Sisters Pat Dual, Pat Twohill, and I will be in Columbus and are excited to welcome single women volunteers, ages 18 to 45, for a week of service with time for prayer, reflection and fun. Sister Terry Wasinger and the other Sisters at Heartland Farm will be happy to welcome you in Kansas. Depending on the number of participants, we may also spend some time assisting at the Dominican Learning Center, Habitat for Humanity, and/or some other social service opportunities in the Columbus area.
"Washed in the waters of baptism, we are sent on mission. Faced with the radical demands of our baptism - of being other Christs - we reach out to be bearers of justice, of peace and forgiveness. We become eyes of wisdom and integrity where dreams for a better world can be imagined and realized." (Edith Prendergast, RSC)
Dominican Sister of Peace Rosemary Rule, OP, inspired, challenged, and guided the women who participated in the "Come and See" weekend held February 15 to 17 in Columbus, Ohio. Sharing personal stories and quotes from a myriad of authors (in good Dominican fashion gathering wisdom from every corner), she invited the participants to take to heart Matthew 25:31-40 as they discern the possibility of vowed life as a Sister.
Do you have the support you want and need to deepen your spiritual life? To possibly discern a call to religious life? Do you have the support you need to sustain the call in a life giving community? These are some of the questions pondered by members of diverse women's religious congregations who gathered in Burlingame, California, at the Mercy Retreat Center for a program, Moving Forward in Hope, hosted by the National Religious Vocation Conference. Sr. Therese Leckert, OP, and I represented the Dominican Sisters of Peace.
Do You Know this Swedish Proverb? "Friendship Doubles Our Joy and Divides Our Grief!"
Gathering with others who are discerning consecrated life or priesthood provides support for your own discernment. Do you have companions on your discernment journey? Would you like to be part of a group of discerners? I remember when I was considering whether or not to give Dominican life a try, I was invited by Sr. Pat Twohill, OP, to come to Columbus, OH, once a month for an evening of prayer and discussion on some topic related to religious life such as prayer, discernment, celibacy, poverty, obedience, community life, spirituality, etc. Spending time with other women and men who were asking similar questions helped me see that I was not crazy for thinking and praying about this possible vocation option.
"One injured member affects the whole body." One of my Dominican Sisters, Marguerite, said these words as she talked about how her broken left wrist affected her entire person. She needed more rest and she was just not up to her usual self. We acknowledged, and then we smiled as we realized her words also reflected the reality in her home, too, as she thanked the other Sister in her house, Sr. Mariellen who had become Sr. Marguerite's left arm in times of need.
How will you celebrate Thanksgiving? Sometimes it helps to take a break from discernment and from everyday routines to relax, to breathe, to simply be present with God, with the people, and with what is happening in your life. This week as we celebrate Thanksgiving in our country, it's a good time to stop and reflect on all the blessings we have, even if we may be in the midst of challenging circumstances, or if someone we love is in the midst of suffering and pain.
Who and/or what do you count as blessings in your life? I encourage you to take some time Thanksgiving day or after shopping on Friday or sometime between football games this weekend to reflect on all of those gifts in your life beginning with the love and mercy God has bestowed on you and with the people you love the most.
Tending our small Siena Peace Garden has become a place of re-creation for those of us who work at Siena Hall in Akron, Ohio. We have each contributed in some way from obtaining the plants in the spring to enjoying the beauty and the produce over the summer.
Sometimes it seems like caring for a garden is much like planting seeds for religious vocations. The one who sows is never quite sure if or which seeds will take root and become plants. In addition, when I journey with someone who is discerning about becoming a Sister, the outcome of discernment is not clear until time allows the person to best know the movement of the Holy Spirit as to where the person may bear the most fruit - in single life, in married life, or in vowed religious life. Discernment takes times just as it takes time for the plants to mature and bear fruit.
Meeting people for the first time, renewing friendships from previous Marian Days, and participating in the liturgy celebrations honoring the Vietnamese martyrs, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, are at the heart of Marian Days, the Vietnamese Catholic celebration held each year in Carthage Missouri since 1978. Associate Xuan Lan Ho, OPA, and Dominican Sisters of Peace Pat Dual, OP, Mai-Dung Nguyen, OP, and I traveled from Akron, Ohio, and Louisville, Kentucky, to participate and to invite women to find out more about becoming a Sister, Associate, or volunteer with us.
