How I’ve been inlfuenced by Catholic Sisters in my life.
Sunday is 47th World Day of Prayer for Vocations and is celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Easter which is Good Shepherd Sunday throughout the Church. It is a day to pray that women and men will be open to God’s call to the consecrated religious life and priesthood, and respond with generosity, joy and courage. The pope’s message to the world-wide church this year notes that though God initiates a call it’s also the personal witness of the sister’s life (or priest’s) which helps to awaken another person’s desires to generously respond to Jesus’ calling. He then points to three aspects of the sisters (and priest’s) life which gives witness: friendship in Christ, the total gift of one’s self to God and a life of communion. Below is a Vatican website link to his message.
I’d like to share some memories of a two sisters who by their lives influenced my own life. Growing up, I loved visiting the “Dragan family homestead” in Melrose, MA, where my grandparents lived, along with other great aunts and uncles – it was like no other experience. All us kids thought we were really special if Auntie Annie asked us to go with her to St. Mary’s convent of the Sisters of the Holy Child to deliver overflowing pots of cut garden flowers for their chapel. We were intrigued by the sisters, but also a bit shy of these women in long black habits.
My father’s cousin Rosemary is a Sister of the Holy Child Jesus, and she claims having influenced my own vocation to religious life as a catholic sister. This may be true because Sis, a nickname from the time she was a kid, was the only sister I personally knew, other than the four who taught me in school. Sis is a real lady – a petite, less than five feet tall 90 year old today. She has always been kind and soft spoken and always interested in whomever she is talking with. She loves to garden and likes a good laugh – Dragan family characteristics. Sis taught school over her career at various levels and it was obvious she enjoyed it. She loved helping people.
Once, my brother and I drove Sis back to a girl’s boarding school in Suffern, NY and just as we unloaded the car, a helicopter landed returning a girl back from Easter break – she was a student of Sis’. She and her family were in a federal protection program and were being guarded from the “mob.” I wondered then about Sis’ life and who else she taught over the years. She was never one to brag and very unassuming. Though Sis never asked me about religious life, I know she is right about being an influence in my life. She is was the first one I talked with about religious life and her advise took me in directions that eventually led to Bon Secours. She witnesses to God’s call daily and I know she feels kind of proud that I answered God’s call too.
Sr. Elizabeth Durney was also another influence in my life as a young and not-so-young sister. Elizabeth is probably the most open person I ever met and I loved her sense of wonder at things. Her interest in the new sisters and helping us to get through that transition in religious life and Bon Secours is probably the reason why I’m still here today. Besides being a dear friend, she was also a mentor, something everyone needs in life. There wasn’t anything I couldn’t say and feel that she wouldn’t listen with an open ear. Its not that she didn’t challenge me – she did that too; she wanted you to grow, as much as she did for herself. Elizabeth had an adventurous spirit and loved people, tennis, the outdoors and her God. She loved her ministry and the people she ministered to. She could see where needs were and took steps to address them – like starting a hospice program. She loved art and so took a class to see if her creativity could be released through painting – the abstract here is Elizabeth’s.
Abstract Still Life Painting by Sister Elizabeth Durney, CBS
To read Pope Benedict’s message on World Day of Prayer for Vocations click on this link:
Let us pray too that women and men will be open to God’s call to religious life and that our efforts to promote vocations will reach the hearts of minds of those who will be the future sisters and priests that the world needs. To learn more about how to become a nun, visit this link:
Tags: a nun's life, becoming a nun, catholic calling, catholic nun, catholic sister, catholic vocation, convent, religious community, Religious Life, spiritual direction, Vocations
