The Road Less Traveled

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. (The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost)

I was in sixth grade when I was first introduced to this poem, and it resounded immediately within me. Of course at 11 or 12 years of age, I did not know why. But as time has gone on, and now after 32 years as a Sister of Saint Joseph, the poem continues to describe my life. 

I had a major “Saint Paul spiritual conversion” experience in my late 20’s. That awakening to Christ and his love changed the path on which I was traveling. As I grew in my relationship with Christ and the Church, my overwhelming desire was to share God’s love and mercy with others. A few years after that conversion, I felt the call to live my deepening relationship with Christ through a vowed life. I was 32. Choosing “that road” has certainly made all the difference!

As a Pastoral Associate in a large Catholic parish, I am able to share the love and mercy of Christ every day, in varied ways. I minister to grieving families who have lost a loved one, I meet with couples preparing for the Sacrament of Marriage, facilitate RCIA sessions, or my favorite… mentoring others as they seek to deepen their life of prayer. Recently, in leading a group of adults in a guided meditation, at the conclusion, one of the women excitedly said, and with great surprise, “I met Jesus on the road – he was really there with me – I saw him, I saw the road we were walking on, we were talking and I was a little girl!” She met the risen Christ on her Emmaus road, and her joy and wonder I will not soon forget.    

Helping others grow in their knowledge of God and the Catholic faith or supporting them as they grow in the spiritual life - it is a wonderful, blest and exciting journey. 

I love my life as a Sister of Saint Joseph! I chose the road less traveled by and that has certainly made all the difference…for me and for others.  

Sister Kathleen Rooney SSJ

Sister Kathleen is the author of the book: Sisters: An Inside Look. Published by St. Mary’s Press.

Convent Life

When I was a lay teacher at Blessed Sacrament, Margate, New Jersey, a child brought me a Novena prayer. For nine weeks I went to church, lit a candle, and prayed. I asked God to tell me what God had planned for my life (hoping to find my Prince Charming). On the ninth Tuesday I knelt down to find a copy of the book Convent Life. Needless to say I had a good laugh. God and I often share jokes only this time God wasn’t joking. I agreed to try “Convent Life” for a year and here I am 43 years later.

During these 43 years I have met God in so many ways, in the quiet of the morning, in the beauty of creation, in music and even in my Harry Potter books.  Most profoundly, I have found God in others. I am an observer, a quiet watcher who soaks in what I see and hear. I see God in the children I meet daily. I see God in their hopes and dreams, their ability to work with one another to solve problems. I see God in their smiles, their eyes, and even in their tears. I see God in their hopes and their giftedness that will enable them to build a better world. I see God in the people of our streets - broken and wounded but willing to share their hopes that tomorrow will be better. I see God in the many people with whom I minister, people willing to go the extra mile because they believe in the mission of Jesus.

But most importantly for me, I see God day in and day out in the Sisters with whom I live and serve. I watch as they quietly make 600 needlepoint crosses for the children to wear during Lent, prepare dinners not only for us but for others so they can have a good meal, drive hours to spend their day off with immigrants in detention, tirelessly welcome all people making them feel important, valued respected, spending hours finding ways to serve better the people while working in full time ministries and so much more. I watch as we share our lives, our families, our hopes, our worries, our laughter and our tears, as we share our God. 

What I find even more amazing is that when I gather with other Sisters of Saint Joseph, the same is true. I am with women who go the extra mile, working to make the world a better place, dreaming dreams and asking, why not. In the sharing of our ministries, our dreams, and our laughter, I find God. This is where my heart belongs. So, 43 years later, I truly know that God’s dream for me was to be one with all as a Sister of Saint Joseph as we live and work so that all people may be united with God and one another.

Sister Jane Field SSJ

I was born in New York. I have a sister and three brothers. I lived in several different states. I attended public school until 10^th grade when I went to a private Catholic girls school for a year. Sister Carmella asked me if I wanted to be baptized and so I got baptized. I graduated from Ocean City High School and after a couple of college years I became a teacher at Blessed Sacrament School in Margate, New Jersey. I entered the Sisters of Saint Joseph in 1972 and have been ministering in schools in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia ever since.

A New Creation

Ever since I left Pennsylvania and moved to Alabama, Genesis 12: 1 – 2 has made the journey with me. “Leave your country and your family and go to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a new creation.”  Sometimes what I was leaving was a real country – or at least a specific part of the United States (i.e., leaving Pennsylvania; leaving Alabama). At other times, it was leaving a familiar way of being a speech pathologist. This happened when I made the transition to full-time work in the public school system. It happened again when I left the familiar field of speech therapy and entered a new world as a classroom teacher. I have been at my present ministry for 10 years, but the little Catholic school will be closing in June, so it is time for my next change. 

Each time a serious transition like this pops up in my life, I find myself going back to that call from Genesis. It has happened to me so many times that it is now like an old friend – enticing me to say, “Yes,” to this journey to a new land (new ministry) and “Yes,” to becoming yet again another new creation. Along with the call from Genesis, I am also praying with a sentence from the prayer for the 200^th anniversary of the birth of Mother Saint John Fournier – “Mold me like clay in the hands of a potter, to a shape as yet unimagined and a future as yet undefined.”  

The closing of the school brings a great sadness on one hand, but the other hand, holds the excitement and challenge of becoming something new. What will this look like? Stay tuned.  

Sister Donna Loeper SSJ

 

Sister Donna entered the Sisters of Saint Joseph in 1980 at the age of 27. She worked as a speech-language pathologist in a variety of locations and with a wide variety of people. In 2005 she started her ministry as a Pre-K teacher in a little Catholic school in Savannah, GA.

Called

 

What do I call my life

as a Sister of Saint Joseph?

Certainly a sacred pilgrimage

across deserts and plains,

up mountains and down valleys –

a true journey of the human spirit.

What do I call these years

as a Sister of Saint Joseph?

Assuredly, a great adventure with God,

accompanied by the gift and grace

of family, friends, companions –

blessings of my varied seasons.

What do I call my days

as a Sister of Saint Joseph?

Definitely, a sonata in both major

and minor keys, a triumphant piece

played with passion and humility –

inspired by a heavenly Muse.

What do I call my vocation

as a Sister of Saint Joseph?

Most of all, a wondrous story,

a tale of two hearts, joined in a sublime

celebration of Truth and Beauty,

in the consecration of endless Love!

Sister Anna Marie Mack SSJ

 Sister Anna Marie Mack has been a Sister of Saint Joseph for 69 years. She wrote this poem on the occasion of her 60^th Jubilee.

The Sister

One night at the end of January, I got a text from my father who was away visiting family in Louisiana.  He’s not one to text often, so I perked up when I saw the notification on my phone. “Watching the 'Everybody Loves Raymond' episode where Debra’s sister announces she’s becoming a nun,” he wrote, “Hilarious (with some serious sides of self-reflection).”

I paused for a moment when I read those words.  I had never seen that episode, but the fact that he indicated that it had prompted some self-reflection on his part made me want to pry more deeply.  “Hahaha,” I wrote back “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that one; you’ll have to tell me about it.”

“Go to YouTube,” he responded, giving me the episode number and title. No luck getting an explanation. Dads can be tough nuts to crack. So, I did the next best thing - I watched the episode and pondered what might have prompted his reflection.

Right off the bat, there’s a lot to love about the episode. It’s funny whether you are a sister or not. As every episode of a Raymond does, “The Sister” looks at family dynamics and how we function in the midst of the stuff of life- offering many laughs and oftentimes a lesson all rolled into one. While not correct on some details, the episode struck at the heart of the matter. Even before the first commercial break, I knew why my dad had sent it to me.

You see the process of telling the people in your life that you are becoming a sister isn’t always easy.  At times, you have to insert your own laugh track where awkward silences and misunderstanding pervade.  But that’s the thing about a call… sometimes you hear it more clearly than those around you.

Now, looking back on it, I laugh all the harder. It wasn’t always so easy and, to be honest, I still hit rough patches; but watching my family take on this choice in my life- this part of me- has been a joy and a challenge.  That story is one much longer than these types of blog posts allow, but let me just say the dinner scene in the episode rings true (“Excuse me, Sister, but is there a special blessing for dessert?”)  And the thing about family is that they’re always with you.

My family cares deeply about who I am and who I am becoming. They want the best for me. They support me but as my father has reflected in recent months, “Don’t say we were against the idea…it’s just that we were cautious.” That’s true and probably for good reason. A call is something that is lived out in stereo; you learn the rhythm from the life you live, the faith you foster, and the people who accompany you.  Family is a key part. They can help to clarify lots of things and teach you things about yourself that you never realized you didn’t take the time to know.

As we navigate this call together, I am constantly reminded that God is the one in control. If I balked every time someone stopped to ask if they could ask me a question and followed up with a wildly personal query, I wouldn’t make it very far. My family and friends, though, are just trying to understand so that they can support me. After all, a religious community is not a family. You only get one of those.

Knowing that they (and I) can look back now and laugh is a blessing in and of itself.  We laugh together. And in that laughter is something pure… something surely of God: Love.  That is the love that is at the root of who we are as Sisters of Saint Joseph. It's a love that speaks truth and brings joy in all that we are and strive to be; love that draws people together, love that seeks union, and love that, in facing the unknown knowingly, with faith and hope, loves all the same.

Sr. Colleen currently serves as a campus minister at Chestnut Hill College. She is the author of the blog Wandering in Wonder,  columnist for the Global Sisters Report, and has been published in various periodicals including America, Commonweal and Give Us This Day. She made first vows as a Sister of St. Joseph in Philadelphia in August 2014.