Finding God in My Daily Life

As I didn’t enter the Sisters of St. Joseph until my early 30s, I am what we call a “late vocation.” I lived in Center City, Philadelphia during my 20s until I began to realize that something was missing in my life. I wanted to belong to something greater than myself. They say that the early 30s is a time of transition, and it certainly was for me. I resisted strongly when I realized that God was seriously inviting me to religious life. I told my Vocation Director that I knew I would never be accepted because I was too old. After she assured me that I was not too old, I started my journey towards becoming a Sister of St. Joseph of Philadelphia.

The renowned mystic St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, exhorted his men to “find God in all things.” When I first entered community, I was not good at finding God in all things. As the years went by and my relationship with God deepened, however, I had the grace to begin to recognize God’s action in the people and situations around me.

Because of the fact that I live with rheumatoid arthritis, a disabling condition, my ministry has always been in the field of disability. Now I live in a convent section of our retirement home, St. Joseph Villa, where I do some spiritual writing and direction.

I’ve learned a great deal about God’s daily Presence from living with our elder Sisters of St. Joseph. I see it in the tenacity which some sisters exhibit by attending Mass every single day, no matter how unwell they feel or how they struggle with their walkers. I find God in the simple exchange of love that occurs when a sister assists another sister by cutting her food or straightening her room. I can see God present in the care and concern that all sisters and staff exhibit toward one another. Finally, there’s the fun we have at times in community by putting on shows, playing games, and just laughing

together.

In Saints for Healing, a book I wrote about the Communion of Saints published in 2006, I stated my belief that God is with us, offering graces to us, and inviting us to find the Divine Presence at all times. I believe the invitation is to look with the eyes that are in our hearts as well as the eyes that are in our heads.

  

Sister Janice McGrane, SSJ

Sister Janice McGrane, a Sister of St. Joseph for 32 years, is a writer, spiritual director, and disability activist. She has published two books about the communion of saints: Saints to Lean On: Spiritual Companions for Illness and Disability and also Saints for Healing: Stories of Courage and Hope.