Christmas Gifts

Jessica and Ellen in the "Christmas at the Woods" nativity scene

It’s hard to believe the Christmas season and our semester break are over!  Mine began with Jessica at St. Mary of the Woods where we joined her sisters and their local friends and families at the Sisters of Providence “Christmas at the Woods” celebration, complete with a life-size nativity scene, hayrides, crafts and a chance to pet the sisters’ alpacas.  The next day, I thoroughly enjoyed a tour of the Mother House and was moved by my visit to the Shrine of their foundress, St. Mother Theodore Guerin.  My tour guide, Sr. Kaye, brought her alive for me as we went through the museum area, and I found myself very moved as we both sat in silent prayer near her tomb.  Like so many of the women who contributed to Catholic life and established congregations of religious women in America in the 19^th century, she faced and overcame seeming overwhelming obstacles, leaning on her faith in God, and God’s providence.   

Dominican Sisters of Peace Columbus Mother House Chapel at Christmas

Grateful for the opportunity to visit the sisters and experience “The Woods” that are so much a part of Jessica and Janice’s lives, I headed to Columbus to celebrate Advent, Christmas and New Years with my Dominican sisters there.  

So many written reflections and homilies in December speak to the presence of both darkness and light and the importance of not losing sight of both.  Funerals for four sisters who passed away in our nearby health care center (Mohun) during Advent were a stark reminder of the shared presence of darkness and light in life. 

Blessing a sister 

Yet there were blessings as well. As a woman in formation in the 21^st century I am very aware that there will be many more losses in the next few years. I found strength, inspiration and peace watching the women from the Mother House visiting Mohun.  They ministered to and joked with the ill and injured, kept vigil at their dying sisters’ bedsides, prayed together, and comforted each other, sharing stories, prayers, and faith in God’s love and compassion. They have learned to accept darkness and light, sadness and beauty, as a part of life and a part of their own journeys with God. 

  

I was also struck by the impact the sisters have on the very high quality professional staff at Mohun who do their work with a joyful caring I’ve never encountered before, and I’ve visited many nursing homes.  The senior managers tell me it’s because of the loving and prayerful atmosphere that the residents – primarily sisters – create and the way they treat and pray for the staff.  They demonstrate God’s love as a way of life, and preach God’s word in everything they do, in spite of their own pain and suffering.  Their generous love and faith are contagious and their example was a Christmas gift I have brought back with me to the CDN.  I will be thinking of them while I pray, study scripture, and read about and discuss Dominican life with Srs. Cathy and Lorraine.  As I explore the possibilities and challenges of religious life and discern who God is calling me to be, these sisters have inspired me with their witness of faith that God does indeed have a plan, and that God’s plans, in whatever direction they take me, offer hope and a bright future.

The SPOPs back home for the winter at the CDN