Archive for February 2022

We’ve all had the opportunity to ask ourselves, “Now what should I do?” Perhaps it was a time of transition like job loss or retirement. Maybe the question followed a problem. In the well-known gospel story, we hear a rich young man ask, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? I’ve already…

“Oh, the possibilities!” sounds like a phrase from a Dr. Seuss book. But it also characterizes who we will be in heaven.  Maria von Trapp wrote: “We shall remain the individuals we have been here on earth, but the possibilities which were created into us shall now find fulfillment.” We have a lifetime to reach…

My dad bent steel with mathematical precision for the amusement park rides at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. That was his full-time employment, yet I tended to think of him as a farmer. While I never went into the steel factory, I could see him daily working in the fields or barn of our small…

It is my privilege to write our sisters’ obituaries. Fortunately, I am supplied with many statistics: names of family members, dates of birth and religious profession, years and places in active ministry, and perhaps a newspaper article or two announcing achievements or awards. Invariably I am surprised by the information I never knew about the…

I was riding in the passenger seat of a hearse when the funeral director asked me, “What do you like best about your job?” We had just left a cemetery where I led a prayer for a person who had no relatives or friends. My answer was quick in coming: “The split second when family…

I wonder what Saint Valentine thinks about Valentine’s Day. The Church certainly remembers him, but the feast gives all the recognition to Saints Cyril and Methodius. Go figure. I see one connection, however. The two brothers were sent off in 863 to Slavic nations. While missionaries before them were teaching the people in Latin, the…

Recently I read a meditation that reminded me of the many times in our formation years we were told to be single-minded. Not surprisingly when I looked for the author’s name, it was a Sister of Notre Dame! There’s something about the straight forwardness of being single-minded that leaves no room for waffling. A hymn…

My mind could win a gold medal at being sidetracked. I like to think that’s a sign of creativity—even genius–but it’s far from that. No athlete gets a medal for skating or swimming into another lane. Not being focused gets us out of bounds. (I bet we all have wondered, “What am I doing here?”…

Many of us Sisters entered the community of the Sisters of Notre Dame on February 2, the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord (also known as Candlemas, the Purification of Mary, or the Meeting of the Lord). As a worldwide congregation, we celebrate big jubilees—25, 50, 70 years—from the day of our religious profession;…