When I entered the community in 1960, my mother felt badly about me living, as she called it, “a very boring life.” How wrong she was! And to her credit, she later admitted that our life is anything but boring.

As I’ve walked, sometimes stumbled, along this path, I have learned a great deal about life. Probably most important is the power of prayer. I value community prayer because it links every member to each other. We begin each day with morning prayer and I try to take a “nugget,” a word, a sentence, a verse from prayer to recall during the day, a mantra of sorts.
During evening prayer we remember our sisters who have died on that date from the very beginning of our community and we also pray for the sister in our community who will next meet our Creator. It is a comforting thought. During these 50 years when I faced difficulties, I would read Isaiah 41: 10 -13 which continues to give me strength, “Do not fear; I am with you. Do not be anxious; I am your God. I will strengthen you and uphold you in justice.”

With the exception of one year, I have worked in education my entire community life. Presently, my ministry is at St. Benedict Education Center where I work with people who are on welfare. Among them are many refugees who have recently come to America, mainly from Africa and Asian countries. These people have taught me so many things about faith, kindness, gratefulness, generosity, humility and joy---and I thought I was the teacher!

I am grateful to my family, my community, my friends and my students for helping me along the way.

Robert Frost said it so well,

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I---
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”