By Sister JoAnn Mark, ASC
Three years ago at this time, I made a decision to leave my life in Wichita for a challenge in New York where I knew no one. I had been on the board of a struggling nonprofit that was about to collapse unless someone did the hard work of pumping it with new life.
On Easter Sunday, April 5, 2015, I packed up the car and left all that was familiar —
By Sister Frances Pytlik, ASC
Advent allows us to connect with our hopes and desires, our longing and yearning for God. But with Advent coming only once every 12 months, I try to be alert to that process year-round.
As I look back over the last years, I am aware of the Spirit’s nagging, prodding and pushing, and my slow and deliberate response to these proddings.
As I responded to calls for ministries and moved from one mission place to another, the decisions and the timing seemed appropriate.
At the beginning of my ninth year in western Kansas,
By Sister Ann Fearday, ASC
For believers, Advent is a sacred journey of hoping, waiting and preparing, and in my case, more deeply understanding self. Months after I completed a 32-day, 424-mile pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago (Way of St. James), I still am savoring the experience and coming to understand my whole life as a sacred journey.
I looked for God along the way of the Camino to Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain,
By Sister Barb Smith, ASC
Journeys always stir something deep within me. There is something exciting about taking off into the unknown.
Where will this road take me? Who will I encounter?
Maybe it is the adventure, the willingness to be challenged, taking a leap of faith or the excitement of discovering something new, but it seems that my whole life has been about being on a journey.
One of these journeys touched my life in a significant way in 1982 when I responded to a call to minister among the Navajo on a reservation in New Mexico.
By Sister Janis Yaekel, ASC
The season of Advent is upon us, time to reflect on the powerful way that the Lord has touched our lives. It is a time of waiting for the rebirth of Jesus in our lives.
This past year, I’ve had to exercise strong faith. While I have been dealing with pancreatic cancer for five years, my discomfort has increased quite a bit over the last few months. I have experienced more issues and suspect that there will be more to come.
How do I face the issues ahead?
By Sister Kris Schrader, ASC
Seasons are important to us. They raise memories, recall important moments and passages.
Rarely do we navigate a new season. Usually, we replay the ones gone before.
This Advent, however, opens before me as a new season. After 23 years of sharing life in community and ministry in Guatemala with fellow Adorer Dani Brought,
By Sister Kris Schrader, ASC
During sabbatical from my education work in Guatemala, I have been volunteering with a group in San Antonio, Texas, that works with immigrants and refugees on the border.
The Refugee and Immigration Center for Education and Legal Services, or RAICES, among other things, provides emergency shelter services to families released from two nearby detention centers for women and children. Those detention centers can hold up to 3,200 refugees who are seeking asylum in the U.S.
Each night, Casa de Raices provides a bed,
By Sister Barbara Hudock, ASC
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:5.
We’ve come to Advent, that season of the Christian church year leading to Christmas. Our waiting for the light of Christ’s birth comes as those of us in the Northern Hemisphere experience short days and long nights, and, for many of us, too little light.
In this Earthly darkness, my Advent practice will be to see the light, experience the light, be the light.
This time of year,
By Sister Regina Siegfried, ASC
Pope Francis broke centuries of tradition when he opened the cathedral door in Bangui, Central African Republic recently instead of the portal of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome to symbolize the beginning of the Holy Year of Mercy, which begins tomorrow, Dec. 8.
Catholics will want to take notice of any mention of mercy in readings, prayers, and homilies proclaimed throughout the coming year. The prophet Baruch (5:9) assures us that “God is leading Israel in joy by the light of his glory,