The second year novices would like to share with you a grace from their time on mission.

Sr. M. Antonia

From: El Monte, California

28 years old from El Monte, California

On mission, I learned that “obedience works miracles”, as our foundress, Mother M. Anselma would say.  I was on mission in South Amboy, New Jersey.  It was the week when midterm exams and daily grades were due, as well as the week one of our Sisters had to have emergency surgery.  Along with teaching K-8 Spanish, substituting, lunch duty, playground duty, tutoring, cleaning, running errands, manning the school office after school, I was also running to and from the hospital dropping things off and relaying messages from my Sister to her apostolate. When she was released, I helped tend to her needs as well as working at school.  The Lord provided me with just enough gaps of grace (time) here and there to finish my school work.  I was very peaceful through it all because I have learned that if I put prayer first, community second, everything will work out in any apostolate.
 

From: Pawtucket, Rhode Island

As I reflect on my mission spent serving the people of St. Matthew parish and school in Champaign, Illinois, I am mindful of the ways that God used me as a vessel to do His work.  The overarching lesson for me during the past six months was, “It’s not what you do, it’s who you are.”  The tasks of grading spelling tests or helping students out of their cars each morning hardly seem like they would lead people closer to Jesus Christ, but the witness of the joy of religious life was my first task.  In all of the jobs I was given, I had to be an empty vessel filled with the Lord, so that those that I served could encounter not me, but Him.  Jesus’ life and work was a ministry of loving presence, calling people by name and recognizing individuals.  My mission was very similar.  In that, it became even more clear to me that it didn’t matter what was the task at hand, I had only to carry it out with love and joy to truly be a light pointing to Jesus.  “It’s not what you do, it is who you are” that really counts in the end.
 

Sr. M. Karolyn

Sr. M. Faustina

From: Forest Lake, Minnesota

            Mission was an amazing learning experience for me!  I helped out at St. Alban Roe Elementary School in Wildwood, Missouri, working as a teacher’s aide and assisting with any/all duties around the school.  Mission gave me a very real taste of the joys and challenges our Professed Sisters face daily in the apostolate, and I also learned through experience how Christ truly desires and does actively work through our lives as consecrated women to bring His Divine life into the world and to souls.  I was also strongly reminded that we first make Christ’s merciful love visible through the witness of our vocation - striving to belong totally to Christ so everything we have is His and everything we do is with Him.  It doesn’t matter how small and insignificant something is or how daunting a task may seem – He is always faithful to provide the strength, courage and love we need.
 

From: West Salem, Wisconsin

For me mission was a grace and a blessing because I was sent to a convent where one of our older Sisters from Germany lives.  I learned so much just by watching Sr. M. Wiltraud doing daily tasks.  Her fidelity to her work, her eagerness to help others, and her faithfulness to prayer helped me to stay focused while on mission.  Watching Sr. M. Wiltraud, I was able to reach out to others.  In doing so, I forgot my shyness and my lack of strength and was able to witness Christ’s merciful love to others.  “Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.” (Mt. 10:8b)
 

Sr. M. Eucharia

Sr. M. Dolorosa

From: St. Louis, Missouri

I learned on mission that the prayers we offer are very powerful.  Our Community gathers four times a day to pray the Divine Office in which we intercede for the intentions of the whole world.  When we go before the Lord honestly and humbly with our petitions, He hears us and answers us.  We don’t always see the results because the Lord works in mysterious ways.  The Lord can use anyone or any circumstance whether strong or weak, good or bad, to manifest His love.  If we simply place our trust in Him, we don’t have to worry for the Lord will do the rest.  It’s there in our prayerful surrender that we can find true freedom, for without Him we can do nothing, but with Him we can do everything. 
 

From: Earlville, Iowa

During my mission experience, I learned how much I need my co-Sisters.  I was able to learn so much from them and in the process learned a lot about myself.  We are a Community, not a bunch of random people living together.  God places us with the people from whom we will learn the most and those who will change us for the better.  I am ever so grateful for the Sisters who were a part of my mission, and I hope I will never forget what they taught me about life, love and Community.
 

Sr. M. Judith