It is with great joy that I write this post. A former student of mine, and Godmother to our youngest son Samuel, will be entering the Sisters of Life in the fall! Stephanie (center in photo above) graduated from Cardinal Gibbons High School in 2003, and graduated this year from the University of Dallas (Magna Cum Laude/Theology).
It has been a blessing for me to be a small part of her discernment process throughout these years. In fact I can say that I was there when it began. In 2002 I took a group of students down to the Trappist Monastery in South Carolina, Mepkin Abbey, for an annual retreat. While there, one of the monks (Fr. Christian Kerr, OCSO for those who might know him) asked if any of the girls had considered becoming nuns. They all responded in the negative, but perhaps none more vehemently than Stephanie. And that was it. That was the beginning. Stephanie says she would hear that question everyday from then on.
In time she would speak to the vocations director for the Sisters of Life, Sr. Mary Gabriel, SV. Let me just say that Sr. Mary Gabriel (in the picture immediately to the right of Stephanie) is a force of JOY to be reckoned with. No matter my state of being going into a conversation with her, I come away feeling great. But I digress. By the end of Stephanie's first conversation with Sr. Mary Gabriel, her journey toward the Sisters of Life had begun. After four years, several visits and retreats, Stephanie applied and was accepted to enter on September 1st with as many as 15 other young women - Deo Gratias! She will be yet another incredible sister in this amazing young order dedicated to the Gospel of Life. May Almighty God bless them, and Our Lady keep them.
Please keep Stephanie, and the other women entering in your prayers!
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1 comment:
Amazingly small world! I actually met Stephanie in May on a retreat with the Srs. of Life. I ask for your prayers as I continue discerning my vocation.
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