We Can Be Instruments of a Miracle for Someone Else
Gratitude for Religious Sisters
Photo By: Flickr/Andrea
While on a retreat recently at the motherhouse of a local religious congregation, I took a walk in a nearby cemetery. Hundreds of religious sisters' graves were there, marked with crosses. I felt this sense of gratitude for the lives of service they offered for God, but also a sadness. There are only 3 young women in the order, and it will likely die out.
Religious sisters have influenced my life ever since I was in my 20s, and I have such an appreciation for their devotion to God. Their humility, simplicity, profound love of God, and loving presence has added to my life and taught me the way of a woman of God in the Catholic Church. I wonder what the world will be like someday without a larger presence of them.
I was sharing these sentiments with my fellow retreatants, and surprisingly, they all shared similar ones. We are all worried about religious women diminishing. One woman said something that spoke to my heart: It’s up to all of us to keep carrying on their work.
Indeed, she is right. The work won’t end. Christ’s mission won’t end. Their ministries will go on with lay people. Those women will always be remembered.
As a Catholic woman, I thank you religious sisters for paving the way, showing the way, and living the Way, Truth, and Life.
About the Author
Katie Zalany lives in Cleveland Ohio. She is a Third Order Secular Franciscan (OFS), spiritual director, benefits/wellness leader, and certified health and life coach. She volunteers with St. Vincent de Paul Society serving the poor, is an active mentor to many individuals, and a prolific writer. Her writing interests and focus areas include spiritual development, reflections on the Gospel life, Franciscian spirituality, prayer, and integration of faith and work/daily living. She is the published author of Called to Corporate: Lessons of Growing in Faith and Holiness from the Corporate Cubicle.
