1 Franciscan Way

On May 13, 2017, I was able to experience the Holy Father’s Eucharistic Celebration in Fatima from my sick room as it aired on EWTN.  The faith, joy, and prayerfulness of the pilgrims were so touching and it made me desire to take on the spiritual experience with an open heart.  I was not able to see the whole celebration because of the early hour at which it began and the fact that it coincided with our own convent Mass being celebrated.  After Mass, I quickly returned to watching EWTN.  Most of it was over and they advertised a replay later at 11:00am.  Sr. M. Lucia, who entered the convent with me and was celebrating her nameday, also wanted to watch it, so I invited her to join me.  The day before, while praying the rosary along with the pilgrims gathered in Fatima, I had the inspiration to invite her, along with Sr. M. Jacinta who also celebrated her feastday on May 13 to join me to pray together.  It worked out t...

Sr. Mary Joseph's mission reflection from her time at Bonacum House in Lincoln, NE concludes the reflections of our second year novice mission experiences.  Please pray for our sisters as they continue to prepare for their first profession of vows. The last six months, I have had the privilege to be on mission at Bonacum House in Lincoln, Nebraska. Bonacum House is a retirement home for the priests of the diocese of Lincoln with our sisters running it. While my daily duties were that of a housekeeper, it was really the presence and witness of the Sisters as spiritual mothers that was the primary apostolate.  I was daily reminded that it is through our encounters with one another that we are able to meet Christ.  I realized this doing laps around the house with one of the priests one day. While it was a simple experience, I was reminded of the importance of being present in the moment. In our world today, people often don’t even look at each other when walking by...

We continue our mission reflection series with some thoughts from Sr. M. Philomena who served at the Mother of Good Counsel Home in St. Louis. Sr. M. Philomena with her family at her reception into the Novitiate. These past six months I was on mission at our Mother of Good Counsel Home in St. Louis. I was part of the activity staff. We would play bingo, make cards, have sing alongs, watch movies, and have potlucks and other activities with the residents. They always looked forward to the activities, especially bingo. When it was bingo day some residents would come a few minutes early, go to their favorite spot, and count their bingo chips to make sure they had enough. Their prizes if they won were candy, money or chips. Chocolate Hershey bars were a must have in our prize bucket. What also made bingo fun was that certain numbers had little sayings after it that the residents would say like “get your kicks on route 66” when 66 was called or “double nickel” for 55. I also had...

In honor of St. Joseph the worker, today we begin a three-part series compliments of our Second-Year Novices.  These sisters are preparing to make their first profession of vows and have reflected on their six month mission experience where they shared in the active apostolates of our community.   Today's reflection comes from Sr. John Mary, named for Pope St. John Paul II, whose theology of work and of the human person informed her mission experience at Bonacum House in Lincoln, NE. “Perhaps God wills to give that person to you,” Pope St. John Paul II’s spiritual director once said to him in the beginning years of his priesthood.  These words served to help him, as he put it, “…trust God and accept the gift one man becomes for the other.”  This “communion of persons” is at the heart of our mission as disciples of Christ and the six months I spent at Bonacum House in Lincoln, Nebraska.  As a retirement home for priests in which our sisters also live and wor...