I am leaving Minnesota on Thursday to fly out for a retreat with the Sisters of Life that runs from thursday-monday. I would really appreciate your prayers. This will be my second visit out there. I know God is calling me to religious life, now it's jsut a matter of which community. I have been out to Ann Arbor three times to visit the Sisters of Mary,Mother of the Eucharist. That is where God seems to be leading me. I have such joy and peace there and it's hard to explain but it's like being home but when I was out to visit the Sisters of Life God was doing something in my heart there.Something that I can even begin to put in words. I talked with Sr.Mary Gabriel, their vocations director, and told her I don't think that this is necessarily where God is leading me but I know he's not done with me yet with this order. She recommeded that I come on their retreat so here I go. I have jsut been praying for openness and clarity. So we shall see what the Lord has in store.
When I was in Ann Arbor in May, the postulants were giving me a hard time about visiting out there. They are convinced that I am coming to Ann Arbor. Which is very possible but I need to be patient and wait on the Lord. Please pray that I can be open to whatever God has for me during my time with the Sisters of Life even if it means that's where he wants me.

God bless you on your trip! I'm excited that you'll be visiting them again. I pray that God will grant you the grace to hear wherever he is calling you to. My friend Bridget will be there as well, so if you see her, tell her hi from Stephanie.

God Bless YOU on your journey, he will lead you wherever He is calling you....I will pray that you have an open heart....God Be With You!

Ali

Will pray that you contine to grow in your desire to serve our dear Lord. He will let you know where you belong, just have faith!

Prayers for safety, an open mind, and peace of heart.

Oh my gosh! I just met some Sisters of Life on Friday. One of my friends was going on that retreat, too! They are AMAZING women, who do INCREDIBLE work!

I met bridget, She is a great woman, we swapped e-mail addressed and are going to keep in touch.

The retreat was amazing. I prayed a lot before hand praying for openess and clarity. I prayed that the Lord would let me know if this is the community he wanted for me ( even though I wanted Ann Arbor) I asked not for signs but for a conviction of heart and that is just what he did. I think that this is where God is calling me and so that's what I will be pursuing. I am jsut leaving myeslf open to whatever God wants so we shall see how this all unfolds.




Who was your friend going on the retreat? It was a small retreat so I met everyone. Was it Alicia by any chance?

Veritas,

Praise be to Jesus Christ for such a Spirit-filled retreat. It sounds like you had the opportunity to talk with the Lord, as well as get to know some of the other women on the retreat. Please feel free to share more, if you feel comfortable.

I pray--especially in this time approaching Pentecost--that the Spirit fills your heart and mind with love and conviction!

Yup.

Veritas,

I'm so excited that you met Bridget...she's one of my best friends! It sounds like you had a great time. I will keep you in my prayers and that God's will will become your will as well. Keep us posted on how things go.

Yeah, I feel totally comfortable sharing. There was soo much time for prayer on the retreatwhich was sooo good. I love Eucharistic Adoration and I take time each day. I spend at least an hour everyday in Adoration and somtimes I jsut need more. There was plenty of time with the Lord on the retreat which was so good. The retreat was from thurs-monday- Friday was a prayer day. Their community spends everyday as a prayer day which means the whole day is pretty much spent in silence with extended time of Eucharistic Adoration. Mother Agnes gave 6 talks on their life and how their specific charism ties into how they live out their four vows. IOn friday I met wwith Fr.Larry, a freind of the community who was there most of the retreat. We chatted about my discernment and the orders I was looking at. He gave me a lot to think about. I spent pretty much the whole day in the chapel praying and listening to the Lord, I also readthrough their constitution. the lord was chilseling away at my own desires. I realized that I have been forcing Ann Arbor and ahven't been really open to what the Lord wants andhe showed me that this is where he is calling me, to the Sisters of Life. I wasn't happy about that ( don't get me wrong I lvoe them) but I wanted to be a Dominican. I prayed and thought about why that was and it was all exteriors and I realzied the Lord was drawing my heart to New York ( I'm a midwest girl , N.Y. scares me) The Lord showed me that this is where he wants me and I said yes.
My meeting with Mother Agnes went very well. She is an amzing woman I had no anxiety adn was
very open and honest with her. Which I haven't been with Mother Assumpta because I am kind of intimidated by her. I told Mother Agnes that I think this is where God is calling me. She said that was wonderful and that they would love to have me. She said that she will keep me in her prayers and we will see together what the Lord has in store. So as things stand now I am suppose to give Sr.Mary Gabriel ( vocations director) a call in mid july to set up a visit. They will have their schedule done by then. So I will sometime in the fall fly out to New York and stay at the formation house for a long weekend.
Yeah so keep me in your prayers. I ahve a lot of peace about t his. It is a real deep peace and joy that I can't even begin to explain. It's all rather exciting, it will be neat to see what the Lord has in store. I will keep y'all posted on how thing s go through out all of this.

That is so great! I've visited them before on a come & see retreat. I love the sisters! It sounds like God was really working on your heart this weekend.
I'm looking foward to visiting them again in July!
Continued prayers for you!

I'm so glad you had a good time with them, they are awesome! I spent some hours with them yesterday volunteering and it was great! They had Sr. Mary Elizabeth's feastday and Mother Agnes is visiting today so they needed some help. Also, today is their foundation day, they are 15 years old aaaand the postulants get the habit today!

Rock on Sisters of Life!

Yup today is Foundation day for them. They started in 1991. They have 8 postulants that will receive the habit and their new names today. Keep them in your prayers they are wonderful women.

Oh yeah! I'd forgotten about that!! Ooooh...that'll be weird when I visit because I know their names from before!

Yeah it will be weird. Beth is one of my friends best freind. Beth was the maid of honor. It was funny, the first time I was out there we just stared at each other trying to figure out where we knew each other from. Then it came to us.

I can't wait to find out what there new names are. I don't even have any guesses.

How cool! I have 2 friends who were FOCUS missionaries at the college campus where Beth was before entering! Small world!

And Beth came from the Newman Center where I was when I was in grad school!

Are the Sisters of Life, by any chance, in Rome at the first vespers of Pentecost? The camera keeps coming back to these sisters that sure look like them!

I'm not sure. It sounded like they were all going to be in New York but it's possible.


the new novices are leaving on June5th for a trip to Canada to visit a Shrine of St.Joseph I don't know too much about it excoet that I think they said it was started by Blessed Andre Bessette. they are pretty excited for this opportunity.


Oh yeah by the way, would y'all mind keeping me in your prayers this week as I organzine my thoughts and pray through my time spent with the Sisters of Life because I will be meeting with my spiritual director on wednesday to discuss all that has happned this past month with my trip to Ann Arbor at the beginning of the month and my retreat witht he Sisters of Life at the end of the month. Like I said, I think God is calling me to the Sisters of Life but I still have much discerning to do as I look a the two communities and their different charisms

The Oratory! I was just up in Montreal this past week!

I've been there. Bl. Andre was a Brother of Holy Cross. (I went to a Holy Cross run college.) And when I went to Montreal a few years back, we went to the Oratory. It was pretty cool. It was also on that trip that I ran into the Nashville OPs (again), and first met the DSMME!


Prayers, prayers, and more prayers. If you open your heart, the Lord can really get to you as a result of spiritual direction--at least, that's what happened to me last week!!! And I owe God nothing but THANKS! The Holy Spirit really spoke to me through my SD, and I feel confident that He'll do the same for you this coming week.

Prayers of strength and clarity in your continued discernement.

Prayers for you! Do you think you might apply to enter the Sisters of Life this fall?

No It will be for next year, I graduate from the University of St.Thomas in St.Paul Minnesota December 15th, this year. Two days before my 26th birthday. I'll have about $8,000 in loans to pay back so I will spend that time of January-august working to be debt free. So we're shooting for Spetember of 2007. A friend of mine will be entering the Sisters of Life this September. She was with the CFR's for awhile a few years ago. She left and acame back to St.Paul and then was going to be going back in August of last year but decided that that's not where God was calling her. Now she will be with the Sisters of Life


Are you looking at this order? I think you said you are headed out there in July?? If so you'll have to let me know what the novices names are.

Awesome! You have my prayers!

Yes, I am looking at this order...I love them a lot, but we'll see if it's God's will for me. I'll be headed out in July to visit them again and I'm super excited about it.

My friend who you met on the retreat is going over July 4th weekend with her parents so that they can meet so she's going to fill me in on their new names, if she can remember them! I'll let you know what she finds out!

Awesome, God's will will be done. I will definetly keep you in my prayes as well. So Bridget is heading back out there to visit with her family? that will be great. What do her parents think about all this?

I wish I could get my parents to visit and meet some of the Sisters. I think it would make it a bit easier on them. Hopefully when I enter somewhere eventually they will come with when I enter. We shall see. I have lots of praying to do for them in the mean time

I'm in the same boat as you...but my parents are not happy about any of this, but my SD says that's not that unusual for people our age and that usually the parents come around eventually when they see how happy their child is in whatever order God calls them to....so we'll see if time helps. Bridget's folks are relatively okay with it so far as I can tell...praise God!

How are your parents with your vocation?

The nice thing about the Sisters of Life is their strong focus on family so their home visit policy allows for more frequent visits than other orders...which is a huge issue for my folks...

What is their home visit policy?

Once you're professed, you get 12 days every year. During your postulant year, you get to go home briefly after Christmas and just before you enter the novitiate in June, if I remember correctly. No home visits during the 2 year novitiate, but I think your family can come visit and I think you can write. I can't remember right now how often your family can come visit.
Veritas, do you know?

As a postulant you go home Deecember 26th until like the 30th. And then again in May for about 4-5 days. Yeah during the 2 years in the novitiate you aren't able to go home but your family can come twice a year. It's about every month and a half they have a visiting day at the convents so that your family can come to visit but as a noivce, only twice. Mother Agnes said that the visiting days are great because they are opening up their home ,the convent, to invite your family into theirs. Family is very important in building the culture of life. Also for those whose families are far away they might get an extra day with their family because their family might only be able to come out about once a year.

My parents aren't all that thrilled wwith all of this but they are trying. My dad is doing really well with it and wasn't surprised when I told him. My mom on the other hand is holding on to the hope that I will change my mind. Many religious have assured me that whne God calls someone to religious life he gives that call to their family as well and pours out the grace of the vocation upon them. They said it makes a big difference when your parents see with your community and see that your happy. They do a lot better when they've met some of the members of that community. We shall see, I totally trust God and I offer up a Rosary everyday for my parents conversion and that they can desire what God desires for me.

Sr.Monica Fasutina, with the Sisters of Life, has been a tremondous blessing. She also is an only child so we have chatted a lot about parents and such. She told her parents a couple weeks before entering. She's been with the Sisters of Life for 10 years and her parents have growen so much. Her dad goes to adoration everyday and mass. Her mom is still aways off but id coming around.

My parents are freaked out by the whole /New York thing and the fact that they can't jsut visit whenever or pick up the phone and call me, which is understandable. My mom asked me," weren't you looking at an order in Ann Arbor? They're a lot closer." I told her yes I am still looking at them as well but I b elive the Lord is leading me to the Sisters of Life.

Thanks for that clarification Veritas! I'm not so good with remember numbers...haha.

I didn't know Sr. Monica was an only child! She picked me up from the airport when I visited last time...the habit makes it pretty easy to spot them...another side bonus to habits



I've definately been told similar things by various priests & sisters. It's one of those things where only time will tell. One of my priests from home tells me that the best thing I can do to help the rest of my family into heaven (beside praying) is to discern God's will for me and to follow it whole-heartedly, regardless of what my parents think right now. I'm sure that it's much harder being an only child though.