This Advent reflection by Michelle, fcJ, was published in Around the Well, a Canadian blog with stories and reflections from younger religious sisters.
Last year at a Vocations event in Calgary, a habited Religious Sister I know shared an anecdote about a morning which saw her engaging in the routine task of taking out the garbage. A man happened to be walking by. He saw her and stopped, staring at her for some moments. He then approached her to say “I hadn’t thought of God today until I saw you.” I was deeply touched by this story. Imagine inspiring another to contemplate God by the simple act of dressing for the day and putting the garbage out!
I’m often moved by these moments that we, as Religious, are so fortunate to witness to just by the gift of being Religious. I ‘gave testimony’ at a Charismatic event in June, and was approached afterwards by a man who had listened to me speak, in part, about the Ignatian Examen. He had with him a creased and well-worn book of Ignatian Examens that he used frequently himself. It struck me that he should have been the one speaking to the group about the value of this particular style of prayer, as he seemed more devoted to it than anyone I’d ever met. I was touched by his faithfulness to it and by the sense that he wanted to share his love for this particular style of worship with me, who as a Religious Sister in an Ignatian Congregation, he knew would uniquely understand.
Continue reading at www.aroundthewell.ca
