Sisters of the Living Word

Just before the end of my senior year of high school, I was a victim of “date rape.” Prior to this event I had felt an increasing attraction to religious life, but had not shared this with anyone. Later, I went to work as a clerk, convinced that God could not possibly want me and that religious life was no longer possible for me. I married at the age of 20. I knew after the first year of marriage that I had made a terrible mistake and was thinking about divorce when I discovered that I was pregnant. Three weeks after our daughter was born, I left my husband and was divorced.

Life as a single parent was far from easy. I worked several jobs trying to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table, and several times I had to rely on public assistance programs to make ends meet. During this time, beginning in 1974, I began a process of returning to the Church. In 1982, during a time of retreat, I experienced a very strong desire to make a gift of my entire life to God. For the next 10 years I became increasingly involved in parish ministry, working with faith-sharing groups, scripture study groups, visiting the sick and home-bound, and taking on various liturgical roles. My prayer life became central to my every day living, and perhaps because of this, my desire to devote my life to God deepened.

I began to wonder if religious life might still be possible for me. Over the next two years I investigated many communities, eventually becoming drawn to the Sisters of the Living Word. I strongly believe that the gifts I bring to my ministry of caring for the elderly and sick have their root in the earlier experiences of personal pain and suffering in my own life. I look forward to continuing my life journey in the company of this wonderful community of religious women, the Sisters of the Living Word.

Mission Experience

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