How is my vocation revealing itself right now in my life?
Being a vowed woman religious is a lifelong commitment; I am a religious who is retired from formal ministry, not retired from my religious profession! In her talk to a Parish for the Annual Appeal for the Retirement Fund for Religious, one of our Sisters said, “we don’t retire, we expire!”
A product of public-school education, I met the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur at Emmanuel College in Boston. I graduated in 1967, taught a year in a public school and entered the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in 1968 post Vatican II. We kept our Baptismal names as religious life was now seen as a continuation of the Baptismal Call, not something added to it. We were encouraged to dress like the people, thus no black habit. Our “habit” was/is our distinctive Notre Dame Cross, with ND in the middle, signifying Mary’s standing at the foot of the cross, reminding us that our Congregation was founded on the Cross. Mary’s place at the foot of the cross speaks to my heart whenever the media shows a woman mourning the death of her child. The “Ah, Qu’il est bon, le bon dieu!” (how Good is the Good God!) inscribed on the back of our cross, expresses our Charism to proclaim the goodness of God.
We wrote our own formula for profession of vows, and in 1971, mine ended with “May I incarnate in my daily life your redemptive love for all men.” (At that time, inclusivity was not in my vocabulary!) As life went on, my response to my vocational call led me from formal classroom education in Massachusetts to ministry in Connecticut: to refugees, to the hospitalized, to Notre Dame Mission Volunteers and their service in non-profit agencies. 1990 brought me not only to CT, but also to this Parish! If written now, my ending vow statement prayer would be “May I see Jesus incarnate in every person I meet.”
As a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur, I have had many opportunities for spiritual input, study and prayer. With advancing age, physical activity decreases, but opportunities for advocacy increase. I realize how being a religious compels me to be an active citizen, continuing to become aware of and find ways to respond to human needs resulting from unjust policies and systems. My prayer has become more contemplative and is enriched by liturgy and the daily reflections from both the Abbey of the Arts and Richard Rohr’s Center of Action and Contemplation.
Not yet ready to “expire,” I wonder where God will be leading me next!
-Submitted by Sr. Barbara-Jean Kubik, SNDdeN