In this Random Nun Clip, we talk about how faith helps us in the ups and downs of life. Hear the full Ask Sister episode AS217 at aNunsLife.org.
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L: Mrs. Amy Tabler is a lector at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Bluffton, Ohio. She and her husband Jim are part of the parish’s High School Youth Group, the God Squad. Amy is Executive Assistant at Lima (Ohio) Community Church. Amy was born in Columbus Grove, Ohio, which is still home to Amy and Jim, who have four children. Amy and Jim host “Tabler Tuesday” in their home for their college daughters to bring friends to their house for a family dinner. They do this several times per semester. They love connecting and learning about the friend’s lives. Amy is an avid reader who especially enjoys biographies and leadership books.
R: Sister Shannon Schrein, OSF, PhD is a Sylvania Franciscan and currently serves on the Leadership Team. She has a PhD in Systematic Theology and is president of the College Theology Society. She is the author of the books Quilting and Braiding: The Feminist Christologies of Sallie McFague and Elizabeth A. Johnson in Conversation. Sister Shannon is also the editor of God Has Begun a Great Work in Us: Embodied Love in Consecrated Life and Ecclesial Movements, The 2014 Annual Volume of the College Theology Society. She is a contributor to The Saint Mary’s College Study Bible, 2007. Sister Shannon is the 2012 recipient of the Franciscan Federation Award. She has shared her Franciscan way of life and her love of Jesus and the Scriptures with her students for more than forty years.
SISTER MAXINE: I am Sister Maxine of A Nun’s Life Ministry. With me here in the audience is the awesome St. Mary’s Youth Group, also known as The God Squad. Here at the mics with me, Mrs. Amy Tabler and Sister Shannon Shrein. How do you feel faith helps you in your everyday life, in the ministry you do, in your family, in the ups and downs of every day?
MRS. TABLER: That’s a great question. I think that it’s the routines that we have each day. Sometimes, for myself, I really feel my best when I start off my morning with prayer. I kind of have developed a routine over the years and sometimes—not to say that prayer is routine, but a peaceful start to my day includes a nice cup of coffee and some time reading the bible. I use the Word Among Us devotional. Those are kind of the building blocks for my day. What I have noticed about that, is that is something that feeds me regularly, but then when the challenges and the trials come, I have that inside of me that I am drawing upon. When those moments come up, “Okay, now what do I do?” It’s become a way of life.
SISTER MAXINE: Prayer is a way of life as a disposition, not just something you do.
MRS. TABLER: Not in those moments where you think “Oh, what am I going to do now? Let me pray real quick.” That’s important too! But also just developing that way of life, that relationship.
SISTER SHANNON: Consistence of prayer always, isn’t it, which is so much a part of our tradition. For me it’s similar. I start most days with Eucharist. I have the opportunity to get to Mass every day with my sisters. That really sets the agenda for the day for me. It just puts me in that space. But then throughout the day, in the ministry that I do with the sisters, I am able to, when they need it, to pray with them, to walk with them, to participate in their lives. That’s really helpful to me. I did a podcast with Sister Max previously and one of the questions that came from the audience was whether or not I had a default prayer. Do you remember having that conversation?
SISTER MAXINE: I do.
SISTER SHANNON: I shared with them that the prayer that for me is a default prayer is the Memorare. Perhaps you are familiar with that prayer. It’s a prayer that invokes Mary to pray on our behalf. There’s that too, that sort of mantra that comes throughout your life, throughout your day, that takes you there. I live with a sister who prays with us when we get in the car and we’re going to drive. We say the Memorare and we say a couple of other prayers and at the end she says “Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, bless the wheels that we ride on.” (laughter)
MRS. TABLER: (laughter) Is she a good driver?
SISTER SHANNON: I am always driving. (laughter)
SISTER MAXINE: You don’t suppose that that’s why she’s praying, do you? (laughter)
SISTER SHANNON: (laughter) She even prays to St. Patrick for green lights. (laughter) It’s kind of fun.
To hear full episodes of A Nun’s Life podcasts, visit the podcast page at anunslife.org/podcasts.
This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.
