Prayer and Spirituality

Yesterday I spent the day in Monroe, Michigan, at my IHM Motherhouse. I am a member of committee that is responsible for engaging the IHM community in a process of prayer and reflection on religious life and our IHM charism. It is one of the most engaging experiences I’ve had the privilege to be involved in.

Providentia providebit. Providence provides. I learned the phrase from the Oblate Sisters of Providence when I first met them over 10 years ago. As I’ve gotten to know them through the years, heard their stories, worked side by side with them, and listened to how Providence is alive in their lives and congregation, my own spirituality and indeed how I see my IHM life and tradition has grown, helping me to see that Providence pervades my whole life.

Last week I posted Interview with a Hermit – called by God, the first installment from an interview I did with Sister Laurel O’Neal of the blog Notes from Stillsong Hermitage. Sister Laurel is a hermit of the Camaldolese Benedictine tradition. Here’s the next installment. I always wondered if hermits feel lonely or if they miss being within a religious community of other nuns … and so I asked …

Too often people assume that nuns are women who couldn’t “get a guy” or who broke up with someone they thought was “the one” and was left with no alternative. Nuns are also stereotyped as sexually repressed, dowdy women who lack passion and care only about piety, cleanliness and order.

I’ve been reading the letters of Saint Teresa of Avila. I happened to read the Introduction of the book the other day,  something I don’t usually do with books. But in this case, I was wrong ...