Reflections by Sister Michaeleen Frieders, CSC
World Day for Consecrated Life Sunday, February 6, 2005 Church of Our Lady of Loretto Saint Mary’s, Notre Dame, Indiana

Good morning. My name is Sister Michaeleen and I am a Sister of the Holy Cross. As I reflect back on my own call to religious life, I remember that it was difficult to discern if I had a religious vocation as a call from God. I do know that I had this periodic, persistent thought about becoming a sister, but I also found myself dismissing and denying it.

For many of us, identifying the call is not always easy with so many other options clamoring for our attention. Our scripture readings this morning contain signposts for us of that call and its special way of following Jesus. Isaiah’s words to us, “Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and homeless, and clothe the naked, and do not turn your back on anyone,” are counsels for all of God’s people in the call to holiness. Religious life is a call within that call, for those for whom Jesus’ teachings are a way of life.

In the gospel, Mathew speaks of being “salt of the earth” and “light of the world.” As our vowed consecration is public, we proclaim by our lives our mission as the mission of Jesus. So, what is this call and this mission of women religious?

Walk with me and perhaps it goes something like this:

Have you ever caught a glimpse of magic, a name, a thought, an almost thought, a breath, a hint of something more? Hidden somewhere, not far from you – not far at all? So close, so near your heart that you could almost touch – a flower, a person, a child?

And yet, something even closer, deeper, more mysterious,
Calling you to dance, to be, to fly on wings you were unaware of –
A call to be something more – to reach beyond yourself – to give totally.

Yes, we felt this too – an attraction, a pull,
But something more alive and real.
We felt it – we heard it and we saw it in the lives of sisters we knew.
A bit of joy, of playful life, of love, of can, of do.
Like someone calling to you – touching your heart.

We have said “yes” without reservation, open to risk – to the journey – to our God. We met other searchers with the same desires and we discovered community!

Together we are weaving a human bridge, a basket, a ladder.
Together we are planting sacred growth where the water of God’s grace can flow, where we care for each other and provide a nourishing place for the love inside us to grow. As that love overflows, it pours out to those most in need – those poor, those oppressed, the lonely, the abandoned.

We are the Sisters of the Holy Cross.
We believe in life.
We celebrate life.
We believe in love
We celebrate love.

We believe deeply in each other. We celebrate each other, and we take our journey together seriously and joyously. We believe in and celebrate God’s bountiful spirit among us. We find in God’s creativity our touchstone, unleashing our own creative force and empowering us to act. Let there be dance and song and fun, prayer and Eucharist, conversation and The Word, healing and helping and celebrating life together.

In community, we come to know one another’s full worth, delighting in each other’s growth. 
The “me” becoming a warm and supportive “we.” Strong because we can count on one another. 
My sisters are always there for me. Respecting in each, all that she really is and can become and hopes to be.

We, as Sisters of the Holy Cross, stand at a new moment in history.
We believe a woman’s place is at the center, at the very core, not the sidelines.
We are women of hope – a covenant sign of God in an anxious and troubled world.
Together we walk the earth, reaching out to those in need, responding to the signs of our times.
Together we raise our hands and hearts in praise of our God.

As an international congregation, we witness prophetically to the mission of Jesus in our global reality – in Bangladesh, Brazil, Ghana, India, Mexico, Peru, Uganda and the United States. In these places, we serve with others in mending a strained and broken world. We stand in solidarity with the poor and powerless and with people of many cultures and nations.

Touched by the love of our Creator, we have been called by name, called forth to serve God’s people – a tremendous force, a power for good, a catalyst for systemic change, peacemakers of nonviolence.

We are Sisters of the Holy Cross and believe in that Spirit that has called us.

First, we draw daily and continuously from deep, deep roots of prayer and grow in our relationship to God. Then we go forth to minister daily as nurses, teachers, chaplains, lawyers and companions on the way. You find us walking with the poor, caring for HIV patients, counseling prisoners and working in soup kitchens and homeless shelters. At the close of day, we gather again to share our life, and in prayer give thanks and praise to our God.

“You are the light of the world, Jesus tells us – your light must shine before others – to give praise and glory to your God.” Today we celebrate this life and the glory to our God.

I’d like to close with the last part of “Vocation,” a poem written by my dear friend Sister Dorothy Anne, who helped me through my discernment many years ago.

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