Tonight we were blessed to have several students from Benedictine College join us for prayers and supper and some service work. It was nice to have them here and for them to share a part of our life with us. They are all looking at serving in various ways next year on the BC campus as RA's, Student Embassadors or other positions of leadership. This service was part of their preparation for those positions. They did a great job of cleaning the chapel and we are very grateful for their presence among us!
An interesting thing occured while the students were here. Before the cleaning began, I gave the students a brief tour of two of our chapels. Outside the choir chapel is the community necrology board. This is a chronological listing of all the women from our community who have gone before us and have gone to their eternal reward. Each of these sisters is remembered in prayer by the community on the anniversary of her death. Yet our connection to our sisters does not end there. Underneath the necrology board is a bin that contains numbers. As sisters walk by the necrology board throughout the day, we draw a number and find the corresponding sister on the board. We then say a short prayer for that sister and ask her to pray for us.
Tonight as I showed the students this board, I drew the number for Sister Pia Leithner who died in 1987. Later as we were cleaning the chapel one of the students found a memorial card on the floor. It was Sister Pia's! Now remember she died in 1987 and so it is pretty remarkable that of all the cards to appear hers showed up. I told the students that Sister Pia must be trying to tell them something. I later found out that Sister Pia was a tiny German sister who made habits and was the bell ringer and sacristan for the community. It is said that when she rang the bell, she was lifted clear off the ground! She was full of life and full of love and is obviously still looking after the chapel. So here's to you Sister Pia - we remember and pray for you this night and ask you to continue to look out for us here. Peace.
4 comments:
Powerful story of "coincidence" and making connections with people we never met in this life. I love the image of her being lifted off the floor when she rang the bell! Would love to read about more of the sisters, as their memorial cards pop up out of the blue.
Wowsers McWowserstein!
God does indeed work in mysterious ways.
That or you have a very dirty chapel :-)
Jeff
What a great story. I was just talking with someone about how much I love the sense of connection with those who have died that I feel at religious communities. It's as if they're still walking around, making sure things are going as they should. The communion of saints is present everywhere. And that is quite the blessing!
Lauren
What an awesome reminder that those who go before us are not really gone. They still have our backs!!! Thanks for sharing the story!
Have a happy Friday.
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