She has prepared and helped others to prepare for grief ministry within the parish setting. She explored all the possibilities of children's liturgy options and has initiated a monthly children's Liturgy of the Word experience in the parish where she is based. All day long, phone calls from family members of shut-ins, lunch invitations, calls of those who need a listening ear cause her to pause in the midst of her planning activities to offer others some of the giftedness she experiences in herself. At supper she delights others with stories of Haddie and Lorraine and Mike whom she visited that day. One wanted simply to tell her story and then receive the Eucharist, another had a whole lunch waiting when Sister arrived and didn't want her to leave . .
Supper is finished and the kitchen is all cleaned up.
Now it's time for Sister Mary Alice to return to the parish for a meeting, or some other evening activity. On Saturdays, after Mass, some breakfast and a few house chores, Mary Alice loves to putter outside planting flowers, weeding the garden, soaking in the sun and just being out there in the fresh warm air of the convent grounds. For Sister Mary Alice and many Sisters in today's Church the specifics of that question might well be answered differently each day. Yet, the essentials of prayer, community sharing, and service to the Church are always the foundations for their activities and their sense of God who calls them each day to renew their commitment and to experience anew His call to love and be loved in ways that stretch way beyond the human imagination and lead one to walk the road that lead to God's Kingdom. Submitted by Sister Therese Ann Quigney , Vocation Director of the School Sisters of St. Francis of Christ the King, Lemont, Illinois.