One of the supreme joys of religious life is the opportunity to engage in ministries that you might never have expected.  If someone told me five years ago that I’d be working in a hospital, I would have told them that they were crazy. I was a teacher. Hospitals made me uncomfortable.  But God has a sense of humor and the phrase from Jeremiah, Chapter 20 “You duped me, oh Lord” comes to mind when I think about how I became an Emergency Room Chaplain. I guess my chaplaincy calling started when the call came to accompany sisters from our skilled care center, Mohun Health Care Center, when they had to go to the hospital. I signed up, and during these experiences, I met some amazing sisters and heard their problems, their stories, their fears.

At around the same time, my Spiritual Director suggested that I take a unit of CPE. CPE is Clinical Pastoral Education and it’s a training program for chaplains, but it’s also a tool for ministers of all types and religions to come to grips with their feelings and the feelings of others. It’s a program about listening – to one’s own heart and to the fears of others. I was very hesitant, but after many months of reflection, I attended the program at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.  And yes, it did change my life!

Three years ago, I had an opportunity to move to New Haven, Connecticut and to enter the CPE program at Yale New Haven Hospital, where I took three more units of study. Each unit was about 100 hours of classroom work and 300 hours of clinical work in the hospital under the supervision of a certified chaplain.  It was challenging, but at the same time a blessing, as I learned more about my own biases, fears, and strengths – some I didn’t even know I had.  I was hired by the hospital during my fourth unit to be a casual chaplain and work weekends and overnights. I had the added advantage of being able to take Holy Communion to the many Catholics in the hospital. Mostly, I listened and affirmed the vulnerable patients and comforted families when their loved ones died.

About a year ago, I was hired as an Emergency Department (ED) Chaplain. There’s a sense of urgency and intimacy in the ED that comes from the trauma that impacts patients, their families, and also the staff.  The trauma of COVID still lingers and there is a brittleness in us all as we seek to care for all those affected by the effects of this pandemic.

Indeed, my ministry as a chaplain has been a blessing and one that would never, ever have happened had I not entered religious life.

If you want to explore religious life as a Dominican Sister of Peace, please contact us. We are here to help you with your discernment.
Also, you might want to join us for our March 2023 Come and See Retreat.

During the Christmas break, I was busy with preparations for two events—vocation outreach at the FOCUS #SEEK23 conference in St. Louis and our mid-January Mission for Peace event. Instead of a time of rest, I quickly found myself feeling like a working bee running from one place to another place. Then, on New Year’s Day, I traveled to St. Louis for the #SEEK23 conference that focuses on inspiring college students “to dive deeper into the Gospel and discover how to answer Jesus’ call to leadership, relationship and discipleship.”

Driving from Great Bend to Wichita, Kansas to catch my flight to St. Louis on the first day of the New Year, I felt a little resistance inside me about attending this conference. I wanted to stay at home, to rest and to enjoy this New Year.

Luckily, driving alone, I had a chance to settle myself interiorly. I was suddenly aware that I was not ready to welcome the year 2023. Because of my busyness at the end of the year, I felt that 2022 left me before I was ready, like lightning that happens so quickly and is over. I felt an emptiness and shock at the arrival of the new year 2023. I wished I had more time to reflect and close out the year of 2022.

As I was driving, a Bible quote spoke to me, “Why do you stand here looking into the sky?” (Act 1:11) A scripture passage we usually hear on the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord in the Easter season. This question invites us to ponder how we intend to live our faith in the moment. This question brought me back to the reality of life.

As I was staring into the sky while driving, I knew I had to let go of what I wished happened at the end of 2022 and focus on embracing this coming of the year 2023. So, I found myself asking “How should I live and what can I do better in my life for this coming year?” Listening to my deepest desire, the word “mindfulness” came to me, something I wanted to practice more. So, I refocused my energies and decided that during this two-hour drive, I would pay more attention to what I was seeing in the moment.

I became immersed in the beauty of the natural world around me, giving me moments of awe! I marveled at the many distinct shades of blue in the sky, and the subtle shades of brown – from the deep brown of the recently turned earth to the soft mocha of the fur on the cows.  I marveled at the flying formations of different groups of birds as they flew in harmony. There were two times when I wanted to stop off the highway to observe these formations, making me say “WOW!” and praise God for the magnificence that my dancing heart was feeling.

I praised God, blessed God, and gave thanks to God for giving these beautiful gifts to me for this New Year Day. As I travelled through the flat plains in Kansas, I was grateful for the wide-open scenery that cleared a path for me to see the beauty of God’s creation around me. The different major landforms–mountains, hills, valleys, desert, plains—of Mother Earth can reveal the beauty of the creation. The grace of God is everywhere and can be seen when we change our attitude and are more attentive to what is around us.

Now that the new year is here, how are you welcoming this new year? Are you ready to look beyond the sky and explore what God’s call is for your life?  How might you respond to your call with a new perspective and new attitude for the year 2023?

One way you can explore the call to religious life in 2023 is to join us for our January Mission for Peace program or our March Come and See retreat. Or, visit our vocation website to learn more about religious life, more about the Dominican Sisters of Peace, and about entering a process of discernment …  of determining God’s desire for your life. Contact us to walk this journey with you.

Twice during this third week of Advent, we have heard in the scriptures the haunting question asked by a jailed John the Baptist, to Jesus, “Are you the One who is to come, or should we look for another?”  Both Matthew and Luke share the story. This exchange between Jesus and John the Baptist is one of my favorite scriptures.  One reason this story is striking to me is because of who is asking the question. John the Baptist, after all, had lived his whole life fulfilling his call to prepare others for the promised Messiah. He eventually recognized Jesus as the fulfilment of this promise. What changed so drastically for John, that he now questioned if Jesus is the Messiah?

John the Baptist understood his call was to prepare the way for the coming of God’s promised Messiah. But as John’s ministry and life is ending, he realizes that Jesus’ ministry does not reflect what he had envisioned.  John preached about repentance and the wrath that would follow at the coming of the Messiah, but he came to realize that Jesus’ ministry did not reflect this reality.  Jesus spoke of forgiveness, compassion, and mercy. John’s vision of the Messiah did not match the reality revealed in the ministry of Jesus.  His vision of the Messiah was different from God’s plan.  Hence the question, “Are you the One who is to come, or should I look for another?”

It is interesting that Jesus did not give John a yes or no answer but pointed to the fruits of his ministry as his response — “the blind see, the deaf hear, lepers are cleansed, the lame walk, the dead are raised…and the poor have the good news preached to them.”  Jesus allowed the fruits of his ministry to identify him as the One who was promised by God.

Like John, we may also fall into darkness and doubt.  We may not be able to see God’s presence in situations or understand God’s plan in our circumstances. Like John, we too, hold opinions and perspectives that we may have to let go of, to accept a new reality. What resonates with me about this scenario between John the Baptist and Jesus is that I can identify with John in his time of uncertainty, as well as in his time of darkness and doubt. And like John, I can identify with the reassurance and renewal that comes when I seek my answers from God. Jesus’ response to John in this gospel is a joyful reminder, that when we ask, we too, are given what we need to restore and renew our hope.

Lastly, I was intrigued by how Jesus allowed the fruits of his ministry to identify him as the Messiah in his response to John’s question— “Are you the One…?” For us who are called to be disciples of Jesus, could we be identified by the fruits of our ministry of discipleship?  Disciples of Jesus are called to help make a difference in the lives of others. Disciples are called to share the light and truth of the gospel. Disciples are called to share the love, compassion, and mercy of Christ. Would the fruits of our ministry of discipleship reveal who we are? Perhaps an even better question might be, “Are we the ones who will make a difference in someone’s life, or should He look for another?”

If your reflection on discipleship is leading you to consider religious life, give us a call for help and resources.  You may also want to consider our Mission for Peace event to be held January 13-15, 2023, in three locations.  Click here for the flyer.

Wishing you peace, hope and joy this Advent season!

Sr. Pat Dual, OP