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The links above will take you to more stories of how to live a life of Providence as lived by the Sisters and Associates of Divine Providence.
Art:
The Annunciation, Luke 1:28-38
Sister Ethel Marie Corne, CDP, 1967
Stories of Our Call
Called to Community
Our life in community nourishes us and sends us out for service and for community with others. It reaches far beyond the bounds of our houses and even of the Congregation, for in community well lived we help the world to experience the goodness of Providence. (CDP Constitution, # 29)
Sister Ramona Bezner
Late in the spring of the past year, Sister Anita Brenek called to invite me to become a member of the Agatha Lin Community. Although I had given some thought to soon making a move from Club Drive to the Our Lady of the Lake Campus, this call was a complete surprise. Many thoughts flooded my mind: I’d lived at Club Dr. almost 20 years. Was now the time for me to move? And to the Formation House? Although there were no novices living there now, there is the possibility of that soon becoming a reality. However, the more I thought about the move, the more it seemed that this invitation urged me to “move with Providence.”
In 1772 when our founder, Father Moye, was on his way to China, he wrote to his Sisters: “For this Pilgrimage there is always enough.” Enough grace, enough strength, enough health, enough support, enough of all you need to continue the journey. This sentence from Moye has inspired me from time to time during my life and so it did again. By the end of the summer I was ready to move to Agatha Lin. Although at first I found the house like a maze, soon I could get to my room without back tracking. And I joined Sisters Madonna Sangalli and Anita Brenek and began to live in community with them.
There are many graces that have come with this move, the first of which is living with two beautiful and committed CDPs: Anita and Madonna. Getting to know them better, being able to interact with those in formation, living only three minutes from my ministry – these are pluses that have come with this community change. But the greatest blessing I am experiencing at Agatha Lin is sharing faith and prayer with my Sisters. I have found that our time together in the morning is a blessed way to begin the day.
There was a strong “community” at Club Drive, different from Agatha Lin but a community that supported me for a long time. The Agatha Lin community is a bit more intimate and “present.” We cook several times during the week and share meals together. I enjoy this and am learning the indentifying culinary skill of each one of us. Since the three of us live “under the same roof” we are often together in the living room or kitchen.
Do I miss Club Drive? I do, sometimes more than others. I miss listening to NPR as I used to do while driving to work. I miss the “small” kitchen where I could just stand in the middle and reach everything I need for preparing a meal. Would I want to return to Club Drive? Not really. Once on the journey, there is no turning back. Praised be Divine Providence.
