A smile that led to a life of love

Sister Jeanette Lucinio joins table discussion at a Women of Providence in Collaboration gathering at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods in 2015.

(In the week leading up to World Day for Consecrated Life on Feb. 2, several Sisters of Providence will be sharing their stories. You’ll hear from our youngest sister to our oldest and several in between. We invite you to stay tuned to the blog as they share some of their life experiences.)

Reflecting on the rich memories of my life as a Sister of Providence, there is so much I could include! I decided to tell the story about a smile.

I’ll start at the beginning, at the time I first became aware of religious sisters. I was about four years old and my mother had taken me to Mass in our parish church. Now I had been there many times before but I never noticed the sisters. That day they came in and filled the pews directly in front of my mother and me. I stared at them in wonderment. The sister directly in front of me turned to reach for her missal. When she saw me, she smiled.

Sister Jeanette offers a workshop to the directors of parish religious instruction recently in San Diego, California, where she lives and ministers.

This made me wonder about these women. After Mass my mother explained that they taught in our parish school, and when I was old enough I could go there and they would teach me about God. That was enough. My wonderment and curiosity about this God was now sparked.

Totally loving God

I certainly wasn’t disappointed when I finally entered first grade. The Sisters of Providence who taught me from that day through my college studies witnessed a life that offered what I wanted most. As I grew up, I began to realize that religious life offered a way of totally loving God. That love of God would flow over to many people through the various ministries in which I would be involved over the years.

I had imagined that I would always remain a teacher of primary children. I loved this so very much. But God’s Providence led me to various administrative positions in higher education and at diocesan levels. I’ve had such a rich life experience as I encountered persons from nearly every corner of our earth. I always treasured the missionary desire to bring the Gospel to “the ends of the earth.” Surprisingly, this has been fulfilled not because I crossed oceans, but because the ends of the earth came to me.

Sister Jeanette Lucinio participates in the opening of the Sisters of Providence governing General Chapter last summer.

My religious vows have offered me the freedom I needed to give all my energies to love and serve many and in various ways. Together with my sisters, who have always inspired and supported me, we have reached out wherever there has been great need. A wonder that dawned early in my mission life was that I have always received so much more in this life than I ever could give.

I do not know who that smiling Sister of Providence turned out to be. But some day in heaven, I will give her a big hug to express my gratitude for allowing the Spirit of God to awaken the flame of desire in me to be a Sister of Providence and give my life to bring the Gospel to the world that God so loves.