light through trees

Blog

Welcome to our blog. Here, we will share with you stories of our lives as Sisters of Providence. We invite Providence Associates to write in this space also. We hope you find these posts enjoyable and inspirational.

String pulled on the Ginkgo tree this week

My favorite tree – and I have hundreds to choose from here at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods – is the huge Ginkgo tree in front of Corbe House, where I live.

The tree is huge! Sister Rose Ann Eaton and I just went out to measure the circumference of the trunk – 205 inches! While engaged in this pursuit, Rose told me a story she had heard from Sister Marceline Mattingly now in her nineties. Marceline remembers when the Ginkgo tree had only a single trunk. A storm broke the tree down near its base. As the tree regrew, it developed the multiple trunks very evident today. The tree’s shaggy bark, many trunks melding into one another and the sheer width of the branches lend distinctiveness, character and interest to “my” tree.

A change of habit for Sister Marilyn Baker

In this video clip Sister Marilyn Baker shares her story of transitioning from the religious habit to common clothes. "I loved my habit," she shares. But she transitioned with the community as they were asked to be more a part of the modern world. Even without an outward garment, there is just something different about women religious, Sister Marilyn says. "She is identified by the work she does, by the ministry she does, by the fact that people can recognize God through her. And that, to me, that is the habit," she says. See the full clip below.

Surrounded by the dead

I always think of my maternal grandfather, Alex “Casey” Gutgsell, on Halloween. He was very German and very stern. But he also had a mischievous side.

As kids, we went first to “trick or treat” at my grandparents’ home. Someone always dressed up like a witch and wore a treasured, horrific mask to complete her costume.

Without fail, Grandpa Gutgsell would remove the mask from the little witch, put it on and proceed to scare us. It so delighted him and so annoyed my grandmother.

Wherever one Sister of Providence is … we all are!

On Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 25, a large number of Sisters of Providence gathered in St. Joseph’s Chapel in Owens Hall to share in a simple prayer of “missioning” and blessing for Sisetr Arrianne Whittaker as she transitioned into her mission novice year.

Sister Arrianne shared these reflections:

“When I reflect on my experience of the missioning prayer ritual, it can be summed up in two words — sacred connection — a sacred time, in a sacred place, with a community of women who share a sacred spirit.

As we began the prayer service with our Prayer of Reunion I felt that sacred spirit surround me. I felt connected in a way I had not noticed before. Maybe it has slowly, unassumingly seeped into my bones over the past two and a half years, but this day it was very clear to me … I am a Sister of Providence!

Joyful experience in Taiwan

Two of the most privileged and sacred moments I enjoy in my ministry as general superior are receiving the vows of our newer members and praying the blessing prayer at the funeral of a deceased Sister of Providence. Each experience touches me deeply and evokes feelings of profound wonder and gratitude.
I’m thinking the above because I just returned from Taiwan and first profession of vows of one our Asian novices. What a joyful experience!

The sea is madre

Where can I run from your love? If I hide in the farthest corner of the sea, you are there, guiding me, protecting me from harm. The bottomless depth of your maternal love… The sea is madre. Sister Carol Nolan, who ministers in California, writes about her retreat near the Pacific Ocean.