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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.

Inspiring exercisers

I dread going to the gym to workout on the machines this time of year because it’s like a race to the finish to try to get a treadmill before they’re all checked out by others. Group fitness classes are another story. I love a room packed with people moving together and jumping to the beat of some loud music. Either way, there’s something good about the community aspect of it all.

These thoughts got me wondering if I could find any Sisters of Providence who work out. Whew! Did I ever. And it was more inspiring than I imagined.

Baptism by horseback

“I call it my first horseback ride,” Sister Marceline Mattingly (82 years a Sister of Providence) said of her adventurous journey to baptism. Marceline went on to describe the scene that day — 99 years ago this very week. The only way to cross the creek to get to the church was via a plank bridge that could only hold a horse with one rider. It was decided that her grandfather, Benjamin Franklin Hall, would be the one to take her across the creek on horseback to be baptized at St. Peter’s Church in Waverly, Kentucky. The plot thickens as grandfather Benjamin balances a baby on horseback and encounters name confusion on the other side of the creek...

How will you live out her words?

We live in constant fear of the future because it is the one thing that we feel like we don't have complete control over. That's just it. We don't have complete control over the future and we should accept that fact. This year, I'm going to try very hard to do these things that I think will help me better live through the words of Mother Theodore:

Sister Dorothy Gartland: neighborhood ministry making a difference

Fifteen of the best years of my life as a Sister of Providence were spent working as program director/supervisor of the after school homework program at Providence Family Services (PFS). I’ve had a wonderful life and maybe I’m a bit nostalgic, but truly Providence Family Services was and is an important part of our West Humboldt Park neighborhood here in Chicago.

Cards and Christmas carols

So Advent has arrived. There is a lovely Advent wreath in the chapel and another in the church. To my surprise, the novices don't know "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." The prominent Advent song here seems to be "O Come, Divine Messiah," which they sing quite slowly. I taught the novices "Stay Awake, Be Ready," a children's Advent song that includes some clapping. I invite you to look it up and make a joyful noise.