Southern Nebraska Register
Each Monday morning before school at St. Michael Elementary in Hastings, school families start the week in a prayerful and peaceful way.
Sister Maria Consuela Garzon leads the “Monday Morning Mile with Mary” every Monday at 7:15 a.m. Those who participate walk around the church and school campus three times – a distance equaling a mile – while praying the rosary together.
Sister Maria Consuela, who teaches second-graders at St. Michael School, has led the Monday Morning Mile with Mary – weekly, weather permitting – since she started it in August 2021. She said the idea came to her in prayer. She wasn’t thinking about starting something new, “but the Holy Spirit definitely inspired it!”
“I hoped – and still hope,” she said, “that it would be a peaceful way for people to start their weeks.
“How could one not love beginning their week in prayer with people of many ages?”
The activity is open to whomever wishes to come, but so far, it’s only been people associated with the school – mostly parents and children – who join.
“It’s been a really beautiful experience,” she said. “There are a few families who come every single week and their faithfulness has been inspiring to me.
“I always love when a student has the courage to lead a decade of the rosary,” she added. “It’s precious!”
Sister Maria Consuela is in her fifth year in Hastings. She is a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr Saint George. The charism of their community, founded in Germany in 1869, is to make the merciful love of Christ visible in their service.
Several local convents have been established throughout the United States, including those in Lincoln, where they have served at Bonacum House for retired priests, and in Hastings, where they have served Hastings Catholic Schools since 1992.
