By Sr. Bernadette Radek, M.S.
Marian Sisters of the Diocese of Lincoln
Yes, we are all guilty of it: reminiscing. I have some beautiful memories of the month of May: The month of our Blessed Mother, May crowning, my parents both had birthdays in May, and I could go on and on. My most fond memory is that of receiving my first Holy Communion in the month of May at the hands of our pastor, Rev. James Gilroy in Geneva.
Father Gilroy came straight from Ireland after being ordained for the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln. He baptized me and brought my mother into the Church. We all loved this gentle, faithful, but very frail Irish priest. I remember the day our class was out raking leaves in the school yard when I got close to the rectory porch. I did not see Father sitting on his porch. He called to me to come and talk with him, which I did.
He of course knew that I had just received my first Communion in May. He talked to me like I was his best friend and he asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I said I wanted to be a religious sister. He was very encouraging. I remember several months later, one Sunday immediately after Mass, that a small handful of men went rushing into the sacristy. Our dear Father Gilroy had just died as he was removing his vestments. I thought then, as I do now, that that was such a wonderful way to meet Jesus.
My memories go on to the School Sisters of Notre Dame from St. Louis, who taught me in grade school. They prepared me for the sacraments and taught me to love my faith. When I came home from school and said, “Sister said,” those were marching orders. It was through a “Sister said” that my family started to pray a family rosary nightly.
I also remember that, no matter how good we were during the school days, Sister always had us say the Act of Contrition, and a prayer to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, (which included the words “in my last agony.” I wasn’t sure what my last agony was, but I knew prayer covered it). Then she blessed us with holy water. Day after day, year after year the prayers were always the same.
Those prayers, as well as the use of holy water, left an indelible mark.
The sisters were always very creative with the little we had in our rather poor school by today’s standards. How we looked forward to making individual May shrines to our Blessed Mother each May. There was always a prize given for a winning shrine. I also remember Sister asking us to bring a bar of Ivory soap and a paring knife from home for a soap carving project. Imagine that happening now! Without batting an eye, mom got a bar of soap and a good paring knife for me to take to school.
My parents had good Catholic literature in our home and I remember pouring over the vocation ads. There were so many to choose from. One week I wanted to be a missionary sister, the next a teaching order looked great. And then I came across religious brothers. They presented a problem for me. What did they do? Men were supposed to be priests. It wasn’t until I was a Marian Sister and our community moved to our Motherhouse at Waverly that I met a religious brother. The Franciscan priests and brothers from the Chicago Province were staffing Our Lady of Good Counsel Retreat House. I immediately saw the good works these religious brothers did behind the scenes in supporting the priests and ministering to the people, and I was very impressed. They were also needed in the Church. It is a blessing for our Diocese to again have religious brothers. They are the Knights of the Holy Eucharist.
In Bishop Conley’s recent pastoral letter, One Heart in Christ, he states in the section on Religious Vocations that: “Another goal is to create opportunities for the laity to deepen their understanding of the vocations of priesthood and religious life.” I would like to add that, I believe, parents and especially priests play a very important role in encouraging vocations. Please pray for more priest and religious vocations for our Diocese and the universal Church, and if the Lord asks for your son or daughter, say “yes.” You will never regret it.
