If you’ve read my blog for a while, you know my longtime employer is Catholic, sponsored by an order of nuns. Over the years, their numbers have dwindled, both in our facilities and within the order itself. With uncomfortable regularity, a death announcement for yet another Sister will appear on our intranet news section. It makes my heart sink every time. I have been inexplicably drawn to them from the start. I’m not a “Cradle Catholic” and I didn’t attend Catholic schools as a child, so I never experienced nuns as punitive instructors. Our Sisters are caregivers. Some are crankier than others, but these are some of the most compassionate, kindhearted people I’ve known. I love them.
This morning I opened our intranet page to yet another death announcement for a Sister. She was familiar, but I didn’t know her as well as some of the others. But the description of her went straight to my heart:
“She continued to be the loving presence of Jesus to all throughout her lifetime. She served as a Eucharistic Minister, listened to those who were lonely, and cared for those who needed an encouraging word. She often baked cookies as gifts, and she tried to be available to anyone who needed her. In her quiet simplicity, compassion and grace, she was a beacon encouraging others to live as Jesus lived.”
Is there higher praise or a better example of a life well-lived than this? Her entire legacy is her loving presence and treatment of others.
This woman is #goals on every single level.
