“All I have seen teaches me to trust God for all I have not seen.”
I wanted to be a Dominican Sister since I was six years old. I fell in love with the beautiful long, flowing, white habit of the Adrian Dominican Sisters who taught me from first through twelfth grade. The romantic notions of my childhood gave way to more serious reflection as a young adult. As a college student at Aquinas, I was deeply touched by the Sisters who taught me and nurtured my vocation. I was profoundly attracted to the spirit of joy they exuded.
Fifty years later, I am filled with gratitude for all the opportunities and challenges that have formed me: first as a High School Spanish and Religion teacher at St. Mary Cathedral in Saginaw, where the Vatican II vision of church became a reality for me and made a life-long impact. Then came the opportunity to do doctoral studies in Scripture at the Catholic University of America, after which I was privileged to join the faculty of Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. I have been stretched into becoming a professor, Dean, and President at CTU, always conscious that none of what I have accomplished in my ministries would have been possible without the support and encouragement of the community. There are no words to express my feelings at this jubilee except overflowing gratitude and profound trust and joy.
Psalm 117, one of my favorites, calls all people to praise God whose steadfast love and faithfulness endures forever. It is the closest biblical text I have found to match the saying I put on the cover of the worship aid for my final profession in 1980: “All I have seen teaches me to trust God for all I have
not seen.”
