"I might not have been to Church for a long time but I had never stopped talking to God or He to me."
...I didn't go to Church again until I was fifteen. By then I was working as a Saturday girl in Woolworth’s and on Good Friday I was sitting on the till and I just had this overwhelming sense that I needed to go to Confession. During my lunch break I went into the local Catholic Church that was a few feet away from the shop. I was so unsure of what to say and not really sure of why I was there so after waiting in the queue for my turn to come I went into the confessional box and began with the words I could remember from my confessions as a small child: "Bless me Father, for I have sinned." I then said: "I am not sure if I believe in this." Then without stopping went on to mention what my sins were. When I stopped the priest said: "If you don't believe in this I am not sure that I can give you absolution." I might not have been to Church for a long time but I had never stopped talking to God or He to me and in an instant I realised that if the priest did not give me absolution then my sins would separate me from God ... from my Father and I wanted to cry out "Oh, no, please don't do that." But, before I could speak, in the space of what seemed an eternity I heard the priest say "But, I will give you absolution anyway."
That was all I needed, I went back to Mass and to regular confession. I didn't want to be separated from the one whom I knew loved me more than anyone else I knew or would ever know.
Years later I went to a Catholic Teacher Training College and then began my career as a Catholic school teacher. I thought that would be my life until I retired because I had wanted to teach since I was five. But God, my Father had other plans. Whilst trying on my wedding dress I heard Him ask me to 'be a nun'. I said "No," and went out and bought the dress but each day I kept hearing the invitation and having known God talk to me since I was six I knew it was Him. So six weeks away from my wedding I called it off and then looked at were to enter.
After a year and a half I joined the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena and later became part of a new congregation called 'The Dominican Sisters of St. Joseph'. On my Final Profession I thought I would burst with joy because while I lay on the floor in the form of a cross I could actually hear the angels singing but I also knew that my heavenly Father was at that moment inviting me to take up the cross as part of my new journey. A cross I had already known but one that would have greater meaning with every passing year.
As a small child sitting in the Church looking up at the crucifix I used to ponder why there weren't more people in the Church when it was even then the most important thing in my life because it was the home of my Father. Now, as a Dominican Sister of St. Joseph I am in a privileged position of being able to preach the Gospel to all ages and all peoples. I even head up something called Fanning The Flame which is a Catholic Mission to children, youth and adults but that is a story for another time, a story that has taken me to Lithuania twice and has enabled me to share my experience of my Father with many people.