The Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia

Sister Patricia Novak, OSF

Many times children are asked what they want to be when they grow up. For me, the answer was often "a nurse nun"! Well, the nurse part didn’t happen in my life but entering the convent did! My story is not very exotic. I never dreamed of being a missionary or doing extraordinary things. I just wanted to be a "Sister" like the ones I knew. I imagined myself helping others like they did.

Thoughts of being a sister always seemed to be there. Growing up in a small Oregon town, my siblings and I attended the local Catholic school. Even at the age of five or six, I knew there was something unique about the Franciscan sisters who taught us. I experienced the sisters as welcoming, happy people. They were teachers, artists, and musicians. They lived together above the school, got up early for Mass and prayers, worked hard but had time for others, and shared what little they had with the beggars that came to their kitchen door. I was drawn to their way of life and wanted to imitate it.

As I matured into middle school, the idea of entering the convent was the last thing I wanted people to know I was thinking! We all like options in life and I was trying to keep mine open! I wanted to go off to college, date, travel, and be on my own.

Yet the "notion" of being a sister never left me. As a young adult the things that I thought I wanted didn’t really satisfy me. I was being called to be a part of something greater than myself to a lifestyle I saw in the religious that I was acquainted with. I needed to respond to that persistent nudging inside that wouldn’t go away. God was inviting me to say yes to a life of prayer lived in community and to being of service to those around me through a religious congregation.

A Sister of St. Francis of Philadelphia for more than twenty-five years now, I found myself thinking about my vocation when I was driving down the freeway. I’m sure many people wonder at times if they are on the right path in life. As a religious today, when society often challenges a Church-committed, celibate life style, my mind was playing devil’s advocate to my heart with a lot of questions! Then, as I heard news of violence, disasters, poverty, and war on the radio, it didn’t take long for my inner voice to shout out the conviction "Our world needs this way of life!"

With that insight in the car that day, I knew God was inviting me to reaffirm the "call" I felt many years before and to continue to say "yes" to Jesus’ command to feed the hungry, heal the broken, give sight to the blind. Indeed, the vocation of a religious sister is still a valid lifestyle in our Church and in our society. With God’s guidance I embrace the words of my congregation’s Commitment Statement, "We are willing to take the necessary risks to be a healing, compassionate presence in our violent world."  How our world needs that today!