Sr. Josephine Garrett
I am a native Texan, born and raised in Houston, TX. When it was time to go to college I was attracted to the University of Dallas because the people seemed nice, it was far enough from home, but not too far, and I liked the idea they talked about, being an “independent thinker.” I had no idea it was Catholic! Although raised Baptist, raised to know and love Jesus, and to know and love scripture, in college none of those loves were a priority for me. I was focused on having a blast with my friends. There was a blessing in this mess because some of the friends I made during those college years have become life long friends.
During my time at the University of Dallas I grew in respect for the Church, and I would also say there was a sense of awe. The Church flooded my senses. As a University of Dallas student, I participated in the Rome semester program, and was able to encounter Pope Saint John Paul II several times. To me, a Baptist girl, I saw in him an amazing preacher. I was clueless to so much that was going on around me, but I knew he was speaking about the God I was taught to love as a child, but what resonated through me was that he was saying so much more.
I graduated from the University of Dallas and entered a career in banking. There was a religious sister who I would help with her accounts pretty regularly and one day she handed me the number to an RCIA director on a post it note. I didn’t call that number right away, I held on to that tiny post it note for months, and eventually called and entered RCIA. At Easter Vigil March of 2005, two years after graduating from the University of Dallas I received the sacraments of confirmation and the Eucharist.
I saw myself as pretty much all done! For the next four years I would go on to be a Sunday only Catholic, and a frequent flyer in the confessional line. But, I then had a chance to return to Rome, now, as a Catholic. I went to confession at Saint Peter’s and to Mass there. This changed something in me. I returned from that trip and sought out a spiritual director to help me grow beyond being a Sunday Catholic and to respond to the ongoing promptings of the Spirit that had taken up residence in my heart and were telling me to serve my Church more intentionally.
My spiritual director taught me to pray. He placed me in conversation with God, and eventually one day, in the presence of the exposed Blessed Sacrament, I was able to hear the possibility of a call to religious life. I was caught off guard. I was telling Jesus we are not doing Sister Act 3. My spiritual director helped me to see discernment in a more proper light, as a slow journey; Jesus is usually slow and mindful, it’s us who are hurried and frantic. A friend randomly invited me to attend a discernment weekend with her, more as her wing man than anything else. I eventually served as her maid of honor, and the Sisters she introduced me to that day were the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, now my order, where I professed final vows this past November.
I visited the Sisters regularly for two years before entering as an affiliate/candidate. What drew me to the Sisters was that they were incredibly unique, yet one in the spirit of the Holy Family. Also, that our community does not focus on only one type of apostolate, but rather focuses on how our gifts can be put at the service of the present needs of the Church. Being a Nazareth Sister has been the 2nd greatest surprise that God had in mind for me in my life that I would have never imagined for myself. The 1st was being Catholic.
I was asked when writing this to answer the questions where did I wander, when did I come home, and what has Jesus taught me about this journey. Frankly, we are all wandering. Frankly, we are not home. We taste home in each reception of the Eucharist, our longing and identification with hope grows, with each reception of the Eucharist. But we are pilgrims, we are prophets, proclaiming the Kingdom of Love and the call to be one family in God. That’s our journey, until all are reconciled in Christ.