Welcome to Day 4 of National Vocations Awareness Week. Today we have a remarkable story from a young female religious, Sister Mary Luke Feldpausch.
Sister Mary Luke is a native of Most Holy Trinity Parish in Fowler who is now a novice with the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma. At present, Sister Mary Luke is working with the order’s mobile medical clinic which travels through the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee to care for people without health insurance. Here is Sister’s story:
“Hello from Tennessee! My name is Sister Mary Luke Feldpausch, and I am a novice with the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Michigan. As a native of Fowler, Michigan, and Most Holy Trinity parish, I completed three years of medical school at Michigan State University before taking a leave of absence from medical school to enter the convent. I am now beginning the second year of my novitiate, and God-willing, I will make first temporary vows in one year.”
“For the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Michigan, after one year of postulancy, we enter the canonical novitiate, which is one year dedicated to building a strong foundation in our relationship with the Lord and learning more about becoming a consecrated religious through classes, prayer, meetings, and service. After the canonical novitiate which takes place at our Motherhouse in Alma, we are sent on our first missions to another one of our convents. I was sent to Knoxville in Tennessee to work with our mobile medical clinic, alongside Sister Mary Lisa who is a physician and the medical director of the clinic. The mobile clinic travels through the Smoky Mountains to various rural sites to care for people without insurance, and it has been a privilege to serve on this team for the past few weeks.”
“I am most excited to learn from Sister Mary Lisa how to become a Sister-physician since we are always a Sister first in our apostolic work. Prayer is the primary focus of our community, so I am learning to integrate an intensive prayer life with serving in this new capacity, and it has been such a blessing. Next year, I will return to medical school at Michigan State University to complete my final year of clinical rotations to become a physician. I ask the Lord each day for grace to do all things for Him with great love since the love that animates our actions (whether that be serving in the clinic or unloading the dishwasher at our convent!) is most important. These past two years have been such a gift, and I am excited to see what the Lord has in store in the future! Please pray for me, and please be assured of my prayers for you!”
• Do you feel God may also be calling you to religious life? Contact Dawn Hausmann, Director of Consecrated Vocations at the Diocese of Lansing on 517-342-2506 or dhausmann@dioceseoflansing.org
