Sister Mary Eugenius
What more can I say about 70 years as a Sister of Providence?
I thought maybe it had all been said for my 50th and 60th anniversaries. However, I would like to share my favorite passage from the Book of Wisdom, 2:6-9, which gives me a good reason to celebrate yet again!
Come, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that exist, and make use of creation to the full as in youth.
Let us take our fill of costly wine and perfumes, and let no flower or spring pass us by.
Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither.
Let none of us fail to share in our revelry; everywhere let us leave signs of our enjoyment because this is our portion and our lot.
As Sister Lucille Dean, SP, commented at my 50th Jubilee:
“Lucy has graced our lives, she has challenged us, she has ministered to us; over the years she has even ‘annoyed’ some of us ordinary people!
“Through it all she has cared about and loved us. She has used her creativity and her artistic gifts to bring tokens of joy to the ordinary days of our lives. She has cluttered our meadows with her playfulness. We are richer because of her and the ways she has found to be a part of our lives.”
Life in retirement rife with opportunity
The words from Wisdom and from Sister Lucille have had a special impact on me through the two decades since Sister Lucille’s words were written.
Life in retirement at St. Joseph Residence has afforded me many opportunities to enjoy and share with the sisters, many of whom I have shared ministry with in the past. It also has given me a chance to see the Seattle that I did not have the opportunity to see during my teaching years here because those were busier times. My ministry in education and in art took me from elementary school to college and from Seattle to Southern California and Anchorage, Alaska.
Still time to annoy some
Today, I still have time for the good wines, the perfumes and the roses, and I even have time to “annoy” some people! My creativity has been my saving gift, and I continue to share that with as many people as I can, both in and out of the religious community.
While there is a decline in physical ways, my spirit of enjoying “the good things that exist” is still very much a part of who I am, for which I also am grateful to an ever-Provident God. I also am grateful to Divine Providence for having gifted me with a loving family and friends to share them. Their love and friendship has sustained me throughout these 70 years.