Becoming A Dominican Sister (Sr. Maria Reginald) - Ep. 116

In this episode, Fr. Steve sits down with Sr. Maria Reginald, a Dominican Sister of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.

Sr. Maria Reginald shares how she discerned religious life and became a Dominican Sister, as well as her apostolate teaching high school math.

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📚SHOP BOOKS IN THE STUDIO:
Ignatius Press Study Bible (Personal Size): https://amzn.to/4bS3K0q
Catechism of the Catholic Church: https://amzn.to/3NFWb53
I Believe in Love: https://amzn.to/4sGff2i
Confessions (Tan Classics): https://amzn.to/48cMu4V
An Introduction to the Devout Life (Tan Classics): https://amzn.to/4sCUnZT
St. Gregory's Prayer Book: https://amzn.to/4deriPA

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu_uB2bUoOVGC6grNuTJ5Ag

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Father Steve Williams here on another episode of Saints in the Parish podcast. Happy to have you with us here. And we certainly do uh we pray for you often. Um one of the things we do is we pray for all those people that um that watch our podcast. And we make an effort, Don Paul, our our producer and our co-host, uh who's not here, he's here with us today, but not in in the podcast. But he will, don't worry, he will be back soon with our next podcast. I because I am blessed to have the Dominican sisters here and talk to us a little bit about religious life, women's religious life. They're here uh at St. Lawrence to help us with vacation Bible school. And what a great opportunity is for our young people that are at vacation Bible school to see the women's religious and they get a chance to talk to all of y'all because they, you know, each group comes through and uh and gets an opportunity to talk to you a little bit and they'll ask some questions. Did the high school students ask you a few questions today at lunch? I hope they did. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Okay, good.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

So uh so again, I'm what I like them to ask questions. So I'm gonna let you introduce yourself and just tell us a little bit about your story.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Sure. So my name is Sister Maria Reginald, and I'm one of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, mother of the Eucharist from Ann Arbor, Michigan. Yes, but I grew up actually in Texas, Austin, Texas. And so I was blessed. The really my the beginning of my story happens when I was in high school because the sisters, my sisters from my community, taught in my high school.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

So I don't know, looking back at my story and how I ended up in the convent, I can really see God worked with me so clearly. It's like, here, you're gonna go have these sisters teach you chemistry and teach you English and teach you whatever, so that you can actually see who they are and get to know them. So I grew up, um, I'm the older of two siblings, so my little sister and then me, and we both went to Catholic school K-8 and then also in high school. So that was a real blessing for us. And I really, especially now that I've been teaching in Catholic high school for five years, I really can see how impactful that is, that teacher-student relationship. And so I love to see what questions they have and everything, because I knew I know that when I was there, I had lots of questions when I was just sitting there in chemistry class. Like, sister, how does how does wearing the habit work every single day? Yeah, yeah. You know, just the little things you don't think about until you're sitting there in front of them. And so that really impacted me in my story. I knew nothing about the sisters except they looked cool and they were probably very holy. Um until one day in my theology class, our assignment was to watch Oprah. And that was the first time I was like, why are we watching Oprah in a Catholic high school? But the sisters had been on the program, and I remember sitting there watching just in my desk and seeing there's something beautiful about the sisters and even just about their mother house and the community. I felt something stirring in my heart as I was watching that video, and that inspired me to go and talk to the scary sisters, right? Not that they were scary in themselves, but just as a little freshman girl, I was like, I don't know who these people are. Um, and just to see kind of what they were like and how they were really actually very kind to all of the students. And I'll never forget one of my sisters, the very first day of science class, she said, We have a whole, I have a whole list of everybody's name, and I keep it in a very uh in one of my spots next to the chapel, like in the chapel next to the tabernacle. And just thinking that was really neat that this sister that I didn't know already had my name right next to Jesus because she really wanted to take me to prayer and really just to to lead me closer to God. And that was really cool. I already knew a lot about the Catholic Church from my time growing up with my family, but just to see how those truths of the faith could be lived out in a very personal, very real way with these sisters at school.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

And also isn't it amazing how you could bring uh the faith into math class or science class or history class, whatever subject it is you're teaching.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

It's true. And that's what I've been loving to do actually. So the past five years I've taught math in different high schools around the country. And just to see, it could be the way that we start class with prayer, it could be a question after the math lesson, it could even be let's get sister off track so we can learn less algebra today.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

And you know, they they'll they'll ask anything, anything from the do you do you wear the habit while you're really playing basketball? Like, how does that work? Or are sisters allowed to drive cars? Because I see you biking to schools, yes, we can drive a car, yes, we can vote. We have all these interesting questions to the really sublime question, sister, how do you pray, or what does the scripture really mean, or how do I know what God sounds like in my life? And so I love being able to see all those questions from all of the different age groups, even if it's as simple as giving high fives to the people, to the kid, the kids at VBS.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Just to say, we're a real people, we we're here for you, we're here for God, and just to try and make those little connections.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

And also, isn't there something really awesome in you know, the fact that you don't always get what you want? In other words, you have someone else that's going that needs you to do a particular apostolate. Yes. You know what I mean? So I don't get to pick what parish I go to. Yes, I don't get to pick. There's a lot of things that I don't get to pick. The bishop just says, I need you to do this, I need to do this, you know, and and I'm sure there's a certain blessing in that that you feel, you know, you just feel like that's the Lord leading you, you know, whether you end up teaching. And of course, I'm sure the superiors do their homework and make sure that you have a propensity toward math or science and and move you in that direction, but still you may not want to leave this school and go to this school, but that's what they need you to do. And there's a certain blessing in that, isn't there?

SPEAKER_00 5:41

There really is. I remember so when I was just starting to study after taking my first vows, right? I had entered the convent after high school, after I graduated at 18. And so I basically took three years as gap years to learn classes in the visit to go through that process of formation. So I was studying things like scripture or the catechism or Vatican II documents or what does it mean to be a sister 101. Um, and then going off to college. And I remember being called into the office of all the sisters who were just starting their studies, and we were all told, you're either going to be teaching math or science. That's what we need. That's what the community needs you to study. It's like, okay, well, I don't know what we're gonna do. Here we go. And I had told them in conversation before that I was pretty open to whatever they wanted to do. I didn't have any college behind my belt, I didn't have a propensity one way or the other. So I just said, you know, wherever you need me, just send me. But I did not think I'd be doing high school math.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Yeah, exactly. And and and yet here you are. So what what a blessing that is. Yes. What a blessing that is. And I would even say, I would go so far as to say, how many people in this world today, when they wake up in the morning, they struggle with what they're going to wear. I mean, they are so worried about whether this looks. I mean, so now we see videos made about people getting dressed. Yes. Like, please, Lord, stop. You know what I mean? I mean, I you if you uh it it is funny because my closet for the most part is all black. And I'm like perfectly happy with that. Exactly. You know what I mean? I mean, it's what it is, and so uh, so it's kind of a a a blessing, a freedom, a certain freedom in that too, that you don't have to worry about that. You're wearing what everybody else is wearing, and you know, and even uh the fact that you know all of y'all, you know, when you get together as a community, you just uh really kind of have an appreciation for what everybody else is doing too, not just not just what you're doing, though. And to be honest with you, there's a huge blessing when one of you are to do something really awesome, y'all all benefit from that. Oh, yeah. You know what I mean? So so it's really, it's really it's great, you know.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

So um I think the habit is really cool because it it forces people to think, you know. I'll tell the I'll tell the students, even the little ones, you know, oh I wear this every day. They're like, you do? And then you get to high school and the girls, do you have to wear that every day? No, I get to wear this every day. And to really tell them, you know, okay, your parents have wedding rings, right? And that's a symbol of your fidelity, of your commitment. And that's the same thing that I do every day. I tell them, this is my wedding dress. What other woman is so lucky to be able to wear their wedding dress every day of their lives?

SPEAKER_01 8:20

Oh, isn't that the truth? Well, how wonderful is that. So, any uh any ideas or suggestions that you might offer when someone asks you about something they can do to encourage some vocations to women's religious?

SPEAKER_00 8:32

Of course. I really think uh visiting Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in adoration is really a key thing. That's how our sisters start our day every morning with a holy hour. We wake up early and actually getting dressed is easy so that I can rush down to the chapel and be there on time. Um, but I think that all began because my mom had a holy hour on Mondays from 11 to noon. And during the summers, my sister and I would have to go with her. And of course, that started off with, oh my goodness, what am I gonna do for an hour? You know, I don't have my phone, I don't have anything else.

SPEAKER_01 9:02

That's like an hour's not enough. Exactly. It's great, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 9:05

And so just, you know, helping, inviting your your kids or the students or whatever to go and spend that time.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

We're very blessed to have an adoration 24 hours, you know, seven days a week adoration chapel totally dedicated to that. Not all parishes are as blessed. Um but but but let me just remind you that even if you don't have an adoration chapel close by your parish, you can certainly go in the church. And uh most churches are open during the day, and you can go in the church and you can just sit there and pray. Certainly the Lord is present in the tabernacle. Uh adoration is where he's exposed in the monstrance, and it adds a it adds another dimension to our prayer life when we're in front of the Lord. And uh it, you know, it really it really helps a whole lot. I was just telling um you know one of the other sisters what a blessing it was for our junior high kids to be on a retreat and they had adoration as kind of one of the climaxes of the retreat you know on Saturday night. And and and the young people couldn't wait to come and tell me how much they enjoyed it, how how powerful it was. And I was like, thank you. Because that'll be something they'll remember for the rest of their lives. Of course they would. Even as a seventh or eighth grader, they just had a huge impression of that. So uh want to take this opportunity to thank you for your vocation and pray for all of the sisters. Um, we like we enjoy doing that, praying for all the vocations to the religious life or to the priesthood or the aconite, however you know the Lord may be calling you. And uh certainly want to um encourage you to uh like this particular video. Um, you can ask us a question. You can uh there's so many ways that you can share this video if you think someone needs to hear it that wouldn't ordinarily get to hear it, you can hit the share button and send it to them. So there's a lot of opportunities. And one of the things I I like to think about is today with social media, there's a lot of um less than wholesome um social media out there that's not real healthy, certainly not spiritually healthy. And so what we're trying to do is take the social media and uh give make it an opportunity to make it healthy and wholesome and and give it a spiritual dimension so that we can reach more people. I like to think that if Jesus were around today that he would take advantage of using it somehow or another. Okay, I know it has um it has some really unhealthy dimensions to it, but we want to uh take it and make it um something really good. So you do that with your part, certainly by watching us and participating in this, but also uh sharing this with some people that you know that might really get something out of it. So God bless you.