My Beloved lifts up his voice. He says to me, “Come, then, my love, my lovely one, come. For see, winter is past, the rains are over and gone.”

The Song of Songs 2:10

 Sister Paula Kersting died on Friday evening, September 9, 2005 , after a lifelong struggle with a totally debilitating illness.

What can be said of a life that is spent almost entirely in suffering? Surely, Sister Paula's life was not one of cavorting in the hills and valleys, seeking her heart's desire, as we read in The Song of Songs. From the time her disease first manifested itself some 40 years ago, it was all that she could do to take a single step. And her final years were a study in total helplessness. We watched her struggle to turn a page in her hymnal. She could barely hold the chalice to receive the Precious Blood of Christ. Her work as an educator was no longer possible. Her hoped for ministry in Physical Therapy was an unfulfilled dream.

We cannot know, either, of the terrible struggle she must have had interiorly. Surely her spirit must have cried out, when her human nature took control: “Lord! What have I done to be so severely punished in this life?!” Surely she must have struggled to be patient in her helplessness; to be kind when she wanted to lash out at the unfairness of her situation; to smile when she wanted to weep.

But she was a religious who remained true to her vows, true to her call to follow our Lord. Jesus came to her daily, in private prayer, in the Liturgy and the Eucharist. If she could not minister directly, she could and did minister through her prayers and her suffering. We can never know fully in this life, the power of the prayer that comes from a person who has nothing to offer but her very self. Nor will we ever clearly know the graces brought down on this Community by the prayers of such a soul as Sister Paula.

Now, in death, which is really new life, she can leave behind her tortured body, her wheelchair, her pain and suffering. Now, we can imagine her saying:

I hear my Beloved,
See how he comes
leaping on the mountains,
bounding over the hills….
My Beloved lifts up his voice,
He says to me,
“Come then, my love,
my lovely one, come.
For see, winter is past,
The rains are over and gone.

The Song of Songs 2: 8,10

 

May Sister Paula experience an eternal spring; an everlasting freedom from all that transpired for her on earth. May she know the infinite love of her Beloved, Jesus, now that she is one with Him, in ways beyond her wildest imaginings.

SJA
Feast Day: October 20

Birthday: April 8

 

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