Sisters At Guest House Give A Gift To Cherish

I love to see the Sisters in treatment at Guest House. From around the country and around the world they come, bringing their burdens and their fears, but also their hope. Behind our gates, they confront the addiction that has caught them, interrupting their service to the world and to their Heavenly Father. They stay with us for four to six months or longer–praying and learning and studying, changing the ebb and flow of their days, working the 12 Steps.

And when the time is right they go home, renewed and reinvigorated, to once again share their gifts with the people they meet– in the classroom or the nursing ward or the parish office or on the street.

For those of us who live an ordinary life in an ordinary family or community, the simplicity of the sisters’ lifestyle and their gifts from the heart are an inspiration and a joy. In the administrative offices, we don’t see the sisters every day–but when we are invited to join with them for liturgy, their song and their thoughtful prayers are rich and warm. At a departure luncheon, when a sister leaves to return to her community, the friends she’s made prepare a special send-off: perhaps a song, a poem, a poster, a short play.

So it was that this year, seven sisters currently in treatment prepared a special song for our staff. With one on guitar and six angelic voices, they first sang it for us, then invited the Guest House staff to join in a sing-along to the tune of Marty Haugen’s “All Are Welcome.” Because of confidentiality requirements, I can’t share the happy photos–but here is the song, topped by their hand-painted manger scene.