Responding Together

Through every encounter we have, our lives are awakened and enriched.

I commenced my career in nursing at St Vincent’s Hospital in the 1970s. I did not see this merely as a job but as a way of helping people – a sense of service. I worked in many different hospitals gaining much experience in various aspects of nursing and education, my specialty being Medical Oncology/Palliative Care.

A precious memory I hold dear is the privilege of carrying the World Youth Day cross out of our church. I felt the transforming power of the Holy Spirit and was humbled to carry such a Sacred Icon.

This symbolic Cross teaches me to carry my own crosses with trust, humility, courage and hope. 

Saint Mary MacKillop looked upon the “[Cross] as proof of God’s love.” (1867)

An encounter with the wife of a terminally ill patient subsequently led me to a career change. The lady came into my office and shared with me the dilemma she and her family were facing regarding the care of her husband during the final stage of his life journey – did they have the capacity to bring him home and care for him, or should they arrange for him to be moved into respite care for whatever limited time was left to him. I had nursed my parents and a sibling through their final stages of life, so I had great empathy with the questions they were dealing with. At the same time, I was humbled that she would be asking my advice on such an important matter. 

After 47 years of marriage, her natural desire was to care for him at home. I remember telling her it would be difficult, but also the most rewarding experience and the last loving thing the family could do for their loved one. I advised the wife to ensure that she had good support for herself during this time. Three months later, I received a letter from this lady informing me that her husband had died, seventeen days after his discharge and return to his home. He died in her arms surrounded by his loving family. She thanked me for my encouragement and wise advice and said, “Iconsider you an angel God put in my path. God bless you”.

After this encounter, I started wondering if this path I was following was what God had planned for me now. I felt I was becoming more restless in my nursing role. A few months later I came across a flyer advertising for Certificate IV in Pastoral Care. I said, “Yes!” This is what all these ‘God’ signs are telling me. So, I enrolled and through this course, gained a deeper understanding of myself, the importance of listening and just being in the present moment.

With the events connected to the canonisation on 17 October 2010, I became more aware of St Mary MacKillop. Again, I felt unsettled, so I went to Mary MacKillop Place at North Sydney to find out more about her. While I was sitting in the garden at Mount Street, a Josephite Sister walked by and stopped to chat. Her advice was “Sit with it dear”.

The next morning at Mass, the Responsorial Psalm was “Here I am. I come to do your will”.  The banners hanging in the Chapel had Mary’s quote, “[Listen to] the whisperings of God to your own heart”. I found myself identifying with Mary’s charism, “… seek first the poorest and most neglected in God’s vineyard” and “Never see a need without doing something about it”.  It occurred to me that sentiments like these had underpinned all that I had done and was doing in my life and I needed to investigate how I might align myself more deeply in the charism and spirituality of Mary MacKillop.

Various Sisters of Saint Joseph shared with me ways I could be connected with and committed to living and ministering in the spirit of the Josephite charism. Thus, my journey began! As I progressed through the various phases of this program, I not only deepened my knowledge and understanding of St Mary MacKillop and Father Julian Tenison Woods, but also of myself.

How nourishing and spiritually strengthening was my journey of Immersion and Discernment of Call. At the same time some personal issues had me cling to this scripture passage, “You did not choose me, but I chose you.” (John 15:16) How affirming this was!

I have discovered that responding to a need in the spirit of the charism, can be something as simple as holding the hand of a dying person, praying with someone in their particular need, being a listening ear, and also includes self-care.

My life’s experiences have shown me, I am where I am meant to be, doing what God planned for me. I am grateful for people and events that have helped to shape my life – my community, discernment guides and others who have supported and encouraged me to make my commitment of Covenant with God and Affiliation with the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart on 25 March 2021.

Learn more about being a Josephite Affiliate – Covenant and other formal ways of Josephite Commitment here.

Jane Parsons
Affiliate – Covenant