Page 3 - Summer Solemnities - Visions

lives in Flagstaff, Arizona. A few years after answering the call to become a secular Franciscan,
she received another kind of call--on the phone. Mary Esther was asked if she would mentor
a young man named Joe who wanted to be a Franciscan. There was just one problem. Joe was in prison.
Mary Esther and Joe began writing to each other. She showed him how to pray with the Gospel. “I discovered a real depth to Joe. He had wisdom and insights that really spoke to me. Several times Joe brought me to my knees with his comments and observations.
I might be Joe’s mentor in Franciscan things, but Joe was quickly becoming my mentor too.”
Mary Esther explains that Joe cannot make a commitment in a religious community because he is a prisoner. “But his heart is Franciscan. More so than mine,” she said.
Every night, Joe and Mary Esther share the evening prayer of the Franciscans by phone. Joe lives the Gospel as best he can by sharing small kindnesses with other prisoners. It is not easy.
Mary Esther describes their friendship as a gift. “I am his eyes to the outside and he is my eyes to an inside society that I would never be exposed to. My
personal awareness of justice and injustice has grown tremendously.
So, in a sense, he ministers to me as much as I
minister to him. Then I share
his story. So now who’s doing the ministry? Joe and I together.”
For Clarey McInerny, the words that changed her life were direct. She was in graduate school when a professor asked, “Why don’t you become an oblate?” Clarey had attended the College of Saint Benedict in
St. Joseph, Minnesota, and knew the Benedictine sisters from the monastery well. She had even thought about becoming a sister. Once she learned that oblates are laypeople who can be part of the Benedictine community, she knew it was the right fit for her. “I was like, this is perfect. This is what I should be.”
Since becoming an oblate, Clarey has gotten married. She now has two children and teaches theology at a Catholic
high school in Minneapolis. “My students sometimes
ask, ‘are you a nun?’ I have to remind them that I’m married and have kids,” she says. She tells her students that while Benedictine spirituality fits who she is, “you have to find the way that fits you, and the way God wants you to live your life.”
Clarey appreciates the structure and accountability
she gets as an oblate. “The sisters don’t say, ‘Have you
been praying?’ It’s not like that. They might send an email to everyone with a prayer resource, for example. They just keep feeding you and giving. They’re constantly lifting you up and helping you be successful.”
“
1 What words did John, Mary Esther, and Clarey hear that changed their lives?
2 What appeals to them about their ministries?
3 Which of their stories has the most impact on you? Why?
4 What are the different ways John, Mary, and Clarey speak and guide others?
”
The Most Holy Trinity Visions • 3
SAMPLE
Pflaum Publishing Group
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Clarey McInerny is a wife, mom, and high school teacher who is also a Benedictine oblate.
Mary Esther Stewart is a retired teacher, grandmother, and a secular Franciscan.
Oblates live out in the world, but they have a spiritual home at Saint Benedict’s Monastery.