No other job

I found a document on my laptop the other day, while I was tidying up and clearing various folders. At first I didn't recognise its name, but once I opened it I remembered... Some months ago a secondary school chaplain had asked me and some other religious to answer questions from her Year 8 pupils, as part of a project they were doing, and this document contained my answers. The questions varied, from what I wear to whether I've changed my name; what work I do to how often I pray and why I became a nun in the first place. And right at the end, a question asking: Can you have another job too? 

And this was my reply:

One of you asked if I could do any other job too. I’m not sure exactly what the question meant. If you mean my day job, what I get paid for, then yes, I could [...] But if you were asking could I be something else as well as a sister – then no, I can’t. Being a sister isn’t a job: it’s a lifelong, 24/7 way of life and a total commitment, reinforced by vows made to God. So, I can take a break from work, but I couldn’t take a break from being a sister – and actually, I wouldn’t want to. Being a sister feels incredibly right for me; it brings me a lot of joy and fulfilment and definitely feels like this is where and how God is calling me to be. 

In the past couple of weeks young RSCJ have made their first vows in France and Hungary, and a group of nine from around the world have begun their preparation for perpetual vows. And as I re-read my response, filled with gratitude for grace and God's fidelity and everything I have received over the years, I pray for them and for others seeking God, that they will all know deep joy and fulfilment, and the incredible rightness of where and how God is calling them to be...