By Annie
Klapheke
I
recently found myself waking up in Anapra, Mexico, after a sleepover with
Reyna, a five year old girl with Down syndrome, and Sister Carol, a member of
my local community. It was one of those
moments when I couldn’t help but ask myself, ‘How did I get here?’
I
am in my first year of formation with the Sisters of Charity of
Cincinnati. I live in our initial
formation house located in Anthony, New Mexico, just 14 miles from the
US-Mexico border. One ministry of my
local community is Proyecto Santo Niño, a center for children with special
needs in Anapra, Mexico. Reyna has been
coming to Santo Niño since she was 2 weeks old, and she is now thriving in her
first year of Kindergarten. Sister Carol
frequently stays overnight with Reyna and her family at their home in Mexico. I joined Carol in order to step a little
deeper into the lives of these special people.
It
was a cold November night in a simple home without heat, but Reyna, Carol and I
stayed warm tucked together in a double bed.
I woke up to Reyna’s little arm flung across my face, and I simultaneously
woke up to a realization: Religious life gives me the opportunity to
encounter and love people whom I
otherwise would have never known.
I’m
waking up to see the world through new eyes: the eyes of Christ.
MEET THE BLOGGER:
Name: Annie Klapheke
Congregation: Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati
Stage of formation: Affiliate
Hometown: Middletown, OH
Current Ministry: Dietitian
Seeing with new eyes! If we are called to wake up the world we need to see it with new eyes -- the eyes of Christ. And with these new eyes we will see Christ in the eyes of all we encounter. Your experience is a glowing example. Thank you for sharing it. S. Marie Pauline
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