I did not meet a Sister of Mercy until I was an adult. There were three things about the sisters that impressed me the most: an infectious spirit of joy, a passionate commitment to service to God's people, and most important, a deeply moving quest for God. These women were real people, comfortable with themselves and easy to be with.

Time spent with these Sisters of Mercy stirred in me my own hunger for union with God coupled with a deep desire to give my life for the good of others. I knew that a life as a vowed religious sister in the company of these Sisters of Mercy would enable me to fulfill my own deepest longings.

In the time since I entered, we have remained the same and yet changed radically. We are the same in our core: a continuing quest for God within the context of community and an ever-deepening commitment to service, all with a pervading sense of joy.

The needs of our Church as well as our society and her most vulnerable members have called us to radical change, to broaden our mission into many different ministries. These needs have offered new avenues of study and challenged us to grow--all of which are very exciting and speak to the alive and life-giving nature of the Sisters of Mercy today.

If you are feeling a stirring deep inside to do something unique and special with your life, if you yearn to go deeper, to satisfy a desire for God in a life of dedicated service in the Church, then I invite you to pause in the midst of these busy times, listen carefully to your heart and consider the Sisters of Mercy as a place where you can more fully respond to the desire for more. Who knows what possibilities await!