The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur gather for Mass six mornings each week in the chapel on campus.
From my office down the hall, I can hear the Sisters singing in the chapel during Mass. Six days a week, they gather to celebrate the Eucharist, to pray, and to sing. Their voices raised in song cause me to pause while a sense of peace infuses the air and settles into me.
Lead me, Lord, Lead me Lord, by the light of truth… to seek and to find the narrow way.
I had been listening to the news on the way to work and turned it off prematurely. So much violence and conflict around the world and in our country. The darkness feels heavy. Just where is that light of truth anyway?
Perhaps finding the light of truth requires daily prayer, asking the Lord each day to lead and then show us. I think about the Sisters and how the acts of prayer and connection to God lead them to not only find the narrow way, but to walk it.
Walking the narrow way is rarely easy. It certainly wasn’t for the eight French Sisters who, in 1840, followed a call to leave France and come to Cincinnati to help educate and support immigrants. They got on a boat not knowing the English language or what was ahead of them. Nevertheless, they followed the narrow way and changed the trajectory of countless lives. Their influence trickles down to us today.
Be my way, be my truth, be my light my Lord, and lead me Lord, today.
Sisters around the world and close to home continue to follow the narrow way no matter where it leads. They follow it to the most remote villages in the Congo and Latin America where access to clean water is a luxury. They minister to migrants and asylum-seekers in detention centers at the border. They share hope and necessities with people experiencing not only homelessness but serious medical conditions.
They do this not only with prayer and connection to God, but in community. There is a reason Jesus sent the disciples out two by two. Walking the narrow way alone is much too hard.
I’m fortunate enough to be surrounded by these enjoyable women whose lives mirror the goodness of God, to be privy to their wisdom, their stories, and their humor. They strengthen my trust in the Lord and bring me a sense of peace despite the turmoil casting darkness over our world.
We invite you to be a small part of this beautiful community by participating in Life The Good service opportunities. Volunteering alongside the Sisters is a wonderful way to join them in making known God’s goodness. There are also plenty of other ways to get involved such as welcoming new Sisters to Cincinnati and showing them around town, driving them to medical appointments, helping serve and assist them at special celebrations when they all gather for a meal together, or simply visiting. They have so many amazing stories to share!
The light of truth is much easier to find among the Sisters, and walking the narrow way is a gift I hope you will discover in 2026.
Be well. Do good.
