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Lay All Your Troubles Before the Lord
The Reverend Sarah Bronos
My last year of seminary was spent at Nashotah House in Wisconsin. I went there knowing that there would be quite a few seminarians from dioceses that did not acknowledge women's ordination. I did not go with the intention of changing their minds. I went because I believed this was where God was calling me to go, and also because of the training I knew they offered.
The call to the priesthood had been affirmed within the parish community and God had already reduced many apparent obstacles in my path to rubble. However, after a little over a month at "The House" I started to question whether I truly was where God wanted me to be, and indeed whether I was on the right path. It was difficult day after day to be confronted with classmates, who although very gracious, nonetheless felt very strongly that women should not be priests.
I spent some time in prayer one evening asking the Lord to reveal to me whether I should continue on this track towards ordination to the priesthood, or whether the training to date was for another purpose. The following morning I attended Morning Prayer and then went to breakfast. As I was leaving the refectory, a man I did not know (he was one of the distance learners who had come for their residential component) came up to me and introduced himself as Jim. I shook his hand and said, "Hi, I'm Sarah." He said: "Yes, I know who you are ... and I don't normally do this ... but in my quiet time the Lord told me to tell you ... you are completely on track and you are exactly where you are supposed to be ... Does this make any sense to you?" It was not until later on that I was composed enough to let him know just how much "sense" his words did mean to me!
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