The Dubuque Presentation community welcomed Rachel Dunlap as a candidate on October 2, 2021.
During the welcoming ceremony, we prayed, “May you dance with the God of Delight and be strengthened by the love of your family and all those who claim you as sister and friend. May you be attentive to the stirrings of the Spirit within you. And may you find lasting peace in the sure knowledge that you are precious in God’s sight. We pray this in Jesus’ name. AMEN.”
May the thoughts in this prayer accompany Rachel as she joins Sisters Joan Brincks and Marge Healy in living community. During this candidate year, Rachel will be accompanied by the sisters as she continues seeking a relationship with God and growing in community. May she come to see life as God desires it for her.
We thank Sister Jessi Beck, members of her affiliate group and all others who connected with and walked Rachel these past several years. We are attuned, as was Nano, to God’s call coming to us from the depths of our own experience in our own life. We celebrate the continued unfolding of our Presentation story as we reflect on the words of Sister Corine Murray, PBVM:
Rachel’s Entrance
Tethered to the stirrings of the spirit
and readied by prayer
a discerning seeker
knocked at our door
to journey
into newness of time and place
in her quest
for the living God