Rest in Peace, Sister Karen Joseph

Sister Karen Joseph (rear) and 
Sister Mary Timothy during their
assignment together in Honolulu.
Note the bird!

Last Tuesday afternoon, the Lord called our Sister Karen Joseph home. She was 67.  With her were three members of the community and her brother. Being a Bostonian, she was able to have many family members at her side throughout her final weeks on earth; it was just a matter of which of them would be there at the final moment. 

But nobody remembered to tell the birds. I saw them yesterday, gathered at her bedroom window where she had set up an ingenious bird-feeding station that let the birds into a screened-in portion of the room (at least, I think it was screened in!), so she could enjoy watching them nibble the birdseed she set in place. 

The feeder had been at her workstation in the shipping department, where she presided over the warehouse and the outgoing orders while making sure that the local red-tailed hawk didn't get too close to any of her little winged guests. That was the thing we had in common, after our Pauline vocation. She would tell me when a particularly interesting bird had come. (She especially liked woodpeckers.) On Thursday, while I was praying my Rosary on the hill behind our burial chapel, I watched an Eastern Oriole perform an unusually showy display. Generally these brilliant birds stay in the upper canopy of a tree, and you can feel lucky if you get a glimpse of their vermillion chest feathers. But this bird spread its bright feathers open wide while swooping across at mid-height. It was like a greeting from "Sister Jo."

We had Sister Mary Timothy's funeral on Friday, with the burial chapel garden newly planted (just in time) with perennials sure to please the butterflies (and repel the deer). It was a comfort to all of us to be able to welcome Sister's family, after several funerals limited to the sisters and the priest. We are now preparing to welcome Sister Jo's family, and learning the songs she requested (even if one of them will be very hard to get through!).

Please pray for the eternal rest of these sisters who gave their "all" to Jesus and the Church, and for the comfort of their families, who were so very close to both of them.