Running for a Habit!

+JMJ+
Hello everyone. My name is Brandi, I'm 27 years old and live in Saint Peters, MO with my family. I recently gave up my apartment, sold all of my furniture and most of my belongings in order to pay down my student loan debt so I can enter religious life as a Contemplative Benedictine Nun. I have been discerning a religious vocation for roughly three years and have found my future home - the Abbey of Saint Walburga in Virginia Dale, CO. www.Walburga.org

A bit of background about me:

I was not a "cradle Catholic". In fact, I spent 23 years of my life as an agnostic! But that all changed one January morning in 2009.

While driving to class at Maryville University in Saint Louis, I passed a unique building and had to stop in and see. The building turned out to be the Church for the St. Louis Abbey (a community of Benedictine Monks) and I fell in love instantly. I began talking with the Monks about the Catholic faith and started praying the Divine Office with them. After a year or so of discernment and study, I formally entered the Catholic Church at Easter of 2010.

After four years, my spiritual life has only deepened with daily Mass and praying the Divine Office with the monks three times a day. The austerity and simplicity of the monastic life was very appealing to me, so I began researching religious orders to visit for retreats. I never had the notion in mind to be a Nun! But God indeed has His own plan.

It wasn't until I visited the Abbey of Saint Walburga in the high deserts of Colorado that I heard Him speak to me, just as he promises in Hosea 2:14, "I will allure her. I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart". And after three years of prayerful discernment, I can now sing with the Psalmist "My heart is ready O God, my heart is ready"! To say that my journey to God has been interesting and littered with excitement is an understatement!

I plan to run the Joplin Memorial Run Half Marathon on Saturday May 10th and this blog is an effort to gain sponsorship, not only for my marathon but for my religious vocation!

All funds exceeding my goal amount will be donated to Mater Ecclesiae - an organization formed for the very purpose of helping men and women enter religious life who have financial difficulties.

Thank you for prayerfully considering sponsoring my run, which I lovingly titled "Running for a Habit"!

Pax Christi!

Brandi