Olympian Trades Speed Skating for Sisterhood

This is former Olympian Speed Skater Kirstin Holum

 

  

At the age of seventeen, Kirstin Holum competed in Nagano for the United States in speedskating. She was a prodigy, and she was expected to be a top contender in the winter sport for several olympics. 2010 could have been the year she reached her prime.

That was what was expected. That was her plan, and the plan of so many others. God had other plans.

Today, Kirstin Holum is Sister Catherine Mary Holum, CFR. She is pictured below, not in a speed suit or ice skates, but rather in a Franciscan habit, and with her fellow Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal.

There are a lot of news outlets that are covering and commenting on her story.

They are great reads, and you can read stories here and here, but I would like to share excerpts from Sister Catherine's own writings.

In her testimony on the CFR site, she says this:

Throughout most of my life, I was searching for the one true love. The love to fill a void in my heart that the "world" created in me. Not knowing or realizing or even contemplating the fact that Jesus was the answer, I strayed far from Him in many ways during college.
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My heart was ready. Jesus broke through the "noise"of the culture and healed my heart. When I met the CFR's , I saw in them such immense joy that I knew could only come from their love for Jesus. "I want to love Jesus radically like they do", I thought to myself.

And here is an excerpt from a letter she wrote about God's love.

I was recently at a youth retreat and during the lunch break one of the teenage boys asked me, “Why are you so cheerful all the time?” His question was sincere, and it seemed like he was surprised that it was possible for anyone to be happy for seemingly no reason. I said to him, “When someone dear to you, like your mom or dad or your best friend, says ‘I love you,’ doesn’t that make you happy?” He replied, “Yes.” “Well, when you know you are infinitely loved by God, then the only result will be happiness. And even when your mom or dad or best friend disappoints you, because their love for you is not perfect, you will still be happy because you know that the love of God will never fail you.”

For more information about the CFR Sisters, visit their site: franciscansisterscfr.com

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Hit the jump for more.

It's Monday: Smile!

So apparently St. Catherine's Parish now has a facebook group. And although that doesn't necessarily make me smile, this picture I found on the group's page does.

(There are several reasons this picture makes me smile, but my favorites are the cute little girl in the red dress... I imagine her saying: "And What?" and the little boy being strangled by his tiny scarf. Kyoots.)

[And besides it's a picture of RJ holding up sweet baby Jesus. If that doesn't make you smile, you, my friend, have a heart of stone.]