Making God's Love Visible
By Donata Glassmeyer

S. Ramona Chisholm

For it is in giving that we receive –
St. Francis of Assisi

“I love what I do and I do what I love. I am living my spirituality. There is Holiness in this work,” says S. Ramona Chisholm, who serves as a psychiatric sister-nurse at the Lindner Center of Hope, a mental health care diagnostic and treatment facility in Mason, Ohio.

With her engaging smile and warm presence, S. Ramona looks toward the stone and glass façade of the Lindner Center and says, “You know, when you have a mental illness, no one brings you a casserole.” It is a sickness with many faces, many aspects.

“For me,” continues S. Ramona, “psychiatry is to listen with your heart, which is beyond hearing. It is to understand with your heart. [It is] a willingness to listen without judgment or with the intent to change. [It is] to be with someone on their journey to wholeness.”

Sister’s devotion to her ministry of caring for those who are mentally ill is palpable. “My work of ministering to people at their most fragile, at their most vulnerable, is a blessing. I receive far more than I could possibly give,” she explains.

Sister began her journey of healing as a child when she cared for injured birds, stray cats and abandoned dogs. “Much to the dismay of my parents, these displaced animals would become my pets,” S. Ramona explains. “With each adopted animal I would tell my folks, ‘Well, someone has to take care of them.’”

Later in her teens, S. Ramona remembers, “I decided I would become a nurse. That began my journey to the Sisters of Charity. I attended Regina School of Nursing in Albuquerque and after graduation I felt a call to serve, to deepen the gift of healing with a commitment as a Sister of Charity.”

With characteristic Sister of Charity humility, S. Ramona says, “This call to love as Jesus loved is my biggest challenge. This is a love without discrimination, without reserve and sometimes without reward or recognition. I work each day of my life to minister as Jesus would, and sometimes I fall short, but I start over knowing that this is what I have consecrated my life to … making God’s love visible to others.”

(From left) Sisters Martha Walsh, Mary Fran Davisson, Mary Lou Knapke and Ramona Chisholm traveled to Ground Zero during Holy Week 2002 with several women religious and lay people who participated in the Sisters of Charity Crisis Response Initiative.

During Holy Week 2002, four Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati traveled to Ground Zero where on Sept. 11, 2001, our nation was forever changed. S. Ramona was one of several women religious and lay people who participated in the Sisters of Charity Crisis Response Initiative, an endeavor that ministered to 9/11 rescue workers. S. Ramona found, “[the workers] welcomed the short respite from their work to have someone touch them, listen to them and experience the healing power of Christ.” (The Catholic Telegraph, April 19, 2002)

Of her time at Ground Zero, S. Ramona wrote this reflection on Palm Sunday, March 24, 2002: “We listen to the stories of the workers, who have been there ‘since it happened.’ We share in their sorrow, without trying to take it away. The words of S. Maureen Skelly, SC (Halifax Sister of Charity and police chaplain) echo in my mind … ‘We need people who are willing to stand at the foot of the cross.’ It’s not always easy to stand with the sorrowing. Only a few remained with Jesus. But isn’t this Jesus’ gift to each of us? ‘To love one another as I have loved you.’”

At the end of our time together at the Lindner Center of Hope, S. Ramona sighs, smiles and says, “Do I convey hope? Bring hope? To me, hope is a belief that there are solutions, that one can envision what cannot yet be seen. That I can offer a vision that things can be better is my hope.”

 

 

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