1. In his message about St Francesca Cabrini, Tim shared about Francesca’s vow, made very early in her life, to give her life to the service of God.

Did you make any “vows” as a child or young person? Were they made to yourself or to someone else? What were they? If not, what kind of vows might you have made?  

For those who made some sort of vow or commitment: Did you keep them? For how long? To what extent was conscious choice involved?  

Considering things from this vantage point in your life, how do you feel about the vows you made or, if you didn’t, vows you might have made?

What vows might you make today in your life for the years ahead? What areas of your life feel most “vow-worthy?” Why?

2. Born as a preemie, and deeply affected (both physically & psychologically) by a near-drowning experience in her youth, a significant feature in mother Francesca Cabrini’s life was her lifelong physical vulnerability & infirmity. She was also a woman and, eventually, an Italian immigrant to America, at a time in which neither of those standings offered her any privilege.

While no two people share identical life or physical circumstances, we’re often tempted to compare ourselves (& others) to those who, like Cabrini, seem unfazed by significant hardship and difficulty. We can allow one’s person’s success or accomplishments to function as a judgment against or diminishment of ourselves and others whose stories & outcomes seem different.

Is this something you struggle with? How a big role does comparison play in your inner (or outer) life? What does that look like for you? Is there a difference between the ways in which you compare yourself to others and the way in which you compare other people to one another?

When you hear someone else praised, are there times when you feel inspired? Jealous? Chastised? Challenged? What factors seem to affect the way you respond? The context in which context praise is being delivered? Your similarity (or lack of) to the person being recognized? What else? Consider some of the variables in situations like these; what do you notice about your responses and actions? What surfaces as you reflect?

3. Despite a long list of impressive and large scale accomplishments, Mother Cabrini spent 4 to 6 hours in prayer each day. Setting aside the obvious question of “how!?,” what might you guess about the “why?”

Assuming 4-6 hours of prayer isn’t a usual part of your daily life, and acknowledging the pressure some of us may feel to try to “win” at prayer-life, take a moment to consider what your current prayer life (or lack of) looks like. Try to set aside judgment of yourself and, instead, focus on Mother Cabrini’s idea of standing in for the disciples who fell asleep on Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane.

If this principle were to guide your own life in prayer, what impacts would that make? What would change? What might the identifying features of your prayers become? How do you think it would affect you over time?

Mother Cabrini is praised for her fearless faith and fortitude, as well as her tireless work on behalf of immigrants and the marginalized. What links do you see between these aspects of her outer life and the realities of her prayer life as we know it?

What, in your own practice of prayer (either now or in the past), has impacted your life?

Is this conversation causing you to reflect on the nature of prayer in your life today? If so, how so?