The one thing young Martha Herzog knew she would aspire to when she grew up was a large family. An only child who had lost her mother as a toddler, Martha craved the companionship and chaos of a large, bustling household.

Sister Stefanie shares stories from her experience as a Benedictine monastic sister

Hank had been sleeping on benches at Starved Rock State Park near LaSalle/Peru, Ill., since summer. A polite and gentle man, Hank had graduated from college and attended medical school before being sent to Viet Nam. He had returned frightened of noise and commotion, and had taken refuge in the quiet of nature. It took the determination of a Benedictine Sister to find him shelter.

Sr. Bobbi had been active in her parish throughout high school, but had drifted away from the church in college. "I did my fair share of partying," she remembers, "but I also began to know what my gifts were. I really liked organizing activities, and thought I wanted to run a student union some day.

Mother Teresa was the stereotypical nun. Self-effacing, self-sacrificing, hard-working and always in prayer, she seemed to embody saint-like qualities. She held the hands of lepers as they died ... but felt no faith. Here are some lessons for us.

From the small river town of Nauvoo, Illinois, the Sisters of St. Benedict supported the Civil Rights Movement. Unified in prayer, they followed their consciences in different activities. Sr. Barbara Vaughn went to Birmingham to teach at an all-black college while other Sisters taught respect, tolerance and equality to their students in Nauvoo. Sr. Helen Carey marched from Selma to Montgomery as others staged a march on the Nauvoo village park. Many attended presentations by members of the Fort Madison, Iowa, NAACP. In southern Illinois in the 1960's, that kind of behavior was radical.

A tsunami survivor needs Benedictine Sister to be present to her: "We didn't have a common cultural experience, but we did have a common human experience. We had a common understanding of fear, loneliness and physical discomfort, and we connected there.”

When Sisters Martha Herzog and Rosemary Murphy entered the Sisters of St. Benedict, they became part of a 1500-year-old tradition of seeking God in community. For Benedictines, that means praying, working, eating, conversing and enjoying leisure together. For Srs. Martha and Rosemary, community life has meant family.

Catholic nuns built schools to both educate and shelter children in need. The Benedictine Sisters of St. Mary Monastery established their school in Nauvoo, Ill., in 1874. Here's the story of one young girl's experience there.

Practicing prayerful decision-making, or discernment, is a key element of religious life but can work for anyone. It’s the natural result of being in relationship with God, and of seeking God in all things. It’s the natural result of prayer. Here's how to do it.

Sr. Martina entered the Benedictine community almost 70 years ago, at the age of 18. It wasn’t her first or even her second choice. She had admired the long rosaries swinging from the waists of her early teachers, the Notre Dame Sisters, enough to want to join their community … at least as a first grader. Later, nearing young adulthood, she considered becoming a Carmelite Sister. Here's how she ended up with the Benedictines.

We tend to think of Catholic Sisters as having been perfect, pious and dutiful all their lives. So when we hear a Sister say she might have been a little wild in her younger years, we are surprised.

Whether trying to teach young Sisters how to work in the kitchen (one Sister dumped congealing grease down the sink, thinking it was it was 'dirty water'; another Sister, following orders, put a ham into the oven ... without a pan), or sleeping on cots in the kitchen to keep marauding campers from pilfering snacks in the middle of the night, Srs. Anne Newcomer and Norberta Vandersnick can offer plenty of entertaining tales – along with a few lessons - from their years of service there.