Meet Sister Jill Marie Reuber
Director of Vocations
I wanted to share a little bit about myself. I’m the vocation director for the community. This means that I walk with women who are discerning their call to religious life, and share who we are as Ferdinand Benedictines with all different groups and spaces.
I grew up in Celestine, Indiana, about 20 minutes from the monastery in Ferdinand, and my elementary school principal was also a sister. Even so, I never thought that this way of life could be for me.
While I was in college, I spent my spring break of freshman and sophomore year on a mission experience in the Appalachian Mountains at a place called Nazareth Farm, with other college students from around the country. We did service, prayed, and lived in community together. That was the experience that helped me to see that I desired community and prayer to be more prevalent in my life.
When I returned, I was invited to visit the Sisters of St. Benedict by the vocation director and other sisters. Once I started visiting, I realized that this was the place and the life I wanted to live for the rest of my life. I visited every chance I could. I had fallen in love with the community and the prayer life. I saw how the sisters truly loved each other and took care of each other. I also saw the prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours and the personal prayer of the sisters that sustained them in this life. I wanted this for the rest of my life. I also saw that I could be myself in this community. I don’t have to hide who I am.
“Know of my prayers and the communities’ prayers as you discern where God is calling you to go.”
I entered the community in 2003, made my temporary profession in 2006, and perpetual profession in 2011. I have a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in elementary education. I have taught in elementary school now for about 13 years. I have taught fourth grade, first grade, and second grade. In our community, we take vows of stability, obedience, and conversion to the monastic way of life. I have been asked by my prioress and community to take the role of vocation director. I have accepted this position whole-heartedly. I love sharing who we are as a community. I want to share the Rule of St. Benedict with others.
During my junior and senior years of college I worked at a summer camp for the Diocese of Evansville. I continued the discernment process and prayed about what God wanted me to do after graduation. I wanted a sign like a lightning bolt to show me what to do. At a daily Mass, the homily was about God not sending lightning bolts.
In August of 2003 I became a postulant, and in April of 2004 I became a novice and took the title of Sister. Then in 2006, I made temporary profession and in 2011 perpetual profession.
I look forward to sharing our charisms and our community with you. A little more about myself: I love to read a good novel, crochet, or watch a good football game. I am an avid Notre Dame and Colts fan. I also enjoy playing cards or board games. I look forward to journeying with you on whatever path you find yourself on.
Please feel free to reach out.
Email: vocation@thedome.org
Phone: 812-367-1411