Daily Meditation for February 21, 2025

Today, February 21, is our dear Sister Jonathon Herda’s 102nd birthday. Last summer, she celebrated her 80th year of monastic profession. Daily, she sprightly walks the halls with her walker, participates in joining the community for prayers three times a day, and fully participates in all the activities here at Saint Scholastica Convent. For 22 years, she served in the radiology department at St. Cloud Hospital—12 years as staff technician and eight years as department head. In 1966, she was asked to go to St. Benedict’s Hospital in Ogden, Utah, to direct their radiology department to an accredited college-affiliated program. In 1977, she refocused her ministry. She completed the Clinical Pastoral Education program and certification of Catholic chaplains and later established, directed and supervised the CPE program at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, Wash. She says she thinks she’s lived this long because she is always happy and has always loved what she did.

By Sister Marlene Meierhofer, OSB

Photo: Sister Jonathan Herda (left) and Sister Laura Suhr.