Looking up at Sister, the little girl asked, “Sister, what happened when you were born, and your Mommy and Daddy found out that they had a baby nun!”
Well, we know it doesn’t happen quite that way, but just what is a call to religious life?
Every Sister has her own story. The common thread is that God somehow made His will known, and the Sister—perhaps after much indecision and inner struggle—finally took the next step and followed His call!
A call is a mystery! Why does He call some and not some others? Is He calling you?
God knows us through and through, better than we know ourselves, and He loves us deeply. He knows what would make us the happiest. Yes, we might be more or less happy in another vocation, but if we do what God is asking, we’ll experience peace and happiness in much greater abundance.
That doesn’t mean all will always be “peaches and cream.” All walks of life have some difficulties at times. In religious life, though, the joys as well as the peace of knowing we are serving God and His people, far surpass any difficulties!
Some Sisters knew from a young age that God wanted them to be a religious Sister. To others the call came later, maybe by surprise. “Who, me?”
Here’s the story of Sr. Alina Marie, who. grew up in Georgia and worked in Michigan before entering the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate (Some other stories are on our website.)
From my childhood, God poured His love into my heart and taught me how much He loves me through prayer and the regular reception of the sacraments. I came to a point where I knew without a doubt that God wanted me to belong to Him alone. I cannot describe how that realization had filled my soul with awe at God’s goodness.
When I went on a retreat in the 7th grade called Vocatio Deo, I saw religious sisters for the first time and realized that I deeply desired the radiant beauty of their lives. I wanted to be a sister!
I remember that when I spoke to one of them I said, ‘This is like heaven!’ Indeed, that retreat was heavenly. It was my first experience of communion with other girls my age singing and praying in a shared love for our Lord in the Eucharist – the taste of a rich communion that is the heart of religious life and that will spring into eternity.”
After that retreat and into high school and college, I continued to pray, and the knowledge that I was to belong to God alone never went away. I felt our Lord show me the yearnings of His Heart more and more.
In prayer, He helped me to see that He is always thinking of His lost little ones who do not come to Him and how He is always longing for them! I knew strongly that He was calling me to ‘go out and get them…go out to those who will not come to Me on their own.’ At one point, the words Christ spoke to Peter came to my heart as though He were speaking directly to me. ‘Do you love Me?’ He asked. ‘Feed my sheep.’
I knew I could not wait any longer. I looked for a community that went out in the way the Lord had impressed upon my heart and, through St. Joseph’s powerful intercession, I came to find the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate! Above and beyond what I had hoped for, God fulfilled all the desires of my heart! In this beautiful community, He feeds me in the deep contemplative life of prayer throughout the day and then He leads me to go out to bring others home to Him! What a gift to be a Parish Visitor of Mary Immaculate!”
APOSTOLATE IN OHIO
Our novitiate Sisters spent three months in Ohio recently, thoroughly enjoying the apostolate to souls! You saw in our last newsletter some photos of a Christmas pageant they organized; here are a few more photos:
Spending time with youth was
important,
as well as being fun!
Keep praying that God will give you the grace to know what He desires for you, and that you’ll have the courage to do it! Jesus says to those He calls, “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, to go forth and bear fruit.” (John 15:16)
We are praying that those God is
calling will answer YES!
Is He calling you?
God bless you!
In Jesus,
Sister Dolores Marie