In declaring 2015 to be the Year of Consecrated Life, Pope Francis invites us to deepen our relationship with God. We are all consecrated by baptism. God loves us very much and desires nothing more than for us to love him in return. We can do that by spending more time in prayer. Even 15 minutes a day can make a big difference! When we generously share this time with him in the midst of our busy schedules, he responds by making us more productive! As Pope Francis wrote, “You will find life by giving life, hope by giving hope, love by giving love.”
I didn’t always want to be a sister. When I was in high school, I avoided sisters as much as possible. I didn’t like to hear people pray for vocations, because I was worried that they were praying for me. I thought I’d be unhappy if I was a sister.
I went to a small Catholic college in my home state of Michigan. One of my friends there encouraged me to go on a discernment retreat with her. She told me that it is important for all Catholics to at least be open to having a calling to the religious life. I decided to attend, thinking that I could cross “discernment” off my list of Catholic obligations when the retreat was over. Knowing that there would be 100 other young women attending also gave me courage, because I knew that I could “hide” among them.
During the retreat, I did not get any clear messages from God about my vocation. However, the vocation director said that we need not be afraid of God’s call for our lives, because God will not call us to a vocation that we would be unhappy living. That resonated with me. I left the retreat feeling more open to God’s plan for me than I had before, but still believing that I would be called to marriage.
As college life continued, I became more inspired by the conversations of my guy friends who were passionately and devoutly discerning their vocations to the priesthood. I started seeing a spiritual director and spending more time in prayer. I still believed I was called to marriage, until one day I ran into my friend Patrick who was about to leave for seminary in Ireland. As he described the sisters whom he would be ministering with, I realized that I wanted what they had. I was filled with peace and joy at the thought. I said, “Patrick! I’m gonna be a sister!”
After that moment, I started looking at communities and found mine, on Facebook, of all places. I knew it was the right community for me because I felt at home there. I was truly blessed, because my parents supported my decision to respond to this calling. It was a sacrifice for them, but they also experienced God’s overflowing generosity.
Franciscan Sister of Christian Charity Sister Monica Martin is three years temporary professed. She is a teacher at St. Theresa School, Kekaha, and lives with her community at St. Francis Convent. Follow her religious journey at http://habituallyspeaking.blogspot.com/
