VIRIDITAS: SOUL GREENING
Transitions and change
Interviewed by Sister Malia Dominica Wong, OP
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Letting go and being open to transitions in life can be really difficult for some people. I guess it is because of my background, being from China, that I have been able to pretty easily adapt to different assignments given in religious life. Transitions are not difficult for me because I was an immigrant and have lived in different cultures.
At 11 years of age, I came to Hawaii. I still remember being in the sixth grade in Lanakila Elementary School. Whereas all the kids were learning the regular subject matters, I was sitting in the back of the class learning my ABCs. When I was 14, I had met the Daughters of St. Paul, but I did not really enter the congregation until I was 26. I really took time to discern my vocation.
I graduated with a degree in political science and French and worked in the legislature for a few years. Having more experience in society helped me find what I really wanted. It was after a study abroad in France that I told my parents that I wanted to become a religious. My mom was concerned because all of the sisters she had met at that time were Caucasian. And Boston was so far away that she did not even know where it was.
When I first moved to Boston, there were challenges in weather, culture, and of even living a different lifestyle and schedule. I am a night owl. The convent schedule was regimented: 5:30 a.m. waking up; 6:10 a.m. morning meditation; 6:40 a.m. morning prayer; 7 a.m. Mass; 7:30 a.m. breakfast; 8:00 a.m. class, housecleaning, or helping in an apostolate. But there was a deep peace when I entered that has remained with me since.
In 2012, right after I made my final profession, I was asked to be the administrator for the book center, to oversee the financial aspects of the book center and the publishing house. This requires a lot of accounting skills. Even though I am Chinese, when I was at the University of Hawaii, I took philosophy and logic to replace my math credits because I do not like math.
I was in shock as to why I was being asked to carry out this role. There was no human reasoning that would let me say “yes” to the assignment. But after a short period of prayer and discernment, I said “yes.” And I found that because of God’s grace, I was able to fulfill the role for three years. Because I was open to it, to something greater than my own expertise or knowledge, I was able to fulfill it despite my feelings of weakness and human inadequacy, because of the grace of God. As St. Paul in his letters said, “My grace is enough for you.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
Sister An Mei Lam is a Daughter of St. Paul who was assigned in Hawaii. She is 15 years professed. This fall she left her position as director of administration for the apostolate in Boston, to assume the new assignment of formator of the postulants of the congregation. She resides with the Daughters of St. Paul, St. Louis Community in Minnesota.