VIRIDITAS: SOUL GREENING
Interviewed by Sister Malia Dominica Wong, OP
Hawaii Catholic Herald
The day my sister got married, my father asked, “Who is next?” I responded, “Me!” His joy turned into disappointment tinted with a bit of anger when I told him I was of age. I was 26 then and had already been in contact with the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts. My mother took the news better. She said, “If that is what you want, go ahead. But don’t tell your other sister, one in the convent is enough.”
Although we were all baptized Catholic, my family didn’t regularly go to church. When we lived in Palolo during World War II, we used to walk to a church by Jarrett Intermediate. My father worked in a factory in Waialae making coconut buttons. My sisters and I worked there on Saturdays and during the summer to help with our tuition. Later, when we moved to Kalihi where I went to Fern School, I attended catechism classes at St. John the Baptist Church. We still did not regularly go to church as it was far away and we did not have a car. It was only before my brother left for the war that he asked me to go to church and I began attending daily Mass.
When I look at my friends, my family life was really different. We didn’t have much money and never went to the movies, but we were well-fed and clothed, always clean and had a lot of love. It was one day as I was sitting under a Kukui nut tree in Palolo reading, that I heard a voice say to me, “Why don’t you be a sister?” In my heart, I said, “Why not? You gave me all these years, why not give You my life?” I didn’t even know what a religious sister was then. God just chose me.
I never imagined that I would be missioned to Japan, India and the Philippines — I, who never even went around the island of Oahu until right before I entered the convent. If I am asked to go on another mission, I am ready to go. Although people say I should retire, I love teaching. And, while I still have my head and still can walk, I will continue to cater to the children, especially those with special needs. The work that I do is not for me, it is for them.
Every day when I make my adoration, I pray for the world that God will protect his people from harm. Whatever I read in the newspaper, I bring that before him too. I just pray from my heart. And, when I am dry, I say “Lord, I am too tired” and just sit there in his presence. Even if I fall asleep, I am missioned to pray in reparation for the world. What does making reparation consist of? It is like offering myself through prayer not to get angry that quickly, to ask God for the grace to become more compassionate and patient. I really enjoy these periods of prayer that continue to connect me with the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in the deep quiet that first drew me to prayer of adoration.
Sister Joseph Mary Cefra is a Sacred Hearts Sister. She has been professed 53 years. She enjoys teaching at St. Patrick’s School in Kaimuki and resides at Paewalani Community in Kaneohe.
