VIRIDITAS: SOUL GREENING
Interviewed by Sister Malia Dominica, OP
Hawaii Catholic Herald
I thought “It’s only five years. It will come and go,” when I was told of being assigned to Hawaii. I had just finished taking my final exams at the University of San Agustin and was looking forward to graduation. But two weeks after, I and several other sisters became known as the fourth wave of missionaries to Hawaii. That was in 1968 when the Dominicans assumed the staffing of St. Joseph School in Makawao, Maui, at the invitation of Bishop John J. Scanlan and Father Joseph Putnam, SS.CC.
We were not trained to be missionaries, but we were well founded in our religious vows. If we were told to go, we went — no question. During those days, we never thought of reasoning out or explaining ourselves. Even after I returned to the Philippines five years later for my first home visit and my mom asked me to ask to be transferred back home saying, “What if I die?” I responded to her, “If you die and I am not here, I will see you in heaven. Just make sure that we are both going to heaven!”
I did cry from Iloilo to Honolulu on my return from the first couple of home visits. Those were the times before phone cards, cellphones and even landlines in certain areas. Communication by telegram was only for official business or emergencies, like family death announcements. Letters could be written, but they were censored by our superiors. So, our minds focused only on the mission.
After we took over St. Joseph School, we opened Holy Cross School and St. Catherine School on Kauai. Summers were looked forward to as the only time all the sisters (including those at St. Elizabeth School in Aiea) could see each other and talk. We cried so much when we returned to our respective missions that Mother Felicitas Macsera included one day for socialization before our annual retreats thereafter.
Who would have thought that 53 years after, I am still in the mission? I never was studious, having quit school twice. The second time, I preferred being with the carabaos on the farm to having to wake up early and do homework. (After I entered the convent, I had to wake up at 4 a.m. I fell asleep a lot in chapel!) My older sister, Sister Philomena, said at my entrance to the convent interview, “What? You? You want to become a sister? You are so lazy.” Nonetheless, I persisted.
It is humorous how I remember a priest after my final profession commenting, “You look so happy.” If only he knew that while prostrating in front of the altar, my mind was racing with the thoughts: “What am I doing? This is for life!”
When times are tough, I turn to Psalm 23. The Scripture calms me. The image of the Sacred Heart is also one I turn to as we had two huge images in our home. When I got sick in high school, I prayed to the Sacred Heart, “Make me well. I want to serve You.”
We just need to keep on going.
Sister M. Bernarda Sindol is a Dominican Sister of the Most Holy Rosary of the Philippines from Pasig, Zarraga, Philippines. She is the sixth of six children. She is 57 years professed and serves as the regional superior of the Dominicans in Hawaii. She resides at the Dominican Center Hawaii.
