VIRIDITAS: SOUL GREENING
Interviewed by Sister Malia Dominica Wong, OP
Hawaii Catholic Herald
In my family, there are several religious vocations. My brother became a priest. Two of my sisters became Reparatrix Sisters in Italy. And I became a Dominican religious sister. Growing up around the town plaza, we were close to school and the church. The plaza was where we played and prayed.
My mom and dad always told us when we headed out for school that we needed to stop by the church. On our way home from school, we were told again to visit the church. That was our training growing up.
After school, my friend and I would go home and change out of our uniforms to play. Then, around 5 p.m., we often would sit on a bench close to the convent by our school. There, we could hear the Dominican Sisters chanting their prayers: “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit …” After praying, and possibly eating dinner, the sisters would then walk around the plaza saying the rosary. It was so nice to see.
I idolized my elder brother. From junior high age, I often picked up his books — like the catechism and the Documents of Vatican Council II — to read. Reading the Bible was already like reading an ordinary book in our family. When my brother eventually left to become a priest, everyone was happy. We could see through his life that the offering he made of himself to God was so beautiful.
Then my elder sister left to become a Reparatrix Sister in Italy. When I told my family that I too wanted to become a religious sister, my brother and sister encouraged me to join her. But I did not want to go to Italy. I wanted to become a Dominican Sister like the ones in the school near our plaza.
Eventually, my younger sister also joined the Reparatrix Sisters.
One day, as he was going home after celebrating a Mass, my brother had a fatal accident. I was a novice in silent enclosure then. It was devastating to hear the news. Our family was always connected. The special ties we had as siblings and as religious really helped us grow stronger and deeper in our faith.
A prayer that I often turn to is the Serenity Prayer: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
To the people of Hawaii, I would like to say thank you for your friendliness; for the feeling of being at home. You are always in my heart. I am grateful for the beautiful witness of your faith.
Sister Ma. Nelia Pernecia is a Dominican Sister of the Most Holy Rosary of the Philippines from Zarraga, Iloilo. She is 41 years professed. In Hawaii, she served at St. John the Baptist School in Kalihi and at St. Elizabeth School in Aiea. She is now assistant principal of Our Lady of Mercy School in Daly City, California.
