How does one become a religious sister?
Sr. Silvia Maria Tarafa, SCTJM
For private use only -©
I was recently asked, “How does one
become a religious sister?” The reality is -it is God who chooses us
to be His spouse; He does the election. And the fact He
desires us, that He chooses us –remains an astonishing
mystery throughout our lives. What is left to the woman when she
senses this invitation to be set apart for God- to be all His, is to
either say to our Lord: yes or no.
Why would a woman decline the Lord’s
invitation to marry Him? It cannot be our weakness that forfeits the
gift of being spouses of Christ, since the Lord assures us that in
our weakness – He is our strength; what we cannot do, He will do in
us. Sadly, we can shut out our joy when we are overcome by fears: of
the unknown, of our past mistakes, of losing what we know and love,
of what others will say. We can decline Jesus’ spousal love, as Pope
Benedict XVI says, by believing the lie of the Enemy at the Garden
and re-living his lie again – in our own lives; and thus,
distrusting God, we do not open ourselves up to the gift Christ
desires to give.
Unfortunately, if we choose this
seemingly “safe route” we risk losing our greatest joy, the reason
God created us – our fulfillment. Instead of believing the father
of lies we can believe the Father of Love. We can decide: “Lord, I
trust you enough to know that you are the Fountain of
happiness, thus the source of my happiness. Though I don’t
understand you choosing me, if You are asking Jesus, I open
myself because – I trust You.” We can respond to the Trinity with
Mary’s fiat; though she did not fully understand what the Lord’s
invitation entailed, she knew well the Love of the One asking. We
can look at the numerous religious saints who surrendered themselves
to our Lord’s spousal love, and we see how He filled their hearts to
overflowing, enabling them to love heroically. There reaches a
point when we can no longer ignore the gnawing in our hearts that
desires more, that senses it is not enough to be simply a hired
hand, a friend or even a child in the Lord’s vineyard. Slowly, we
learn to trust that this longing in our hearts to have a closer
intimacy with Christ was placed there by Him. And so in faith, we
can decide to surrender to this yearning that cries from our
depths: “I want to be all yours – I want to be one with you. I know
I don’t love you as you deserve, but You’ve placed this desire in
me so I trust You will fulfill my desire to love You. I give You the
little fish and loaves of my heart for you to multiply them into an
overflowing torrent of love for You. I cry out, ‘I do,’ to your
invitation, and rather than succumb to my fear – I choose to be
conquered by your Love.”
This page is the work of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and
Mary
