Growing up, I never thought about what my vocation was, as I was not raised in the Catholic faith. My parents and I would eventually be baptized in a Catholic Church in Mississauga. Although I attended Mass and Sunday school throughout my elementary and middle school years, I didn’t know how to have a personal relationship with God. It was not until my last two years in high school that I decided to invite Jesus into my life and encountered God’s love for me.
In 2019, I moved to Ottawa for university. There, I started attending youth group at St. Mary’s Parish, and I began to experience a renewal of my Catholic faith. Along with that, I met the Servants of the Cross, which was my first encounter with religious sisters. The turning point for me to question my vocation was when I discovered the lives of the Saints, in particular St. Teresa of Avila. While reading her book Interior Castle, I found what it means to develop an intimate union with Jesus, and it cultivated a desire within me to become a bride of Christ. Following my encounter with Jesus in Eucharistic Adoration and Mother Mary, I decided to give my life totally to God.
During one of those years, I decided to go on a come-and-see with the Servants of the Cross, and there I discovered what religious life is. However, at that time, I felt like I wasn’t ready to respond to God’s call because I feared the disapproval of my family. I wrestled with this desire to pursue a religious life throughout my years in university. It was not until my last year of university, during a CCO fall retreat, that a Companion of the Cross priest asked if any of the young people felt this inner calling to the religious life, and if any were open to responding to it. In that same year, I attended a CCO Rise Up conference where the speaker invited us to imagine what the next step would be for us. And there I felt the Lord asking me to pursue religious life.
Finally, after graduating from university, I decided to discern with the Servants of the Cross. There, I felt this is where Jesus wants me to be, and I was inspired by the verse Isaiah 6:8:
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
“Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I; send me!”
