Uma história a duas mãos | Aliança de Santa Maria

A STORY
TWO HANDS

As the day of Sister Sophie's perpetual vows approaches next Sunday, we went to ask her:

- Sophie, how do you feel as the day of your final vows approaches?

- If you were told 15 years ago that you were preparing to take perpetual vows today, what would you say?

Ten years ago, new lines began to be written in a story that will last until the end of my life. This story has been and will continue to be written by two hands: God's hand, and in this case mine.

It all started with an invitation that would transform my life. I was asked if I wanted to join the youth group and play guitar in the parish choir. At that time, my priorities weren't God, on the contrary, they were running away from Him. Friends, the beach, futsal and carnival filled my very busy time.

At the time, I was walking along the seafront with a stranger. It was as if he was coming to my side, but I stayed away... I was afraid!

"It was as if he was coming to my side, but I stayed away... I was afraid!"

Going to the youth group was great and yet, inside and out, everything was the same, nothing changed about me. If I had to tell someone who I was, I wouldn't know how. I acted according to the various environments I attended and adopted different behaviors, so much so that I found myself living in constant duplicity, in a meaningless and completely empty life. It was precisely in these moments of inner confusion that the Unknown would approach me and try to speak to me or show me a new path by the sea. However, I was the one in control of my life, and giving in to something I didn't know was unthinkable.

"...I finally found out who was the Unknown..."

In the meantime, the youth group decides to go on a retreat to Gerês. On one of those days, someone, finding me quite sad, asked a nun to come and talk to me. We were talking about my desire to join the navy, when she asked me: "Have you ever thought about becoming a nun?" I tried to answer as politely as possible, but for me, becoming a nun was completely out of the question. Their lifestyle had never appealed to me. "Me, Sister? No way!" But that question remained locked away in the back of my mind for three years. However, during this period, my motto was to have no limits and to enjoy life to the full. Even so, I continued to go to youth group and Mass every Sunday.

My mirror had not yet been broken before God, nor had I experienced his Mercy and Love in what I was.

My mirror brokeHe was invited by Father Filipe Santos to a vocation camp.

At first I said no to this invitation, because my idea was: "Oh no! Spending days with nuns... no, please!" However, I ended up accepting. Off I went, and the question that had been on my mind for three years came up again. In those days, I was restless with that question, and I decided to go and talk to a Sister who, on hearing my story, realized that she belonged to the same congregation as the Sister I had met in Gerês.

With small signs come great certainties... With the help of a Sister, I began to discern the signs of God in my life and which path to follow. Little by little, I realized that God was asking something greater of me, that he was calling me to follow him, and concretely in the Covenant of St. Mary. From then on, I began to let Jesus tell me which path he wanted us to follow by the sea. However, doubts arose and so did temptations and, at a time when everything was turning me back, I decided to ask God what he really wanted from me. So I picked up the Bible and the first thing I read was:

"They left everything and followed Jesus" Lk 5:11

Leaving everything, letting him lead my life, I wanted to say "Yes" to him myself, in a total and faithful surrender to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for all of humanity. After joining the Congregation, I realized that Jesus is the only one who gives full meaning to my life.

It's worth risking everything for the One who fulfills all our heart's needs.

Published in "Religious Men and Women of the Municipality of Torres Vedras" | 2015