"I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her."
Hosea 2:14
Sister Gabriela
Junior Professed
Eventually one of the Sisters who had come from the Motherhouse invited me to fly back with her to Baltic to visit (she was leaving in three days), and although it was such a short notice everything fell into place for me to go; I received plane tickets from my parents three days before I left. My boss let me take the three days off, with no problems whatsoever. In other words, I felt that it was God asking me to go! After two days of visiting, I thought maybe I would return to enter but I was unsure. When I went back home to my family and attended Mass that morning, after receiving Holy Communion, I heard deep within my heart the words "go back." With tears on my face, I replied within my soul "yes", for I knew it was God, who had called me to leave everything and follow Him and not only that, but also to marry Him. Therefore at the age of eighteen I left all; boys, fashion, friends, family. I even resigned from college a couple of weeks before it started. I embarked in a new journey leading me straight to the Heart of Christ, by becoming His bride.
At present, thanks to God's love and Mercy I have finished my Novitiate and I am now a junior professed! And although waiting in a few years to say "I vow myself to you forever" I know He has already taken me as His own for all eternity.
ocation stories
Leaving all for Christ
What would you like to do when you grow up? That was the question I was often asked when I was a child. For a while my first response was to work as an interpreter or translator in the United Nations. By the time I reached high school, I had set my goal; I wanted to become an anchorwoman on CNN! I was going to get married, have children and buy a beautiful home. But, before any of these dreams became a reality, Someone came to knock at the door of my heart, and changed my life forever. That Someone was Jesus, who lovingly asked me to marry Him and live my life in His service forever.
My name is Sister M. Gabriela, I was born in Juarez, which is a city located in the northern part of Mexico. At the age of thirteen I moved to Janesville Wisconsin with my mom. There I went to school, and although I had been raised Catholic and went to Holy Mass every Sunday, by the time I was in high school I separated a little bit from God. I still prayed, but it seemed that I wasn't focused on God. On the weekdays I would forget to pray my prayers. Instead I was overly focused on boys, make up, fashion, and popularity. I had filled my heart with unnecessary things. I had put to the side the marvelous love that God wanted to share with me.
Thankfully, my family instilled in me since childhood very high morals and love for God, and therefore I was able to say no to many temptations that I had to face in school, to such an extent that people would sometimes call me the "good Catholic girl". When I was seventeen years old, I was Confirmed. From then on, my life turned in a very different direction. I began to look for opportunities to attend Mass, I got to a point were I felt a desire to begin attending Holy Mass daily. The summer of my junior year I decided to go with my mom to daily Mass. She had found this Nursing home, about five blocks from our home, where laity could attend Mass. The day I went, I saw for the first time, Sisters in habits! It was amazing! I had never seen Sisters in my life! By the time I was finishing my senior year, I began to have thoughts about becoming a Sister. I thought that I was crazy, and ignored the idea. The problem was that it kept coming back, and at the same time, it seemed that I kept growing in love for God each day.