The Vocation of Sr. Wanda

I grew up in a very large Catholic family where religious activities were a part of every-day life. I was privileged to attend Catholic schools where my faith was deepened and strengthened from what I learned there. An older brother and sister entered religious life when I was small, and they supplied me with lives of the saints which I enjoyed and found inspiring. I also loved to visit the Church and pray before the Blessed Sacrament.

It wasn’t until I was in high school that I felt God was calling me to sanctity in religious life. I was not attracted to the nursing/teaching congregation my sister had entered, nor to any of the religious groups that taught me in school, though I made three week-end retreats in various motherhouses. I felt called to a poor, humble, simple lifestyle that mirrored the life of the Holy Family at Nazareth. I wanted live with others who focused on loving God and giving themselves to Him in silence and prayer. Around this time, my brother gave me a copy of the autobiography of St. Therese, The Story of a Soul. What I read there resonated with the call I felt I had. Soon after, I entered Carmel, and thank God every day for the gift of my vocation, where the needs of the Church, the intentions of our Holy Father, the sanctity of priests and sufferings of the world are part of my daily prayer and sacrifice.