I am a religious Sister by God’s grace, and also by the free and loving Will of God. He chose me freely, simply because He willed it. 

I was born in a Catholic, farming family, who worked hard. We were six siblings, two girls and four boys. I am the second oldest in the family. I was born a year after my oldest brother. Seven and a half years later, my third brother was born. Shortly, thereafter, three more were added to the family.

My family was not very devout. Our parents would send us to church on Sunday for our Catechism lessons. We would also attend Mass every Saturday afternoon. It was the only time we had Mass at our village. But we had a deep Marian devotion. At our home, we prayed the Rosary every day during the months of May and August. I firmly believe that the Blessed Mother had a lot to do with my religious vocation, and I am very happy for it. 

My vocation started when I met a Guadalupan Missionary Sister (Misioneras Guadalupanas). At the time, I was about eight or nine years old. Upon seeing her, I was impressed and I thought about how beautiful it would be for me to give my life to God just as she has done! I approached her and asked her some questions, who were they? What did they do? And where did she live? She gave me an unexpected answer, they dedicated themselves to teaching and they were transferred to different places every so often…for now, she would go to Africa. She had come to bid farewell to her family. This made me feel fearful, so I told myself, “This is not for me. Africa is so far away!” 

Time went by and the thought of religious life would not leave me. I had many friends. There were specially two blood sisters, and the three of us were inseparable. I noticed that their great desire was to marry and to form a family. Inside of me, I felt that there should be something more to my life than that. The idea of marriage did not have much appeal for me. Frequently, we went to dances together. I love music. I have always enjoyed it, and it was music that I missed the most upon entering the convent, since my favorite pastimes were swimming and listening to music. 

When I was 17, I went to the countryside with a cousin who loved to ride horses. During one of these ventures, we discussed our futures. I shared with her for the first time what I had been entertaining in my thoughts, which at the time I realized it would not be easy. She suggested I should visit the Capuchin Sisters in Uruapan, Michoacán, in México. She knew them through a girl from a nearby town who had just taken her religious vows. She said that the Sisters were lovely and jovial. That was her impression from the very first visit. Besides, two of our cousins were Sisters in that convent. She suggested that I should go to visit them, and she also suggested that I speak with aunt Angelita, the mother of our cousins in the convent. I thought it was a great idea, and immediately I put my hands to the task. A few days later, I went to my aunt’s house and I told her I wanted to go with her to the Monastery. She was very surprised, for she feared the reaction of my mom and dad, who knew nothing of what I had been thinking. 

When the moment came to ask for heir permission, my mother began to cry and my dad told me, “you may go for now, but return to tell us how they are.” The following Sunday, we assisted at Holy Mass with the Community. I felt a lot of peace there, but at the same time I was afraid that all could be just a false illusion. I had doubts, so I asked myself, “is this for me?” I felt the calling to religious life and within my heart I thought, “This is what I am looking for.” At the same time, it cost me to renounce my liberty, my enjoyment of nature, and my being in the farmland. To enclose myself in a cloistered convent, to say good-bye to my friends, and especially, my family would be too painful. Not everyone would understand. In a word, I had many contradicting thoughts and I really did not know what to do. 

My suffering didn’t last long. The following week, on Monday, July 18th, 1983, at 11 am, I was ringing the doorbell of the Monastery. I asked to be admitted as an ‘aspirant’, which requires three months live-in experience to discern if this was my vocation. During that period, I started to read the life of our Father Saint Francis and the life and writings of Our Mother Saint Clare, who have since then formed part of my life. 

During the first months in the Monastery, these words of the Gospel came to mind, “go sell what you have and give it to the poor and you shall have treasures stored up in heaven.” These words I had read in the writings of Our Father St. Francis, and at that moment, I was making them mine. In reality, I had nothing that I could sell, but those words touched me in the deepest recesses of my soul, and invited me to renounce my will, my wants and pastimes. Now I consider all of this unimportant, but at the time, it was difficult giving up. 

After a year of Postulancy, on March 19th, 1985, I entered the Novitiate. It was not easy, because my character and way of being got me into some trouble. The Sisters were very patient and very charitable with me. Especially, my Novice Mistress and the Mother Abbess, who were the instruments which God chose to guide me in my early formation. Thanks to their wise counsel, full of experience, they helped me to deepen my search for the Will of God in my life. 

I made Temporary Profession on October 4th, 1986. At about this time, the General Minister of the Order, asked the Community to consider founding a new monastery in Wilmington, Delaware (USA). This was for me a second calling to live the spirit of Francis and Clare in far-away lands. On August 1987, eight months after the founding of the new Community, I joined the group of the founding Sisters, along with another Sister, who like me was in the formative stage. 

I made my Perpetual Profession on October 6th, 1990 in the Community in Wilmington, Delaware. The Lord has granted me the grace to persevere up to now in my consecrated life as a Capuchin Poor Clare, and in the living of the Franciscan- St. Clare’s charisma. It is all for the greater glory of God and the good of the Church.