Bridal Union

Standing on the playground of the school where she was teaching, a group of us had engaged Sister in conversation. She joked that we should be better prepared the next time we versed her in volleyball as she was ready for a rematch! After sharing some of the experiences she had with children in her classroom, she gave us a few insights into convent life, the daily schedule, and a typical day for her community. Then she spoke the words that had a deep impact on my life and vocation. When she was around our age (college student), she noticed her friends and thought, Why can't I feel about Jesus the way they feel about their beloveds?

It was the first time I had heard a woman religious refer to her bridal relationship with our Lord and I was stunned. God was God and had always been important in my life. At my First Holy Communion, I felt He was calling me to be a nun, and I dreamed of the religious habit as young girls dream of their wedding dress. But then the busyness of life and the love of lesser creatures distracted me from this interior call. Meeting this Sister and hearing her word—just as the vocation re-surfaced in my heart—helped me to see that religious life, and the particular call I was feeling to the cloister, would be the fulfillment of my deepest longing for intimate, bridal union... with the One who is the Bridegroom: JESUS!