Cultivating Trust

It was the spring semester of my junior year in college. I was studying abroad in the beautiful city of Rome. The entire semester was an experience unlike any I had had before and, I believe, ever will have. Each day I walked the ancient streets of the Eternal City and passed by beautiful churches containing the bones of saints I’d heard of since I was a child. I studied at the same university so many brilliant theological minds had attended. I was living with about thirty other students who, to this day, are still some of my closest friends. My semester abroad was everything I wanted it to be. 

A few weeks into the semester, our study abroad group received an invitation. My fellow classmates and I were invited to work with a community of women religious called “The Little Sisters of the Lamb” once a week in their garden. Many of us decided to go the first week. When we arrived, the Sisters greeted us with so much joy. They showed us to their chapel where we prayed for a brief time before they took us to the garden. The garden, which they had recently inherited, was expansive and in much need of tending. We joined the Sisters in weeding, clearing, and harvesting. To conclude our time together, the Sisters shared some refreshments before sending us on our way. 

I returned to the Sisters week after week, every Wednesday, regardless of how many of my classmates went. I relished the quiet of their garden, the feel of manual labor. Through a mix of English, Italian, and a little French, I grew to know the Sisters. They shared where they were from and about their days interacting with the poor of Rome. By the end of my semester, the Little Sisters of the Lamb had entrenched themselves in my heart. Their impact on my life was an unexpected grace that I have been immensely blessed by.

What was this grace I experienced by being with the Little Sisters of the Lamb? Well, the grace was twofold. First, through my time with them, I developed an indifference to the will of God. I was blessed with this indifference because the Little Sisters of the Lamb revealed the beauty and goodness of religious life. Leading up to that semester, I had been fearful that God would call me to be a religious. 

Fearful! I thought God was going to ask me to do something that I absolutely did not want to do. I dreaded hearing the call in my heart. So much so that I resisted going deep in prayer. I was confident that I would have no joy in the religious life. 

But the Little Sisters of the Lamb changed that. Through their witness of life, I saw the pure and inexplicable joy that is embodied in a bride of Christ. It became clear to me that a consecrated life serving others could hold just as much joy and purpose as any other vocation. That semester in Rome, I learned how good a vocation to the religious life is. Through the Little Sisters of the Lamb, I learned to trust in God’s will and in His plan for my life.