I Needed to Know for Sure…
Sister Mary Ann Meyer

I attended a Catholic grade school and high school so I grew up knowing sisters. In 6th grade one of the sisters asked the class to consider religious life. I went home and asked my mom if she had ever thought about becoming a sister. She said, "Sure, everybody does at some point in their life." That simple comment gave me permission to be open to a call to religious life. The seed was planted.

In high school a sister came and gave a presentation on religious life. She said that they want women who have a ministry to share. I thought, "Great, I am only in high school and I sure don't have a ministry." With that thought I was able to put this "nun thing" out of my mind.

In college I was focused on getting my degree. I didn't have a lot time to think about things like religious life. Then, during my junior year, my dad died suddenly of a massive heart attack. My world was shattered. I found myself searching for meaning in life and death. Eventually, what I discovered was that God is the source of meaning for everything. I really needed to have God at the center of my life. I became very involved in my parish and spent a lot of time in prayer.

After I graduated from college, I continued to be very involved in my parish. During Lent that year the parish held a mission. There was scripture sharing in the morning and more scripture sharing in the evening. It seemed like all of the scripture passages were about "call." I could not escape it. I finally said to God, "Look, if you want me to do this, you have to make it perfectly clear to me." Later that same day I attended a reconciliation service at the parish that was followed by a social in the parish hall. As I was standing in line, a sister handed me a brochure for a discernment retreat with the School Sisters of St. Francis. There was a sister standing next to me that said, "Gosh that's odd, I was going to ask you tonight if you ever thought of considering religious life." God was making it clear to me.

I can be a bit stubborn and that was not good enough for me. I continued to try to avoid the call and told God that I needed to know for sure. Around Christmas time, I found a teaching job. I was going to start early in the new year and would have the time during the Christmas holidays to find an apartment in the area. I was in a car accident on Christmas Eve and had no way to get around to find an apartment. A sister from my parish told me that there was a convent not too far from where I would be teaching. That's right, I ended up living in a convent! God was making it clear to me. I did not have any peace. Finally I decided I needed to try out this religious life stuff in order to have some peace. Well, I did and as I integrated into the community I came to know deep within that this was indeed the right place for me.

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