vocation stories | MICHELA
I was born in Rome, Italy. Since I was little I was involved in a parish where I had many friends and lots of fun. However, outside that environment, it was really difficult for me, to be able to bear witness as a Catholic. When I was eighteen years old, I decided to apply to the University in Rome. One December morning I arrived too early at my class, and since there was a church near by, I decided to enter it to wait. At a certain point, a young woman approached me and started talking with me. She told me she was a Catholic Sister and her community was cultivating the spiritual life especially among young people. Listening to her, I was struck especially by her conviction and her zeal for the kingdom of God. Her name was Tiziana and after awhile she asked me if I would be interested in starting a spiritual journey.
But I thought I was good enough and I wouldn’t need any special help. After that encounter my life kept going like usual but I couldn’t forget Tiziana even though I never had contact with her. One day, a few months later, I found the brochure of her community that she gave me. Reading it a spontaneous prayer came upon my lips: “Lord, I don’t know what my life will be, but if you have religious life in store for me, I would like to join this community”. I don’t know why I made this prayer, but I had to know that the Lord always listens to the sincere desires of our heart.
Time passed by, but I realized something important was missing in my life; once, I read a sentence of John Paul II saying that life is not just having experiences, but being able to give it to the others. That important truth helped me to feel the desire for conversion and discover God’s Will in my life.
One night I addressed this prayer to Jesus: “Lord, I don’t know where my life is going, but you know it for sure. Please, send me someone that can help me.” In that very moment I got the idea that, maybe, if I had studied theology it would be easier for me to understand my journey because I was sure that God had something to do with my life. So I decided to go and get some information about this kind of studies the day after.
Therefore, I went to St. John in Lateran (where there is an important pontifical university) and I stepped into the Basilica to entrust my desire to the Lord. After the Mass was over, a young woman approached me asking me who I was and what I was looking for. I discovered she was a Sister and she belonged to a new community founded for the evangelization and spiritual formation of young people: the Apostles of the Interior Life. Suddenly I recognized in that name the same community of Sr. Tiziana that, by now, had stopped me two years before. When Sr. Loredana asked me if I would be interested in going deeper in my spiritual life in order to understand better the Will of God for me, I felt my prayer was being heard by God. In that moment I felt as though Jesus was giving me another chance and yet I felt I was so free that I could say no to his invitation again. But this time I said “yes.”
That day I was really happy because I realized God was really present in my life telling me: “I will take care of you.” From that moment on, thanks to the help of the Sisters, I learned how to pray and little by little I started to recognize the voice of God in my heart. I also started going to the Pontifical University of St. John in Lateran. The Apostles were a beautiful example of consecrated women and I liked their community style and their apostolate very much. For this reason, after a discernment process, I reached the conclusion that God was calling me to share my life with them and to join their community.
