Order My Steps In Your Word

Sister Maria Guadalupe Figueroa, RSM

I grew up as the youngest of 5 girls in a hardworking Mexican American family in the inner city of Indianapolis, Indiana. My parents came to the US in the 1970s from Zacatecas, Mexico in search of a better life. They also brought with them the strong roots of the Catholic Faith and love of the Blessed Mother that they sought to instill in the family. We went to Mass every Sunday and would periodically pray the rosary together as a family. At an early age I learned through the example of my parents how to have faith in God’s Providence in challenging times and the importance of bringing our needs and petitions to the Blessed Mother.

It was in college that I began to discern my vocation through taking steps to grow in my Catholic faith.  As a freshman in college, I was invited to a Catholic Bible study. I thought, I am Catholic, and I had never attended a bible study before so I thought it would be a good idea. It was through that invitation and meeting a community of young people who loved their faith and were serious about their call to holiness, that sparked an interest and desire to reprioritize my values in making my relationship with the Lord as the most important thing in my life. While I never stopped attending Mass, I experienced a deep conversion and deepening of my faith and began to desire what the Lord’s plans for me were.

It was early on growing in my faith that the idea of Religious Life began to dawn on me and appear very desirous. As I grew in relationship with the Lord, I felt that my response to His Love needed to be a response of totality. Whenever I read about the lives of the Saints who gave everything to the Lord, their example of total self-sacrifice and boundless love just made sense to me. Nonetheless, as I was still in my studies in college, I did not feel the Lord calling me right then, but I knew that Religious Life was a possibility. I trusted that if I continued being faithful where I was with Him now, He would direct my steps.

Towards the end of college when I was finishing my degree in Biology and taking prerequisites for an accelerated nursing program in Indianapolis, I began to experience a restlessness in my heart. I sensed that if I continued this next step and stayed in Indianapolis where I had all the comforts and familiarity of my family and great faith community, I would never take the steps to visit religious communities and seriously discern my vocation. In response to what I felt the Lord was calling me to, I made the act of faith to take a different course. The following year I worked as a missionary serving the poor in Washington DC where I knew there were many religious communities. I felt the Lord asking me for a time of prayer, silence, and works of charity to take time to listen and discern His Will for me.

It was in DC where I met our Sisters. I attended a parish social event where I knew religious communities would be present. I remember looking at all the various Religious Sisters, and there was one habit that stuck out to me that I had never seen before. I felt like I wanted to get to know who they were but was nervous to approach them boldly. I then took the opportunity to introduce myself when they needed someone to take a picture and I jumped in to assist. Since I had looked up communities previously and I did not see their name online, I was certain that the Sisters were only visiting DC, and to my surprise and God’s Providence they lived just down the street of this parish.

Throughout that year I was able to take time to visit the local community and the Motherhouse. Every step I took to get to know the community was supported by peace of heart and the Lord quietly saying yes as an invitation that I could freely respond with a yes or no. What I was struck most by was how our charism is revealed on our Mercy Cross in how each Sister is called to be a convergence point between the misery of mankind and mercy of God. I felt as if that was the perfect expression in words of what the Lord put in my heart of who He was calling me to be. I continued to follow the steps necessary and entered that following year. Since 2017 it is beautiful to see how the Lord’s Providence has unfolded from being missioned to serve in Scotland for a year, to continuing nursing studies, and having served as a nurse to vulnerable elderly in a nursing home bringing God’s mercy and light to the suffering. With great gratitude for my vocation, my prayer is that I continue to be led and configured by the Lord and Our Blessed Mother by the Way of Mercy.