Vocation Story of Sister Mary Gabriel Weyker

The story of the discovery of my vocation to religious life is a testimony to the graces of the great Jubilee Year of 2000. Some friends and I made a Jubilee pilgrimage to Rome in that October with the Diocese of La Crosse. The pilgrimage was an outpouring of grace. During the first few days in Rome, in addition to seeing the Holy Father and all the sights, I seemed to see Sisters everywhere - many Sisters, of various communities, of all ages. They all seemed filled with great joy, and I found myself growing envious. "They really did it," I thought. "They really left everything for Christ. Too bad I can?t do that." Attraction to married life, my love for my family, the things I owned, my bills, my studies, my job" all these had a hold on me that felt too strong to overcome.

The graces of the Jubilee year broke this illusion. Our group was beginning a tour of the Sistine Chapel, which had grown romantic in my mind to the size of a Gothic cathedral. I had imagined finding a quiet, dark corner in front of the Blessed Sacrament and asking for some sign from God about my path in life. Reality struck as we squeezed through a small doorway into a long, narrow, brightly lit room. The room was full as only Jubilee year Rome can be full, and I sighed thinking, "I was supposed to find my vocation here." Just then, the crowd pushed me along, and with that push came grace in abundance. It sounds dramatic, perhaps, but at that moment I was filled with a great peace; I could see that I needed no special sign, need not go to a special place to discover God?s will. No, He writes His will in each of our hearts from the first moments of our existence. I knew that this was the reason for the joy of the Sisters I had seen, and I realized that if it was God?s will for me to enter the convent, nothing would stand in the way. Religious life, which had been for me a beautiful but unrealistic ideal, for the first time became very real and the desire of my heart.

As the end of the tour, I asked a friend who was studying in Rome if he knew of an American Sister I could meet. I had resisted talking with a Sister about my future for a long time, but now I felt it was an urgent need. He handed me a piece of paper: "Sister Mary Angelica, O.P.," with a Rome telephone number. He told me that she was a Nashville Dominican sister and was in some of his classes. This did not mean much to me. As I dialed the phone the next day, I realized that I had no idea whom I was calling. Was she old or young? What would she be wearing? Were Sisters allowed to meet people? What was a Dominican? I did not have much time to ponder these questions, because suddenly there was a voice answering the phone. The voice settled these anxieties, and Sister suggested we meet in front of a bookstore near St. Peter?s and go get coffee. A Sister who liked books and coffee... these were great signs for me!

My first impression of Sister Mary Angelica was very striking. She came up the street in a beautiful habit, with a backpack (a real student!) and a big smile. I knew I was meeting a friend, and I tried not to pay too much attention to the voice inside me that was saying: "This is what your life is to be!" While we had coffee that afternoon, I discovered numerous connections - the dedication of the Dominican order to the contemplation of truth and to preaching; the apostolate of this community to teaching; the congregation?s patroness, St. Cecilia, who is the patroness of music and the arts. In college, I had majored in music education. I spent two years as an instrumental music teacher when, feeling that God was calling me to something deeper, I began a program of theology study while working as a parish youth minister. Part of the difficulty of discernment was that these various parts of my life seemed disconnected; now, everything seemed to "fit like a glove." I felt that I had been introduced that day not simply to one Sister, but to the charism of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia. By the end of our conversation, I knew my life would never be the same.

When we returned home I wrote the Congregation?s vocation director and at her suggestion, made a retreat at the Motherhouse in Nashville that January. The "fit" continued to seem right, and so I asked Mother Rose Marie if I might enter the convent that August. As I returned home from the retreat, I realized that I had been given another sign of God?s grace - I had spoken to Mother on the Feast of the Epiphany, the last day of the great Jubilee year. That year, in which the Holy Father had asked Catholics to "Open wide the doors to Christ;" I truly felt that Christ Himself had opened wide the doors to me!

By His grace, I entered the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia on August 14, 2001. After a year of postulancy, on August 8, 2002 I received the habit of Saint Dominic and my new religious name. Along with twelve other Sisters. I spent a year as a novice, studying the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience and learning more about prayer, community life, and our congregation. With great joy, we professed our first vows on August 10, 2003 at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Nashville, in the context of a Mass celebrated by Bishop Burke. Currently, I am studying to obtain my K-8 teaching license so that I will be ready to enter our teaching apostolate. Please continue to pray for me!

If you are in the process of discernment, I have no new advice, but good advice: "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened..." To truly ask God?s will, you must spend time with Him and learn to trust Him. While studying religious life, I have come to appreciate even more deeply the beauty of the married life also and can see the holiness of my friends living their married lives according to God?s plan. For those called to religious life, it is one of great joy and peace. Trust God, for he wills nothing but happiness for each one of us, and will not fail to lead us if we give ourselves fully to Him!