25 years of God's fidelity in my life as a Religious of the Assumption.It is a great joy to be able to share, to remember and to thank all the people who have accompanied me in these 25 years of life consecrated to God for others, in this great family of the Assumption.
I thank God for his fidelity which has come at different times during these 25 years of dedication to the service of life. Thank you for so many sisters, young people, adults, friends, concrete faces with whom I have met and who have been essential in this journey of the unknown, a journey of deepening, of encounters and misunderstandings, of immense joys and deep sorrows, of insecurities and certainties, but above all a journey of constant calls to live fully in the way of Jesus, believing that only in love and in the small, simple and daily things of each day is the joy of dedication possible.
On this occasion I would like to share profound and joyful memories shared with the older sisters of the community of La Palmera in Nicaragua; it was the time of the novitiate experience, how happy I was in spite of the scolding I received from one or another sister, but they were scoldings with affection. An anecdote, Father Atilio - Franciscan, one Sunday when he came to celebrate mass said to me: you are happy here, they are all grandmothers to you and grandmothers consent to everything. I just laughed. It was true. They were my older sisters correcting me, pampering me and always attentive; at the table, that I eat well, at the meeting, that I sit well, in the corridors, that I don't run, that I walk slowly... I remember everything with much gratitude and affection. I was able to share with each one in a different way and that was great.
It was a time of great grace at this very important stage of formation; it strengthened in me that deep desire for the contemplative life, to remain before the sacramentalised Jesus in a gratuitous way. They let me see and experience the joy of a heart centred on Jesus - which as Marie Eugenie says - seeks only "to give glory to God and to extend his Kingdom". They let me enter into their lives and let me know that in the Assumption we can live friendship centred on God and for others. Thank you Sisters for that profound experience which was a key to the foundation of what I am now as an Assumption Religious.
I thank God for my mother and father who with love and constant sacrifices motivated my vocation to give my life without expecting anything in return. Thanks to my siblings and the whole family because they have been the pillar that sustains my faith in unity and deep joy in sharing with everyone.
Immense thanks to God for showing me the way as he did with John's disciples; he looked at me and said: Claudia, "COME AND SEE" ... and I at this moment, attracted by his gaze, went, looked and stayed; discovering that in the Assumption I could realise that call to BE fully for him and for others.
Thanks to the Congregation of the Religious of the Assumption for the realisation of my vocation through education.
Claudia de Jesus