Meet our Vocation Director!
 Sr. Theresa Thanh Thảo Nguyễn, CMRM
Hello! Peace to your hearts! My name is Sr. Theresa Thanh Thảo Nguyen and I am the Vocation Director for our community.
My own call to the Sisterhood was certainly a series of many whispers. I grew up in Chino, California, and am the oldest of eight children. I studied for one year at California Polytechnic State University in Pomona… then my Vocation journey took an unexpected route. I left my friends and family to join the Sisters in St. Louis, Missouri in the summer of 1996. I have come to see the true beauty and joy in living consecrated life, and knowing that this is what God's loving will is for my life. I am so thankful for my vocation: for this life of silence and prayer, of community and love, for the grace to continue to grow into the person that God has created me to become, and to serve the countless needs of the world in prayer and my apostolate works. Vocations are the Lord’s work, and so it is my role to be there when his work has resonated in the hearts of those who are so generously responding. The Lord has a plan of holiness for each of us, and through the process of discernment a young woman discovers how the Lord is specifically inviting her to live this out. God speaks to each of us in the silence and depths of our hearts. As I reflect on my own vocation journey, the greatest struggle in my initial searching was that of being able to open my heart to listen to God's voice. After I was willing to be in that position of vulnerability, and with the help of God's grace, the seed of my vocation was then able to sprout and grow. With each step on my journey, God gave me the courage I needed to move in the direction He was beckoning, as long as I was willing to follow. If you have heard the Lord’s gentle invitation to religious life, it may have taken you by surprise. Fear is not an uncommon response to the first stirrings of a religious vocation. As the Lord begins to make his will know, we may find ourselves saying, “Who, me?”... “But, I am not good enough, holy enough, and pious enough!”… “What if I make a mistake?” However, if one is called to the religious life then, with time and prayer, fear turns to conviction and we can begin the first steps to finding and accepting his will. This conviction brings a peace and joy that nothing else can match. A young woman open to the call to give her whole life to Christ will find that she can only surrender to this irresistible prompting that He has placed within her heart. May you always have the courage to listen to God speaking to your heart. Be not afraid! Many blessings as you continue on your journey. I am happy to help you in any way that I can. Please feel free to contact me with questions, or fill out our Vocation Inquiry Form, knowing that I welcome the opportunity to share with you what it means to be a Sister of Mary, Queen of Mercy. The Lord desires to reveal his plan for your life, and He will give you the grace to respond with a generous and joy-filled heart! |
Vocation Quotes
Do not be afraid of the radicalness of His demands, because Jesus, who loved us first, is prepared to give Himself to you, as well as asking of you. If He asks much of you, it is because He knows you can give much.” "At the message of the angel, Mary does not hide her surprise. It is the astonishment of realizing that God, to become man, had chosen her, a simple maid of Nazareth. Not someone who lived a palace amid power and riches, or one who had done extraordinary things, but simple someone who was open to God and put her trust in him, even without understanding everything: "Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away and He gives you everything. When we give ourselves to Him, we receive a hundred-fold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ - and you will find true life." |
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