FCJ Sisters – Faithful Companions of Jesus -- are contemplative in action – called to be companions of Jesus and each other and to work in the world, to be where Jesus would be. The hope and desire we share in trying to respond in our own way to Christ’s thirst in the world inspires us to respond wholeheartedly and with joy.
As you consider your vocation -- your unique call from God -- the questions and reflections of two newer FCJ Sisters might help you!
Meet MariJoxe and Anouska:
MariJoxe Anouska
How might you hear God calling?
Do you feel that the life you are living is not enough,
that there is something missing
and you don't know what it is
but you are certain it is linked with God?
In a few words I've described what I was feeling for some time. I was happy living life, but after I finished my university studies, I realised my joy was coming from God and God's things. Anytime I imagined myself in God's service and praising Him with my entire life rather than building a family or succeeding with my profession, there was joy. And I had a strong inner desire to pursue it.
Jesus gave me everything He was, having been lifted to the Cross for me. What could I return back to him: My time? The money I could earn as an engineer? Maybe my intelligence?... They were recurrent questions.
No, I could give him the maximum, all together: my entire life. Life which involves my gifts, my time, money I can earn... me.
Do you ever feel that everyone else’s life is great,
but you need to sort yours out?
I did. I had a university degree, job, house, cat, dog – everything that the world was telling me would make me happy, but there was something missing…God!
I felt this deep desire to find out more about my Catholic faith when I was 16/17, and I spent several weeks meeting regularly with a priest who helped me discover the beauty of the Church I had been baptised in to so many years earlier. I never thought, the searching would lead to religious life – when I first started thinking about it, it all seemed so scary and so ‘not-me’. I visited two orders, an apostolic and then a contemplative. In the first I felt good, the community aspect was great but the ministry was not for me. When visiting the contemplative order, the women were lovely but it was not ‘my’ place.
In my mind, after two weekend visits, that was religious life finished, I had thought about it, looked and not found, therefore the search was over, I would go to university, fall hopelessly in love and get married. But God had different ideas.
I have fallen in love, that is certain, but marriage is not where my call to happiness and wholeness lies.
Graduation came and went, then employment, yet still there was something missing. God was forming me to be ready to say ‘Yes’. Eventually I reached the point of no-return, I surrendered to God. I had tried being in control, doing this, living that, choosing this, leaving that – but there was still this gap, and it seemed to be getting bigger and less easy to ignore.
Having spent Easter with friends, at the Easter Vigil Celebration, I felt unable to bargain with God any longer. In floods of tears marvelling at all that God had done, I heard myself say ‘not my will, but your will be done’ – this surrender opened the flood-gates, I could finally say to myself and others, God is the centre of my life, my life will revolve around God and the Church, as a religious, no idea where, what or how. In fact the where, what or how did not seem to bother me, God would look after them, the surrender was all I could offer and I offered it wholeheartedly, and felt completely at peace.
In this peace I searched the internet, I had no real idea about religious life or different orders, but God even worked across the internet and led me to this page www.fcjsisters.org.
By now I was 26 years old - God works slowly, but always effectively, and never gives up! I attended a Vocations Weekend and in that first meeting, I knew that I had found the piece that had been missing. If my life was a four piece jigsaw, I had been living with three, but I had suddenly found the fourth, and I never wanted to let it go.
To have the opportunity to meet sisters who had given their lives to God, who were alive, in love, and happy, and of all ages, inspired me to do the same. I felt I could be exactly who God was calling me to be, and be whole.
Two years of accompaniment followed before postulancy, two years of growth, deepening of the desire and testing of God’s call, I yearned for those meetings and each time I left, I felt I was leaving part of me behind. Yet, the waiting was all God was asking of me at that time, and it just made the time of entry initially as a postulant, then a novice, and now as a temporary professed even more blessed.
I am now 31, so many years have passed since the initial thoughts of religious life at 16/17, but God has been with me in all the searching, and is with me each and every day leading me on in my living of faithful companionship of his Son, Jesus.
What attracted me to becoming an FCJ?
What attracted me in the beginning and continues to attract me now – 5 years later is LIFE! Young and old, I see FCJs with a spirit that is alive and in love.
We are contemplative in action – called to be companions of Jesus and each other and to work in the world, to be where Jesus would be. The hope and desire we share in trying to respond in our own way to Christ’s thirst in the world inspires me to respond, in my ministry as a teacher and in the whole living of my life.
When I first met the FCJs in London, their inner freedom in front of God and how comfortable they were feeling in His presence fascinated me. Their uniqueness, deep faith and trust in God and themselves was shown by how they opened their convent to strange women!
This first encounter led me to a week’s stay (after a year and a half) when I sensed the clear invitation from God to try his discipleship and my vocation in the FCJs. It was a clear answer to my prayer, as I had been requesting it of God because I hardly have the "sixth" intuition to grasp feelings.
The enthusiasm of the FCJ sisters, their pride in being religious sisters, their courage while they shared their life and faith with me, their trust towards me (they gave me the keys of the house) and their openness in talking about God attracted me as if I were charmed. To tell the truth, I felt charmed by God and the sisters in a such shaking and strong way that I asked for three months to experience community life and discern if it was what God was asking from me.
What does it take to be an FCJ?
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Love of and complete dependence on God and God's son, Jesus – Openness to those who accompany you along the way, sisters and superiors, Vision, to see the world as Christ sees it, Energy! We are a small, international congregation but we work across the world, |
All God asks is an open heart, that he can use and in the words of our foundress:
“God will have to lead me by the hand; he will have to do all the work himself.”
And God does, I gave him my ‘Yes’ not knowing where it would lead, yet I can say, it is the best journey I have ever undergone and I love it! Long may it continue!
Anouska Biggin fcJ
Now, I am a postulant FCJ, knowing that God answers our prayers (maybe in an utterly unexpected way!) and that He is leading me wherever He knows is best for me.
MariJoxe Azurtza Sorondegi
If we can do it, you can too!
Afra Primadiana fcJ
To be a sister is to choose a way of life in which I offer myself totally to God's love and grow in loving God. This is a lifetime's journey.
Faithfulness cannot be measured in quantity but in quality. Every minute is a time to continue to try to live as a faithful companion of Jesus. God's love is always new every morning!
MaryAnne Francalanza fcJ
I was looking for Ignatian women whose lives are rooted in God and whose work is a continuation of Jesus' mission. For me, the FCJ Society is this place.
I was looking for a group of people who embrace the world with all its joys and sorrows and are not afraid to 'live fully'. For me, the FCJ Society is this place.
I was looking for a a place where I could use the gifts God has given me for God's kingdom, and where I could do this with like-minded people who journey together. For me, the FCJ Society is this place.
Alicia Pérez fcJ
I was becoming aware that God was inviting me
to deeper intimacy
and to become part of Jesus' mission
of proclaiming God's love to the world.
Do you hear God calling?
Other resources you might find helpful as you consider your own vocation:
Read some FCJ Vocation Stories
Kinahangalan natong hatagan ug maayong atensiyon
ang atong bokasyon kay gitawag
kita sa espesyal nga pagserbisyo.