Here’s a beautiful photograph to accompany the incredible life journey of Sister Mary Aquinas Cheng who, by the grace of God, is now a Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, in Ann Arbor via professional success, personal wealth, a possible wedding and a terrible car crash. Sister Mary Aquinas has taken temporary vows with the Dominican Sisters and, Deo volente, will profess perpetual vows next year. Here’s her story:
“I had everything I wanted, and it wasn’t enough.” It’s a cliché in vocation stories and certainly applies here. The Lord showered me with gifts: loving family and friends, professional success, and material wealth. Yet I lacked a relationship with the Giver of all good (James 1:17). As a girl, I rejected my family’s Catholicism and bought every lie our society sells, seeking fulfillment in money, prestige, looks, and pleasure.”
“After college, someone introduced me to the Real Presence and Christ’s love. Life slowly changed. Eventually I began discerning marriage with a wonderful Catholic man. As we prayed for God’s will, it became clear that He had different plans. We loved each other so much that we wanted God’s “something better” for the other. He is now blissfully married.”
“My bossy older sister sensed restlessness and registered me for a discernment retreat. Initial resistance dissolved when in Adoration it dawned on me: “My God, I am so in love with you! It would be an honor to be your bride.” A friend pointed me to our community, which accepted me to the postulancy.”
“Nine days before entrance, I flipped my car over a guardrail and rolled into a ditch, crushing many bones. The following year abounded in blessings. Physical pain – including waking during surgery – brought intimacy with the Crucified. Uncertainty for the future yielded trust. And coming so close to seeing Him in eternity fired a zeal to spend what fleeting time we have bringing others to Him.”
“Yet as my body grew stronger, my weakness resurfaced. So too did the desire for consecration to Christ. Two years after the wreck, I entered the community. God willing, ten Sisters and I will profess perpetual vows in 2022.”
“Religious vocation is no panacea. It is life lived more intensely, magnifying everything – including your faults. Yet where sin abounds, there grace abounds more (Romans 5:20). Mother Church dubs religious consecration a “state of perfection” not because religious are already perfect, but because it offers all the helps necessary to attain Christian perfection over a lifetime. I am so grateful for this life and to share it with Sisters with whom to fumble toward Christ – both in encouragement and in strife. His mercy endures forever (Psalm 118)!”
Please keep Sister Mary Aquinas in your prayers in the months and years to come. Saint Dominic, pray for her. Saint Thomas Aquinas, pray for her. Saint Catherine of Siena, pray for her.
- Do you feel God may also be calling you to religious life? Contact Dawn Hausmann, Director of Consecrated Vocations at the Diocese of Lansing on 517-342-2506 or dhausmann@dioceseoflansing.org