Sister Rosa, a Franciscan Sister of the Renewal, ripped two large papers from a whiteboard, revealing the words “Beloved” and “Daughter.” “Welcome to my Franciscan PowerPoint,” she joked, as the girls applauded.
Sister Rosa, one of 16 religious sisters from eight different religious orders, delivered a talk Tuesday morning at FIAT Days, a girls vocations camp at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md. The July 20-24 camp, hosted by the diocesan vocations office, gave 80 teen girls a chance to learn more about religious life while growing in their prayer lives and camaraderie.
In her talk, Sister Rosa reminded the campers of the source of their identity. The “awesome” reality of Catholic identity, she said, is that “it’s not something we have to figure out. It’s something we receive.” When it comes to vocational discernment, she said the answer lies not in obsessing over a right answer, but rather in seeking a relationship with God and making time to hear his voice every day. “This call is not something we need to figure out or wait for, which brings anxiety,” she said. Rather, saying “yes” to God in the little moments of everyday life will gradually lead to his call, she added.
The week gave the campers a rare opportunity to experience prolonged prayer and meditation, often difficult in bustling Northern Virginia. Campers began and ended each day with the Liturgy of the Hours. In the mornings, they listened to a talk, prayed a holy hour, spent time outdoors praying or journaling, and worshipped at Mass.
“I’ve become closer to God, knowing how to pray better, knowing how to do confessions better,” said Monica Schiano, a parishioner of St. John the Evangelist Church in Warrenton. She said the week’s emphasis on the theme of hope resonated with her. “If you’re hopeful, you can become closer in your relationship with Jesus,” she added.
Following Sister Rosa’s talk, the girls walked from the seminary to the adjacent Chapel of the Immaculate Conception for holy hour. Little Sister of the Poor Constance Veit led the campers in a meditation and invited them to kneel before the Eucharist at the front of the sanctuary. Girls then scattered about the seminary’s sprawling grounds for meditation before returning to the chapel for Mass.
As the campers exited Mass, it was time for joyful noise to commence. The campers spent the afternoon playing in sports tournaments, making crafts or engaging in heart-to-heart conversations with each other and the religious sisters.
No camper was more enthusiastic than Pita O’Kray, a parishioner of Holy Trinity Church in Gainesville and a first-time camper. “I didn’t realize how fun it is to be with girls where you’re just strengthened by your sisters in Christ,” she said.
O’Kray said she had a powerful spiritual experience on the second day of camp, during a holy hour meditation. “They were talking to us about lies to give up. And I was saying to myself in my mind, ‘I need to give up the lie of unworthiness.’ And at that moment, the sister actually was telling all the girls, ‘You need to give up the lie of unworthiness.’ It was like she was reading my mind,” she said with a laugh. “God really spoke to me in that moment.”
Children of Mary Sister Lillian Emmanuel echoed O’Kray’s sentiments. “There are so many voices in the world today that are not of God. There are so many lies that we hear about who God is, who we are,” she said. “Our time here at FIAT allows for them to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd, through the talks, through the daily Mass, through time with him in adoration.”
She added that in a noisy and chaotic world, vocations camps are all the more necessary for young people. “They’re seeking answers to deep questions, not finding (them) out there in the world, but really coming here to learn the tools to be able to discern properly, because their vocation is a question of their eternal happiness,” she said.
Some might mistakenly think that teens would dislike a week of prayer and meditation — but not O’Kray.
“It’s been a highlight of the summer,” O’Kray exclaimed, before running toward the ping pong table with friends.
