Speak to Me Sunday: A Nun's Rebellion

[I have learned many faith lessons from Sr. Gaudiosa, a sister to me in every way but blood. This is still one of my favorites ...]

Several years ago, I was curled up on the couch the day after Christmas watching The Sound of Music with Sr. Gaudiosa, a nun from Tanzania who has stayed with our family many times throughout the years. We were alone, it was snowing outside, and there was a crackling fire in the fireplace. 

This was Sister's all-time favorite movie; she has seen it half a dozen times and can sing the songs and even recite some of the dialogue. Her favorite part is when Mother Superior challenges Maria to consider that maybe she is being called to a vocation outside the religious life.

It was interesting watching this movie with a nun, especially when Maria decides to leave the Abbey. While Sister and I have had many heart-to-heart conversations, this scene in the movie made me wonder if she ever questioned her decision to join a religious order or if she ever had any doubts about God's call.

So, I asked her.

And curled up on the couch in front of the roaring fire, she told me a story ...

She was in her third year at the convent—a  year before taking her final vows—when she and 18 other postulants decided to leave. They made no announcement and gave no notice. They were tired of working, tired of studying, and so they just walked away.

"Just like that? You walked away?" I asked.

"Just like that," she said. "We got up in the morning and walked away. We told no one."

All 18 returned to their separate villages. All 18 had no more contact with one another.

Once she returned home, Sister told her parents the convent was on break. She didn’t tell them what happened, and she even hid any correspondence that arrived from her Mother Superior.

Days went by.

Then weeks.

"Did you talk to any of the others who left?" I wanted to know.

"No one," she said. "But, oh, how I struggled. I didn't know what to do."

Finally, after days and days of praying, at the end of the month she packed her bags, said goodbye to her family, and returned to the convent.

And a miracle happened.

Amazingly, on the very same day she returned, slowly, and all throughout the day, the other 17 returned, too. One at a time, from different villages, they all came back.

I looked at Sister, astounded.

"We all came back on the same day," she said, smiling and nodding. "All 18 of us. We had been very foolish, but God showed us—each in a different way—that we needed to come back."

Today, Sister continues her work both here and in Tanzania. When she is here, she works with African immigrants and refugees; when she returns to Tanzania, she takes what she has learned here and adapts that knowledge to address the needs of her community, all while facing ignorance, prejudice and, inevitably, bouts of malaria.

But on that day after Christmas with the snow gently falling outside, I knew Sister's story was just as hopeful and happy as the movie we were watching. She had her rebellion, but in time realized that she could still hear God's voice calling her to Him. 

And so she went.