Father Julian Cabrera, pastor at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Alice asks youth to think about how to use their "God-given" gifts for the good of others and the good of God’s kingdom at a catechism class on discernment, featuring "Sisters Rock."
Mary Cottingham, South Texas Catholic
Catechists were in attendance as well as pastor, Father Julian Cabrera and Elda Olvera, Director of Religious Education and ministerial assistant at Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Father Cabrera said, “this event is an invitation for you all to ask God what your vocation is? Is it to use your God-given gifts for the good of others and the good of God’s kingdom?” he asked them.
“Father [Cabrera] is very pro youth. He has many activities going on all the time for youth,” Olvera said. “We have a community group and a social justice group. On Thanksgiving and Christmas our youth will be giving away turkeys to those in need.”
Olvera said the students meet weekly in classrooms and that some 400 students are in catechism at their parish. Earlier that day, catechists talked about vocations to second through sixth-graders and on Sunday, other catechists teach kinder through third-graders.
According to Sister Gloria, many students who live in the rural areas rarely see a sister. This event gives students an opportunity to meet us and ask questions about our lives.”
Students were separated into six groups and each of the sisters joined a group: Sister Gloria and members of her vocation team, Incarnate Word Sisters Jo Ann Saenz, Rose Miriam Gansle and Lou Ella Hickman; Sister Lucia, D’Cunha from Sisters of St. Ann; and a special guest, Sister Consuelo Navarro, MJMJ who had just come from Reynosa, Mexico.
After a short icebreaker game, each sister gave a narrative of their vocation story. The youth asked such questions as: "How old were you when you knew? Do you miss not having a family, children? What is the hardest thing about living a life as a religious?"
The highlight of the evening occurred when Sister Consuelo, age 82, joined her group of teenagers and described to them the state of her hometown in Reynosa. “People have a code when there is fighting anywhere around them. They say ‘Hay fiesta’ meaning – ‘there is a party’ in English. It’s used as code words for ‘there is shooting going on,’” Sister Gloria said.
Sister Consuelo told her group that her house in Reynosa separated two rival cartel groups and sometimes shots were fired through and around their home. Everyone in the house would hit the floor, but due to health reasons, Sister Consuelo could only sit in the corner of the house and watch as bullets flew around her.
Her sisters in Mexico, fearing her safety, assigned her to live at Mount Tabor Convent with other MJMJ sisters in Corpus Christi. Sister Gloria said life is very hard for all the people living in Reynosa. “Young men are being kidnapped and forced to join a cartel. The people are in fear for their lives, but our sisters won’t leave them,” Sister Gloria said.
After listening to the sisters and questions of the youth in each of the groups, Father Cabrera said, “you get one shot in life, so when you go home tonight, ask God in your prayers, “‘what do you want me to do with my life?’”