Sister Guadalupe's namesake is her constant companion

Sister Guadalupe Cervantez, PCI describes her life as "Prayerful and joyful, I love my life," she said. "If I were born again, I would become a sister."

Sister Guadalupe celebrated her 25th year Jubilee with her congregation, the PAX Christi sisters, on July 19 in the PAX Christi Liturgical Retreat Center.

She was born to Carlos and Socorro Cervantez on Jan. 21, 1971 in Queretaro, Mexico. Her parents named her Guadalupe, after Our Lady of Guadalupe. She has two brothers and five sisters.

When she was a teenager, Sister Guadalupe was like many teenagers. She enjoyed dancing and going to parties with her friends, but when she went home after a night of dancing she always felt an emptiness inside and she would ask herself, "What after this."

Other than going to Sunday Mass, her family was not very active in their parish. It was not until her older sister began to volunteer, teaching religious education at their parish, that she too became more active. They both joined the Legion of Mary, whose devotion was to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Accepting an invitation from a friend who had joined the Pax Christi congregation, Sister Guadalupe attended a 3-day silent retreat with them. During the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament she prayed for direction.

After the retreat she was invited to be part of the Pax Christi community without commitment-"just to visit and discover more about myself," she said. She would go often, but every time she went back home she felt that emptiness that she now knew only God could fill.

As high school was coming to an end, the mistress postulant of the Pax Christi Sisters advised her to help out more with her parish, St. Francis in Queretaro, which she did. In her heart, she knew she wanted to be a Pax Christi sister.

"The only problem I had was convincing my parents," Sister Guadalupe said. When she told her parents that she wanted to join the Pax Christi Institute they expressed their immediate disapproval and told her "no" many times.

They had many reasons. Her mother told her that no one in the family had ever done such a thing before and she wanted her to wait until after college. Her father wanted her closer to home. He even arranged a meeting for her to see a Franciscan priest who advised her to join a cloistered convent like the Franciscans.

"They knew more about the Franciscans and they were right here in town. I guess they were afraid I would leave and go to United States, which is what I did," she said. "They did not have the experience of having a nun in the family and they were also afraid I would be disappointed in the future," she said.

She persisted in following her call and after months of going back and forth with her parents, they agreed to let her go, but refused to visit her when she became a postulant in Aug. 16, 1986. For two years she went to visit them once a month. "I was worried about them," she said. "Eventually they did come around and are now very happy for me."

She came to Corpus Christi as a novice in 1988 and made her first profession of vows with Sister Teresa Santoyo on Jan. 23, 1989 and began attending Del Mar College to learn English.

She received eight years of study, including four years at Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia, a masters and doctoral degree in ministry from the Graduate Theological Foundation in Indiana and studied liturgy at Sánt' Anselmo in Rome.

School was hard for Sister Guadalupe. She had not quite mastered the English language, so she had to record the classes, rewrite everything in English and memorize what she had written. She had help from other students, but "it was most challenging," she said. "Mother Teresa Santoyo was very compassionate, but firm. She told me that I have to do this and to trust in God."

Mother Teresa Santoyo now has Alzheimer's, but back then Sister Guadalupe described her as "a very good listener."

"She wanted us to grow in our spiritual life and grow in education. She would tell us 'if you don't feel happy, you need to find out for yourself what is it that makes you happy,'" Sister Guadalupe said.

"I was always happy, but it was hard. She'd say go wash your face and get back to work. At that moment I was not able to understand, but later I appreciated it," Sister Guadalupe said.

She taught four years in New York City, lived in the Bronx and worked as a Hispanic coordinator with several different parishes. She worked with Cubans, Puerto Ricans and people from the Dominican Republic. "It was challenging, but at the same time a learning experience to work with more of a multicultural society," she said.

In 2011, a year after they began construction of the Pax Christi Liturgical Center, Sister Guadalupe was diagnosed with cancer. She saw two doctors and both their biopsy's revealed the same-lymphoma. "I thought it was a mosquito bite," she said.

Her family doctor from Mexico sent her to MD Anderson in Houston where they again confirmed she had cancer. Before she was to undergo extensive treatment, her doctor from MD Anderson told her to come back in two weeks and to prepare for a lengthy stay in the hospital.

"I kept remembering to keep the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe with me at all times. Everybody prayed. The day before I went to Houston the sisters offered Mass for me. I told Jesus, 'It's your will. I promise I am open to your will, but let me help mother [Mother Maria Elva Reyes] finish construction of the Liturgical Center before I go'," Sister Guadalupe said.

Before being prepped for surgery, the doctor told her to sit tight for about an hour, as she wanted to run some final tests before giving her the entire treatment. Sister Guadalupe waited for several hours until finally the doctor came back and said, "Sister you must have all the sisters praying for you. I'm not supposed to say this, but…. their prayers worked. I cannot give you any treatment."

There was no sign of cancer and the doctor brought her every X-ray to show her before and after that day.

Sister Guadalupe was able to help get the Pax Christi Liturgical Center up and running and the sisters were able to open their doors earlier this year. She is now in charge of developing catechetical programs for retreats.

She attributes all she has been given to her namesake, Our Lady of Guadalupe. Sister Guadalupe feels that Our Lady has been and will always be her constant companion.