Sister Mary Isabel
of the Angels, O.P.

The Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. When he finds a single pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.
(Matthew 13:45-46.)

Since I was a little child, I wanted to be a nun. It was a mysterious call that attracted me to love prayer and to be with our Lord. When I graduated from high school, the thought to become a nun came again to my mind. It asked me, “Would you like to enter the convent?” My reply was, “Yes, I will do it, Lord, after I have my degree so I can be useful to you.” Then, I went to college and received my degree in accounting. I tried very hard to forget the attraction to become a nun by becoming busy with work, school, and friends until I moved from Indonesia to the United States.

In the U.S., I lived in Anaheim, California, and I was immediately hooked by churches in the area I lived. Those churches opened their doors all day long to provide the opportunity for people to come and to pray in the church. The church’s environment was so inviting, that eventually I started to attend daily Mass and found the joy of doing adoration. Subsequently, I deepened my spiritual life by consecrating myself to Jesus through Mary, consecrating myself to the Guardian Angels, and doing the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Consequently, the spark of my vocation was rekindled, and this time I heeded the call. So, I prayed to the Blessed Mother and my Guardian Angel, asking them to help me to discern and to do God’s will because that is the purpose of my life: to love God and to do His will.

The next step, then, was to find out what religious life is about since I knew nothing about it. Interestingly enough, I bumped into a program on EWTN late at night that was called “Completely Christ’s — The Radical Call of the Consecrated Life” by Life Work. This program was truly Divine Providence! Afterward, I attended a one-day vocation event called “7-11 Ministry Day” sponsored by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. It was a wonderful and valuable event for my discernment process. Later, I continued my research on the internet to find the right congregation, and I combed every single religious order until I discovered the Dominican Order. The Dominican charism resonated in my heart, especially when I saw a Dominican nun praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament. It was like falling in love at first sight.

Vocation is a gift. God has given this gift to me, and I’ll not pass on this beautiful gift. So, during a retreat in 2006, I said my “fiat” to be a nun. I knew from the beginning that I would have many obstacles, especially the opposition from my family and other difficulties. My reason to say “yes” was an act of faith because I trust that God could do anything if he wanted to. After inquiring with a few Dominican monasteries, I visited the cloistered Dominican Nuns of Corpus Christi Monastery in Menlo Park, California. After my aspirancy in October 2007, I entered the monastery as a postulant on June 8, 2009, the feast of Blesseds Cecilia and Diana, whose life is like mine. On the feast of Our Lady of Fatima in 2012, I made my first vows of religious profession. And on May 13, 2017, the centennial of Our Lady of Fatima, I made my solemn vows, professing my love and obedience to God ad mortem.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!