Vocational discernment I feel is not something often thought about, and when I brought it up to people, I was often tried to be talked out of it. 

Recently I went to the Poor Nuns' discernment retreat, which centered around finding the right spiritual director. I was raised Catholic but left after I was confirmed. People say God works in both the natural and the supernatural- and for me it was the latter. It was October 2023, and I was watching a horror movie (The Nun, to be exact) when the thought of becoming a nun hit me; I pushed the thought away because I wasn’t even going back to church yet. The thought stayed with me for 8 months until I saw a post on the Poor Friars Instagram page about the first Come and See retreat, and I haven’t looked back since. 

Coming to the convent for the second time felt like coming back to visit family, which as an introvert means a lot to me. Being around people who know more than me about Catholicism is          such a refreshing experience: one where I’m eager to ask questions and not    ashamed to admit what I don’t know. We learned about the Founder's [Fr. Volantino's]                beginning in Italy, both before he started the charism and after, and about        some of the trials he faced getting it off of the ground. It was amazing                hearing how he overcame them and how God worked in those moments.

   Sr. Susanna translated a talk given by Sr. Veronica, originally in Italian,                 about spiritual direction in the book of Tobit. To sum it up: a spiritual                     director needs to be a positive person who has experience in order to be able to         guide you. They also shouldn’t be solving your problems but teaching you how you can face them, much like Tobias and the fish. 

Another part that stood out to me were the homilies on Friday and Saturday by Fr. Andre about needing to give God and irrevocable ‘Yes’. Even if you think He isn’t listening or answering, God is walking with you, waiting for that yes. Something else that stood out to me was that God knows what we want and what we are going to pray for, but He is waiting for our permission for Him to act. 

   The funniest part of the retreat had to be the activities: we played Kahoot,        blindfolded Pictionary, and one of the girls taught us how to play a game          called Fishbowl. My favorite part had to be the skits though- we split into          two groups, and each had a box of props to use to act out different parts of     the book of Tobit, it was a blast both coming out of my shell to act and               watching the other groups performance (10/10 ya’ll!)

   My next step is the two-week experience - I can’t wait to see all of the               sisters again! (and the cats Thomas and Mini Moo)

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