Vocation Story of Sr Mary Tarcila Abaño, RGS
As a child I was content to sit quietly in Church whenever my auntie tagged me along for her religious devotions. I replayed in my mind religious pictures I saw of angels and saints. In high school, I often broke away from my friends and companions after school to spend some quiet moments before the Blessed Sacrament in our parish church. By the time I got to College my love for the Mass was cultivated with the enthusiasm and charisma of Fr. John P. Delaney, SJ. As I began to see the end of my college days, I wanted to make sure I have daily Mass for the rest of my life. So began my quest for a religious congregation where I could celebrate Mass daily.
On my fourth year in College, I accompanied one of my classmates who was visiting the Good Shepherd Sisters. We spent one weekend with the aspirants. After our graduation she joined the Good Shepherd. In the meantime, I continued my search for the religious congregation to join. Then I made a retreat during the Holy Week of 1962 at the Manresa Retreat House. Soon after the retreat I found myself hurrying to the Good Shepherd Convent at 1043 Aurora Boulevard.
My father was opposed to my decision. At home he told me I would not be allowed to return to Manila unless I withdraw my application to the Good Shepherd Sisters. Dutifully I signed the letter he himself typed and I was allowed to leave for Manila. Eventually, I left for the Novitiate in Los Angeles. For seven years, my father continued his opposition to my vocation. But my mother was a strong advocate who brought about a change of heart in my father and ultimately acceptance of my vocation and reconciliation in the family.
It is always difficult to put into words God’s personal call. It is a day-to-day response that has to be repeated over and over. What I am certain of is that God has brought me into the world for a purpose and the purpose is being unfolded each day.
In the sixty that I have been a religious, I have found that God’s goodness is seen most surely in the difficult and painful times of my life. Bearing the pain of misunderstanding and difficulties is for me a faith-filled guarantee that makes me strong when the pain is over. The first such experience of pain was the seven years of estrangement that was mine when my father could not understand my religious vocation. It was hard but I found solace in the conviction that this religious vocation is God’s call. “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you.”
The opportunity to walk with retreatants in daily life according to the Nineteenth Annotation of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola is one circumstance that I can cite where Jesus the Good Shepherd, has drawn the best in me to be an instrument of compassion to others. As I accompany them in their journey, I can see their struggles in knowing, understanding God’s ways in their life and then blossoming forth in greater faith, hope and love.
Life is so short but with God, eternity begins now. Each day as I discover new facets of God’s presence in my life the waiting for eternity becomes ever more exciting and exhilarating. Finally, life is so short and there is always a demand on our time. Yet the times spent with Him in prayer, before the Blessed Sacrament and also among the poor He calls us to are so many jewels that will shine when our time comes to appear before Him in His heavenly throne. Let us spend our time in these glorious endeavors.
