Vocation Story of Sr Mary Therese Sumiko Iitsuka, RGS
World War II ended on August 15, 1945. I was in the first grade of elementary school. In the year before the end of the war, there were air raids on the small town where I lived, and we had to evacuate every time. At one point, I took refuge to the countryside alone, away from my parents. When I was in elementary school, I hadn’t thought about what I wanted to be in the future.
When I graduated from elementary school, my father didn’t know much about Christianity. In spite of that, my father decided to send me to a mission school in Sendai. Sendai City is very far from the small town where I lived, but one of my older brothers lived nearby. I entered Middle School at Sendai Shirayuri Gakuen, run by the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres. In April 1953, when I was Middle School, I was baptized and confirmed on December 1954. At the Mission School, I belonged to the volunteer group of the School who went to the Children’s Home of the Good Shepherd Sisters.
That was my first encounter with Good Shepherd Sisters who were Canadians.
Due to family circumstances, I transferred from Sendai to a public high school in Chiba Prefecture. After graduating from high school, I studied 6 months at a business school in Tokyo. Then while working for a company for four years, I remember about the children’s home in Sendai and decided to join the Good Shepherd in 1961. My meeting with the orphans after the war left a lasting impression on me.
I believe that the reason I have been able to continue this religious life is first and foremost because I have been nurtured in the sight of God’s infinite mercy, and because of the prayers of all those whom I do not know.
When I was young, I had a strong desire to live a contemplative life. However, I was also drawn to working with children. Now that I am older and can no longer engage in direct activities, I see my mission as learning with God once again and deepening my relationship with Him. I am grateful to our religious community for nurturing and supporting me along the way.
