We recently welcomed a new Little Sister, Sister Mary Raymond of the Eucharist, who made Perpetual Vows last August at our Mother House in France. You could say that her journey has been a long one.
Sister Mary Raymond left her homeland in Manila in the Philippines for the United States in January of 2003 to work in a hospital in Washington, D.C. Sister was a nurse already, but was discerning a vocation. She had looked into an Order where she visited several times. One of the suggestions that the Sisters had for Sister Mary Raymond was to get a spiritual director.
She found a spiritual director that was at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in March of 2004, The priest knew the Little Sisters very well and directed Sister to visit the Little Sisters of the Poor, which is just a couple of blocks from the Shrine.
At first sight, Sister Mary Raymond was hesitant of the Little Sisters of the Poor, since she had never worked with the Elderly before. She visited a few times on her days off from the hospital and felt called to care for the Elderly Poor as a Little Sister. She found herself taking more and more time at the Home of the Little Sisters.
Sister Mary Raymond entered as a postulant in October of 2006 and entered the Novitiate in July of the following year. After a two year Novitiate, she made Profession for two years in July of 2009.
After she had made Profession, she first went to our Home in Cincinnati for one and a half years, then for six months in our Home in Indianapolis before going to France.
In France, she did a year of “Doctrinal Studies” and made Vows for three more years. Finally, she made it to the Mother House where she prepared for her Perpetual Vows, which she made on August 24, 2014.
Due to much paper work, in getting a new Visa to enter the United States, she remained at St. Servan, which is the Heart of the beginnings of the Congregation, to help out.
We are very happy to have Sister Mary Raymond with us to care for the Elderly Poor here in Gallup, in the heart of “Navajo Land!”
