WEBER: The seeds of vocation

Being from Houston, many people ask me how I ended up in Canada. Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect when I moved to the Great White North — a new country and into a religious community. In hindsight, I believe that it was probably best that I came with no expectations. It allowed me to give myself fully and embrace what God had in store for me.

So, when people ask me how I ended up in Canada, I tell them that the Lord called, and I simply said “Yes.” In August 2016, I left my home in Houston to move to Canada. I knew in my heart that the Lord was calling me to the Servants of the Cross, to grow closer to Him, to serve Him and the Church. Seven years later, on Dec. 13, 2023, the feast of St. Lucy and my 50th birthday, I knelt before God and the Archbishop of Ottawa-Cornwall in Ontario, Canada. I made my lifetime promises of chastity, poverty and obedience to the community.

Over the past few months since my Final Promises, I have been reflecting on my journey and the seeds in my life that got me here.

As I look back, I can see where the seeds of my vocation were planted along the way. These were key moments and encounters for me. My family, especially my parents, taught me about the love of God. At World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney, Australia, I encountered the Holy Spirit powerfully, which propelled me to get more involved in the Church.

A fire was ignited in my heart, and I hungered for more of Him. I became a lay associate with the Companions of the Cross, where I met the Servants of the Cross. I knew deep down when we met that they would be a part of my life. And through the support and guidance of the Houston Vocations Office, I began to seek God and discern my vocation. And it can’t go unnoticed that it was through the prayers of family, friends and the entire Church that helped keep me on this amazing journey with the Lord.

Living life in community is so rewarding, even with its “growth” challenges. Through our formation program, the sisters have really helped me grow as a daughter to a loving Father, growing spiritually and emotionally.

Today, I’m growing in my leadership capacity, forming and mentoring our young and bright applicants. Often, when we gather for communal prayer, I ponder as I look across the room and thank the Lord for my vocation and for bringing these women into my life. I praise God, knowing that I will be spending the rest of my life with them. And just as my father said about me the day before I left to join the community, “I have found the happiness I was always looking for.”

There is one piece of wisdom that I received from Auxiliary Bishop Italo Dell’Oro, CRS, while he was a parish priest early on in my discernment that has stuck with me throughout all these years that I want to pass on to anyone who may be discerning God’s call for his or her own life: “We do not need any more perpetual discerners. We need people to move and follow the vocation our Lord is calling them to.”

I pray for each of your hearts that you may give your “Yes,” your fiat, to His call on your lives. 

Sister Alison Weber, SC, a longtime member of the Catholic Charismatic Center, just took her final vows with the Servants of the Cross. She writes at the invitation of the Office of Vocations to honor National Catholic Sisters Week, which takes place during the month of March.

(Photo by James Ramos/Herald)