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By Sister Elizabeth Small
Vocation is not always a sudden moment of clarity. Sometimes, it unfolds through a series of quiet, persistent invitations – patiently waiting for our “yes.”
My journey to becoming a Sister of Mercy began in an unexpected place: a close-knit Muslim family, where faith and tradition were deeply rooted. At 17, I was “nicka” (engaged in an Islamic marriage arrangement) according to family customs. Within two years, the arrangement failed, and I found myself raising my baby daughter alone. Lost and searching for meaning and identity, I began an inner journey – one that ultimately led me to the Catholic Church. This was my first invitation: a silent but undeniable call to something deeper.
As my search for identity deepened, I joined the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) program. Yet, an even greater revelation awaited me. When I finally told my mother of my desire to be baptized, she handed me a baptismal certificate. Unknown to me, she had secretly baptized me as a baby and had kept this hidden for thirty years. This unexpected discovery affirmed what I now see clearly: God had been inviting me all along, gently leading me toward my true identity in Him.
After receiving the sacraments of Confirmation and First Communion in 2004, the invitations continued. By then, I was a single mother supporting my daughter through medical school, and religious life was the furthest thing from my mind. But God had other plans.
During Vocation Week, I attended a gathering with young women searching for their calling. I was simply a chaperone, but that visit to Mercy Convent at Meadowbrook changed everything. Sister Julie Matthews welcomed us with such warmth and shared Catherine McAuley’s story. As I listened something stirred within me. I found myself wrestling with an unexpected question: Was God inviting me to something more?
Seeking clarity, I turned to my spiritual director, Fr. Paul Martin, SJ, who guided me through 32 weeks of Ignatian discernment. During this time, the words of Catherine McAuley resonated deeply:
“God can bend and change, form and reform any of [God’s] creatures to fit them for the purposes [God] designs.”
With this assurance, peace settled in my heart, and I was ready to explore the possibility of becoming a “Sister Mum.”
On February 22, 2015, I began my “Come and See” experience with the Sisters of Mercy, spending three nights a week at the convent and four nights at home. This balance allowed me to discern my calling to religious life without abandoning my role as a mother. When my daughter graduated in 2016 and moved to Grenada for her medical internship, I took the next step, entering candidacy on November 26, 2016. Two years later, on September 8, 2018, I entered the novitiate under the guidance of Sr. Patricia Mulderick, RSM.
The novitiate was a time of deep formation, but my greatest struggle was the physical and emotional distance from my daughter, who was then pursuing her master’s in public health abroad. Yet, I found peace when she embraced her own vocation to marriage.
During my apostolic year, I served as administrator of St. John Bosco Orphanage, a Mercy ministry where I encountered the raw realities of human brokenness. It was there, in the cries of the most vulnerable, that I heard the call to love and mercy in its purest form.
Then came the pandemic, a time of global uncertainty. Yet, in the midst of it, I professed temporary vows on December 12, 2020, not within the walls of a church but in the open compound of the orphanage, surrounded by the boys and staff I served. That moment, stripped of grandeur, was filled with grace. I was making my commitment in the very place where Mercy was most needed.
I remained at St. John Bosco Orphanage, growing in my commitment to Mercy, until I professed my final vows on February 2, 2024, sealing the journey that had begun with a quiet, persistent invitation.
Looking back, I see how God was always leading me – through moments of struggle, unexpected revelations, and the witness of Mercy – to this sacred “yes.” My story is a testimony that vocation is not always immediate. Sometimes, it unfolds in whispers, in hidden graces, in the everyday encounters that call us to something more. And when we finally say “yes,” we realize that God had been inviting us all along into a loving relationship with Him.