A soldier is not only someone who defends one’s country and ensures a safe homeland by maintaining its social peace, but also the one who walks in the steps of Lord Jesus Christ with the aim of saving souls and ensuring that the word of God ranks high in societies so that love, peace, harmony, and common living would prevail.
A report has recently disseminated about Sister Tosca Ferrante, an Italian nun who as a young girl dreamed of becoming a nurse or a schoolteacher, though she later became a policewoman. Now she realizes that her religious vocation fulfills all these callings to offer her life for the needs of her neighbors.
Tosca Ferrante joined the police force in 1989. She had “a proud gaze and stern bearing, but with a different light in her eyes after her five years of service on the Italian police force.”
She says, “In those years, despite the joy, I felt a certain restlessness about the future and I continued to wonder about the meaning of life and on how God wanted to share it with me.” She adds that during her service in the police department: “I saw the faces of so many ‘poor’ people, namely delinquents, drug addicts, young women who were victims of prostitution, foreigners waiting for a residence permit who often fell prey to phony intermediaries’ schemes — so much poverty, so much emptiness and also so much evil.”
She continues saying, “One day I was at the precinct of Tor Pignattara in Rome. I was asked to stand guard and wait for orders regarding a minor who had committed a robbery. We were in the same room and I started to talk to him about the motivations behind his. I remember that moment perfectly. He started crying and said he was scared. He was crying non-stop, he was frightened. I listened to him, handed him a tissue. He really seemed helpless. At one point, still crying, he said to me: ‘I’m scared. Can you give me a hug?’. I said, ‘No’. I could not. I was on duty. But deep down, what did he ask me for? A hug! A gesture that is one of the first forms of communication with the world — a newborn is placed in its mother’s arms. It is warmth, a continuity of love, tenderness, protection. But I said no! When I got home, I looked in the mirror and asked myself, ‘who are you becoming?’”
This was Tosca’s true encounter with the Risen Lord Jesus Christ. She went on a trip to Damascus which was the beginning of a serious period of discernment that led her to give her conscience an irrevocable answer. After a few years she joined the Apostoline Sisters of the Istituto Regina degli Apostoli (Institute of the Queen of Apostles for Vocations), where she continues to care for the “poor” she had met while wearing a gun strapped to her belt.
Life abounds with similar stories about young women who delve into the miseries of life and believe that something has to be done to alleviate the suffering of humanity. They suddenly hear the voice of Lord Jesus asking them to be His children while conveying to them His message of faith, love, and peace, Thus, they because nuns, dedicate their lives to Lord Jesus Christ, and consequently serve Him in many ways. Some are teachers, some nurses, some doctors, some do counseling or other mental health work, have orphanages, have homes for the dying, almost any need people have, nuns will try to work to take care of them.
Women become nuns because they realize that no matter how love they can acquire in life, the love and care they receive from the Prince of Peace, Lord Jesus Christ, far exceeds any other love. It is due time to pray that the Lord may give nuns of this world the strength and courage to continue their mission, to feel that Lord’s presence with them is at all times, to have divine protection for them from harm and danger, and to help them overcome any obstacles or trials that may come their way in this life.
By Munir Bayouk/ en.abouna.org
