María Magdalena García Ventura worked for years as a dentist in her country until she entered the Salesian Sisters of San Salvador as a postulant.
Years later, stationed in Granada, Spain, she made her perpetual profession on Palm Sunday. “My vocation was a late one, and thank God that the Order of the Visitation exists, because our Holy Father, thinking precisely through an inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wanted this order to accept people over 35, without a specific age limit,” the contemplative explains in an interview published by the Archdiocese of Granada.
María Magdalena developed a professional career and became close to these religious sisters through the Honor Guard of the Sacred Heart, which is held in memory of the Salesian martyrs killed during the religious persecution that occurred in Spain at the beginning of the 20th century and, especially, during the Civil War (1936-1939).
During an Honor Guard training session, something transformed her heart, and she dedicated herself to bringing devotion to the Sacred Heart to different towns in El Salvador. That experience sowed a deep restlessness within her: “I was just then telling one of the mothers that I felt something in my heart that was more than just carrying out the apostolate of carrying that devotion,” explains María Magdalena, who felt she wanted something more, “but I didn’t know what.”
Then, one of the mothers invited her to a spiritual retreat, and the superior admitted her. During that three-day retreat, through reading the Scriptures, she began to see her future clearly: “Well, Lord, what am I looking for out there, if what I want is here inside?” “I am already completely, completely, in our Lord.”
Three years later, she was admitted as a postulant and, at the same time, was offered a trip to Spain to help the community of the Monastery of the Visitation of Saint Mary in Granada. She took her temporary vows five years ago and made her perpetual profession last Palm Sunday. “I am now completely, completely, a part of our Lord for the rest of my life and for eternity,” she proclaims, convinced of having found fulfillment: “I am more than happy, more than grateful to our Lord for all His mercy He has shown me, because this vocation is a call from our Lord. I am very happy about that, because He has noticed me, He called me, and here I am.”
The nun, who recognizes a certain uniqueness in her vocational journey, believes that God calls each person in a unique way, but that one must find a predisposition: “To hear the voice, yes, one must be in a state of peace, tranquility, silence, and that is why it is very good to take retreats from time to time, vocational retreats. The Lord always seeks the hidden, the silence to dwell in.”
Source and photo: Odontóloga salvadoreña hace profesión perpetua como religiosa salesa en España – MPV: opinión, ciudadanos, PRI, PAN, PRD