Esmeralda Figueroa
Photographer/Journalist
She Said Yes
A young woman's journey to the altar
By Esmeralda Figueroa
Sister Micaela
The whole parish fell silent. Everyone held their breath.
The bride walked up to the altar.
She knelt and exchanged her vows.
….
Born Luz Minerva Ramirez, she joined the Sisters of the Society Devoted to the Sacred Heart, a community of Catholic sisters, at age 20. This community has several convents located throughout the U.S., Hungary, and Taiwan. Founded by Sister Ida Peterfy in the midst of World War II, this community has since grown.
But not dramatically.
There is no definite consistency between the amount of young women who enter this particular community per year. In fact, some years, no one enters. In the last 12 years, 14 have joined. Luz was among them.
Upon joining, each young woman chooses a saint’s name. This represents them and is their new title. When asked who her favorite saint was, the Archangel Saint Michael was one of them.
“His name is a question. ‘Who is greater than God?’ This is what I hope to proclaim with my life.”
Her name, Micaela, is a more feminine take on the Archangel Saint Michael, chief warrior of angels.
….
The stained glass windows at St. Vincent de Paul gleam with images of saints and angels. Light pours in from the rafters above, illuminating the pews inhabited by the Sacred Heart Sisters all decked in white. But none more brilliant than Sister Micaela who is back in her home parish to profess her final vows. Back to where it all started.
Saturday March 24, 2018- The Sisters of the Society Devoted to the Sacred Heart singing at Saint Vincent de Paul parish for Sister Micaela’s (middle front row) final profession.
….
She was a teen volunteer, 14 at the time. The year 2004. The Sacred Heart Sisters visited St. Vincent de Paul’s to hold a confirmation session to its young teen group of which Luz was a part of. After the session, all the teens went home. Except one.
Her parents were late to pick her up so she helped the Sisters clean up. She had watched them play basketball earlier against a bunch of teens and was impressed.
“They played basketball like pros, I mean they were really good. And they showed a bunch of pictures of them having fun in the snow and the mountains and they seemed really cool,” she said.
So she struck up conversation with the Sisters as she helped and was even more in awe that one of them in particular knew about cross country. That particular sister was Sister Paula, a sister she would one day in her future co-lead a Kid’s Club with on Thursdays.
“There was something about her that stood out to me,” Sister Paula said of the encounter. “A certain joy, an openness. We need to stay in contact with her to help nurture whatever God is calling her to.”
Sister Paula extended an invitation to Luz to visit their retreat center in Santa Ana. Ironically enough, Luz, running in cross country, would often run right by the center, never imagining that one day she would live there. That one day, she would call that place home.
She said yes and gladly accepted the invitation.
….
It was during one of her first visits with the Sisters that she received a Holy Card. The front had an image of Jesus Christ on the cross. The back, a quote from the foundress, Sister Ida Peterfy.
Monday April 9, 2018- The Holy Card she received with Sister Ida’s quote.
She placed the card in her Bible and thought nothing of it. Everyone receives Holy Cards when they visit the Sisters. Hers was just like anyone else’s.
“Have you ever thought about being a Sister?”
She laughed in her head. Said no. Luz, though impressed by the community, was not interested in joining.
“Yes,” she said aloud, surprising herself. Because she hadn’t, actually. The word just slipped out. She said yes when she meant to say no.
“It just came out and surprised me. In my head I was like ‘ha, NO!’ haha you know, because I was a teenager. But I just pushed it aside and was like ‘Well, I have plans.’”
Huge plans. She planned to write music and land some summer gigs. She planned to study biology. Become a high school teacher. Live on a ranch somewhere in Oregon or Colorado. Anywhere that experienced the four seasons. Get married. Have 12 kids. Own horses. A lot of them.
“I had some big plans, like, BIG, and my family knew all about them. Especially my mom.”
“I will pray for you,” said the Sister then.
Have you ever thought about being a Sister.
….
Luz continued on with her life. School and homework and music and volunteering. She’d strum her own guitar rhythms and write her own lyrics. She ran. Fast. High school was going just as fast. Up next, college. She was loving biology and felt called to be a teacher.
“I really wanted to be a high school biology teacher, so I’ve been to several of the camps and retreats the Sisters have to see how I deal with adolescents. But also, I just really loved being there, you know? I felt like I was my best self when I was with the Sisters, I was proud of who I was when I was with them. It felt like home.”
At the retreat camp located in Big Bear, one of the Sisters approached her: “Have you ever thought about being a Sister?”
“Yes,” she’d answered, honestly.
….
“She [Luz] knew the community longer than she knew me. I met her the summer before she entered, I believe it was...2008? 2010? Around there.”
Sister Gabrielle first met Luz at a Leadership Retreat in Big Bear. They were seated at the same table with a bunch of other young women.
“It was...an intense group. An intense discussion. A lot of differences in opinion, a lot of questions. [Luz], in particular, had a lot of questions, in an open way. There was a thirst to know the truth,” said Sister Gabrielle.
Luz, at this time, was already considering joining the community. Six years had passed since she’d first met them at St. Vincent de Paul’s.
“I asked God during adoration for an answer. I just needed to know.”
She asked God. Opened her Bible. And braced herself.
She found nothing.
Dissatisfied, she shut the Bible.
A Holy Card fluttered out.
The exact same Holy Card she’d received six years ago.
Come, Follow Me.
….
The first person she confided in was her younger brother, and only sibling, Emmanuel. Growing up, they were really close, despite the seven-year age difference.
He knew of all her grand plans. The ranch. Biology. Music. And now she up and changes the game. Tells him she‘s considering religious life. He won’t get to see her as often. To hang out and talk. His big sister, gone. A heavy burden for a young boy to carry.
One day, Emmanuel, then 11, came home from school with an interesting bit of news. He’d had an English exam that day. “Correct the following sentences.” One of them read:
“She gave up her Biology major to become a nun.”
He’d joked: “You would always be my sister.”
But in his heart he knew she was gone. Knew she would leave him. But she was his sister and he loved her.
….
“My mom took it hard. She, like I said, knew all about my plans to move to Colorado or Oregon and have a big family and be a teacher. So, yeah, she took it hard.”
Minerva Ramirez was surprised. This came out of seemingly nowhere.
“I asked her, ‘Why not finish school first?’ She was in her second year of college studying biology. She could finish and, if she still felt like it, then she could go,” said Minerva. “So that at least college wouldn’t have been a waste.”
But Luz was adamant about it.
“She told me she asked God and he said “He chose me.’”
Minerva, though not happy about the decision, decided to just respect and accept it.
“If it were something bad she was doing, then that’s something different. But this is a good thing. She’s not doing anything bad or dangerous. She’s happy and that’s all I want for my children. I may not understand, ever, but I just want them to be happy,” Minerva said.
The last to know, her dad, like her mother, was just as surprised.
“I was scared of telling my dad, that he’d be angry about it,” she’d said.
As surprised as he may have been by her news, she was even more shocked by his reaction:
“Consecrated life is not a career, it’s God calling you to Him. Is it something you want or is it truly coming from Him?”
Jose Luis Ramirez, like his wife, respected her decision and came to terms with it. He’d visited the retreat center and got to know some of the Sisters with his daughter. Minerva refused to go.
“I knew my parents wanted me to finish school. I was a first generation college student with a biology major and they thought I was throwing it all away for something that might not even work out. But I knew that if I didn’t try this now, I would not push myself to go for it after college. I had to do it now.”
And she gave up her biology major to become a nun.
….
Sister Micaela’s family sat front row and center. Mixed emotions. Strong emotions.
Saint Vincent de Paul, with its stained glass windows and light pouring in from the rafters. Every pew filled. Every seat taken.
Her dark bob contrasted against the white of her suit. Her pumps clicked.
The whole parish fell silent. Everyone held their breath.
The bride walked up to the altar.
She knelt and exchanged her vows.
“I, Sister Micaela Ramirez, vow chastity, poverty, and obedience, forever.”
Sunday, April 8, 2018- Sister Micaela at the Retreat Center in Santa Ana, California.
For more information on the Sisters of the Society Devoted to the Sacred Heart, visit their website:
https://sacredheartsisters.com/