February 7, 2023 at 7:07 p.m.
CALLED BY GOD!
CALLED BY GOD!
The room’s white paint helps reflect the soft afternoon light shining through the stained glass windows that line the walls. Sister Guadalupe Maria, PBVM, approaches the altar slowly. The space is still adorned with bright red poinsettias, giving a sweetly nostalgic feel of Christmas. She pauses at the front and takes a small bow.
Much like the chapel, there’s a similar calmness to Sister Guadalupe. She speaks slowly and gently. She’s not one to interrupt others and listens with an attentive ear.
In August 2019, Sister Guadalupe, 41, boarded a train from Lansing, Mich., to Albany to meet with the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and discuss becoming a nun. Now, she’s a second-year novice with the order, planning to make a temporary profession in the spring or summer of this year.
“There was definitely this calling here,” Sister Guadalupe said. “There was another order I was considering but I could tell it didn’t fit. There was something that didn’t feel right, but this feels very right. I wouldn’t still be here if it didn’t!”
The building where the sisters live serves as both the motherhouse for the Watervliet order of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and basecamp for St. Colman’s School, a residential and day program for special needs children founded and run by the sisters. As part of the usual vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, the Watervliet sisters add a fourth vow of instruction for poor children.
It’s the place where Sister Guadalupe has spent the past three years discerning her vocation. She was accepted as a postulant in September 2020 and a novice in April 2021. She’ll continue working, studying and praying here as part of her journey toward final vows.
A VOCATION JOURNEY
Before she joined the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Sister Guadalupe Maria was known to friends and family as Melissa Jones.
Born and raised in St. Johns, Mich., the novice grew up like any other kid in the Midwest: she was the second oldest of her siblings, with an older brother and younger brother and sister. She attended St. Johns High School and did theater, working backstage on school productions like “Grease” and “Annie.”
Her family was Catholic but not very religious. Her grandmother had a strong faith and her family would attend Mass on Sundays, but that was the extent of her exposure. In high school, Sister Guadalupe briefly thought about joining the sisterhood but brushed the idea away.
She attended Baker College in Owosso, Mich., and changed majors a few times. First accounting, then business with a minor in computer technology, and then a minor in marketing. After a couple of semesters, she knew something wasn’t right: “Nothing fit,” she said, “so I left college and got a job.”
She worked a variety of jobs for grocery stores, fast-food restaurants and as the supervisor for the National Passport Information Center. Things were going well until the grocery store she worked at went out of business, putting her out of a job. It was a hard period in her life.
“It was a bad time,” said Sister Guadalupe. “That was when I started searching for God on a deeper level. I started getting more involved in church, and I switched parishes to (St. Gerard Catholic Church) in Lansing that was active, and I started getting more involved.”
The more she dove into her faith the more she started thinking about the sisterhood. She mentioned the vocation idea to her uncle who worked for Catholic Charities in Anchorage, Alaska. At that same time, Watervliet general superior, Mother Mary Louise Kane, PBVM, also worked for Anchorage Catholic Charities and was friends with Sister Guadalupe’s uncle. When he mentioned his niece’s interest in the sisterhood one day, Mother Mary Louise said, “Tell her to call me.”
“My uncle called me and was like, ‘So there’s this order of sisters that I know…’” she laughed. Sister Guadalupe did give Mother Mary Louise a call, and in August 2019, she came for a visit. The first thing the sister noticed was how hilly the area was compared to Michigan.
“We don’t have mountains, so I was looking at the hill of Troy and thinking that’s a mountain!” she said. “But then when I went to Altamont, I was like those are mountains.”
The first visit with the sisters felt more like a vacation than a discernment trip, she said. She got a tour of the campus and visited the Our Lady of Martyrs Shrine in Auriesville and the Saint Kateri National Shrine and Historic Site in Fonda.
“It was amazing, everybody was so sweet,” said Sister Guadalupe. “Everybody was just so nice and kind.”
In September 2020, Sister Guadalupe packed a small suitcase of necessities and moved to Watervliet to start her journey as a postulant.
A NEW NOVICE
Now, Sister Guadalupe’s day is packed with work. The day starts early with Morning Prayer and Liturgy of the Hours with the sisters. After, she’ll assist two elderly nuns to get ready for the day, then go to the children’s dining room to help serve meals to students.
“I’m gaining a lot of knowledge about autism,” Sister Guadalupe said of her work. “Some kids have quirks and some also are just typical teenagers.” Ryan, a student in the full-time residential program, uses a device to talk with the sisters. “Even though he has a device he talks on, you can still tell when he’s got his, ‘I don’t want to do anything’ vibe.”
One day a week, Sister Guadalupe has a Zoom class with the Magdala Apostolate, an outreach project of the Institute of Catholic Culture that provides doctrinal formation for women religious and novices. She’s currently learning the Theological Virtues and just wrapped up Cardinal Virtues last term.
In her free time, the sister enjoys diamond painting and loom knitting. Throughout the day, she loves hanging out with Maggie, Mother Mary Louise’s King Charles Spaniel, who even has her own chair in the rectory space.
Sister Guadalupe is looking forward to taking her next steps with the sisters and hopes that anybody who is considering religious life simply “be open” to God’s guidance.
“You really have to be open to what God wants, and if he’s calling you, listen,” she said. “I know it’s difficult to listen, but listen because you never know.”
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