May 1, 2013

By Suzanne Pietropaoli
Staff Writer

MALONE- “Have you ever been in love?”

At first Meaghan Prue thought this was a strange question for the vocation director of a religious order to be asking her.  But as the 26-year old sales associate works through the discernment process with the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, she sees that Sister Maria Therese’s inquiry is very significant.  “I realize that I am in love with Jesus,” Meaghan relates.  “He is my rock, my best friend, the other half of my heart.  I can’t stop thinking about him; I want to be with him; I want to serve him.”

However, this was not always the case—despite a childhood rich in faith experiences.

“I was so happy to be in church back then,” she recalls, “and I could not wait for my First Communion.  The day finally came, and I had the great joy of receiving Jesus.  I couldn’t wait for Sundays to come so I could receive him again.”

Then Meaghan lost her beloved Grandpa Prue.  “My Grandpa and Grandma had led me to Christ and the Church in so many ways,” she explains.  “When he died, I thought that God had abandoned me and I stopped going to Church.  In truth, I had abandoned him.”

“But on Holy Thursday, 2011, God called me back,” she said. “ As  Father Donny Calloway says, it was ‘like getting hit with a divine two-by-four!’ 

“While shopping, I suddenly knew that I had to go to Church that night,” she said. ‘ That was the first time I met [Malone Catholic Parishes pastor] Father Joe Giroux, who spoke of God’s mercy and of how much God loves us and wants us back. 

“My heart responded, ‘I want you back, too, Lord,’ “ Meaghan said. “A hunger awakened in me then, and memories of why we go to Church, and who we go to Church for.”

Nourished again by the sacraments and by scripture, Meaghan’s relationship with God grew quickly.

Yet when Grey Nun Sister Mary Elizabeth Looby, pastoral associate at Malone Catholic Parishes, asked if she had ever thought of becoming a nun, Meaghan—with a strong sense of her own unworthiness—was taken aback. 

The question got her thinking, and then a family trip to the Bahamas focused her attention firmly on religious life.  Moved by the extremes of poverty and wealth she saw there, and realizing that a two-hour-long Sunday Mass was the high point of her trip, Meaghan came home “with God on my mind and the poor on my mind. “I knew then that God was calling me to something, to a way to love him and serve those in need,” she said.

Since then, Meaghan has been trying to discern just how God wants her to serve him. After briefly considering a few other orders, Meaghan discovered the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm; she has made one  discernment retreat with them and will shortly make another. 

With her own love for the elderly, Meaghan found that the Sisters’ life, and the “impeccable care” they provide, really drew her to the order. “These are joyous women, dedicated to God and to his people,” she said. “It is inspiring to watch them put into action the words of their foundress: ‘To clasp the hand of the aging person, to give meaning to the autumn of life by offering respect and honoring each one’s dignity.’  Whether I am accepted or not, I know that I want to take care of the elderly in just this way, to bring them God’s love.”

Right now, Meaghan says she is “on God’s timetable,” working through a huge packet of forms that is part of the application process while staying in close touch with the order’s vocation director. Along the way, she has had “insanely wonderful” support from the priests and sisters of Malone Catholic Parishes.  “Father  joe Giroux, Father Tom Higman, and (diocesan vocation director) Father Bryan Stitt have really helped me understand my faith and life at a deeper level.  The Grey Nuns, Sister Mary Elizabeth Looby and  Sister Barbara Schiavoni, have been very helpful, especially at answering my questions about  life in a religious order.  The priests and sisters were so encouraging!” That encouragement was especially important for Meaghan as she prepared to tell her family the news.

“I was so afraid to tell my parents,” she said. “It was not easy, but it was a relief.  My mom struggled a bit,at first,  to understand; but my dad washappy for me.  He told me that he was proud of me, and thathe was not surprised, since I had always loved to go to Church.

“My brother was quiet, and then said ‘Wow! That’s great!’ My sister responded that she wanted me tobe happy,” Meaghan said. “My Grandma Prue was very excited for me, and keeps asking when I will go into the convent.”

Though Meaghan does not know the precise answer to that question, she is happy to be moving forward with the discernment process.  And to anyone considering religious life, she offers clear advice.  “If you feel God is calling you, respond by pursuing it.  Contact a vocation director and talk about what is deep inside you.
“Realize that the Lord is knocking, and only you can let him in,” she said. “Your life is not own.  We are here to do God’s will, and that is what brings us real joy.”

Meaghan Prue of Malone is shown with her grandmother Alice Prue. The young woman is discerning a call to religious life and has begun the application process for the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm.