Religious Profession of Sister Josephine Makimkin
A vocation that spans three continents...from my home in Manila, where I was born, raised and educated, to Canada where I entered the convent of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Welland, almost four years ago, to Rome where I made my first religious profession last December 23/00. 1 would like to share with you the joy of my heart and the fulfillment of years of preparation, of discerning in a profound manner and centering my vocation only in the heart of Christ.

Please allow me to expressway gratitude to my family, relatives, friends spiritual formators, Mother Alba Puglia, my religious superior, Sister Margherita Ianni, my novice mistress, Monsignor Wayne Kirkpatrick, my journey person prior to my entry in the convent, my Congregation and Community in Welland, the Sisters and all those who by the witness of their lives have enriched me spiritually and enabled me to experience God's love through them. My vocation story begins with my childhood. I come from a devout Catholic family. My mother, a teacher by profession, opted to staying home and raising the children, while my father an electrician, worked to provide a living for the family. From our earliest youth my mother inculcated in us children a deep and tender love for the Blessed Virgin Mary. At the age of eight I began to be an active member of the Children of Mary Immaculate and remained such until my second year of college when due to school pressures I became a praying member.

As I look back at my spiritual journey which has led me to this point, I realize that my religious vocation is the greatest gift that God has given me after the gift of baptism. I am here in the religious life because I am responding to the love that God has first given me. I am not here to prove myself holy. I am here to answer the Lord's invitation, “Come follow me."

It took me years before I pronounced my "Yes" to the Lord because prior to this, I looked at religious life as leaving everything behind, everything that was dear and familiar to me. While reading a discernment booklet written by a Franciscan priest, there was a passage that struck me, "No one takes my life from me, I lay it down freely." (John 10) This quote helped change the pattern of my discernment. It became clearer that Jesus had given His life freely for me and if I would choose to accept His invitation to follow Him I should do so freely. As I reflected more and more on the mercy of the Lord and His infinite love for me I began to experience His presence in a very personal way. I also became more aware of my weaknesses and sinfulness. As I continued to seek the Lord more faithfully, I came to a deeper awareness that the Love I have for Him is truly only a shadow of His love for me. I now understood that my consent to Jesus' invitation is my free-will offering a giving of myself; I return to the Lord what He has so generously given to me and what do I have that I have not received?

After high school, I wanted to enter the convent with my cousin, Sister Belen, who had already been accepted in the aspirancy of the Dominican Order, but the superiors told me to wait, finish college and test my vocation. Following my four years of college I immediately got a job with the Department of Health. Although I enjoyed my job, and new found friends, the environment was very different to what I was accustomed. Coming from a protective family, with catholic upbringing and education, practices of piety like the rosary and daily attendance at Mass were shunned upon by my office co-workers. I was happy but there remained in me a void which needed to be filled. I tried to fill my time with various activities which I enjoyed but the satisfaction which they provided was only temporarily. Around this time I became involved in the Out-of-School Youth Program and in the Feeding Program designed to give nutritional balance to the malnourished children in my local community sponsored by the Department of Social Welfare. Although I enjoyed my participation in all these programs, the interior void still persisted.

Then came the opportunity for me to migrate to Canada. My cousin Luz of St. Catharines asked me to come and join her in this country. This was a big break through it was a difficult decision to make because by this time I was well established in my profession, health research, and I was also involved in an active apostolate both in my parish and community. After a year of praying for guidance, weiqhinq things, I made my decision to migrate and with my parents' blessing. I left the Philippines for Canada.

This country became for me the "desert," of my spiritual life. God works in mysterious ways and it seems that He had to take me away from all that was familiar and dear to me, from all the humdrums of my activities in order to hear the promotings and longings of my heart.. It was here that the call to "Come and follow me" was once again heard. I now began to realize that the interior void which I had experienced for years was the Lord's way of saying, "I'm the only one who can fill it." it was about this time that I heard about the "Called By Name Program". I began to participate in it in order to receive guidance.

After the Chrism Mass in the Cathedral of St. Catharine, in 1996, 1 met the Sacred Heart Sisters and introduced myself to them. Also about this time I began td visit different religious orders in order know to which religious community the Lord was calling me to join. As time passed I realized that the more I visited the Sacred Heart Sisters in Welland, the more I felt within me the desire to join them. After almost a year of praying and discerning with them I asked to be admitted into their congregation.

I entered the convent in Welland on the feast of St. Joseph March 19/97. After four years in formation I am overjoyed at having been admitted to my first religious profession. I humbly ask all the members of my diocesan family to keep me in their prayers as I begin the second phase of my format-ion which will lead me to my perpetual profession. Pray that I may always continue to respond generously to God's call and to be faithful until death.

At the same time I encourage any young woman who feels the call to follow the Lord, to respond generously to His call. Be not afraid to follow the Lord's call.