We share with you a few words from Sister Ágata, who tells us how her formation process in the international juniorate at the Mother House of the Congregation has transformed her life and vocation. On her journey of faith, she has learned to discover her gifts, embrace her own weaknesses and those of others, and live fraternity as a true gift from God.

I am Ágata from Vietnam. The formation process in the international juniorate at the Mother House of the Congregation has touched me deeply.

It has helped me to go beyond myself and to develop the gifts I have received from God. Jesus Christ has taught me to embrace and accept my own weaknesses and faults, as well as those of others. I have learned to overcome the difficulties and conflicts of community life through sincere dialogue, joint discernment of God’s will, building an atmosphere of mutual understanding, sharing, support, and appreciation, while practicing charity and fraternal correction.

I have felt that Jesus has called us into His Heart to follow Him living in community, and that fraternity is a gift from God and an essential dimension of our religious and hospitaller life. In the international juniorate, I have lived in communion with sisters from nine different cultures, with a variety of ages, customs, gifts, values, ways of thinking, acting, and expressing themselves, and I have felt enriched. I have felt united by our consecration and hospitaller mission, and that we are sent to be prophets of His mercy in our daily hospitaller service. I feel responsible for creating peace and harmony in community life, witnessing that communion in love between different cultures and generations is possible and is a prophetic sign in a world wounded by ethnic conflicts, racial prejudices, and wars.

I feel very happy and grateful to the Lord and to the Congregation that I have been able to reach sufficient maturity in all dimensions of my hospitaller consecrated life and make the decision of my total and definitive commitment to the Lord in Hospitality. I have learned to constantly and intimately conform myself to Jesus Christ—chaste, poor, obedient, compassionate, and merciful, and I have developed a deep sense of belonging to our Congregation, where I feel that we have God as our merciful Father and where I feel that we are sisters to our fellow sisters, to the sick, and to all the people we meet along our way. Thank you very much.