Sr.Luisina
By Sr. Maria Fuente, S.H.M.
Sr. Luisina is a Marianite from Chone, Ecuador. At the present moment she lives in a school that her congregation has in this city. Small and thin, now old and sick, she has not lost her smile and the great spirit and courage that she transmits when speaking. We were sitting at the same table during a celebration and she told us about all the different kinds of work she did. Above all, she loved to work with children. A priest (or a bishop, I think) who had visited their house had encouraged them to work with children because “what you sow in the heart of a child stays there forever.” She said that this was entirely true and then told us this story.
One day, Sr. Luisina was shopping in Guayaquil with a niece of hers. While the niece went inside a shop, Sr. Luisina stayed outside waiting for her. All of a sudden, someone grabbed her from behind and hugged her very tightly. The poor sister was tremendously frightened because she thought that someone was going to steal from her or something similar. Turning around, she saw a woman who, extremely moved, said to her, “Sister, do you remember me? Do you remember me, Sister?”
Sr. Luisina told us that she looked at the girl and truly didn’t remember the face… after so many years of apostolic work in so many different places... So, she began the “investigation”: And where do I know you from? Did you study in one of our schools? Were you in one of our missions? Remind me.
It turned out that the woman had studied catechism with her when she was little in one of the suburbs of Guayaquil.
The sister was very happy that the woman still remembered her teacher after so many years and she asked her how her life had been going.
The poor woman told her that her life had gone off track. Because of certain situations in her life and the need for money she had ended up as a prostitute.
The sister expressed her sorrow and asked if she could help in any way. The woman said that the sister had already helped her and explained how.
God, in His infinite mercy, had remembered her.
First, He permitted that, in spite of all her “precautions,” she became pregnant. She did not even know who of all those men was the father. She didn’t know what to do and thought even of having an abortion. Then Our Lord put in her way a woman who wanted to adopt a baby. She offered to solve all of the girl’s problems if she gave her the child.
When the time came for the child to be born and she saw him in her arms, she repented from having made that contract. However, not being able to turn back, she had to give the woman the child after twelve days. After this, she was worn out and fell into a deep depression. She felt crushed under the weight of all her sins and she hated herself. She even desired death.
Suddenly, she didn’t know how, all of the things that she had learned when she was little in catechism class came back to her. The picture was still fresh in her mind of that little sister who had spoken to them so sweetly about the good Mother that we have in Heaven, a Mother whom we should not fear because She never rejects any of her children, no matter how bad they may be, nor does she abandon them when they call on her.
She then felt moved to go to a Church and kneel down before the statue of Our Lady. Crying before her Mother, she let out all her anguish and heaviness of heart.
A priest in that parish saw her and, after watching her for a while, went up to her. With an almost maternal delicacy and patience, he listened to the poor girl’s story, he consoled her and gave her the absolution.
She felt as good as new and with the priest’s help she was able to remake her life. Now she was working uprightly and living with great peace and joy.
She couldn’t help but embrace the sister over and over again and thank her for having taught her those things. They had been sown in her heart and in the moment when she least expected, but most needed, they had sprung forth with great strength and taken her out of the lowest misery.
Because of this, Sr. Luisina continuously gives thanks to God and she told us that stories like this one are what have made work with children her favorite apostolate. What is sown in the tender heart of a child will be engraved there forever and sooner or later it will bear fruit.
©HM Magazine No.129 - March/April 2006
