Teresita From Nun to Prayer Warrior, Part 1

As a young nurse in the Philippines, Teresita had a deep desire to serve God. She felt impressed to enter a convent and become a nun. Her sins weighed on her heart and she believed that by serving in this way she could be purged of her sinful past.

While attending nursing school, Teresita met “sisters” and a priest. She thought that if she could be like them, she would become holy and pure. When she told her mother of her desire, she begged her not to go. She says, “I was stubborn and rebellious and didn’t want to listen to her.”

On the day she wanted to enter the convent, her uncle, who was serving as a priest in Rome, was visiting in Manila. She begged him to help her get into the nunnery. The next day they caught a taxi and with his help she was accepted. The decision so shocked her mother that she had a heart attack and was paralyzed for several months.

Little did Teresita think that it would be 21 years before she would leave the monastery. Life in this religious community was rigorous and included doing penance, always consulting the mother superior, and even kissing the floor.

Except hearing the Bible at mass, Teresita never studied the Scriptures. She focused on the lives of the saints and the catechism. But none of these things brought peace to her tortured conscience. The guilt of her sins began to crush her spirit. Praying the rosary, making pilgrimages, confessing to the priest, partaking of communion … nothing eased the weight of her sin.

Teresita continued to seek peace by doing acts of righteousness. “I felt so empty. I was serving idols instead of the true and living God. I depended on my superiors instead of Jesus.”

Then, in an unfortunate encounter with another nun, she disobeyed the mother superior and was asked to leave. Teresita thinks of it now as a “mighty deliverance from God.” At the time she pleaded with them to allow her to stay. She had 21 years of a blameless record but was now dismissed.

Reflect: Have you ever been tempted to impress God or others by your own acts of righteousness? These will never save you. Seek heaven’s wisdom on revealing Christ to others.

Key Bible Texts

Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. (Romans 5:18 KJV)