Good News:

Dear brothers and sisters of St. Hubert,

          My name is Jazzy Rangel and I’ve got some pretty exciting news to share with you! God has been tugging my heart! Last year, God inspired me to go deeper into the daily discipline of prayer…. and I began to more seriously discern His vocation for my life after a surprise question during a conversation with a parishioner from a different church. This led to researching different orders, chipping little by little who I thought He was, and encountering Christ in a more intimate way.

        Let me rewind a little bit. The summer before college in 2014, I went on my first “grown-up” retreat. I had never met a nun before, nor had I met a sister, but it was here where I met Sue. Sue was one of the retreat leaders and within an instant, anyone could see how rooted she was in Christ, aflame with the pure love for God. In every word she spoke, I thought, There! There is a person in love with God. I yearned to feel the same security, the same life-filled joy. After discovering she was Jesus’ spouse, she kindly took the time to explain to me what that meant for her. I had never heard of someone being married to Jesus that didn’t wear a habit and wasn’t called “Sister.” I absorbed it all in.

        For the rest of the retreat, God chipped a little at who I thought He was; thoughts that had been naively journaled and doodled as a child began to seed the interior of my heart. What if I became a consecrated virgin? What if I became a nun? What if…? 

        So when a parishioner had asked me if I had ever thought about becoming a nun, I was so surprised! I took this question to God in prayer and explained that if He wanted me to research this and think about such a vocation more seriously, He would have to grant me two more confirmations. Sure enough, He did. His Will became clearer the more I searched for Him. After beginning to research orders, and spending more time in prayer, He provided His will for me over time.

        From one tiny keychain of a Sister appearing on a table I was organizing at church, to meeting a Sister dressed in white at a restaurant, to flipping the same keychain over after attaching it somewhere and discovering that it was the same order of the Sister I had met earlier that week, to a little necklace that had the image of the crowned Virgin Mother with the crowned Child Jesus in her arms (Mary Help of Christians), to homilies and students, all of the signs the Lord was showing me in and out of prayer clearly directed and led me to the one order. The Salesian Sisters, Daughters of Mary Help of Christians.

        Now, through all of the signs (I called them “little gifts”) the Lord was giving me, yes, I had discovered that God was leading me to the Salesian Sisters, but I was still filled with doubt and uncertainty. How could I, someone who was a great sinner, be called to such a vocation? How could the Lord be calling me to even think about being His spouse!? Through the doubts, the Lord continued to pursue me even more. His mercy began to follow me, from healing in prayer to seeing the Divine Mercy image everywhere I went (even on a billboard in the highway!). Then, it took quite a bit of time, healing, and counsel to muster up the courage and get in touch with the vocation’s director of the Salesian order, but He helped me do it. When I reached out to the Salesian Sisters and spoke on the phone with the vocations director, I was beaming. 

        It just so happened, in God’s perfect timing, the following week the Sisters would be in town; they drove from where they were staying to visit my home and meet my parents and my twin sister. I decided that I would continue this path of discernment, so in January earlier this year, I went to visit. In His abundant goodness, I was able to fly to New Jersey safely, meet the Salesian Sisters of the convent, and meet and play with the children of a local school. My heart was singing at the very moment I saw how the toddlers prayed, making the sign of the cross, then singing their song of prayer before they ate their meal. I was able to experience the joy that filled their lives and it magnified my own.

        After all of this discernment, as of May 5, I have been accepted as an aspirant into the candidacy of the Salesian Sisters! Sometimes I find myself laughing aloud when I find Jesus had stuffed a little love note in a fleeting moment only to be recognized by my eyes. What a sweet love He offers each of us.

          So dear Lord, thank You for gifting me with joy and gifting me with the grace of being able to teach and work with Your children here at home, and thank You God, that You led me to these Sisters who are dedicated to joyfully serving You and bringing and finding You in the children and youth.

        Thank You Lord for allowing me to be a part of St. Hubert’s beautiful parish life, and for meeting such kind-hearted people. Holy Trinity, may our lives, in the lives of every person who reads this, in the lives of our brothers and sisters in faith and those who have walked away, I thank you for all of the different beautiful vocations You have given Your children. May the vocations of Holy matrimony, Holy singleness, and Holy orders and consecrated life, bring You great glory. Amen!

Prayerfully yours,
Jazzy S. Rangel