THE CALL OF LOVE

On this occasion, I want to share the testimony of Sister Catalina María Padilla Cordero, from the Community "Daughters of Love of the Child Jesus of Prague" whose Charism is: "Restore the dignity of the children of God." A nascent Community, to which the Archdiocese of Bogotá granted Legal Status in January 2019, and of which she was Superior from May 2015 to October 2018.

She thinks she had a happy childhood, and by then she did not see her vocation. Even in the eleventh grade, she did not consider herself religious. She dreamed of getting married, joining politics and helping people. Maybe be Minister of Culture. She had two boyfriends, which she considers a good experience, but deep in her heart she knew that something was missing.

She says that at the age of 15 she had a cancer known as "Hodgkin lymphoma" and at that time she was the youngest patient in Onco Pediatrics. She was not afraid, and was not aware of the risk and implications of her illness. One of the things that touched her at that time was seeing very hard realities in other children.

She finished high school at Colegio Alvernia, later entered the Externado de Colombia University to study Conservation and Restoration of works of art. She studied with a scholarship for her high ICFES score. Remember that with her university classmates, she went to Suesca for the restoration of a “mural painting from the year 1600”.

She thinks that her grandparents left her the faith. When she was halfway through the race, her maternal grandfather died. Her departure to the Celeste homeland occurred at three in the afternoon, looking at an image of the Virgin. It was one of those painful and crucial moments in life, because she admired her for her life testimony, and loved her deeply.

From then on she had a concern for the transcendent, and began to search for what Heaven was. She found an answer in many Saints, including Saint Thomas Aquinas. She also understood that the Eucharist is the "Meeting of Heaven with earth." She was inclined to seek surrender to God, under the contemplative life.

Manifests that death, disease, and moments of economic crisis are opportunities that must be seized for spiritual growth. The famous phrase of Jack Philipe comes to her memory: "God makes us free, not only to choose, but also to be able to accept what we cannot choose."

On one occasion, a colleague from the University asked her if she had not thought of being a nun, and invited her one night to the meeting of a Vocational group in her Parish.

"Katica" as her Mother affectionately calls her, responded to the Divine call at 21 years of age. She says that everything is guided by the hand of God. At the beginning her Mom supported her and there was resistance from her Father. But over time the two fully endorsed it. She has 12 years of religious life.

About the events that have marked her, one remembers in the Corregimiento of "La Moralia", in Tuluá, where the first paramilitary massacre in Valle del Cauca was carried out 21 years ago.

She comments that more or less a year ago when the Virgen del Carmen festival was approaching, and also for the commemoration of the victims, the nuns of their Community were in the “Marina”, and invited people to pray in church. Initially, only 4 people attended the call. And they began to pray the Rosary, but a little later, with the passage of time, the attendees already exceeded two hundred people. They were moments of union, strength and joy for the entire Community.

The other event was an accompaniment “Provida” with a baby of great malformations who was in the ICU, and she accompanied the Priest to take the Holy oils. During the tour, she asked for the healing of that baby, but she felt inside almost imperceptibly, a voice that told her: "Your miracle in your own way, or my miracle in my own way." It was amazing what happened after administering the Sacrament of the "Anointing of the Sick" and the long moment of prayer. More than the baby's physical healing, it was the spiritual and physical healing that transformed an entire family.

The girl is already 2 years old and the family has also been a miracle of love, and an example, for the Community.

I received this testimony from little sister Catalina on February 24, 2020

Almost about the publication of this testimony, I spoke with the little sister and I heard good news. She is in the process of aspiring in The Order of "Discalced Carmelites" of San José in Bogotá. Our best wishes for this new mission, and may God continue to bless you.

God is merciful, pure, beautiful and powerful, he calls us all, and he loves us in a unique way. We each have a different mission in this world. He set us free to answer the call of his love. I want to end this story remembering the phrase of Saint Augustine: "God is always trying to give us good things, but our hands are too full to receive them."