Candace Vandeven and Emily Kline first met in Gaming, Austria, while studying abroad with Franciscan University in the Spring of 2007. The two were randomly placed together as roommates but became good friends and also shared a room for their final year in school. Little did they know that three years later they would be reunited at a convent in Galapagar, Spain (a forty-minute bus ride outside Madrid). This time, however, they were meeting as Candace Warfield and Sister Maria Ecclesia.
After Emily joined the convent in Fall 2009, and Candace moved to Harrisburg, PA, with her husband, the friends kept in touch by writing letters. When Candace decided to make the pilgrimage to World Youth Day with the Diocese of Harrisburg, she prayed that there would be a chance to visit with Emily. I also went to school with Emily, and Peter and I decided to travel with Candace to Galapagar.
When we arrived at the house of the Daughters of Mary of the Heart of Jesus (Hi as de Santa Maria del Corozon de Jesus) it was paradoxically a bustle of activity pervaded with peace. The sisters, who jokingly call themselves the "cafe con le che" (coffee with milk) sisters because of their tan and white habits, greeted us with brilliant smiles and were eager to practice their English on us. They were in the middle of having a vocation fair and retreat for the World Youth Day participants, and Emily gave us a tour of the convent and described her days filled with work, study, recreation, and prayer.
Both girls heard the call to their vocations while in school, while praying in front of the Eucharist. In high school, Candace contemplated a religious vocation, but met her future husband the first weekend of college (ironically, at an informational meeting on studying abroad in Austria). Emily, on the other hand, dated in middle school and high school and was actually in a serious relationship when she heard God calling her to religious life. She first saw the Daughters of Mary while they were praying in the adoration chapel and officially met them at Franciscan University's vocation fair. After visiting the sisters in Spain over her Spring Break, Emily moved to the convent after graduation and is now a pre-novice.
Emily glows while talking about life in the convent and Candace smiles warmly while talking about her husband proposing their junior year of college. God had the perfect plan for both of them. These two friends are both in love with their vocations, as different as they are. Or are they so different?
Before heading back to Madrid, we got the chance to venerate a relic of St. Raphael Arnaiz, the youngest patron saint of World Youth Day and a saint who struggled with his own vocation in life. Raphael's words sum up beautifully what is at the heart of one's vocation:"I am nothing more than a soul in love with Christ. He does not want anything but my love. May my life be nothing but an act of love."
Wow--what a great story. It's the story of a great earthly friendship between two people... and their friendship with God and his will for each of them. Can't go wrong with that formula!
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