Sister María José Chungandro is a nun in the Congregation of the Daughters of the Holy Family, founded in Colombia. She was born in Santo Domingo, Colombia, on August 31, 1986, and is currently in Rome, where she has just completed her Bachelor’s degree in Theology thanks to the support of the members, benefactors, and friends of the CARF Foundation.
He tells us his story
I was born into a modest family and grew up with my family, through the simple acts of daily life and the love of my parents and sisters, God began to guide me in the faith.
From a very young age, without fully understanding it, the Lord was preparing my heart for a path of self-giving that I would only come to recognize as a religious vocation over time.
I grew up as the youngest of three sisters in a traditionally Catholic home. I have particularly fond memories of my mother, who worked hard to instill the faith in us through the Holy Rosary and Sunday Mass. During my childhood and youth, I was quite reluctant to engage with these topics; I devoted myself entirely to my studies, since my parents insisted that the best family legacy was an education. However, at age 15, a spiritual retreat marked a turning point in my life.
Humanly speaking, that gathering wasn’t meant for me: some acquaintances had canceled their participation, and, moved by an inner impulse, I asked to take their place without knowing what it was all about. I had never heard of these prayer retreats, and yet the idea of dedicating those days solely to God filled me with an inexplicable joy. Later on, my family He had the same experience, and that led us to embrace our faith with a new and genuine sense of consistency.
A conversion that changes the plans
When the Lord touches our hearts, He also transforms the way we view the future, our plans, and the meaning of our lives.
My conversion began just before I graduated from high school. This allowed me to look toward the future from a different perspective, seeking a career that would help me serve the Lord and help others. With this goal in mind, I moved to the capital to begin my college studies. At first, it was hard to adjust; at a public university, the religious atmosphere was almost nonexistent.
Even so, the Virgin Mary granted me the grace to find friends who encouraged me to persevere in the faith. And yet, despite my good friends and academic achievements, I could not find true peace; I felt a constant desire to devote myself to something more profound, and my interest in my career took a back seat.
It was before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, in the stillness of adoration, that I began to hear more clearly what He wanted from me.
Near the university, I discovered a church with daily exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, and I took advantage of every free hour to go there to pray. At home, my older sister kindled in me a desire to seek the Lord, inviting me in the evenings—very often late at night—to the chapels of perpetual adoration. We took turns going at night, and in that silence, He began to pose the most decisive questions of my life.
In silence before the Holy Host, man’s small love is gradually confronted with hers, which is infinite, and then he understands that nothing is enough… and everything is superfluous. His Eucharistic love is beyond human logic, as St. John of Avila exclaimed: «And you have such a desire to see me and embrace me that, even though you are in heaven with those who know so well how to serve and love you, you come to this one who knows so well how to offend you and so poorly how to serve you. Oh, be blessed, for, being who you are, you have placed your love in one like me!».
Learning to Live with Mary by Our Side
Mary gradually appeared in my life as a loving Mother, teaching me to trust, to let go of my fears, and to allow myself to be led to her Son.
Reading *Treatise on True Devotion* by St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort was also fundamental in my life. This journey led me to a deeper understanding of the Blessed Virgin and to the total surrender of my life into her hands. Discovering the path of union with Mary was a very special grace from God: realizing that you have a Mother who loves you so much that she suffers unspeakably at the foot of the cross just to bring you back to God… Inspired by this, we worked together in a youth group to spread the love of Jesus and Mary, encouraging one another in communal prayer.
A calling that also flourishes within the family
God even made use of the religious vocation from my sister to show me, little by little, the place she was calling me to.
One day, my sister confided in me that a religious vocation was taking root in her heart and that she would leave to serve as a missionary in Colombia to solidify her decision. At that time, I hadn’t even considered that possibility; on the contrary, I wanted to get married and start a family.
However, God arranged everything so that I could see what it would have taken me a long time to discover on my own. Having her far away wasn’t easy, and we had little contact because of her many activities, but the Lord used her absence to surround me with other holy souls who brought me much closer to Him.
As I got to know the community better, I sensed a joy and a spirit of charity in them that made me feel that this might also be the place for me.
After six months, she returned. In Barranquilla, she had met the Daughters of the Holy Family, and the Lord had confirmed to her that this was where she belonged. She announced her decision to consecrate herself to God and spent her last month at home with us. This time, the natural sadness of saying goodbye was transformed into the comfort of knowing that she was where God wanted her to be.
A Journey That Becomes a Calling
What seemed like a simple trip to accompany my sister turned out to be, for me, a pivotal moment of discernment and enlightenment.
Several months went by, and one day my sister called to invite us to her religious profession ceremony in Colombia. We were overjoyed and decided to travel there to be with her on such a special day. At the time, I was doing my college internship during the break, so I worked double shifts to free up a whole week before returning to my senior year.
I traveled a few days before my parents so I could spend more time with my sister, and those days were especially helpful for getting to know the community… It felt like discovering heaven on earth. I saw among them an exquisite fraternal charity and, on the other hand, the Blessed Sacrament exposed twenty-four hours a day, guarded with immense love by the sisters themselves; everything sprang from the conviction that they had been called to «be Marys on earth.».
I felt that I had found what I had longed for all those years, even without understanding it. I was very afraid, but I asked God for just one thing: certainty, nothing more—and I would be willing to leave behind everything I had built in my life.
When I stopped focusing solely on my own desires and began to ask myself where I could best serve God, everything became clearer.
It was then that a very wise nun taught me that, in discerning a religious vocation, the most important person is God, who deserves to be loved and served above all else. My question became simple: «Where would I best serve God? Where could I sanctify myself more and sanctify the Church more?» At that moment, a pure light penetrated my soul, making me understand, without a shadow of a doubt, His holy will.
I went straight to the chapel to give thanks to Jesus: «Oh, blessed are You, for, being who You are, You have bestowed Your love on someone like me!» The next day, I was scheduled to fly back to Ecuador with my parents, but I had to tell them that I had decided to stay and follow God’s call; although they were taken aback at first, they offered me their full support—undoubtedly aided by a special grace from God, as they themselves later confirmed.
God is always the most generous
What I left behind to follow God’s call, He transformed into new opportunities for service and growth.
It is true that, upon entering high school, I put my university studies on hold, but God, whose generosity knows no bounds, granted me the grace to devote myself to the study of the sacred sciences within the community. A few years ago, another undeserved grace came my way: the start of my studies in Rome, first in Religious Studies and then in Theology, at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. It has been an immense joy and the fulfillment of a dream of our Foundress and of our entire Religious Family, as I am the first of our sisters to begin and complete theological studies.
Training to Better Serve the Church
Theological training is not just a degree, but a concrete way to love the Church and the souls God entrusts to us even more.
I consider it both a blessing and a duty to place ourselves at the service of the Church with a solid education, to enlighten with pure truth so many souls who, in this world, live thirsting for God. And, first and foremost, for ourselves: theological formation is indispensable for those whose task is to perfect themselves in charity, for virtue, if not studied, is not known; if not known, it is not desired; and if not desired, it is not sought. How does a religious who neither sanctifies himself nor sanctifies others serve the Church?
In the end, all I can do is entrust my vocation, my formation, and those who so generously make it possible to the Virgin Mary.
I pray to Mary, Seat of Wisdom, that she may awaken in religious life a renewed love for the Truth Himself, who is her Son, and I entrust to her powerful intercession the intentions and needs of all the benefactors, members, and friends of the CARF Foundation, who make the formation of so many priests and religious possible, thereby rendering a most noble service to the Church.
Gerardo FerraraBA in History and Political Science, specializing in the Middle East.
Head of the student body at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome.
carf@fundacioncarf.orgLandline: +34 914 029 082Mobile: +34 638 078 51145 Conde de Peñalver Street.
