Perhaps it is the cool ocean air. Perhaps it is Sister Mary’s warm smile. But the moment your shoes sink into the green grass outside the home of the Assumption Sisters, a sense of serenity effortlessly floods your body.
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We follow her past the iron bell statue, past the antique oil paintings and the elongated shadows of flickering candles, to the wooden pews that sigh under the weight of our bodies. Our fingers brush the pages of the hymn book, so delicate that we are fearful to turn them too quickly. Our voices float into the morning, mingling with the sound of the sisters, as we sing to a God that they love so dearly.
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God may work in mysterious ways, but sometimes His messages are unsubtle, direct and coloured by a brush of humour. He took this approach when he called Sister Mary to His side.
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A smile tugs at the corners of her lips as she explains to us about her unforgettable Calling that she got through a dream:
As we approached the white brick-faced building of St James Cathedral, a Saint, in the form of Sister Mary, in a baby blue shirt and a long dark skirt that kissed her sandaled feet, stood on a dirt road. Eyes, one brown, one blind. Two perspectives on life greeted us with a warm smile. She took our hands and lead us into her world; from morning mass to teaching yoga to an afternoon swim in the sea, our unexpected journey to Port Alfred ended up becoming an unforgettable adventure.
On this day, Sister Mary taught us that even in today’s radically changing world being close to God is more important than any sacrifice. Take your time scrolling through the life of an Assumption Sister. To begin our journey we travel into Sister Mary’s mind, to discover that some things are not as they seem.
The retreat is where Sister Mary's story began:
THE LIFE OF AN ASSUMPTION SISTER
THE CALLING: Watch as Sister Mary's Dream Unfolds:
ABOVE IS A VIDEO OF SISTER MARY SITTING AT THE BACK OF THE CHAPEL, WITHIN THE ASSUMPTION CONVENT, READING OUT LOUD A VERSE FROM THE BIBLE FOR THE MORNING PRAYER.
Becoming a sister is not just a choice, it is a calling, a desire. A need. When you give your life to God, the reward is far greater than the sacrifice. C.S Lewis once said that “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” We have no idea what we are missing, but maybe the Sisters do.
Mary McAteer woke up after the dream that changed the course of her life when she was 18 years old.
Days before her 22nd birthday, she became Sister Mary, and a convent in Northern Ireland became her new home. She thinks back to her younger self, a wry expression settling on her brow. “I was unrealistic then, about how easy I thought it would be to resist natural urges. It hits you at different times in life.” She once felt a tug on her heartstrings. Many years ago, she met a young Zulu priest. They became close friends, and one day, it dawned on them that the pull they felt towards each other was not entirely platonic. “God has put hormones into our bodies to call us to union with the opposite sex”, explains Sister Mary. “We sat down together to discuss the pull of nature, but at the end of the conversation we reminded ourselves that he was a priest and I was a Sister. I left shortly after that”.
When Sister Mary was a young girl, she shared a common misconception with the rest of the world. Women become sisters because they are unattractive, or unambitious, or even have an aversion to sex. They become sisters because, to a certain extent, they are already leading a life of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Why not do it in the name of God? But you see, this is where we are wrong.
Sister Mary, with an Irish twang dancing around her words, and a soft crease framing her smiling eyes, takes this misconception, and gently moulds it into a precious pearl of wisdom. Just listen to her example of how she pictures herself being intertwined within our radically changing world:
THE SISTERS READ THROUGH THEIR BIBLES DURING MORNING MASS INSIDE THE PRIVATE CHAPEL OF THE ASSUMPTION CONVENT IN PORT ALFRED.
The Final Vows
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Before becoming a Sister, young women go through three stages. The first of these is postulancy, an apprenticeship of sorts, where she learns about many things, from prayer and Scripture to her own spiritual and psychological needs.
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In the second stage she becomes a novice, where she must ask herself very difficult questions such as “Who am I to God and who is God to me?” This usually takes about two years.
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If, after the two years are completed, both novice and novice mistress believe that she’s ready, she will make temporary vows which are valid for three years in stage three. Normally, after those three years, if someone wants to continue, she will ask to renew them for another two.
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By the time she’s renewed her vows once or even twice, a person knows her own mind and heart pretty well. She will either ask to make vows, “freely and forever,” as our Rule of Life says, or she’ll decide to leave.
Below is a video of the Assumption Sisters Most Significant Object:
Assumption Sisters are committed to effecting change in society through prayer and education. There is a school in the Nemato township of Port Alfred that caters for the needs of children with disabilities. It was started by Sister Elizabeth in 1990 and is now in the capable hands of Sister Mary. The school guides them at a pace they can keep up with, and does wonders for their confidence.
In 2015, Sister Elizabeth renovated the building next door to the school into a skills centre, so that the children had somewhere to go and continue to grow once they had completed their primary education. The skills centre was developed in a building drenched in a coat of messy history.
It was initially a shebeen that paid its worker’s wages in alcohol. It then became a gym, and the air inside was stiff with the scent of sweat and urine. Today when you walk through the chipped white door now, you are greeted by a table laden with craft projects.
Light floods through the windows, and colour is splashed across the walls in a mirage of pictures. The scent of overturned soil drifts through the glass doors that lead to a garden where tufts of spinach, onion, and cabbage peek through the ground.
The girls, shy at first, will eventually take your hands in theirs and pull you to their work station, showing you the intricately woven bags they have made, and the spirals of newspaper that serve as a coaster. They may be slow learners, but it is hard to think that people filled with such genuine kindness and curiosity are, by any stretch of the imagination, disabled. At the skills centre, pupils are not only given learning opportunities, they are also shown their worth as members of the community, and, through Sister Mary, their worth to a loving God.
ONE OF THE TOOLS THAT THE CHILDREN AT THE ENKUTHAZWENI SKILLS DEVELOPMENT CENTRE USED DURING THEIR GARDENING STAGE IN THE NEMATO TOWNSHIP SITUATED IN PORT ALFRED.
A PICTURE OF THE ENTIRE CLASS DOING CRAFTS AT THE MAIN TABLE INSIDE THE CENTRE.
We went to Port Alfred expecting to meet a nun. But when we met Sister Mary, we met a yoga instructor, a swimmer, a teacher, and a friend. Hans von Balthasar once said that what you are is God’s gift to you and what you become is your gift to God. The day he receives Sister Mary into His Kingdom, will be a day that he receives a very precious gift.