Sr. Janet Andrade
I, Janet Andrade, a resident of Juhu, Mumbai was brought up in a Christian family with my parents, five sisters and a brother. I thank my parents because they revealed the face and heart of God to me. Our family firmly believed that ‘A Family that prays together stays together.’ So as a family, we daily prayed together. It is our praying and bonding together that nurtured my desire to follow Jesus. From my childhood, I would attend Mass daily and the Holy Eucharist would fill my heart with Peace, Compassion and Joy. As the Handmaids are in Juhu, they would conduct the Eucharistic Adoration once a month and I would anxiously wait this day to spend time and pray before the Blessed Sacrament. After I competed my X STD I became a Catechist in the parish, joined the Group of Lectors and Cantors. This brought me closer to the Word of God, which strengthened my relationship with Jesus and also knowing and experiencing more about Him. When I competed my XII STD, I went to Talasari, for a missionary experience with Novices of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus; this experience brought me in touch with the face of Jesus, in the midst of very difficult situations that people live but it was indeed a wonderful experience which helped me to become more and more compassionate to the poor and the needy. The Dilkhush Sisters kept in touch with me, visited my home very often, and I too felt much at home with them. After my return I told my mother that as I had completed the XII STD, it was my desire to join the convent. However, my mother advised me that whilst I was still young to take such an important decision, it would be good for me to complete my graduation and thereafter, to decide. I accepted my mother’s advice with doubts in my mind, troubling me as to what would happen if I lose this desire of following Jesus. I shared this with Sr. Rita Burley who has been my Mentor and good Shepherd, always guiding me. I decided to trust in the Lord and to leave everything in God’s hands, knowing that He would pave the way. As He said: “I am the way, the truth and the life.” I continued my studies, my work as a tutor, and was involved in various parish activities, faithful to my personal prayer and enjoying everything that I encountered on my journey, as a Gift from God. As soon as I completed my graduation, there was an ardent desire to pursue Higher Studies, I again consulted my mother and she left it to me to decide for myself what I wished to do i.e. to join the Convent or continue with further studies. The words of scripture kept coming back to me like tidal waves.
“Here I am Lord, is it I Lord, I have heard you calling in the night,” – they just kept ringing in my heart, “The harvest is rich but the labourers are few. I have loved you with an everlasting love, I have called you and you are mine.” And so on 10th June, 1988 I decided to join the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart. I am truly grateful for my formative years that has moulded, pruned, and challenged me especially during my Juniorate studies in Rome, there were however, moments of painful and joyful experiences which have strengthened my vocation, helping me to center my life on the heart of Jesus. I am deeply convinced of God’s love for me which is a channel of grace in all situations that I encounter. I have now completed close to 26 years serving the Lord with joy and gladness. I am truly delighted with my Handmaids vocation, I love the Congregation and St. Raphaela Mary, because all these years I have received countless blessings and where ever I have been sent, I have given my very best be it the small or large events of my apostolic and community life. As I continue my journey, I trust in my shepherd who leads me and guides me because my joy and happiness lie in Him alone. I wish to add that as we celebrate the ‘Year of the Eucharist’, may we live the Eucharist in our daily lives, in our homes, our places of work and in our communities for it is the power of the Eucharist and the Adoration that has given me the strength and grace to live my life with dedication and fulfillment, bringing life in abundance where ever I am or where ever I go. And so I end with
John 10:10. “I have come in order that you may have life – life in all its fullness.”
Sr. Asunta Nakade
A story of my encounter with Lord Jesus, Embracing Christianity and then becoming a Nun, a Missionary Handmaid in India through the surprising and mysterious ways of the Lord who leads and guides His people.
I am Sr. Asunta Nakade, a happy Handmaid of the Sacred Heart of Jesus who lives in India for the past 39 years. I am very happy to share with you my vocation story
I was born in Tokyo in 1937 in a Buddhist family consists of my parents and my only brother. I had to change my school according to the transfer of my father as he was working in the Trading Company with many branches in Japan as well as abroad. Encounter with Christ and His church It was in 1949, as I was in Kobe, at the final year of my Primary school, the mysterious encounter with the Catholic Church in another way, encounter with God himself took place. One evening I saw our neighbors running to the church and I followed them. It was a Catholic Church and at the side chapel the right arm of St. Francis Xavier, the holy relic was placed and I saw a long queue of people going to the altar one by one to venerate the Holy Relic. Even though I didn’t know anything, for the first time I entered into the Catholic Church but I never forget the experience that I had on that day. I was overwhelmed by holiness and later I believed that surely through St. Francis Xavier I received the gift of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. When I was 13 years, my father changed me to another school which is run by Franciscan Sisters which was a great surprise for me. I was overwhelmed by holiness of the Sisters and deep down in my heart I experienced heavenly joy and happiness. I started to go to Sunday school to know more about Catholic faith. One of the Sisters gave us Catechism and started instructing us and thus I began my faith formation. The experience of God’s presence in my heart was so strong that I wanted to give myself completely to God by entering a convent and I expressed my desire to my parents and they could not comprehend it as I was not yet baptized . Profession of faith in Jesus When my father was transferred to Tokyo, I joined another Catholic school run by the Spanish Sisters. I continued the faith formation/Catechesis and I was baptized at the school chapel in the same year with my 3 class mates. Even though my family was Buddhist my father didn’t object me becoming Catholic and He told me that it would be good to have personal religion. My mother was baptized 2 years later and then my brother too. He was a college student at that time. My father wanted to keep Buddhism as a family religion and so he did not get baptized. At the age of 19, I joined a Catholic College run by the Sacred Heart Sisters at Tokyo and I had to decide about my future by the end of 4 years of my college days. Deep down in my heart, I felt the call of God, but didn’t know to where He was calling me. Encounter with Handmaids of Sacred Heart of Jesus As per the suggestion of One Jesuit Priest, I visited the Convent of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at Yokosuka. I was welcomed by a Japanese Sister who was the Novice Mistress at that time and I was so much taken up by the warmth, hospitality of the sisters there that I visited the convent several times later. Through these visits I was drawn to the Blessed Sacrament as the Sisters were having Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament every day I was falling in love with Jesus Christ, my Guru and wanted to dedicate my life totally for Him. I realized that The Sisters are having apostolic activities yet they are contemplative, even I could feel the union among the Sisters. I was convinced that God is calling me to this congregation to love, adore Him in the Blessed Sacrament and to serve Him in His poor ones. When I finished my graduation, I had to go to Thailand as my parents were there. The Sisters didn’t expect me to join as I was going abroad, but I was sure of my vocation to be a handmaid of the sacred heart of Jesus. As I expressed my desire to join the convent, my mother could not digest the idea and endured a lot of pain in losing her only daughter. But, my Buddhist father understood the meaning of following Jesus, my Guru and without any objection, He advised me to be ever faithful without looking back again. I came back from Bangkok and stayed in the convent, The Sisters prepared every necessary thing for joining the Convent as my family was away from the country. I started my convent life with full of consolation, enthusiasm and happiness and my focus was only on Jesus; I wanted to give my life totally to Jesus- my whole being through all my activities. After two years of Postulanship I joined the Novitiate on the 13th Nov. in 1962 and there were 20 Novices with me. Religious life : In the Novitiate, I went through an experience of desolation and a vacuum in my heart, but the Lord made me to realize that my heart was made only for God and I would not be happy until it was filled with Him. Slowly God guided me to focus my attention to the giver, God Himself and not the gift, consolation. I made the Vows on the 11th Feb. 1965 and after the wownderful experience of Third Probation ,I took my Final committment on 15th August 1972. In India: I came to India on 6th July in 1976, in place of another sister who was supposed to go to India, but whose visa got rejected. I did a Montessori course in Dublin as a preparation to teach in our Special school which was started in 1971. For the first 3 months it was hard for me to adjust in the new place. I was appointed as the class teacher of the junior class in the school. The special children were a special gift that the Lord gave me in India. I had a wonderful time of teaching and learning from them, a lot of experiences of love, sensitivity and care from them!
For the past 37 years, The Lord is using me an Instrument of His love, joy and peace for many people in different ways! Belonging to Lord Jesus and His people, experiencing His abundant love for the humanity and return this unconditional love through the loving service of His people makes me extremely happy and peaceful! It indeed makes a difference in one’s life by giving her tremendous freedom!
Do you hear this loving invitation of Jesus in your life? If you hear, be courageous, take challenge to FOLLOW HIM in order to makea difference in your life and in the livesof many who will be encountering you……