Sr. April Hoffman, FMA

What were you doing before you became a Sister?
I graduated college with a degree in elementary education and Spanish, but was already thinking about religious life. So, I discerned to spend a year volunteering in Ecuador, living with a religious community and helping in a preschool. I’m a slow processor, so when I returned to the states I taught 4th grade for two years before entering with our community.

 

How did you know that God was calling you to religious life?
I spent three summers in college teaching in a catechetical program called Totus Tuus. We spent all day sharing our Catholic faith with the young people and encouraging them to really ask and pray about God's plan for their lives. After hearing the journey of my coworkers who were seminarians (and were my friends, and “normal” not super holy as I’d always presumed people with religious vocations were) I started to think about taking that advice myself. I joined a discernment group that met once a month, started regularly meeting with a spiritual director and really earnestly praying about this option. 

 

I found the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians online. I had discerned that God was calling me, but there were so many religious communities, and it felt overwhelming. I filled out a survey from vision vocation network and started visiting the websites of the sisters that fit my checklist:

I found our sisters and emailed the Vocation director. She invited me to meet her and then to visit the community, where I felt very much at home. 

 

What was one challenge you faced in religious life?
Misunderstanding is a part of every family and community life. One thing I find edifying is when we are really living our baptismal call to holiness and striving to overcome ourselves, we find the strength to forgive, to communicate, to speak the truth and accept our weaknesses and those of our sisters. It is not easy, but we are journeying together to become saints and we are blessed with the example of many holy Salesians who have gone before us! 

 

Any advice for young people?
Pray. Make time to spend in silence, just listening to God. Ask Him, really ask Him what His plan is for your life and to help you see all the gifts He’s given you as a means to share His love and life with the world. 

 

Read or listen to good spiritual books. I love reading the lives of the saints because we can always find something in common and inspiring in them, the spoiled, impulsiveness of St Therese of Liseux, the stubborn competitiveness of St Mary Mazzarello, the desire to be understood and to lead others of St John Bosco, the restlessness of St Augustine … 

Surround yourself with good friends who will challenge you to be the best version of yourself, help you to grow and will tell you the truth. Don Bosco and Mother Mazzarello both really discerned their vocation with the help and support of good friends who were walking the path of holiness with them.