2025 Vocations Awareness Supplement
Indy woman seeks to quench her ‘thirst for the living God’ in religious life
Mercy Sister Maria Guadalupe Figueroa receives with joy the congratulations of a fellow member of the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Mich., during an Aug. 16 Mass at the Cathedral of Mary of the Assumption in Saginaw, Mich., in which Sister Maria Guadalupe professed final vows as a member of the Sisters of Mercy. She grew up as a member of St. Anthony Parish in Indianapolis. (Submitted photo)
By Mary Dando (Special to The Criterion)
“The idea of being a bride of Christ, the prayer life and the life of service were so powerfully beautiful to me.” These were some of the thoughts of Mercy Sister Maria Guadalupe Figueroa on her journey of discernment to religious life.
Toward the end of college, while finishing her degree in biology and taking prerequisites for an accelerated nursing program in Indianapolis, she began to experience “a restlessness in my heart.” She sensed that if she stayed in Indianapolis, surrounded by family and her faith community, she would never take the next steps to visit religious communities and seriously discern her vocation.
Instead of going on to nursing school, she made “the act of faith” and took a different course. She went to Washington, D.C., to serve the poor as a missionary.
It was there she met members of the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Mich., and knew that she could live out her vocation to love among these sisters.
Sister Maria Guadalupe, 32, professed her final vows on Aug. 16. Her favorite Scripture passage is inscribed inside the ring she received at the Mass of Final Profession: “A thirst for the living God,” (Ps 42:3).
During her eight years of formation in the Religious Sisters of Mercy leading up to her final profession of vows, Sister Maria Guadalupe completed her nursing degree and is currently taking care of some of the elderly sisters in her religious community’s infirmary.
She is the youngest of five girls and grew up in the inner city of Indianapolis. Her parents, Francisco and Rosalba, moved from Zacatecas, Mexico, to the U.S. in the 1970’s in search of a better life.
“As a little girl, Gabriela was always the first to be ready for Mass. And she encouraged us all to be early for Mass,” remembered her father Francisco, referring to his daughter by her baptismal name. When she entered the Sisters of Mercy, she took on her religious name of Maria Guadalupe.
“At the time, I thought it was like everybody else,” he said. “She was always helping the poor and the homeless.”
Sister Maria Guadalupe grew up as a parishioner of St. Anthony Parish in Indianapolis, where her parents are still members. As a young adult, she often took part in the young adult community at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Indianapolis.
When he and his wife dropped her off at the convent in Michigan, Francisco was very sad. “She is my youngest, and I asked God, ‘Why are you taking her away from me?’ But now I am so glad,” he said.
When her parents were crossing the southern border, Rosalba was pregnant with Gabriela, and she prayed to the Blessed Virgin, as a mother, to bring them to safety. “Maybe that was a special blessing she received,” Francisco said.
It was in college that Sister Maria Guadalupe began to discern her vocation through taking steps to grow in her Catholic faith. “As a freshman I was invited to a Catholic Bible study. I had never attended a Bible study so I thought it would be a good idea.
“Through that invitation, I met a community of young people who loved their faith and were serious about their call to holiness. That sparked an interest and desire to reprioritize my values in making my relationship with the Lord the most important thing in my life.”
Anne Marie Brummer remembers the student, who went by “Gaby,” as full of joy. Brummer was a missionary with the Fellowship of Catholic University Students at the former Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. She helped Catholic students by teaching them how to pray, make the sacraments a part of their life of faith and how to lead Bible study groups.
“Like many others, Gaby was just trying to figure out her life,” recalled Brummer. “She wasn’t particularly religious, but as she got more involved, she was all in in her Catholic faith. She had such a good heart and gave herself up in the service of others.”
At college, Sister Maria Guadalupe began to think about the possibility of religious life. “As I grew in my relationship with the Lord, I felt that my response to his love needed to be a response of totality. Whenever I read about the lives of the saints who gave everything to the Lord, their example of total self-sacrifice and boundless love just made sense to me.
“I was still in college and didn’t feel the Lord was calling me right then, but I knew religious life was a possibility in the future. I trusted that if I continued being faithful, he would direct my steps.”
When she met some of the members of the Religious Sisters of Mercy in Washington, she felt that she knew them already and she looked them up when she returned home.
“I liked their habit,” she said. She recalled when she was in an airport, a stranger, seeing her in her habit, came up to her and asked for her prayers. “They see the light of Christ in us,” she said.
She visited the sisters in Washington at their convent there. Months later, she made the journey with her parents to enter the community as a postulant.
“The meaning of postulant is to question,” she said. “When you arrive, it’s like getting to know a new family. You grow in the family through the charism of mercy. I was warmly welcomed and knew I was home.
“At first, it’s challenging. But in moments of trial, you realize how much God loves us. You come to understand you have the freedom to choose what Christ chooses. Our Lord is our cornerstone, and through prayer you reflect on yourself and come to know him and accept his invitation to follow him unreservedly.
“I have a deep desire to know God’s love,” she continued, “a desire to serve, faithfully living my vocation, knowing there is spiritual fruitfulness of new life in Christ found through the gift of self.”
(Mary Dando is a member of St. Monica Parish in Indianapolis. To learn about the Religious Sisters of Alma, Mich., visit www.almamercy.org.) †
