God has always been with me in my life, especially when I was finding my way to Holy Cross.

My grandfather was my first contact with God. I realized that fact years ago when I had the opportunity to reflect on my vocational journey as a candidate with the Sisters of the Holy Cross.

When my grandfather would come down from the mountains of Peru to the city of Chimbote, his first visit would be to the church. He would invite me to go with him, and sometimes in only a whisper he would say, “We need to go to a special place. Come! Let us go!” Immediately we would go to the church and in front of the Blessed Sacrament, holding on to his hand in the silence, we would say, “Thank you, God.” I remember this spontaneous gift because for me, as a child, the custom made no sense. There was no feeling of obligation nor was it set to any timetable (Sin una ley, sin un horario). Today it is very special to me because I understand now it was an experience of God in my life.

	When I was in high school I met Father Thomas Shea, CSC, who was my religion teacher. He always tried to teach us about the importance of our role as young people. I remember him teaching us about Jeremiah, especially about prophetic denunciations and announcements of the good news.
2003 – Sister Noylí, the first Peruvian to enter the congregation, renews her vows of initial profession.

He brought together the importance of social justice and the Gospel of Jesus as the good news for everyone in the world. Later, I understood why he emphasized this, as I came to see that it is the focus and direction of Holy Cross ... again a spontaneous gift (Sin una ley, sin un horario).

My sense of justice was formed in childhood. I have three brothers, and sometimes during lunch my father would consult with all of us about family decisions. For example, when we did not have much money, he would discuss how we could work together to keep expenses to a minimum. These were difficult times, and all of us were conscious of our responsibility to be content with only the bare necessities. My mother, too, was very critical about what we thought was necessary or a priority in our young lives.

Mother would also say to us that we should not do to others in our family what we would not want done to ourselves.

	My first contact with the Sisters of the Holy Cross was with Sister Patricia Anne Clossey. Her special dedication to youth ministry and catechism classes captivated my interest.
2005 – Sister Noylí professes perpetual vows at the parish of Our Lady of Cocharcas in Barrios Altos, Lima, Peru.

However, it was Father William (Guillermo) Persia, CSC, who influenced me on my way to Holy Cross. I had talked to him previously about my interest in religious life and specifically in Holy Cross. He said to Sisters Eleanor Snyder and Patricia Dieringer, “You need to invite Noylí more often to your house as she is interested in your community.”

The sisters had an associate program in the parish community. After Father Guillermo spoke to Sister Eleanor, she invited me to be a part of the Peruvian Associate Missionary Group. During my journey as an associate, we had great times with the people who lived in the outskirts of Chimbote. We made ministry visits once a week and prepared people to receive the sacraments of baptism and first Communion. God talked to me once more through these people and this experience.

2006 – Sister Noylí (left) and children from Fuerza Barrio, the center where she works, rest for a moment during one of their field trips.

Before entering the congregation, I had a job working with poor families and their children in a high-risk area for delinquency. These people spoke to me of God, and it was there that I discovered God as a friend. Sometimes I did not feel like going to Mass or meetings in my community, but in the end I always arrived early. Why? Because of the spontaneous gifts of God’s presence in my life (Sin una ley, sin un horario).

Sister Mary Josephine Delany played an important role in my journey in Holy Cross when she came to Peru in 1992. I was the first woman to enter the Holy Cross formation program after a 10-year presence of the Sisters of the Holy Cross in Chimbote. I was unique in my band as I was the only one! I needed to live a different experience, especially because I had never lived alone outside of my home. My decision was difficult for my family to accept and a challenge for me and the sisters in Chimbote.

It was a unique undertaking for us because Sister Josephine spoke Portuguese and I spoke Spanish, but every day we learned to communicate together in different ways. And again God spoke to me in the happenings of my daily life. Living within the Holy Cross family of priests, brothers and sisters reminded me of my large, close-knit family. It was my hope to make friends in the group and become a permanent part of this new family.

The congregation was interested in my personal growth—especially in light of my culture, where it is the man who takes the initiative and leads while the woman is expected to follow. Every day I discovered the richness of my culture, my personal history, and myself. At the time, I felt I was different from other women in Peru because of my particular sense of God’s closeness and feeling called to religious life. I learned to value myself and assume equality with other adults.

2004 – Sister Noylí proudly displays her psychology degree.

 
When I went to the university, my attitude and verbalization about the social and political reality, the poor, and social justice were often scandalous to my companions—especially for women who had never questioned or reflected on how poor people struggle each day to make a living and create a space for a dignified life.

My interest in families and children has always been a passion for me, especially from the aspect of clinical psychology, which is my field of work. I presently work as a counselor at a center of the Mercedarian Sisters from Spain, in the inner city of Lima, with families and children who live in great poverty and face the risks of falling into delinquency and drug addiction. I likewise individually accompany a group of women who “love too much” and have lived for years in abusive relationships. I also have the opportunity to accompany young couples in the parish of Our Lady of Cocharcas, where we live.

For me, being a Sister of the Holy Cross demands much self-knowledge in order to be passionately captivated by the image of this God who daily speaks to us: in others, in the silence, in the happenings, in the challenges, and in the suffering and joys of life. It demands that we have the spirit to search constantly for the “new” in life; it requires each day an option for life; it demands that we reclaim the historic value of women; it requires us to risk looking at other realities and to appreciate our diversity; and it demands a response to our fundamental vocation for life.