“You will no longer be known in the world as Emily, but as Sister Mary Amata of St. Joseph.”
For more than a year, I had been asking the Lord what He wanted to call me, what name He wished to give me in religious life. In prayer, I just kept coming back to my core identity as His beloved one. From the moment of my baptism, God the Father has called me beloved and given me my specific vocation and mission to carry out for His Church. The unfolding of my relationship with Jesus, my discernment, and my vocation have been an ever deeper discovery of the great love of God, that He calls me, a tiny and weak sinner, beloved.
Amata means beloved in Latin. So I asked for and received the name Sr. Mary Amata. I believe the Lord has given me this name as a calling to always contemplate the mystery of my belovedness and to live my life in response to it. He has also given me the gift and mission of spiritual motherhood to help others know for themselves that they, too, are infinitely loved by the Lord. What would the world look like if everyone knew they are beloved? This is our job as religious Sisters, as brides of Christ. As we endeavor to understand our own belovedness, we are called to awaken this identity in each person we encounter. In this mission, I look to Mary who is the perfect model of total surrender in response to God’s loving call; her tender motherly care always points to the greater love of God.
I asked for the Baptism of the Lord for my feast day. At the moment of Jesus’ baptism we hear the Father say, “You are my beloved Son.” This is what He says to each one of us. “You are my beloved son. You are my beloved daughter.” The Holy Spirit, the Church, and my community have given me this name, Sr. Mary Amata. As I continue to understand this gift, I pray that I may always strive to be the Sister God is calling me to be.
~ Written by Sister Mary Amata