From Nurse to Nun
Sister Maria-Benedicta joins the ranks of the solemnly professed nuns of the Abbey of St. Walburga
By a nun of the Abbey of St. Walburga
People may doubt that being a contemplative Benedictine nun can possibly make one happy, but with one look at Sister Maria-Benedicta’s smiling face, it becomes evident that there must be a joy deeper than earthly pleasures sustaining someone with this vocation.
The secret?
“I absolutely loved my work as a nurse at Children’s Hospital, and found it immensely rewarding, challenging, and fruitful! Even after I knew I had been called to become a nun at the Abbey, I thought I would be unhappy without having that particular mission of nursing to give such deep meaning to my life," Sr. Maria Benedicta said. "I’ve been happily surprised to discover that doing what God asked of me makes me happier on a much deeper level. St. Benedict says several times in his Holy Rule that the monk (and nun) must ‘prefer nothing to the love of Christ.’ For me, this meant that I had to sacrifice pediatric nursing to give myself over completely to God. But I have found that there is a deep foundation of peace that comes from giving up trying to understand, and simply obeying God and resting in his mysterious and beautiful will.”
Born and raised in Denver, Colorado, Sr. Maria-Benedicta recalls that some of her best childhood memories were a result of her parents (who celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this spring!) intentionally deciding not to have a TV in their home, which provided her and her four siblings with “ample time for a variety of other creative activities, like digging holes to China in the backyard dirt box, having lemonade stands, and making forts in the backyard from the 100 + boxes that my Dad brought home from his job at the grocery store.”
Her parents are deeply faithful Catholics, and passed down the faith to Sr. Maria-Benedicta in their own personal ways of witnessing to Christ: her father “by his spirit of continual prayer, and her mother by her kind generosity to every single person she encounters,” she said.
Sr. Maria-Benedicta attended Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California, where she first developed her love for praying the Divine Office (the Liturgy of the Hours, the official prayer of the Church), joining the company of students who gathered in the chapel every night to pray Compline. This same love was reawakened in her heart during a short Sunday night visit to our Abbey over 12 years later, when she stopped in to make a holy hour, and was captivated by the nuns praying Compline. During that brief visit, she felt a deep desire in her heart to return there and live the rest of her life as a bride of Christ. At this time in her life, she was a nurse in the Cardiology Department at Children’s Hospital Colorado, where she worked for over 10 years.
The deep desire that Sr. Maria-Benedicta experienced to become a nun of our Abbey was met with some resistance.
“After my initial call, I was afraid that I would be miserable if I gave up aspects of my life that I treasured, such as nursing, traveling, Colorado adventures and spending abundant time with family and friends. In fact, I tried to look at other orders which I thought would include these aspects of my life as well," she recalled. "But, Our Lord did not tell me, ‘I want you to be a nun somewhere; you can look around and see what order would best fit your personality and desires…’ No! It was more like He was saying, ‘Will you follow Me HERE? Yes or No?’ Even in my rather lengthy time of questioning and arguing with God against my contemplative vocation because it seemed so illogical to me, I felt that every time I would leave from a short visit to the Abbey, it seemed that Jesus had more of a conversation to continue with me THERE. I had to keep on returning to continue that conversation.”
Thankfully, she did finally allow the Lord to lead her, and she entered our community on the Solemnity of All Saints in 2017. Thus began the 8-year-long period of formation leading up to her Solemn Profession on May 1, 2026, the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker. During her time in the novitiate, she grew deeper in the Benedictine spirituality of “ora et labora,” participating in the prayer and work of the Sisters. Some of her particular jobs include cooking, helping our older Sisters, painting Pascal candles for parishes, caring for the Abbey cemetery, playing the organ and trying to teach our energetic dog, Sharbel, how to obey.
Although Sr. Maria-Benedicta does not get to exercise some of her gifts from her previous life experience, this has not been a hindrance to her joy or sense of fulfillment. The monastic life is not for the ungifted, but for those who realize that their greatest gift is union with Jesus, and that everything else pales in comparison.
“We really enjoy doing a variety of work, but what we do pales in importance to how we do it. An extraordinary benefit of having a vow of obedience is that, for a person consecrated to God and vowed to obedience, every single moment and work of the day becomes an act of worship and is united to Jesus’ own offering of himself to the Father … Everything! Cleaning the refrigerator, playing pickleball for Sunday evening recreation, doing physical therapy with an older Sister … everything is an act of worship and obedience!" Sr. Maria-Benedicta noted, reflecting on the Benedictine approach to work. "Because of this, when I work, pray, or recreate, I frequently offer my actions to God as an offering of my vow of obedience, asking Jesus to live his obedience in me and unite it to his own ‘obedience to death’ (Philippians 2:8). Another very simple way I find Jesus in my work is returning in my heart to the remembrance of receiving Jesus in Holy Communion that morning and my desire to receive him again tomorrow, or to a phrase or prayer that I received in my time of lectio divina or praying the Divine Office."
For Sr. Maria-Benedicta, the Solemn Profession was a momentous occasion.
“By solemn vows, I am offering myself completely to God, united to Jesus‘ sacrifice on the Cross, through my vows of stability, conversion and obedience. One thing I love about the Benedictine spirituality is the vow of stability, by which we are bound to the mission of praying the Divine Office every day, and serving and loving God in this particular community. Our vow of conversion is connected to this as well, as we are vowed to listening and acting on the Holy Spirit’s promptings of conversion. It’s really exciting to be part of a community, listening to the Holy Spirit together, and experiencing the dynamics of him working through us in exciting and unexpected ways. God has blessed us in beautiful ways, and I’m excited to continue to receive his blessings with my community on behalf of the whole Church.”
