By Ana Rodriguez Soto - Florida Catholic newspaper
Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC
Father David Zirilli, vocations director, leads one of the games played at Focus 11, which revolves around the sixth-graders guessing the profession of the young men on stage.
Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC
Sister Emily Malay of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary speaks to sixth-graders during Focus 11.
Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC
Archbishop Thomas Wenski tells the story of the three beans to sixth-graders gathered at St. Agatha Church for Focus 11.
MIAMI | Cristina Rodriguez has her future planned out — sort of.
"My dad wants me to be a lawyer. I'd rather be an actress," said the sixth-grader at Our Lady of Lourdes School in Miami.
On Feb. 28, she was exposed to a different reality, as men and women who have chosen religious life spoke to Cristina and nearly 600 other sixth graders currently attending archdiocesan schools.
While the girls heard from a panel of women in religious life, the boys heard from archdiocesan seminarians and priests. All together, they heard Archbishop Thomas Wenski tell his story of the three red beans who fell into a garden, and how they chose to cope with being "a different color" than everything else in that garden.
The event, a Focus 11 vocations rally, was repeated four times, Feb. 28 and 29 at St. Agatha Parish in Miami and March 5 and 6 at St. Gregory Parish in Plantation, ultimately reaching every sixth-grader in an archdiocesan school - over 2,000 children.<
"The idea is that children, when they're 11, is when they first start to think about their vocations, about what they're going to do with their lives," said Father David Zirilli, archdiocesan vocations director. "It's also the first age when many priests and religious have thought about a religious vocation."
Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC
Sixth graders from Our Lady of the Holy Rosary School sing during Focus 11.
This is the first time Focus 11 has been tried in the archdiocese, although it has been used in other Florida dioceses. The program also has a track for students in 11th grade — when they are deciding about college and careers — which Father Zirilli hopes to implement next year.
The day included singing, games, talks and a final encounter with "a very special guest," Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
The purpose was "to present religious vocations as happy and beautiful," Father Zirilli said. "They'll meet priests, bishops, seminarians, sisters, novices. They'll get to ask questions."
At the start of his talk, Archbishop Wenski suggested that the students take the standard question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" and turn it around: "What does God want me to be?"
"God has a mission for each one of us. No one here is an accident," the archbishop said. "As God's children, we are called to make a difference. Don't be afraid and don't be ashamed to say 'yes' to God."
"Listen with your heart and you will understand," said Sister Olga Villar, a Claretian Missionary who serves as director of religious education and youth minister at San Lazaro Church in Hialeah.
Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC
Father David Zirilli shares some final thoughts with the sixth graders during the conclusion of Focus 11: adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
She said she first thought about a religious vocation when she was eight years old and received her first Communion. At age 14, she dreamed she was alone with Pope John Paul II and she asked him: "If Jesus is calling me to be a sister, and you tell me yes, I will do it. If you tell me to drop the idea, I will do whatever you say." In her dream, the pope answered: "The answer to your question is within your heart. So listen to your heart."
Sister Carla Martinez, of the Carmelites of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles, who serves as director of religious education at Little Flower in Coral Gables, remembers looking up at her fourth-grade teacher, a religious, and telling her, "When I grow up I want to be just like you."
"When you say yes to God, it's a life of adventure," she told the girls.
Sister Grace Marie Heinrich, of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary, said she had "my whole life figured out" until, as a college student, she accompanied her mom and dad on a business trip to Rome.
"It was the week Pope John Paul II passed away. There was something special in Rome at that time that really touched my heart," she said, noting that it moved her from merely attending Mass on Sunday to delving deeper into the faith, and ultimately making the commitment to religious life.
Sister Maria Fernanda Sol, a novice with the Servants of the Pierced Hearts, said she grew up with a passion for playing soccer. She was baptized at Epiphany Church in Miami, then moved to Honduras, and eventually moved back to Miami, where she began attending Archbishop Coleman Carroll High School in her sophomore year.
Her aunt is Sister Ana Margarita Lanzas, a Servant of the Pierced Hearts who serves as director for religious in the archdiocese. One day, Sister Sol attended a cenacle just to visit her aunt. But during adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, she heard a call: "Maria Fernanda, I have something special for you. Open your heart."
Playing soccer never seemed as important, and she entered the Servants' community two weeks after graduating from high school.
"It's never too late and it's never too early to encounter the Lord," she told the students.
Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC
Ready to tell their vocation stories, from left: Sister Susan Miriam of the Daughters of St. Paul; Sister Olga Villar of the Claretian Missionaries, who serves as director of religious education and youth minister at San Lazaro Church in Hialeah; Sister Carla Martinez of the Carmelites of the Most Sacred Heart, director of religious education at Little Flower Parish in Coral Gables; Sister Grace Marie Heinrich and Sister Maria Fernanda Sol of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
