Detroit — She first started thinking about a religious vocation when she was 15, but by the time she was studying at the University of Michigan a few years later, she knew.

“I … felt called by our Lord to give him something more but I didn’t yet understand what he wanted of me,” said Sr. Maryja Czarna Madonna Wojciechowski, SSVM, who today carries out her apostolate in Italy, and corresponded with The Michigan Catholic by email.

Sr. Wojciechowski, or “Sr. Czarna Madonna” as she is called, professed final vows with an order little-known in the Detroit area — the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matara — on Sept. 14 along with three other sisters across the country.

Growing up, the 27-year-old Sr. Wojciechowski attended St. Anastasia Parish in Troy with her family. She also attended St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Ann Arbor during her 2004-07 studies at Michigan, where she had joined a young adult group called Generation Christ.

The group met every Sunday evening for an hour of eucharistic adoration followed by a social hour. Several other members of the group were discerning the priesthood and religious life.

“One evening while I was praying in the chapel I understood that God wanted me to consecrate myself to Him in the religious life,” said Sr. Wojciechowski. “I was 20 when I saw clearly that God was calling me to become a religious sister.”

A few days later, she was talking with two other young adults from St. Thomas the Apostle, both of whom planned to enter convents during the summer, to two different congregations.

“I asked them, ‘There are so many congregations. Where do I even begin to look?’” Each of them responded, ‘Why don’t you come with me to visit my sisters?’” recalled Sr. Wojciechowski.

She agreed, and the second congregation was the Servants of the Lord.

“I knew that was where God wanted me,” she said. “I visited a second time to confirm my choice, and then entered shortly after that.”

In October 2010, after three years of formation in the United States, Sr. Wojciechowski was sent to Italy to collaborate with the Cornelio Fabro Cultural Project, named after 20th century Catholic philosopher Fr. Cornelio Fabro.

Fr. Fabro was known for his deep knowledge of St. Thomas Aquinas and Christian realism, which he used specifically to confront erroneous modern philosophy and modern atheism.

The project focuses on promulgating Fr. Fabro’s works internationally, and Sr. Wojciechowski’s tasks involve preparing print and digital editions, as well as maintaining the project’s website, www.corneliofabro.org/en.

However, Sr. Wojciechowski said the most important aspect of religious life is “not what we do but who we are: the religious sister is a spouse of Christ and mother of God’s children.”

“Religious life is a sign for the Church and for the world because we direct our entire lives to seeking the Kingdom of God,” Sr. Wojciechowski said.

By the vow of poverty, she said, the Servants of the Lord “proclaim that God is the only true wealth for man;” by the vow of chastity they live as in Matthew 19:12 “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven;” and by the vow of obedience “we desire to imitate Jesus Christ who was obedient to the Father ‘even unto death, death on a cross.’”

Sr. Wojciechowski said God calls many to consecrate their lives to him: “It is not as unusual as some may think,” she said. “But we must learn how to hear his voice!”

She recommended frequent reception of the sacraments of reconciliation and Eucharist to discern God’s will, though of course “we must continue to use these means throughout our lives, not only during the time of discernment.”

“Pray!” she emphasized.

“Attend Holy Mass, pray the rosary, go to eucharistic adoration when possible,” Sr. Wojciechowski advised. “Ask God to make his will known to you, and he will. He is only waiting for us to ask. Ask our Blessed Mother to help you, especially by praying the rosary, and she will.”

---

 Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matara

Find out more about this religious order for women at www.ssvmusa.org. Contact them at (202) 543-2064 or email [email protected].