By Stephanie Q.

July 16th, 2016.

That’s the date my friend, E, gave me for her entrance to the novitiate.  The wind let out of my sails a little. I was so excited for her discernment to continue with the sisters, but that date, well that was already my wedding day.

And so we adjusted the plans.  No longer would she be at our nuptial Mass, but we would certainly include her in our Prayers of the Faithful.  No longer would I be able to attend her entrance ceremony, but friendship is so much stronger than that.  On July 16th, we would both be taking steps to fulfill our vocations, steps towards the life God had in store for us.

Preparations continued for both of us.  E packed up and donated all of her clothes and belongings during a brief visit home between pre-postulancy and postulancy.  I bought a wedding dress and picked out flowers and planned centerpieces.

Our lives were almost perfectly paralleled in prayerful preparation.  There was little doubt in our friends or family that we were living our best lives, pursuing the vocation God created us for.  And I had little doubt that E was supposed to be a sister. Watching her talk about her life in the convent, her eyes lit up in the same way I saw my fiance’s eyes light up when he talked about me.  

When I finally said goodbye to E before postulancy started, it was hard, so hard.  We had no idea when we would see each other again because novitiate + wedding day made the next logical time impossible.  But we promised to write cards and letters and went on our way. 

About three months into her postulancy, I received a surprise notification that E had sent me a Facebook message!

The elation soon turned to concern as I read the message.  She had discerned out of the convent and didn’t know what her next steps would be.

In the moment, I said all the right things.  “I’m proud of you for making the hard decision” (because I knew this broke her heart), “Jesus loves you no matter what” (because I know Satan loves self-doubt), and offered a trip for ice cream whenever she was ready to be social.

On the other side of the screen though, I was flabbergasted. Everything seemed perfectly ordered for her to become a sister.  And if she could discern out, what did that mean for my discernment of marriage? All of sudden, certainty didn’t seem so certain and that really put me in a bit of a spiritual and mental pickle for a while.  I would support E, but I was also very confused by the situation.

The whole thing was made more difficult because I saw how upset the decision made her. And she wasn’t ready to talk about it yet. So I was in this weird place where I had to be supportive without knowing the details.  Responsive and prayerful without understanding the magnitude.  There were many moments where I just asked the Holy Spirit to guide my words because I was at a loss for what to say or do. Walking with a friend who had their whole future changed in a moment is a true test of friendship and fortitude. I didn’t want to make things worse, and I couldn’t make anything better.  I could just sit there in the uncertainty and the ick with her.

As she opened up over the next two months about the decision process, I understood better.  Leaving a religious order is like breaking off an engagement.  And sometimes a broken engagement takes you by surprise because on the outside, everything about the couple seemed perfect. But, it takes living in that reality every single day to really understand the nooks and crannies of the relationship.  And as postulancy progressed, it was her observation that the relationship had to end.

Having broken off a serious relationship of my own once before, I think in some ways I understood better than some how it feels to be adrift without a plan.  A period in life where the things you had taken as fact, a future marriage or religious life, was all of a sudden ripped from its role in the future chapters of your life.  

And so, time progressed.  Our friendship back to normal, I realized that my wedding day was still going to happen, and I began to worry about celebrating the permanency of my own vocation on the day that was also supposed to have been E’s celebration as well.

So I did the only thing I could.  I painstakingly crafted a new set of prayers for our wedding day.  One to pray for our religious friends, since many priests and religious men and women came from our group of friends.  One to pray for all the married couples in the room.  And, finally, one to pray for those who were still discerning their way in life that God would give them the courage to say “yes” when He called.

Being there for a friend who has left the convent can be tricky, but it is similar to being there for a friend in any other difficult life situation. The trickiest part of it all is that what worked for my friendship, might not work for yours.  And that’s true, but all friendships need those moments where it is enough to say, “I am here”.  Encourage her.  Validate her feelings. Believe in her. Be there for her.  Give her space. And most importantly, pray for her.