On July 16, the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles celebrated the Rite of Initiation into the Novitiate of two young women, Christina Johnson and Amanda Broussard. San Gabriel Region Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala presided at the celebration in Alhambra, attended by family and friends of the Sisters.

Following are vocation stories of Sister Marie Vianney of St. Therese (Christina Johnson) and Sister Peter Louise of the Heart of God (Amanda Broussard):

Sr. Marie Vianney: Responding to the Divine Illustrator
I have often heard it said that our Lord sometimes draws straight with a crooked line. He is the Divine Illustrator who longs to create a work of art from our lives, from the crooked and jagged lines we have drawn for ourselves.

This work of art will never be complete during our journey on earth, but looking closely we began to see how our Lord is drawing a beautiful picture with our lives here and now. Such has been the case in my life --- a baptized Lutheran, who never dreamed His plan for my life would lead to a religious vocation.

God was always very important in my family. We grew up actively participating in church and learning what it meant to have a personal relationship with the Lord.

Entering my teenage years I began to create my own picture, to move my line according to my plan --- attend college, get married, start a family and live in Minnesota close to my relatives. But in my sophomore year of high school the Lord took hold of my little line.

It began one night when my mom told our family she had been attending daily Mass, and asked if we would accompany her to Mass on Sunday.

"You must be joking," I thought. "What would my friends think if they saw me in a Catholic Church?" I attended, though, and wondered, "Why are there so many large families? Why do we kneel, and stand so often?"

I left Mass that Sunday, hoping that we would not go back, yet somehow fearing that this was not over. Weeks turned into months as we attended Sunday Mass and eventually I found myself sitting in an RCIA class every Thursday evening, much to my displeasure. Jesus was trying to draw a beautiful picture with my life and I was resisting with all my might. I did not want to attend Sunday Mass or RCIA, and I definitely did not want to become Catholic.

My parents reassured me that my only obligation was to be informed about the Catholic faith. If, after completing RCIA, I decided not to become Catholic, that was fine with them. Their reassurance did very little to help me because I feared that in the end I would become Catholic.

Then one day, our family was gathered together discussing whether or not we should enter the Church. A terrifying thought hit me: "If we become Catholic, the Lord could call me to be a nun; I will never be a nun!"

My family looked at me in sheer wonder. "Who said anything about being a nun?" They reassured me that our Lord was probably not calling me to be a nun, and we continued our discussion. Eventually we entered the Catholic Church, and I finished high school, the thought of becoming a nun far from my mind.

A few weeks before I left for college, I began to realize I had never really opened myself to the Lord's will for my life. With this realization came the question, "What if the Lord is calling me to be a nun?"

One day at Mass, with an overwhelming sense of dread I prayed, "Lord do you want me to be a … you know?" (I could not even say "nun!") After two minutes I had convinced myself that I had prayed enough about it and was sure that our Lord was not calling me to be a nun.

I left for Franciscan University still fearing that I had not fully discerned our Lord's will. As school began, I found myself enamored with the religious on campus. All I wanted to do was spend time with them. Yet, had anyone asked if I was discerning a vocation, my response would have been "No!"

One day our Lord succeeded in straightening my line just a little. I went with some friends to see the movie "Therese," although I had no idea who Saint Therese was. Something touched my heart that day in a way words cannot describe and I found myself desiring to learn more about Saint Therese. I began reading Story of a Soul and then I Believe in Love.

And my prayer life began to change. My weekly holy hour that used to seem like an eternity began to go by quickly. I found myself spending time with our Lord almost every day. Soon I began asking Jesus if He really did want me to become a sister.

At the 2005 Easter Vigil I experienced our Lord's little tug on my line with peace and joy. For the first time I was able to say, "Jesus, I actually want to be a sister if that is what you are asking of me."

My little line became straighter that day although, like all drawings, the Artist must create many intricate details before His picture is complete. I became involved in a discernment group on campus and began speaking to my spiritual directress about vocations. My discernment process was mixed with beautiful moments of realizing the Lord was calling me to be totally His.

As my senior year of college approached, I began to look into religious communities that fit my educational and apostolic inclinations. However, our Lord is patient with his "little flock" (Luke 12:32) and He gently took the pencil back into his hands. I began to follow the tug on my line to the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles.

I took a great leap of faith by beginning the entrance process with the community. This leap was rewarded with the gift of peace as I began the first stage in formation, candidacy, a year-long period in which I lived near the sisters, attended classes and worked in the education apostolate. At the end of my candidacy I asked to continue to the next stage, postulancy. I was accepted as a novice on July 16, receiving my new name.

The Divine Illustrator longs to create a beautiful work of art with our lives, a masterpiece which reflects the love and beauty of our Triune God. I am working every day as a postulant to be docile so that our Lord can truly take my little line and create a work of art for his greater honor and glory.

Sr. Peter Louise: 'Being who God wants me to be'
Although I grew up Catholic, no one at home or in the Church ever mentioned the idea of religious life to me. My only idea of religious life was what I saw on TV and the small statue of a nun that my mom had from when she was a little girl. It was not until I was in high school when a missionary sister came to my parish to ask for donations that I met a sister.

On that fateful Sunday morning at St. Therese, the Little Flower Parish, the sister (I don't even remember the community or her name) came and spoke after Mass. I remember sitting in the pew thinking, "I don't have money, but I want to give myself!"

I spoke with her after Mass about volunteering for a summer. She gave me information on volunteer programs and also a small booklet on vocations. I spoke with my parish priest, and he encouraged me to finish school, go to college, and pray about it.

After that, my plan was to spend a summer doing volunteer work in a foreign country after high school graduation. During the fall of my senior year, our country was attacked and, at the encouragement of my family and my priest, I held off on my plans to go abroad. National programs usually requested that volunteers be over 21, so that was out, too. I decided to wait until after college graduation.

During college, the idea of vocation was far from my mind. I dated a few guys, but the issue of religion was always a barrier. Even though I often drifted far from Catholic moral teaching, I always remained firm in my Catholic theology. Of course, these two pillars of Christian living clashed in my mind and I was never satisfied. Between relationships, the idea of religious life would always resurface, but I would push it back again, thinking, "This is just me talking, not God."

Around this time, I became interested in learning more about St. Therese, the patron of my home parish. I read Story of a Soul and was amazed to learn of her simple life of a Carmelite nun. I became interested in Carmelite spirituality and read all I could about her and St. Teresa of Avila.

Finally in my senior year of college, I hit rock bottom. I realized that I needed God in my life, more than just at Sunday Mass. I made changes that I knew God was asking of me and began attempts at deeper prayer.

At this point, I acknowledged that the idea of religious life was not going away, after years of being in the back of my mind. The only order that interested me was Carmel since I had read so much of its two beloved saints, so I Google-searched under "Carmelite sisters." Most of the pages were for cloistered communities, but I knew I wanted to serve God's Church directly. I found the website for the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles and was totally taken by the pictures and stories.

I called the vocation office and spoke to one of the sisters. I remember telling her, "I just feel like I need to check it out, but I'm not sure." She replied, "Well, then just come!" Oh, it was that easy!

My first visit was in March 2006, spring break of my senior year of college. The last night of my visit, I knew I needed to come back. I returned in May 2006 to begin my application. After graduating with my bachelor's degree, I knew I wanted to be here, but I also knew that God needed to work out some things in me before I could begin to live what He was asking of me.

I decided to spend a year in volunteer work in St. Louis, living in a Catholic volunteer community and working at a homeless shelter for pregnant women called "Our Lady's Inn." It was a time of joyful service and tremendous growth. I loved working with the ladies, but the intense prayer and intimacy with Christ I needed was not there.

I began candidacy with the community in August 2007 and found both the service and the prayer that I was longing for. After spending a year with the Carmelite Sisters, I was approved for postulancy on June 29, Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul and entered Sept. 14, Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. I became a novice on July 16, and received my new name.

It is here in Carmel that God has given me the strength and the grace to grow in my love for Him, His Church, and religious life. Within my circle of friends and even within my own family, I have found both friend and foe, but through it all, our Lord has given me the greatest peace that comes from (finally) being who He wants me to be.

To learn more about the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles, call (626) 289-1353 or visit www.carmelitesistersocd.com.