classmates still teased me about a couple of young men whom I dated then.
After high school, I took up nursing at the St. Paul College Manila. Thoughts of entering the convent were set aside as I fo- cused on studies, hospital duties, and more boys—especially cute interns or young doctors whom we used to follow in the wards for instructions on patients’ medications or treatments. But guess who would follow us after duty hours—to the movies, to parties, or to our dormitory visiting parlors? Those same doctors and interns! Some of them ended up marrying my classmates.
The seeds of compassion and zeal for these “least, lost and last” were planted in my heart by Sister Robrecht.
But somehow, I always had a feeling of emptiness even during those happy times—a feeling that I was being called to do and to be something more. That feeling would be more clearly felt whenever we had our annual retreats. Those were the times when I would remember Sister Robrecht. I was more mature by then and I would think of how Sister Robrecht and the other missionary Sisters must have been touched by the Lord to leave their country to serve God and His people. Was God also calling me to serve Him as a nun or as a married woman? Well, with some guidance from a spiritual director, I did apply and was accepted. After my profession as a religious of the Good Shepherd, I visited Sister Robrecht. She had gone back to her baptismal name and was called Sister Magda. I had not known that, because in the olden days, the nuns kept top secret their “real” names when they entered the convent and were given
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