Menu:

priesthood & religious life

anne-marie

Total Consecration to Christ's Love to Change the World

by Anne-Marie Dardis

Anne-Marie Dardis was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the oldest of 10 children. She attended Holy Name of Jesus Elementary School, Dominican High School, Louisiana State University, and received a B.A. in Communications from Loyola University in New Orleans, Louisiana. She worked in Marketing and Public Relations for the Sheraton Hotel in New Orleans, then for the Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. in Washington, DC. She consecrated her life to God in the Regnum Christi Movement in 1995, beginning a four-year course of studies in spirituality and philosophy. She worked as Assistant Director of Everest School in Santiago, Chile, and is currently stationed in St. Louis, Missouri, working in the formation and spiritual growth of girls and young women.

Like most young women of the 90's, I had big plans for my life: I was going to get married, raise a big Catholic family, run my own business-planning events and promotional activities, and basically enjoy myself. But God had different plans for me: to consecrate my life to him and his work in the Regnum Christi Movement, and life has turned out so much better than I could have imagined!

I wasn't even looking for a vocation - I was actually considering marrying my boyfriend, an Episcopalian I had been dating for several years. I was frustrated trying to answer his questions about the Catholic faith, after having been educated in Catholic schools and raised in a wonderful Catholic family of 10 children. I did not know where to turn. It was at this time that my mother gave my phone number to a young man whom she had met and found interesting, and it was his sister who put me in touch with Regnum Christi. She described it as a "group that had activities about the faith for young people."

My professional pursuits had taken me to Washington DC, where I was on the fast track working in marketing and event planning in the financial industry, and it was there that I first met the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi members.
It began with one spiritual talk, then an evening of reflection for young professionals, and concluded with a silent weekend retreat modeled on St. Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises. What I saw, heard and learned during this weekend really blew me away: a whole new breed of Catholics! Priests who spoke with energy and enthusiasm about the person of Jesus Christ and who told me how much he loved me - even to the point of dying on a cross for me. I saw a cross-section of society (old and young, men and women), joyfully working together in apostolic projects which aimed at re-evangelization and holiness. I made contact with a support group of other young women with whom I could get together with for weekly Gospel reflections, Eucharistic Hours, a coffee, skiing, aerobics, or whatever we wanted… This was too good to be true!

I got involved in Regnum Christi there in Washington, and little by little, with the support of friends and a good spiritual director, I began to grow in my relationship with Christ, in my prayer life, and in my awareness that God created me for a particular mission. I now understood that this would lead to my happiness here on earth and beyond…and that my future had nothing to do with the financial industry.
This in turn led me - a year and a half later - to beg God to show me what he wanted me to do with my life. I was extremely restless, torn between the world in which I had been living: involving parties, travel, work and boys; and the world which God had revealed to me in Regnum Christi: the possibility of spending my life growing closer to him and using the talents which He had given me to bring Him to others.

It was during this time that I met the consecrated women of Regnum Christi (there are different levels of commitment within Regnum Christi: there are married and single men and women, teenagers who share in Regnum Christi's spirituality and apostolic works, and there are those who are called by vocation to consecrate themselves totally to this work. Up to this point I had only been involved with the former.) This was a critical moment for me: I had been asking God to show me the mission for which I was created, and here were these women, who were doing exactly what I felt called to do…And they were so HAPPY! God made it very clear to me that this was in fact what he had created me for. I decided (not without many struggles!) to attend the six-week vocational discernment program held in Rhode Island that summer, and during that time I was able to confirm and solidify God's call to me.

On September 1, 1995, I made my first promises of poverty, chastity and obedience, living in community with other young women like myself, pursuing the same goals. I began my studies in spirituality, philosophy, theology and educational sciences. Six and a half years later I can only thank God every day for this incredible gift! It is not a life I would have ever imagined for myself - I do laugh sometimes at the fact that I wear a skirt every day, and that I live under obedience. My family states often that I am the last one they would have picked to have a vocation! But there is such a deep peace inside of me that is confirmed daily, especially as I work to help other young women discover God's plan for their lives, and I know through my experience first-hand just how faithful and how loving he is.

Story reprinted with permission from www.vocation.com. Anne-Marie Dardis can be reached at amdardis(at)inteducators(dot)org.

For more information about Regnum Christi log onto regnumchristi.org.

If you think God may be calling you to the religious life or the priesthood or you simply have questions, log onto www.vocation.com.