When the call comes, it is from God. We just listen to the call. See, we don’t plan or we don’t, you know, sort of say I should go there, I should go here. No. That comes to you automatically. And we get the grace from God to answer the call. 

I had left school by the time and I was teaching in a place in Batticoloa. Then I went for a retreat. The girls have a retreat every year. So I was called as an old girl. And in that I remember…the last day the priest gave us a service. We call it Benediction service. And he gave a small homily, and he said I know, I think there is somebody who here whom God will call. He just said that. And I said to myself, it’s not me (laughs). And I went off. That made me think afterwards, when I heard of girls leaving. My own batch girls, they started also leaving for the convent. 

So when my turn came, I said I think God wants me. So I didn’t want to hurt my parents because they were very fond of me. I was the last in the family. So I didn’t tell them. I just prayed and I said I’ll wait and see what happens. 

My mother, not my father, more my mother was most attached to me. So I kept thinking she’ll get sick. So I waited. And then…when it came to my father, my mother said I don’t know, you better go and speak to your father. So my father asked me straight off. I said no. “You should not be without getting married,” he said. I said I don’t want marriage. Then he said if you don’t want marriage, you can’t stay without marriage. Then I said I’m going to the…then only I let out that I’m going to the convent. Then he said, he was happy.