Vocation Stories | Sister Lucia

Sister Lucia, O.C.D.

As the entrance procession began, incense rose to heaven foreshadowing the gift that soon would be given -- that of a soul completely given to God with nothing held back. On July 19, 2009, the Feast of Our Lady of Divine Grace, Sister Lucia of the Holy Spirit, for the honor of God and moved by a firm resolve to consecrate herself more fully to Him, professed forever her vows of chastity, poverty and obedience.

Sister Lucia of the Holy Spirit was born in Queens, New York. The daughter of Jack and Frances Mercica, she was blessed with parents who daily practiced their Catholic faith. Growing up, she witnessed the beauty of faithful marital love, and it was this example that sparked her desire to marry and live out a life calling of faithful love within the sacramental marriage covenant.

Throughout her childhood, Sister Lucia was drawn to God. She would often find a quiet place so that she could think about God and speak to Him in prayer within the sanctuary of her heart. At the
beginning of her high school years, she worked hard to get good grades. Her junior year, however, brought changes. School became less important and she found herself becoming ‘worldlier.’

Shortly after graduating from high school, Sister Lucia received a life-changing grace. A friend of hers who attended a fundamentalist Christian church invited her to a Bible study. Sister Lucia had not studied her Catholic faith since her Confirmation classes. She now heard that the Catholic Church lied to her and if she did not join the fundamentalist church, she would surely be damned. At this time, Sister Lucia stopped going to Mass and began attending the services of this new church.

Deeply concerned for their daughter, her parents started praying and fasting for her. They asked all their friends to do the same. Her parents arranged for Sister Lucia to speak to a priest and a friend of theirs who was well versed in the Bible. When her dad discovered that belonging to this church would involve taking people away from the Catholic Church, he told her that she would have to leave the house if she accepted such beliefs. The members of this church then offered her a place to live. Confused, she turned to prayer. She was ready to sacrifice her family and education for Him if that is what He wanted.

Sister Lucia eventually met and spoke with the priest and spent time with Our Lord in prayer. The gift of clarity finally came. She understood that Jesus Christ founded the Catholic Church. She now recalls that “it was a real time of grace for me, because up until then I had taken my faith for granted. I did not really appreciate my faith nor understand the blessing that it is. After that experience, I began to practice my faith with more conviction. I still didn’t realize that I had a vocation to religious life. I continued dating. When I was twenty-one years old, I became engaged. As time went on, though, I realized that I was not called to marry my fiancé. The day I broke off our engagement was February 11th. Unknown to me at the time, this date is remembered every year by the Carmelite Sisters, because it is the death anniversary of our community’s Mother Foundress, Mother Luisita.

I was twenty-three when I first began considering a religious vocation. My mother used to attend silent prayer retreats at the Sacred Heart Retreat House in Alhambra, California, and I decided to go with her to a retreat.

As I discerned through prayer, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to be a Carmelite. It was toward the end of my studies to become a speech language pathologist when I went through this discernment process. My spiritual director encouraged me to complete my studies before entering a convent, and so this just confirmed my intuition. On October 15, 2000, the Feast of St. Teresa of Avila, I entered the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles.”

Today, Sister Lucia serves God’s people at the Santa Teresita Campus in Duarte, California, utilizing her gift of speech therapy. When asked how she sees her speech therapy as a participation in the work of Christ, she says, “With our Carmelite charism, especially since we’re
active Carmelites, we are to teach about the interior life to people. I have that opportunity to do that with the residents with whom I am working, particularly those who do not have the ability to speak. I always try in some way to let them know the love that God has for them. If they cannot experience it through my teaching them, or through my words encouraging them, then I try to do it in my acts of kindness and love toward them. Somehow, I want them to know the love that God has for them.”

Today, the gift Sister Lucia brings to God’s people is not only a means of restoring communication on the physical level, but also that of the heart, of facilitating the most profound communication, that of a soul with God.

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