Help me pay off $161,000 in student loans so I can answer Christ’s call to become a Missionary of Charity.
Dear friends in Christ,
My name is Anna Fluharty. I am a teacher at Coeur du Christ Academy, and I have been accepted to enter the Missionaries of Charity, the religious order founded by St. Mother Teresa. To answer this call to become a religious sister, I need your help! The Missionaries of Charity love and serve the poorest of the poor around the world, taking the vows of Poverty, Chastity, Obedience, and a fourth vow of Wholehearted and Free Service to the Poorest of the Poor. They serve the most abandoned, lonely, and outcast of society, in over 130 countries around the world. They own nothing personally, receive no salary, and live in radical dependence on God and His providence.
As a sister, I will live like the poor whom I will love. As Christ was poor, so I will be poor. And in His love and poverty, He cries out from the cross, “I Thirst.” I desire, with everything inside of me, to give Him a drink. St. Mother Teresa says:
“From the cross Jesus cries out, “I THIRST.” His thirst was for souls even as He hung there dying, alone, despised. Who will bring those souls to Him? Can you and I continue to stand by as mere spectators? Can we pass by and do nothing?”
My sweet Lord, Thy thirst for souls I will satiate with a burning love all for Thee!
Why I Need Your Help
I graduated from Franciscan University of Steubenville, where I fell deeply in love with Christ and where my vocation was nurtured. My education in Steubenville was an important part of my journey toward religious life, but I financed much of it through private student loans. Despite years of making substantial payments from my paycheck, I still owe $161,000. Interest has made this debt especially difficult to overcome. Religious life requires women entering the order to be free of personal debt. Once I enter, I will no longer earn a salary or manage personal finances. I cannot bring this debt with me into religious life.
My goal is to raise $161,000 to pay off my remaining student loans so that I can freely satiate my sweet Lord’s thirst in wholehearted service to the poorest of the poor.
Every gift, no matter the size, brings me closer to answering this call. If you are unable to give financially, sharing this campaign with your family, friends, parish, or Catholic community would mean so much to me.
As a Church, we pray for an “increase to religious vocations” very often. This is a very practical way to be the instrument God uses to answer these prayers! I have done what I can on my own. Now I am asking the Church, my friends, and all those who believe in the importance of religious vocations to help me take this final step. As a future Missionary of Charity, I am begging for your charity! Please pray for me also, as your prayers are worth far more than any dollar amount.
The Simplicity of the Call
I remember being at an all school Mass at St. Francis de Sales School in Newark, Ohio when I was about 10 years old. We were singing a very classic song from the hymnal: “Here I Am, Lord”. There were some lyrics that stuck out to me:
“Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go, Lord. If you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart.”
I distinctly remember telling the Lord that if it was really Him calling my name, then I would do whatever He asked of me. It felt simple, because it is simple. Through the years, I have made it complicated. I heard the Lord calling, and I became afraid. I became afraid of what love demands. To love is nothing less than the cross, and my flesh is so weak that I started focusing on what I would lose rather than Who I would gain.
Mother Teresa was also afraid when she heard Christ ask her to carry Him “...into the holes of the poor.” Jesus responded to her fear saying:
“Fear not – It is I who is asking you to do this for Me.”
I am confident that he is calling me to be his little flower, His little poor bride and to “hold His people in my heart.” He is the Giver of good gifts and is calling me to be so close to His Sacred Heart. He is crying out to me, and all of us, with a deep and ravishing thirst from the bridal bed of the cross. He longs for intimacy with us, and will stop at nothing to obtain it. Many times I have given Him vinegar instead of my heart, but He has persisted with His thirst for me. He has given me everything, and every bone in my body longs to give Him everything in return. Will you help me quench the thirst of God?
Please consider making a donation toward my $161,000 goal. If you cannot give, please share this campaign with anyone who might be willing to help. And above all, please pray for me—for perseverance, humility, trust, and fidelity to the vocation God has given me.
Your generosity will mean more to me than I can express. I will carry you and your intentions in my prayers.
May we never be mere spectators when Christ calls us to love. Thank you for helping me say yes to Jesus.
All for Jesus,
Anna Marie Fluharty
