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Christina Zammit
Though the idea of becoming a missionary nun was there at an early age, by the time I was fourteen I also wanted to be a ballerina! But somewhere in my teens I developed a very personal relationship with Christ and I felt called to belong totally to Him. When I announced my decision to my family in my last year of school my father didn’t speak to me for a week! It was my first indication of the seriousness of the life and the challenged involved. Choosing this way of life meant no husband, no children, financial restrictions and obedience to God’s will through the community. As I matured, graduated from Teachers’ College and worked in three Queensland State schools I gradually realised all I would be giving up in order to explore this relationship to Jesus Christ which would make me available to His vulnerable and marginalised people. Despite this, the attraction was still very strong and I had no peace until I decided that the only way to settle this was to try life in a community of nuns for a while and see if I survived – so I did.
There have been challenges galore, much personal growth, wonderful relationships, great times and hard times, yet the greatest happiness has always been the continuing adventure of the personal relationship with Jesus Christ, keeping my spirit alive, my heart joyful and my feet eager to get around the next bend in the road of life. One day I will “turn a corner” and be face to Him whom my heart loves.
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© Missionary Franciscan Sisters, Australian Governance Circle |
In 1952 I was distressed to hear over the radio that missionary nuns had been killed by the Mau Mau in Africa. To comfort me my mother declared that they were martyrs and would go straight to heaven. I decided that I would become a missionary nun and get a shortcut to heaven too. Encouraged by the sisters at school, “saving money for the missions” became a feature of my youth!
Each day I asked God to tell me loud and clear if this was not the life He wanted for me, and each day I thrived and grew spiritually and was happier than I had ever been before – a sure sign of my calling to the Religious life. I’ve worked as a teacher; as a parish pastoral leader; in formation in Papua New Guinea, among the charismatic community praying for physical, emotional and spiritual healing for God’s people, and now with the Sudanese community in Brisbane.