María Carmen Soler García rscj, province of Northern Spain

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I was born 37 years ago in Valencia, on the edge of the Mediterranean, in a very welcoming family. I have one sister who is a year younger than me. Our parents’ house is always full: neighbours, friends, family; our parents also taught us to help whoever is in need. I love them very much and feel very loved by them and the rest of my family. I always learn so much from them. My grandmother passed on to us her faith in God.

I am very grateful that my parents sent us to the Colegio Santa Magdalena Sofia. There the RSCJ taught me to pray by talking with Jesus. In the Confirmation catechesis in the parish I discovered community and how Jesus accompanies us in our lives. With Confirmation I felt part of the People of God, and I began to savour the union that God was making with me and I with Him. It has always been a help to know that this union is reciprocal, as Jeremiah says: “The Lord seduced me and I let myself be seduced.” (Jer. 20) His fidelity always makes mine possible, and since then, his Word feeds my prayer and my life. I feel that I am learning to listen to him not only in the Bible but also in life.

When I finished my studies in Geography and History I began to work as a history teacher at Colegio Santa Magdalena Sofia in La Punta (Valencia), where I had studied. Returning there helped me to return to my roots and I felt within me the desire “to give freely what I had received freely.” (Mt 10)

In 1998 I entered the Society of the Sacred Heart. I lived in Granada for three years (one of postulancy and two of novitiate). At first I missed the sea among other things, but soon I learned to appreciate the great Sierra Nevada that surrounded us and to benefit from the charming city and its peoples, including my sisters, who represented the new family that welcomed me. There I learned that one who values one’s own land is capable of valuing other lands that also form part of our history.

After novitiate, I continued working as a teacher: four years in Zaragosa and four in Palma de Majorca. I benefit a great deal from my work and I think education is a true mystery: I am in awe of the growth of each person and the discovery of how God accompanies each person from the beginning. I love difficult children very much and I feel that I am a channel of God’s love for them. I feel that it is a challenge to talk to them, and I want them to discover and experience how much God loves them.

Excursion with student of the Sacred School in Palma (may 2009)

From the left, 1st row: Ernestina Costa, Amelia Ferrandis, Mª Carmen Soler, Francisca Cerdó, Rosa Pujol.
2nd row: Magdalena Fontanals, Asunción Arroyo, Ramona Arbó, Pilar Zaforteza
3rd row: Mª Dolores Seguí.

I am grateful for life in community, which I think is an alternative way to live.

I know that relationships of any kind are a challenge. It is Another who unites us and invites us to live in communion. Daily life in common helps us to know ourselves and to know others. To the extent that I feel limited and fragile, I come to accept the limitations and fragility of others, and to love each person as she really is, not as I had imagined her or would like for her to be.

Relationships of friendship and affection speak to me much about how God loves us and I feel that our mission is to be channels of his immeasurable love

Now I am in “probation”: sixteen rscj from different countries have left our work to again take stock of our lives.
We have more time to pray, to reflect on our experiences, to deepen our understanding of our documents, to share our stories, and to be thankful for our lives so far, so as to commit ourselves to God and the congregation in a definitive way, confident in the fidelity of God and the love of our sisters.

RSCJ next to Mater in Rome: Olaya Mayans (Southern Spain), Isabel García (Chile), MªCarmen Soler (Northern Spain).

María Carmen Soler García rscj
Province of Northern Spain

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