"AFTER growing up in a normal Irish Catholic home, I studied Commerce and enjoyed the social scene at university.

After university, I decided to take up accountancy and so began several years of working full-time and studying in the evenings, with exams twice a year.

"Coming up to exams, I used to pray that I would pass and when the exams were over, I would resume my social life. However, as I went on I began to question, interiorly, whether God really existed. A friend and I watched a video on Medjugorje and I was fascinated by it.

"I also began to attend a prayer meeting with young people. I just loved it and I was really struck by the fact that they were not 'holy Joes' but ordinary people from all walks of life.

"Eventually, my friend Maura and I visited Medjugorje where I had a very deep experience of God's love for me. I was totally overcome and could not believe the intense feelings of love that I had for God.

"When I came home, I spoke to a priest about my experiences and he suggested that I finish out my studies and look at the vocation later. So, I threw myself into living and still enjoyed my social life. I had several relationships, because marriage had always been in my mind, but I never felt totally fulfilled.

"Eventually, I qualified as an accountant and I remember the deep sense of emptiness I felt after spending so many years slogging for exams and, now that I was qualified, it meant nothing to me. I couldn't believe it.

"Maybe it was that disappointment that made me realise I had to look at the vocation idea again. Gradually, as I wrestled with the idea of becoming a nun, it was something that I wanted.

"I would have to tell my family what I was considering and I knew they would be devastated. It was bad enough telling them that I was thinking of becoming a nun, but joining an enclosed order was even worse.

"Eventually, I applied to the Poor Clares and a few months after I joined my mother got cancer and had to have major surgery. It was a time when my beliefs were really put to the test.

"On a rational level, it might have made more sense to go home and look after my mother, but I entrusted her to God and he really looked after her.

"It was a great turning point for my entire family as, even up to the time I entered, they found it difficult. Since then, as they see that I am happy, they are happy for me."