Profession of vows

On July 11, Sister Marena Hoogland made her perpetual monastic profession (final vows) as a Benedictine Sister of Annunciation Monastery. The public joined Sr. Marena and the monastic community for Eucharistic Liturgy at Our Lady of the Annunciation Chapel at the University of Mary, followed by a reception at the monastery.
 
The day was proof that sometimes math and monastics just add up! Numbers and equations are a part of her DNA. Sister Marena Hoogland’s logic and passion for mathematics wasn’t initially what led her to becoming a Benedictine Sister of Annunciation Monastery, but as she looks back over the past years, experiences along the way just added up!
 
While growing up on a dairy farm in northern Wisconsin, Sr. Marena and her six siblings attended Mass every Sunday. The children were altar servers; their father was a Eucharistic minister and mother taught catechism. A car drive that lasted over 20 minutes was “an automatic rosary,” recalled Hoogland. Her encounters with sisters stem back to third grade when her catechism teacher brought the students to visit the Servants of Mary (Servites) to join them for Mass and dinner. Perhaps it was their joy and spirituality that made an impression, but Sr. Marena doesn’t rule out the possibility of the delicious spaghetti dinner followed by s’mores outside that may have attracted her. “I just knew that these sisters were special in the Church, and I had a notion that maybe I should become one too.”
 
Time and adventures led Hoogland on paths that brought her to attend a public university in Wisconsin to get a degree in elementary education. She soon realized, this was not her calling and she took a break from college and worked full-time at a library. She recalled being drawn to a plaque in the office that had a prayer on it about “letting God use you.” She prayed that God would use her for His purpose every day. She gave the library a year and discerned about what to do next—volunteer, enter the Peace Corps, something that had meaning. 
 
She inquired about the “Benedictine volunteers program” at Annunciation Monastery with the monastery vocation director. It sounded like something she wanted to do in a year or so. During that year, she followed her father’s suggestion to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering. After all, her brother was an engineer, and she also excelled at math and critical thinking. She even did trigonometry problems for fun. 
 
A few months into the engineering program, she had an email from the vocation director who she had talked to earlier about the volunteer program opportunity at the monastery. Through prayer, discernment and asking God to help her trust His plan for her life, Hoogland left the engineering program and sent in her application to volunteer at the monastery for six months.
 
She smiles as she remembered, “I made it very clear to the sisters that I was NOT discerning becoming a sister. However, I did want to make the most of my experience, so I engaged with every aspect open to me in community life.” 
 
In a message to a friend, she wrote, “I’m still amazed at how normal monastic life is. I guess nuns are normal people, too. Some of the sisters were teachers, some were nurses and some were social workers, artists and gardeners. There are sisters who earned their doctorate degrees and served in capacities from university president to pharmacist, cook, baker and laundry worker.”  
 
As she pondered the unique types of individuals in community, she realized she is also a “type” of person, and maybe God was calling her to become a sister. Her openness to God and the prayerful women who supported her and each other, was becoming part of her personal equation.
 
One day, she tiptoed around the possibility with the vocation director, inquiring “for a friend,” about what the steps to become a sister. Realizing that the “friend” was Hoogland herself, the journey through the formation process began. 
 
Sister Marena approached each step of the formation process with careful consideration, like she does when solving a math problem. She prayed for trust and openness to where God was leading next. 
 
“My call was not like a lightning strike or a clap of thunder, like one would think,” she explained. “It was more like a feeling of rightness.” 
 
She felt encouraged and supported with each step. In the fall of 2019, Hoogland made her temporary vows, which is a period of three to six years. She attended the University of Mary, graduating with a degree in teaching mathematics. Following in the ministry of many sisters before her, Sr. Marena currently teaches math at St. Mary’s Academy in Bismarck. 
 
“Every day I teach is a constant reminder of God’s providence and how His ways are better than my own ways. I have a new relationship with Christ as a teacher, and I would have never imagined how much I love my students and the joy they bring into my life,” she marveled.
 
“The support of the sisters, my family and friends, is a blessing. The sisters are a constant source of wisdom, inspiration and faith for me. When God calls me to take the next step, they also walk with me. They pray for me and encourage me,” Hoogland said with appreciation. 
 
The equation in her formation process is now complete.