There were a number of times that St. Paul of the Cross would stay at the home of a certain Mr. Ercolani, a benefactor and friend of his. Mr. Ercolani had a daughter named Elizabeth. When the Saint first started to visit their family, the girl was about eight years old. St. Paul would call her his ‘little nun’, a name that the child hated so much that she would start crying when he called her that. But he kept using the nickname until Elizabeth angrily insisted over and over that she would never be a ‘little nun’.
Even Mrs. Ercolani, her mother, never thought Elizabeth would become a nun due to her daughter often being ill, and one needs to have sufficient health to enter a convent. To this concern the Saint simply remarked, "Never mind, the Blessed Virgin will see to that."
To his ‘little nun’, he said once, "Don't be afraid, they won’t make you prioress."
But Elizabeth continued to be against entering the convent - that is, until she was nineteen. Then God’s grace suddenly touched her and she unexpectedly felt called to serve God in the religious life. She entered a convent at Vetralla. She lived there for many years... and, true to St. Paul of the Cross’ prophecy, the ‘little nun’ was never made prioress. Elizabeth died happily after many peaceful years in the service of God.
It's interesting looking at the story of this girl's life. Elizabeth had so disliked the mere idea of being a nun that she would burst into tears whenever St. Paul called her a nun. She was convinced that her future happiness could not possibly be found in a convent. But God knew what was best for her - what would really give Elizabeth true happiness. Elizabeth discovered that His Will for her not only gave her peace, but also gave her more happiness than she ever would have believed it could. What a wonderful blessing for her that she discovered God's Will for her life! And how funny that it was doing something that she never thought would happen!
But how often do we also act as this young Italian did? We think our own ideas and wishes can make us more happy than God’s Will for us can. This is because we don’t really know God, so we don’t think He really loves us as His children. But God does love us, and He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knew that the religious life would make Elizabeth more happy than any other vocation, even though she certainly didn’t think so at first. But how many times in her life must she have thanked God for sending St. Paul to her to let her know what God’s Will for her was. And she certainly thanked God for giving her the grace to obey His Will and not her own!
Let us always beg God to give us the grace to know His Holy Will and obey it, whatever it might be. Who knows? We might be surprised at how often doing God’s Will makes us truly and peacefully happy.