Sometimes, in religious life, one changes his or her name. As we see in the Bible, the change of a name – as in the calling of the first Pope, when Jesus changed the name of Simon to Peter (cf. John 1:42), or when Saul’s name (cf. Acts 9:4) is changed to Paul (cf. Acts 13:9) – indicates a change from the old man to the new man (Col 3:9), as well as a mission that the Lord entrusts to us in our life. My own religious name, as well, has a particular significance…
How did I understand that I should call myself Sr. Teresa Maria Ester?
The thought of what name I might take as a nun had already begun to swirl around my head during my second vocational experience with our community. Another girl who was with me (and who is now one of our sisters) said to me one day, “Who knows what name you might have as a nun!” and she began to list off names – but I didn’t like any of them except the one that would later become my third name: Ester.
After the vocational experience, I returned to my home country of Albania and continued to think about (among other things) a religious name. The only one that came to mind was Teresa, for St. Therese of Lisieux – because there were some similarities between our life experiences – and I said, "If the Lord wants this name for me then he will somehow confirm it for me."
A few days before leaving to return to the community, I went to visit some of my friends who were nuns, and at one point I confided in one that I was closer to: I told her that I might change my name as a nun, and without telling her what I had considered, I asked her which name she thought was suitable for me. She thought about it, then took a book that was full of names of saints. At a certain point – without me saying anything about it – she said, “You said that in the rule, the community refers to 4 saints…” I said “yes,” and she continued, “and among them there is a woman, called Teresa!” I almost fainted – it was clear enough to me that this was the confirmation I had been looking for. But she didn't stop there!
I said, "Ok, we have the first name, the second is Maria for everyone, and what about a third name?" At that moment her superior, who had listened to the conversation from afar, passed by and said, “Ester! It's a Biblical name!”
I was literally shocked! None of them knew what name my sister had suggested to me during the retreat. In this way, the Lord gave me confirmation on both names:
Sr. Teresa Maria Ester.
--Sr. TME