A Brazilian priest, Father Jonas Magno de Ovileira, and his mother are now both members of the Congregation of the Incarnate Word: the son is active, the mother is contemplative of this order, which was founded in 1984 in Argentina.
Father Jonas told Aciprensa news agency that when he was eight years old, he felt a call to commit himself to the priesthood, thanks to the zealous example and care of the parish priest. His mother encouraged him by educating him in Christian virtues but did not force him.
At the age of 13, Jonas studied at the Discipleship of the Incarnate Word, and was helped by his rector to discern vocations. Meanwhile his mother also had the opportunity to participate in a spiritual exercise in silence, according to the method of Saint Ignatio Loyola.
Jonas's only concern at Discipleship was that if he embarked on a religious path, he would leave his mother alone, since he was her only child. But one thing provided by Providence was that, after Jonas decided to stay in the Discipleship, the sisters of the Handmaids of God and Mary in the city of Matará, a branch of the order, of the Incarnate Word. needed a female nurse to take care of the mentally ill, in the sisters' nursing home. They invited the mother to live with them, and at the same time work as a nurse to help those in the sisters' center. The mother worked with the nuns and gradually discovered a religious vocation and applied for admission, but not as an activity, but as a contemplative profession. The industry has a novitiate in Tuscany, central Italy, and she lives there.
Brother Jonas Magno de Ovileira continued his formation in the Order and was ordained a priest in May last year.
In the interview, Father Jonas recounted that his mother's decision to dedicate her life to God was truly a special gift from God. And he observed that: “When talking about vocations, people often say: my father, or my mother, is against. But not so in my case. Now my mother and I both follow Christ on the same path, the same vocation, and the same charism.”
Currently, Father Jonas lives in Rome and sometimes goes to the monastery in Tuscany to visit his mother.