VNA—Dentist, Social Media Producer and Religious Sister. All these titles could be included in the job description of Sr. M. Paula Blum, Schoenstatt Sister of Mary, ISSM, from Ecuador. The 34-year-old is in her final year of studies to become a dentist and has a passion for spreading the “Good News” via Instagram.
Gratitude
“It’s a gift that I can do everything that I love. I’m a Sister of Mary – I left dentistry to become a Sister of Mary. Then I went back to it. And now I do social media, which is more like my hobby.” This is how Ecuadorian Sr. M. Paula Blum, Schoenstatt Sister of Mary, ISSM, sums up her life as a religious sister on the way to becoming a dentist.
In an interview with Vatican News, Sr. M. Paula explained how she came to live out her mission in these diverse fields of work.
Her Avocation started young, her Vocation blossomed in College
“When I was 11 years old, I decided I wanted to be a dentist,” Sister Paula recalls. Before entering the Secular Institute of the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary, she had already studied dentistry for three years. She got to know the Schoenstatt Sisters through the work they do with the Schoenstatt Movement, in particular with youth and families. Sr. M. Paula felt called to this way of life and imagined she would also devote her service to doing pastoral work with the Schoenstatt Movement.
What is a Secular Institute?
Secular Institutes are communities of consecrated people who can live alone in the world and work in secular fields of work. Their mission is to sanctify the world “from within” through their presence in the midst of secular society.
Sr. M. Paula remembered how her superior then asked her if she “wanted to continue working, studying dentistry?” She said she considered it, and said, “if it is possible, yes.” On the other hand, she was also wondering if she couldn’t study something along the lines of social media.
Then she came to the decision: “I thought that maybe I could do social media without a title. I could work, do courses, but I couldn’t be a dentist without my diploma.”
Teeth are a treasure
“I know people are usually afraid to go to the dentist and they see it as weird that we like working on people’s mouths. That’s usually what people think of us,” Sr. Paula explained. Yet she sees people’s teeth and mouths as “a treasure.”
“I know I have to be trained well enough so I can take care of teeth, which allow us to speak, to eat, and also to have good relationships, because people who don’t have a nice smile often have low self-esteem, sometimes they don’t even speak,” she noted.
Sr. M. Paula sees this field of work as a very practical way of helping people experience their own value and dignity. She said that it was always her wish to help people.
“I know as a dentist I can help many people recover their healthy lifestyle, eat well, and eat whatever they want and improve their self-esteem,” she added.
Her wish for the future would be to “have my private practice. Work at a clinic with other colleagues, and also help people who can’t afford to pay for a dentist.”
Then there is the other passion that Sr. Paula has: Social media.
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