Nele Bekaert: ‘My yes to God makes me infinitely happy’

You have just returned from a week of silence along French roads. Are you ready for your virginal consecration?

Nele Bekaert • I have really relaxed this past week. I went with a tent to Nevers (the place where Saint Bernadette Soubirous died and was laid out). I stopped at several abbeys and took time to think and read. I read the book Maurice & Thérèse, which depicts the correspondence between Thérèse of Lisieux and the young priest Maurice Bellière. I enjoyed nature, the landscapes, the rain on my tent and the nice encounters. I’m ready now! These days I am still finishing my ordination candle. It is a candle that I made myself. And I still have to pick up my ring. So these are really the final preparations for the ordination celebration.

Have you long been toying with the desire to become an ordained saint?

Nele Bekaert • I’ve been searching for a long time. I felt that God wanted to walk with me, but it was not clear to me which path to take. I have also struggled for a long time with God and with the problem of suffering in the world. Yet at the same time I felt that God is love, that He gives love and that He always gives new opportunities. That feeling couldn’t go unanswered. I wanted to give Him love back. This was exactly what I had been searching for for years: how could I make my love for Him concrete? I met some consecrated people and gradually I realized that this life choice suits me. I experienced step by step that the consecrated life is the way I want to live my life and that I want to love God. I love meeting God in prayer!

When I hear that colleagues are going on dates to get to know a partner, I sometimes think to myself: “How lucky I am, because I get to go on dates with God three times every day.”

How does your environment respond to your life choice?

Nele Bekaert • A number of students at school know that I will soon receive the ordination of virgins. They think it’s strange: “Miss Nele will get married, but not to a man or a woman!” They don’t really understand what will happen. Many colleagues are also surprised when they hear what step I will take on Saturday. They ask me what I can or cannot do after my ordination. For example, a colleague asked me if I could go to a café after my ordination. Of course you can! I think the freedom and independence that characterizes our calling is so important.

My colleagues organized a wonderful bachelor party for me. They are very curious about the celebration, about my clothes on that day and about the ring I will receive. Perhaps only on Saturday they will really understand why I chose consecrated life.

When they see how my word of yes to God makes me infinitely happy, then no further explanation is needed.

Does the ordination of virgins bring a big change in your life?

Nele Bekaert • No, not much actually changes after the ordination celebration. On Monday I will be in front of the classroom again as before. That’s what I find so valuable about this life choice. Many consecrated people keep their jobs. That is the place where we develop and express our calling.

Not much changes for myself, because I have already answered “yes” in my heart.

The special thing about the virginal consecration lies in the fact that I will now also say yes publicly. To express the yes word of the heart, an ordination celebration is necessary.

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