From El Salvador to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), from aerospace engineering to the Sisters of Life, Sister Ave Maria Hernandez Cruz is a beautiful example of God’s gentle guidance in each person’s life. 

Originally from Zacatecoluca, El Salvador, Hernandez Cruz grew up in a family that she described as “culturally Catholic.” She received the sacraments but did not have a personal relationship with Jesus. However, her journey to deeper faith was triggered by her arrival in a new culture: the United States.

“The first time I came to the United States was for college,” said Hernandez Cruz. “I wanted to do engineering…and I got into what I would call my ‘dream school’ at the time, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I went to MIT and graduated from aerospace engineering.” Jolted into this new experience, she was full of questions about life. 

Surrounded by this “new environment, new country, new culture, new language, new everything,” Hernandez Cruz explained that she “had to make decisions for myself now, and I had the awareness that if I wanted to practice a faith, I had to choose that for myself. So, I began a period of exploration of my own faith and my belief in God.”  

As she began seeking the truth about God, Hernandez Cruz observed something jarring in her peers. Although they were some of the most intelligent and successful students in the world, they seemed dissatisfied. “There was a lot of misery,” she said. Even more startling, she noticed the same pattern in herself. “I was pursuing my biggest dreams, and it wasn’t fulfilling, it wasn’t satisfying,” she said. 

Searching for fulfillment and answers, Hernandez Cruz attended Mass for the first time on campus. At this Mass, she heard an announcement about a faith and science discussion group. This group became crucial in her journey towards deeper faith. “They were not afraid of questions,” she emphasized. 

Through this group, Hernandez Cruz realized that “faith and science are not in contradiction, but they actually beautifully support and complement each other.” With her questions satisfied, she began to cultivate intimacy with God. She shared, “I started to pray in college in a way that I had never experienced before: personal, silent prayer.” She also became involved in campus ministry through the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS). 

Summarizing her experience in college, Hernandez Cruz said with a smile, “Out of anywhere in the world, it was at MIT that the Lord found me, and I fell in love with him.” However, her goals after graduating did not include religious life. “I had my own plans: I was going to be a Catholic engineer who would present the beauty of the faith while living in the secular world,” she explained.

For one year, she worked for an avionics company in Boston. Then, a realization prompted her to relocate to El Salvador. She experienced “an insight in prayer that there is one thing that never fades, the human soul, which is made for eternity.” Motivated by this recognition of each person’s value and her desire to serve others, she applied her engineering talents in a social context in El Salvador. She remained there for four years.

Serving others through engineering soon awakened a new craving in her heart. “In pursuing that, the Lord kept…luring my heart to more of him…and I had this desire to have more of him, and then in prayer, the idea of religious life came back.” Spurred by this prompting, Hernandez Cruz began visiting convents. 

She had encountered the Sisters of Life during college through FOCUS. When she visited their convent in New York City, she said that “The Lord confirmed that this was the place he had prepared for me.” She entered the Sisters of Life as a postulant in 2020. 

The Sisters of Life seamlessly complemented her intuition about the preciousness of each human soul. Hernandez Cruz explained that in addition to professing vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the Sisters of Life profess a fourth vow “to protect and enhance the sacredness of human life,” which fit her thirst to serve others.

She added, “I experienced that as the perfect match to what the Lord had been revealing for some time in my heart–the beauty and the sacredness of each human life, and I wanted to give my whole life, my effort, my energy for this truth.” 

After professing her first vows on June 24, 2023, Hernandez Cruz worked at the Sisters of Life pregnancy center mission in Manhattan for two years. She described these years as a “beautiful privilege” of “welcoming [pregnant women] and embracing them within the heart of the church…so that they may receive the grace from God to welcome the lives of their babies.” 

To further this mission, Hernandez Cruz is currently earning her master’s degree in clinical mental health at Franciscan University. These studies will enable her to better serve the needs of mothers in desperate situations.        

Her advice for students seeking their vocation? “Do not be afraid to let the Lord take you to the depths of your heart and to reveal there…how much he loves you and what his desire is for you and for your life.” 

Judging by the warmth emanating from her face, Sister Ave Maria Hernandez Cruz has encountered this love through her vocation. Serving others has provided the lasting joy and fulfillment that aerospace engineering could not supply.