“I couldn’t be happier spending my life anywhere else – I love being here with Him,” Alie said.
Alie Smith left the mountains of the West Coast and came to the Rhode Island to start a journey following her True Love who pursued her until she responded with a total yes.
Meet Alie Smith: A California girl that knows how to have fun, oldest of seven and loves anything that has to do with being outside and enjoying the sun. Fishing, swimming and water skiing are some of her hobbies. But what truly describes her is how she really enjoys helping people even though giving of herself is tiring and it is not always easy. For Alie, it is worth it to make someone else feel loved and make their day a little better or just see them smile. Forgetting her plans so as to accompany someone that is having a hard day or making sure someone has a warm meal when they are eating late are some examples of how she enjoys helping people.
There’s more. She ended up at MEC because it came with the calling of Jesus to follow Him in consecrated life. How did this love story start? “There is no denying” she exclaimed. “This call is something deep within me that is very hard to explain with words, almost impossible. It is an experience of God that brought me here” she said. Alie is enjoying every second of the education that she is receiving at MEC for the great mission that awaits her. What she enjoys the most are the pastoral classes, apostolic opportunities and community life activities such as baking, jogging and beating everyone in the peanuts tournaments — that she usually organizes.
Her Aunt Mary also had a big role in her vocation. Alie was six years old when she first had contact with consecrated life. Seeing Mary’s consecration of life made her question a lot of things. What really makes someone happy? Whenever she looked at her, she realized that Mary had the greatest treasure in the whole wide world: the love of God and He made her completely happy. It didn’t matter that she didn’t have a lot of “things” that most people have in the world; she was happy. Alie saw clear that God is the one that truly satisfies our hearts and that He is worth giving everything up for!
Alie couldn’t resist. Following her True Love has been a journey that definitely has come with some struggles. The hardest thing to leave behind was her family. Because she is close to her family and owes them so much, it was hard knowing that she wasn’t going to be there to watch her young siblings as they grow up. Even though her heart was torn, she has experienced God’s fidelity. After three years of belonging to Him, Alie has felt more a part of their lives than even if she had been there. Whenever they get to spend time together, it is very special, “as the old saying goes “absence makes the heart grow fonder”, Alie said.
Alie enjoys being with her True Love in prayer and she looks forward to receiving him in Holy Communion every day at the 7:30a.m. mass at the college.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, and whoever believes in Him might not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). This is Alie’s favorite quote and it sums up what she has experienced in her journey following Jesus. She has believed in the love of the One that has stolen her heart and has promised her happiness and his fidelity until the end of time, and she says it is worth it! Today, Alie Smith is a senior studying at Mater Ecclesiae College in Rhode Island. At the end of this year, having completed the four years of formation, she will receive a new destination for her apostolic mission – the next step in the journey of True Love.
