Sister Ana Maria Gomez, V.H.M., made her lifelong commitment as a Visitation Sister at the Visitation Monastery in Bay Ridge last month.

Auxiliary Bishop James Massa presided over Sister Ana Maria’s solemn profession in the Sisters’ chapel Aug. 13.

Sister Ana Maria entered the Visitation Monastery of Brooklyn in 2009 as a widow, just a few years after the passing of her husband of over 30 years, Silvio, for whom she cared during his illness.

Born in Cali, Colombia, she was educated by the Salesians Sisters of Don Bosco and attended boarding school. Although the idea of a religious vocation was in her heart from an early age, family situations did not permit her to pursue this path. Sister Ana Maria came to the United States, and it was here that she married her husband in New Jersey, becoming a citizen and living in New York, New Jersey and Florida. She was employed as a bookkeeper and relished volunteer work at a nursing home and a children’s hospital, both in Miami.

As a widow, she contacted the Visitation Sisters about discerning a possible vocation in 2008, and was accepted as a postulant in 2009.

The Visitation Order was founded by St. Jane de Chantal, who also was widowed and an “older” vocation, and the order has been blessed with mature women who have loved the Lord for many years.

During her formation, Sister Ana Maria has served the Visitation community as sacristan, an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, in the refectory and in the kitchen.