Amazing Twins who Joined the Sisters of Life after Careers in Law and Medicine give their Vocation Story as Life Fest Speakers!

Sr. Pia Jude and Sr. Luca Benedict are Sisters of Life and identical twins, who live and serve in New York. They entered the Sisters of Life after careers in law and medicine.

The young women grew up in Secaucus, New Jersey, USA. They attended public school, and their family belonged to Immaculate Conception Parish. Faith was part of their childhood and grew deeper over time. “My parents started off with something simple: We would do our bedtime prayers together. It taught us that God cares about the details of our lives,” recalls Sister Luca.“We discovered our faith together as a family,” says Sister Pia. “It was at our First Communion that my mom desired to understand more fully who it was we were receiving. It was at that point that we started to attend Mass together as a family,” she describes. The girls continued to be involved in the life of the parish, assisting as altar servers and joining the youth group. They both say their participation helped their parents become more involved. “Our mom introduced us to a daily life of prayer by attending daily Mass. The Eucharist was huge for our family, receiving Jesus as often as we were able to,” says Sister Luca. “I became drawn to the Eucharist as an important part of my life,” their mother, Judy, explains. “I believe God was calling me and put upon my heart the desire to search with the twins for Jesus in the Eucharist. Through many Eucharistic-centered retreats and Holy Hours, we became drawn to Jesus.”Sister Pia Jude agrees. “When I look back, I see that Jesus works miracles for a family with open hearts—just regular people seeking God. Jesus honored our search and invited us deeper and deeper into the heart of His Church,” she says. Just a few years ago, Christen Furka was a Wall Street lawyer and her twin sister, Natalie, was working in a hospital. Now with new names and a new calling, Sister Pia Jude (Christen) and Sister Luca Benedict (Natalie) reflect on their journey, themselves surprised that their future would be a call to religious life. But, they say, God had a greater plan.

Sister Pia Jude recalls when, at 19 years old, she was praying before the Blessed Sacrament at her parish, contemplating typical college student questions: What should she major in? Where should she study abroad? “I made a simple prayer. ‘Lord what is your will for my life?’” she says. “At that moment, I looked to my left, and there was a beautiful young woman clothed in a white habit. I had never seen her before, so naturally I freaked out, then said, ‘No! Not that!’ I pushed this en-counter aside because I was filled with too many fears and anxieties about my faith to be a religious. And so I told God, ‘Listen, if you want me to do something as radical as become a nun, you need to do something big—Moses-style. You need to set a bush on fire, and then I will go.’”Sister Pia Jude went on to earn her degree in English and philosophy from St. Peter’s Univer-sity in Jersey City. She then attended Rutgers School of Law in Camden. After law school, she worked on Wall Street for five years. “During those five years working as an attorney, Jesus really opened my heart and began to work on my fears,” she recalls. “He did so in very simple ways. He made it possible for me to attend daily Mass while working and to take refuge in the Eucharist in a very hectic environment.” God goes above and beyond our desires. He truly wants to amaze us by the plans He has for us.” - Sister Pia Jude
“After I consecrated myself to Our Lady and committed to a daily rosary, she undid knots of fear that I had about religious life,” she admits.A year before leaving the Manhattan law firm, Sister Pia Jude met the Sisters of Life, a community of women religious founded in 1991 by New York Archbishop Cardinal John O’Connor. The sisters are dedicated to the protection and enhancement of the sacred-ness of every human life. Sister Pia Jude went on a retreat with them and gave her “yes” to the Lord. 

Sister Pia Jude entered the Sisters of Life in 2013. She professed first vows on Aug. 22, 2016. She says, “The effect of this yes was peace, joy and gratitude.” Her religious name is in honor of her parents, Peter and Judy. 

Sister Luca also attended St. Peter’s University, where she discovered a love for biology. “You can see order and beauty in God’s creation. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it so much. I didn’t know what to do with it,” she says. With the guidance of her professor, she volunteered at a hospital.  “I realized that hospitals are a place where the suffering can find healing. I wanted to be a part of healing,” she states.After graduating, Sister Luca went on to the University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey.  She worked as an attending physician for two years at Hackensack University Medical Center. Three years prior to entering religious life, she remembers attending a Sisters of Life retreat. “I was still wrestling with what God was calling me to do. In seeing my sister’s courage to enter religious life, I knew I now desired to ask Jesus a question: ‘How do you want me to love?’” Sister Luca explains. Shortly after this retreat, Sister Luca recalls attending Mass at the Benedictine Abbey of Newark. She realized God was inviting her to say “yes” to be a bride of Christ. She left her life as a doctor and trusted in God’s plan. She entered the Sisters of Life in September 2016. “When you give something, your hands are then opened. When I entered, He filled them—with His peace, joy and love,” she states. Sister Luca Benedict professed first vows on Aug. 4, 2019. Her religious name is after St. Luke, the patron saint of physicians, and St. Benedict. “I have the sense that he was interceding for me,” she says of the saint, who is also a twin.

 The Sisters of Life take the traditional vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. But they also take a fourth vow—to protect and enhance the sacredness of all human life. “We desire for every person to be fully alive—to know that he or she is unique, irreplaceable, chosen and loved,” Sister Pia says. “It is so easy for us in today’s society to forget this, or to have experiences that cause us to think our lives don’t matter. But each person’s life matters. Each person is a gift. And our mission is to share this truth with a thirsting world.”  “We serve mothers in crisis by listening to their fears about their pregnancy and offering practical help in response,” Sister Luca says. “Most importantly, we love them with the heart of Christ and reflect back to them the great good that we see in them. Once they know their goodness, they are able to make an act of faith in themselves and choose life for their children.”The sisters also spend about four hours a day in prayer. They pray that all will come to know that God loves them and that they are wanted. “That’s one of the most beautiful parts of being a religious sister—wearing the habit and being consecrated for the Church,” admits Sister Luca. “When people see us, we are for them. We are that sign of God’s love.". “I encourage anyone who may be afraid to say yes—yes to life, yes to healing, yes to their vocation—to put their trust in God. He knows the deepest desires of your heart and plans to fulfill them!” “When I entered, He filled them—with His peace, joy and love.” -Sister 
Edited from Source: https://catholicmagazines.org/magazine-archive/new-jersey-catholic/new1119