WORCESTER - Sisters of Life brought their witness to the College of the Holy Cross Feb. 16, according to some who spent time with them.
Sister Lumen Gloriae, who lives with the community of sisters in Denver, Colorado, gave a talk about bringing God all of one’s desires in prayer. She and other sisters then took questions, some of which addressed their community’s pro-life work.
“I love when the sisters come; I feel like they’re very joyful,” enthused Anna Moran, a Holy Cross senior. She is co-chairwoman of the Society of Sts. Peter and Paul, a Holy Cross Catholic student group, and a member of the college’s chapter of Students for Life, both of which sponsored the sisters’ visit. About 14 students from these groups and some other people attended the talk.
The sisters were in the area on one of their evangelization trips, explained Jesuit Father John Gavin, associate professor of religious studies and moderator of the Sts. Peter and Paul Society. While in the diocese they also visited St. Paul Diocesan Jr./Sr. High School in Worcester.
“You put your name on their request list,” asking them to come to your place when in your area, Father Gavin said. He said they’ve been to Holy Cross about four times in the last five or six years. This time they spent part of the day there, joining students for Mass, eucharistic adoration and lunch, in addition to giving the presentation and taking questions.
Ms. Moran said she loves going to eucharistic adoration with the sisters.
“I feel like every time you’re talking with them, they have their full focus on you,” she said.
After the questions and answers, the four sisters, visiting from different states, talked informally with attendees. When one young woman was standing alone, a sister left the students to go talk with her.
The sisters speak with their words and deeds, Father Gavin said, adding, “We’re really blessed to have their witness here at the college.”
“I think it’s important to bring the sisters here,” said Griffin Blood, a sophomore who belongs to Students for Life and the Sts. Peter and Paul Society. It’s important for students to see nuns wearing habits “and to see the powerful and joyful witness to life they give,” he said.
Junior Eamon Reilly, co-chairman of the Sts. Peter and Paul Society and a member of Students for Life, said it was “really inspiring to have them on campus acting as witnesses” by “just being present [and] being willing to speak about ... abortion.”
The Sisters of Life, founded by Cardinal John O’Connor in New York in 1991, is a contemplative/active community of women religious who profess vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and a fourth vow to protect and enhance the sacredness of human life, says the website sistersoflife.org.
“As spiritual mothers living in the heart of the Church, we experience the threats to human dignity and life all the more deeply,” the website says. “We want to uphold the dignity and worth of each person, created from and for God’s great love.” Their missions include serving abortion-vulnerable and post-abortive women, and evangelization, retreats and outreach to college students.
One Holy Cross talk attendee asked if, as the community works with a certain vulnerable population, there are demands that might stretch it thin or pull it in different directions.
Sister Lumen Gloriae, who helps with evangelization efforts, spoke of trusting in the leading of God, who reveals himself through everything that happens to her and has a word for every person the sisters encounter.
She spoke of everyone, including pregnant women and women suffering from abortion, needing to know the falsehood of the world’s message that “you are not good, and mercy is not for you.”
Asked whether gun violence factors into their mission, Sister Lumen Gloriae said God loves everyone and indicated she is open to whatever God presents to her. She spoke of praying with those who are suffering.
Gun violence is one of the fruits of contempt for human life, added Sister Hope, who lives with sisters in Manhattan, New York.
“All of these are connected, in a way,” she said. People do not know the value of their own lives.
The sisters delivered a message of the need to listen to others, since, especially with issues like abortion, people are angry and hurt. One story was of a woman whose reaction to the sisters was, “I hate people like you.” The woman left, then returned, was listened to, and felt transformed by the sisters’ love.