If you go to the Sisters of Life website, you are greeted by the words: “You are made in the image of God. Irreplaceable.”
The Sisters take the regular vows women religious take — poverty, chastity, and obedience — and they also take a fourth vow “to protect and enhance the sacredness of every human life.” That means they help women and children born and unborn and for as long as that family wants them to be a part of their lives — which can sometimes be forever. The Sisters become family to families. To brave moms who might otherwise feel alone.
But that fourth vow is about so much more. It is about radiating the love of God to every person they can reach. I often post photos of Sisters when I am with them as an act of charity — because when you see them, and your heart is open even just a tiny bit, you see love and know you are loved.
As it says so beautifully on their website:
The Sisters of Life are women who are in love with Love — Love incarnate, crucified, and Risen — and captivated by the truth of the beauty of every human person, created in God’s image and likeness.
We believe every person is valuable and sacred. We believe that every person is good, loved, unique and unrepeatable. We believe that every person’s life has deep meaning, purpose and worth. In fact, we give our lives for that truth.
On Friday, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the Sisters of Life issued a statement, renewing their “commitment to love”:
As we welcome the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, we pledge to those women who find themselves pregnant and in crisis that they do not have to walk alone. We know that women flourish when they are given the freedom, opportunity, and support to embrace the entrustment of maternity.
With the help of many generous people and our network of Co-Workers of Life, we will continue to provide for the needs — temporal, emotional and spiritual — of women during pregnancy and beyond. We have confidence that this Supreme Court decision will give many more women the courage to reach out to those of good will throughout the nation who stand ready to help a woman in need who is facing real challenges, difficulties and fears.
Today, we also renew our commitment to love and journey with those who are suffering after experiences of abortion, all too often alone and in silence. In the women we serve, we have witnessed the power of Jesus Christ to transform pain and to bring healing, peace, and new life.
Acknowledging that the law teaches, it is our hope that with the Dobbs decision, the truth of the dignity and unique beauty of every human being will begin to transform hearts, relationships, and every aspect of our society; and, result in law that protects the human being at every stage of life.
Today as we renew our commitment to love, we invite all others to step with us into this new era of greater protection for the unborn with even greater generosity, courage and dedication.
And the Sisters offer us this prayer to join them in:
Let us together pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon our nation for peace, healing and conversion of heart — that all may believe in the sacredness of every human life:
“Eternal Father, Source of life,
open our hearts to see and desire the beauty of your plan for life and love.
Fill us with your Holy Spirit so that our love may be generous and self-giving,
and we may be blessed with joy.
Grant us great trust in your mercy.
Forgive us for not receiving your gift of life
and heal us from the effects of the culture of death.
Instill in us and in all people a sense of the sacredness of every human life.
Inspire our efforts to protect and care for the most vulnerable,
especially women who are pregnant and their unborn children,
the sick and the elderly.
Strengthen us in the hope, that with You nothing is impossible.
We ask this in the Name of Jesus, who by His Cross makes all things new.
Amen.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of Life, pray for us.
This is what we need in our world. Love. If people see that love, they will be open to the belief that it is possible to live without abortion — or at least the vast majority of the abortions in America.
For information on becoming a co-worker with the Sisters of Life, click here.
To donate to the Sisters of Life, click here. (Don’t mind my name on there. That’s the link I asked them to create for my birthday fundraising campaign for them. We raised some money for them then, and as they are based in the abortion capital of the country, which is now becoming an abortion destination, can we make sure they have all of the resources they could ever need?)
And I have seen how they work — they make miraculous use of the resources they have to love, to be instruments of healing, to save lives and mend broken hearts. All by radiating God’s love and being spiritual mothers in these brutal times to human hearts.