HOPE winter 2017 — bearing the light in unbearable times

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Download HOPE winter 2017 — bearing the light in unbearable times

As seen in HOPE

We have only to look around us to see a world in need of light. We Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods commit our lives to serving the needs of others. Our sisters live and serve among the marginalized. We serve people in need. People without a voice. People easy to overlook. In this issue of HOPE we invite you to take a look at some of our stories. At how we and you our partners are helping and advocating for people and a planet in need. From people in inner city neighborhoods to those struggling in small towns, from homeless immigrants to people trying to survive and thrive in developing countries, our community is working to make life just a little more bearable for these people on the margins.
We invite you to join us in bearing the light. Be with us a light for someone else. Together, we can make this world a brighter place.

Miracle Place: a beacon for the neighborhood

According to the two sisters, “the mission of Miracle Place is to offer hospitality, care, and concern. It is a place of spiritual refreshment where all who come may find refuge. Where all who are severely tried may be comforted. Where all who are lonely may find companionship. And where those without hope may find a renewed spirit.”

Saint Mother Theodore Guerin: bearing the light still today

“And her story is still very relevant today. She was an immigrant. She came to a foreign land where she didn’t know the language and where there was a lot of prejudice and bias toward Catholics and toward women. There are just so many parallels to what she faced and what she endured that are still around today. She’s a great model and mentor.”

Connecting hope and assistance to a community in need

“It’s as if Providence is there, waiting to provide. Someone comes in and says ‘I have to take care of my grandkids whose parents are now in jail. I need some beds.’ Within 24 hours, I’ll have two twin beds show up,” said Sister Dorothy Rasche, SP, director of The Connecting Link.

Fair Trade: products improve lives of people on the margins

Linden Leaf Gifts is a store that worries less about keeping the lights on and more about how to bring light into the lives of marginalized people. As a ministry of the Sisters of Providence, Linden Leaf Gifts measures success a little differently than most retail stores. Success is derived also from the difference it can make in the lives of people that provide the unique products sold there.

Poem: Blessed are you who bear the light

Blessed are you who bear the light
in unbearable times,
who testify to its endurance amid the unendurable,
who bear witness to its persistence
when everything seems in shadow and grief. …

Justice advocates and Providence Associates

Since returning to the U.S., their work for justice has been multifaceted. Racial justice, civil rights, gender equality, LGBT rights, School of Americas, criminal justice reform, animal rights, and environment, including climate change, are only some of the issues addressed. In working for social justice, their strategies model just and nonviolent relationships with persons of very different perspectives.

Justice commission focuses on eco-justice

The word “eco-justice” has its roots in the Latin word oikos, the home or household. Thus, eco-justice refers to caring for and attending to the “household of creation,” including people, creatures, ecosystems, economy, environment, food, water, air, and rules that facilitate the well-being of all in the home.)

Ministry of prayer and smiles offer light

We Sisters of Providence rely on our “powerhouse of prayer” as some call our sisters who reside in our health care facilities. These sisters receive a “ministry assignment” each year to pray for particular intentions. These intentions may be as specific as an individual’s name or more general, such as “for all addicted to alcohol or drugs” or “for those affected by divorce.”

Light a candle

The Sisters of Providence are excited to offer a new way to request prayers from the sisters.
You can now go online and request that a sister light a candle on your behalf and pray with you for your intentions. Click the link above to light your candle.

What does Providence look like? You

We invite you to be part of God’s mission for the Sisters of Providence. To collaborate with us by supporting that mission with your donation of time, talent or treasure. We are blessed that our invitation to support our mission of outreach is providentially answered through you.

A safe home community for those who lost everything

“I wanted to work with God’s working poor, who lost all of their belongings during the hurricane. They were living in broken down trailers with two or three families in each,” Sister Cathy Buster said. The end result was the new community in Arcadia, Florida. Casa San Juan Bosco I is a 53-home complex for migrant farmworkers.

Building and healing: Saint Mother Theodore Guerin moment

When Sister Mary asked if they had seen the Log Cabin Chapel yet, three of the men responded in unison, proudly and humbly, “We helped build it.” This was a reunion of sorts for the three men who were inmates in 2012 at the Federal Penitentiary in Terre Haute. Before their release, they vowed to return to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods for a visit, and this weekend was that moment.

Newsnotes

Obituaries

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