Mother’s Day 2013

Mother’s Day is one of the most joy-filled & lively days of the year as we welcome the moms & children we serve in the Visitation Mission to celebrate with us at Villa Maria Guadalupe. In spending Mother’s Day with them, we hope to convey our support and appreciation to each of these beautiful moms and honor the gift of their motherhood.

The buses pull up from Harlem, Queens and the Bronx, and the Sisters greet the women with hugs, help unload strollers, and run after the kids. While the children are busy with games & crafts, the moms enjoy each other’s company and catch up with the Sisters. Then we all head into the chapel for Mass, where the gleeful and chaotic chorus of baby and toddler chatter contributes to the singing. After dinner, the day closes with Evening Prayer & a procession and May crowning of Our Lady, and each child has a chance to honor of his or her mother by bringing a flower to Mary . Each of these women is an inspiration to us–& each child is a “yes” to the call to love heroically.  Happy Mother’s Day!

Diocesan Youth Conference, Charlotte, NC

Our Sisters spent a beautiful weekend with the youth of the Diocese of Charlotte, NC, for their annual Youth Conference: “Embrace: the Faith, the Cross, the Mission”. With daily Mass, talks, music, an hour of Adoration, workshop sessions, & plenty of fun, the youth of Charlotte were encouraged to accept their Faith and to embrace their apostolic mission to spread the Catholic Faith in their daily lives. It was a gift to be present with them!

Evangelium Vitae Medal at the University of Notre Dame

Mother Agnes Mary, SV, and the Sisters of Life were awarded the Evangelium Vitae Medal by the Notre Dame Fund to Protect Human Life. The Medal “honors individuals whose outstanding efforts have served to proclaim the Gospel of Life by steadfastly affirming and defending the sanctity of human life from its earliest stages.” At the awards banquet, Mother Agnes spoke on the Charism and works of the Sisters of Life and our mission to enhance the sacredness of life and the dignity of each human person, made in the image of God. The Sisters were also present on the campus of Notre Dame to visit with the students.

Spring Break 2013

What a joy to spend a week in March with 50+ college students from all over the country for their Spring Break! The days were a flurry of activity–with prayer, Mass, and an experience of community at the center–and included a day of “holy leisure” with fun activities, a 3-day retreat, immersion in culture of life formation, the Sisters of Life’s Co-Worker training, a service day helping a parish affected by Hurricane Sandy, a “Saints in the City tour,” the “Rhapsodic Theatre” coffee-house-esque celebration of gifts and talents, and much more. A veritable avalanche of grace!

Holy Week and Easter 2013

All of the Sisters gathered at Villa Maria Guadalupe to celebrate together the sacred days of the Easter Triduum.

New Online Donation Page

Dear Friends,
In response to popular demand, we are now able to accept credit card donations securely on our website! To make a donation online, simply visit our Online Donation Page. As the Sisters of Life are a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, all donations originating in the U.S. are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. We are grateful for your generosity!

Benedictine “Nun Run”

What a joy it was to host a group of students from Benedictine College in Atchison, KS, as part of their “Nun Run” in March.

Dedication of the Altar and Chapel at Annunciation

On February 11, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, we welcomed Cardinal Timothy Dolan to Annunciation Motherhouse to celebrate the Mass of Dedication for our chapel and new altar. This beautiful celebration is replete with imagery of the Old Testament and of the eternal sacrifice of Christ in His self-offering to the Father. It repeatedly references Baptism, at which each of us becomes a living stone in the Church, the Body of Christ. The dedication of our altar for worship of the Lord of Life alone is a particular joy for us Sisters–it echos religious consecration and reflects our desire be totally consecrated for the Lord. Pope Benedict XVI so aptly expressed this to young religious and seminarians at World Youth Day in Sydney:

Dear young… religious, at each Mass, when the Lord’s Body and Blood are lifted up at the end of the Eucharistic Prayer, lift up your own hearts and lives, through Christ, with Him and in Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, as a loving sacrifice to God our Father. In this way, you yourselves will become living altars, where Christ’s sacrificial love is made present as an inspiration and a source of spiritual nourishment to everyone you meet. By embracing the Lord’s call to follow Him in chastity, poverty, and obedienece, you have begun a journey of radical discipleship which will make you “signs of contardiction” (cf. Lk 2:34)
- Pope Benedict XVI, July 19, 2008 l Homily at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, Australia, to seminarians and young religious on the occasion of the Solemn Dedication of the Altar

The Chapel is dedicated to Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, as this was a special and deep devotion of Cardinal O’Connor’s that he passed to us through his words, reflection, and prayer. We are so grateful to the generosity of each of our friends who helped this beautiful chapel become a reality. It is truly the center of our home, and as we gather there so often together to pray, to celebrate the Mass, to spend a few brief moments in conversation with Christ, it is at the very heart of our lives.

West Coast Walk for Life

On January 26, twelve of our Sisters joined over 60,000 other participants in San Francisco for the annual West Coast Walk for Life. In addition, our Sisters hosted a prayer Vigil for Life (an evening with Mass and  prayer) the night before the walk, and visited parishes and college & university campuses around California.

March for Life 2013

On January 25th, nearly all of our Sisters, Novices, and Postulants were in Washington, D.C. to participate in the 40th Annual March for Life as well as other surrounding events, including the Opening Mass for the National Prayer Vigil for Life at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the March for Life Youth Rally, the Life is Very Good Rally, the Youth Rally and Mass for Life, the Students for Life of America Conference, and the Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life at Georgetown University.

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