100 years of prayer: The Pink Sisters work in shifts to continue a nonstop prayer lasting over a century
FREE Catholic Classes
Nuns wearing pink habits in Philadelphia's Chapel of Divine Love have held worked in shifts to hold a continual prayer spanning over 100 years and counting.
Highlights
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
12/29/2015 (8 years ago)
Published in Living Faith
Keywords: Pink Sisters, Chapel of Divine Love, prayer, Sister Maria Clarissa, Blessed Sacrament, convent
LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The cloistered nuns, known as the Pink Sisters, have seen their already small group dwindle in past years, leaving a second century of prayer uncertain.
In an attempt to gather more members, the Pink Sisters hung a banner outside their chapel and convent to advertise daily public Masses. They have also been interviewed several times and have invited Catholic women's organizations and schools to visit.
All conversations take place through the grill in the convent visiting room.A recruitment flier hangs just inside the chapel's door, encouraging visitors to ask themselves:
"Do you love Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament? Do you realize the power of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament? Is Jesus calling you to say 'yes' to a life of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament?"
Fifty-five-year-old Sister Maria Clarissa shared: "We rarely reached out for vocation promotion before the centennial. But now we want young ladies to see how beautiful the life is and how truer the joy when it is without the trappings of material things."
Sister Maria Clarissa continued, saying, "We do our part in addressing these challenges, but at the same time, we leave it to the Lord. He's the one who calls."The convent once boasted forty nuns, but there remain only 20 today. The eldest is ninety-years-old and the youngest is 52.
The order was founded in 1896 in Holland, where it focused on the perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Their pink habits are symbolic of the joy they feel when honoring the Holy Spirit.
Sister Mary Angelica said she wants people to know there is always someone praying for them, "no matter what their need may be.
"We try to be as simple as possible so we can focus on the Lord," she added. "We are simple in everything, even meals - though on special occasions, we have ice cream."
In 1915, nine of the original nuns came to Philadelphia, where they opened the order's second convent. Today, there are 420 Holy Spirit Adoration sisters in twenty-two convents across 12 countries, with three in the United States.
The sisters have cloistered themselves within the convent, but leave for emergencies and medical appointments. When outside the convent, the Pink Sisters don grey clothing to keep from drawing too much attention to themselves.
The Pink Sisters pray before the Blessed Sacrament several hours each day individually, in groups and in shifts to ensure there is no time the prayers stop.
Each sister has a job ranging from creating Mass cards and rosaries to answering phones and responding to letters. For news, they receive newspapers to keep them up-to-date, but the papers do not include sports or entertainment sections.
The sisters enjoy one hour to themselves each day and are allowed to receive visits from family and friends three times each year.
---
'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'
Copyright 2021 - Distributed by Catholic Online