Little Sisters celebrate beneath shadow of hefty fines

'I learned from them that what we do for the old people we do for Jesus.'

The Supreme Court unanimously overturned the lower court rulings against the Little Sisters of the Poor, which ordered the Sisters to pay a lofty fine.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - According to The Little Sisters of the Poor, the Supreme Court has ordered lower courts to provide opportunities "to arrive at an approach going forward that accommodates the petitioner's religious beliefs."

Though the Little Sisters are pleased with the ruling, they are well aware the rest of the country is still set to receive health care that distracts from the Church's teachings.

According to CNA, Sister Rosemarie Yao, the director of vocations for the Little Sisters of the Poor, spoke Saturday of the ongoing religious freedom threats and the dignity of human life.

"To value the dignity of the human person, to care for them with love and respect until Almighty God calls them home to Himself, not one minute before or one minute after."

Sister Yao spoke before an audience at Marymount University in Arlington, VA at an event called "Is America Still the Land of the Free?" sponsored by the Arlington Diocesan Council of Catholic Women and the diocesan Office for Family Life.

Author Mary Eberstadt also took the stage to state cases where charities and business owners are forced to obey the government's mandate: "The punitive treatment of today's religious believers in a time of secularist ascendancy is unjust.

"Beneath the merciless vindictiveness of today's anti-religious inquisitors, is something deep and new in history. [It is] the development of a rival faith that does not acknowledge itself as faith, [which] sees Christianity as a rival to be crushed."

In the case of the state and the Little Sisters of the Poor, compromises continue to be discussed.

Mark Rienzi, the Little Sisters' lead attorney, stated: "We are still in the midst of that process and the Little Sisters remain hopeful that the government will obey the Supreme Court's order and find a reasonable alternative."

The Sisters turn to their foundress, Sister Jeanne Jugan, and her example of the charitable heart to stand strong in face of the possibility of paying hefty fines in exchange for religious "freedom."

Sister Jugan once said the nuns have been called to "be very little before God," Sister Rosemarie explained Saturday, before speaking of Sister Jugan's works with the poor before she "died in oblivion."

Sister Rosemarie continued, saying: "Her silence gave flesh to the recurring counsels to the novices, 'Be little. Be very little before God.'"

Sister Jugan's influence has helped Sister Rosemarie with her 33-year service to the Lord.

"I have witnessed for myself many holy sisters who have worked day and night at the beck and call of the residents," she shared. "Always very humble, very cheerful in their countenance.

"I learned from them what we do for the old people we do for Jesus. And more so, we are working for souls. We are gathering souls for heaven, they told me. And one of the counsels of St. Jeanne Jugan is 'knock at the door of heaven for souls.'"

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