February 2
110 Anniversary of the presence of
the Sisters of the Resurrection in America

In 2000, at the 100th anniversary of this event, in his homily, Cardinal Francis George spoke about the sisters being a gift to society.

He said he had just come from being a guest in Washington D.C. for the President's State of the Union address. The President listed the Administration's accomplishments of the past year as well as outlined the future needs for the country. the Cardinal reflected that the continuing needs in our society stem from our inability to address the causes of our problems.  He referred to our social sins as demons which hold hostage our will to provide for education, housing, jobs, healthcare and which nurture a society that spawns drug abuse, gangs and family dissolution.

The Cardinal pointed out that the way government addresses needs is with money-of which there is never enough.

On the other hand, the sisters gift to society is to address the root of the problems by caring service done in the authority of the Risen Christ- the one who commands demons by a single world "come out."

A higher authority is necessary for us because we can all lay down our lives but we cannot pick them up again except by the power of the one whose life has been raised up and who now is living among us.

The sisters continue to serve all of society by proclaiming and witnessing to the power of God by the same authority, using the same words that have been proclaimed since the beginning of Christianity: Love, mercy, hope, peace, joy...

They love the elderly into eternity;  they give hope to the sick and suffering; they proclaim peace and justice in a time of imbalanced prosperity; they are women of joy in the midst of fearsome social pressures.

May the gift of the Sisters of the Resurrection long continue to be a healing light to our society.