Sister Sofia
A Passion for Life, Sacrifice and Love
One evening, while I was watching a Sister works at home, in the sewing room, after a full day of pastoral work, these words came to my mind: a passion for life, sacrifice and love. As she cleaned the sewing room, she picked up small pieces of material and said, “I will make a patchwork quilt out of these when I get old.” She repeated it, with this addition: “I will make a patchwork quilt out of these when I get old, after I retire from full-time work.”
Her words brought me a flood of memories from where I had been formed in religious life in Korea. Our Korean community was very young. The oldest Sisters among us were in their forties. We only had one Sister in her early fifties. So we called these our elderly Sisters, those who had some limits in certain works, since we had so many young Sisters. But here I am now, listening to a Sister who is over seventy years old saying, “When I get old, I will ….” She is preparing work for herself for her retirement years.
I see her passion for life in her work because the time that God gave her is terribly important. She does not want to waste. Of course, many times her body gives signals that she has to rest. But, still she tries to do some needed work in community, something that young eyes do not catch. There she was, alone, cleaning.
What is sacrifice? That is what Jesus did for us: along with Saint Francis, Saint Clare, and our Founders. Here, I see her, and others, sacrifice for us and for God many times. It is love. Without love, whatever work she does, does not shine. I believe that we are all human beings, so we can make mistakes and do wrong. But God knows our hearts’ desires, so we hope that God will help us to do good work with our pure intentions and help us to see our weak parts and trespasses.
Dear Lord, help us to see who we are and how vulnerable we are, so that we may ask you to guide us on the right path to follow You. When we do something wrong, give us courage to say that we are sorry, to our dear Sisters and to You, so we may help to heal each others’ wounds.
And help us recreate our lives by seeing the beauty of our lives, our lives that have come from You. We were created in God’s image and we have been invited to live in divine friendship within the Holy Trinity. If we truly understand, or are aware of, who we are, or how we should live, we might live more in peace, in holiness, in generosity, and in love.
Thank You, Lord, for giving us good examples in our Sisters, so we may try to live the way they showed us: how to live our lives with passion, and sacrifice for others and love for You. Praised be the Lord through His beloved daughters!