On Monday, June 5, Bishop Jaime Soto joined with women religious, and our evangelical brothers and sisters for an ecumenical prayer vigil for women religious. Below is Bishop Soto's prayer from the vigil:
Heavenly Father, in the beginning you created women and men in your image and likeness. In so doing, you have commanded us to do as you would do in every aspect of our lives. Your beloved Son, Jesus, after washing the feet of his disciples on the night before he suffered the humiliation of the cross, echoed your command, ever ancient and ever new, “As I have done so you must do.” You commanded us to love because you loved us first. “As I have done so you must do.”
Your divine charity is the grace from which you crafted the human race. Imitating your charity makes our humanity truly a reflection of your merciful image and endearing likeness. Send your Holy Spirit to hover over the cloudy, confusing waters of our times. May the winds from the Spirit’s wings stir up again the gift of charity. Awaken our vision to see the beauty of our creator in one another so that we reverence you by our care for one another.
We thank you, Almighty God, for the witness and testimony of our women religious. Following in the footsteps of Jesus, they have hallowed your name on earth as it is in heaven by mercifully providing for the poor, uplifting the young, and comforting the frail among our brothers and sisters. Undaunted by ceaseless rivalries and tribulations of history, they have patiently persisted and persuasively clung to your command, “As I have done so you must do.”
In pausing to honor the generous legacy of your faithful children, let us not be distracted by the derisive rhetoric of our times but hold steadfast to the divine charity that has created us. May we seize, even now, the opportunity to become your image and likeness by loving one another as you have loved us.
We ask all this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. AMEN.
For more information
Read the California Catholic Conference's statement in response to the honoring of a member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an openly anti-Catholic group, by the California State Senate and Assembly on Monday.
(Header photo provided by The American Council.)