St. Jeanne Jugan & The Little Sisters of the Poor

Also with St. Damien, Papa Benedetto also declared the founder of The Little Sisters of the Poor, Jeanne Jugan, a saint. EWTN was covering the event & had a couple of her spiritual daughters in the studeo to talk with Raymond Arroyo about the events. After the ceremony he asked them a question about their ministry & the ongoing health care debate. They made it clear that they depend on the Lord to provide & not the government.

Like any congregation that is living out the true social teachings of the Catholic Church, the Eucharist is at the heart of their ministry. "Community life is built around the permanent presence of the Eucharist – for Christ is the center and source of our unity." (From their website)

They make it clear that "Prayer is the hidden source from which our vocation of love and service springs. It is the force which unifies the various elements of our life, leading us to have one heart and one will with Jesus. Moments of communal and personal prayer each day include:

• Mass;

• communal celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours;

• a period of meditation at the beginning of each day and another half-hour of personal prayer before the Blessed Sacrament;

• Rosary;

• lectio divina and spiritual reading."

Times of silence, including meals, are also an important part of their daily life. They take the usual vows of poverty, chastity & obedience. But they also take a 4th vow that has a profound effect on how they live out their calling as "Brides of Christ. "A vow of hospitality brings our religious consecration into the concrete realities of everyday life. It gives a spiritual value to the many humble tasks performed throughout the day, and enables us to communicate to our elderly Residents God’s compassion and merciful love."

They talk about a holistic approach of caring for the elderly, but it is clear that their idea of holistic is not the "New Age" version that many of those dying orders call holistic. Their view of holistic is to be "attentive to the spiritual needs of the elderly, assuring that those who were Catholic received the sacraments and helping them to prepare for death." & a true sensitivity to those who are not.

Another fact pointed out by Raymond Arroyo is the number of young women in the congregation. It is clear that a lack of vocations is not 1 of the problems they are facing. In fact they have about 2700 members worldwide. They have opened several new homes in recent years & currently run a total of 202 homes serving over 13,000 elderly residents in 32 countries.

Just watching the sisters on EWTN as well as looking over their website it is clear that they truly love Jesus & desire to serve him by serving the needy elderly. To enable them to accomplish their ministry they use modern technology as well as continuing in the tradition of begin for alms. & while their foundress may have used a begging basket, today’s collecting Little Sisters are known by their “begging van.” They use it to carry on the tradition begun by our foundress as they visit markets and businesses seeking food and commodities to offset operating expenses.

Their ministry is a clear witness of the "Culture of Life" in a world that is operating in a "culture of death". "Nothing means more to us than continuing the spirit and work of Jeanne Jugan in the world today – welcoming the needy elderly into our homes, forming one family with them, enabling them to enjoy life and caring for them with love and respect until the moment God calls them home!

The care of the dying has always been the summit of our apostolate and it is an ever more powerful witness of the culture of life. By the look in his eyes or by the silence of his whole being, the elderly person who is near death asks us this question: “Does my life still have any value? Is it worth living?” To each person we respond with a resounding yes!"

Here we have an order that is truly faithful to their "Founding Charism". They are following their foundress's lead & relying on God's Providence for their needs.

"Jeanne always thanked her benefactors by praying for them – and she thanked God at the same time. “God has blessed me,” she said, “because I always thanked his Providence… What gratitude we owe our benefactors … What could we do for the elderly without them?”

Like Jeanne Jugan, we recognize that our benefactors are indispensable partners in our mission. And like her, we pray for them everyday!"

PS Not surprizingly, they are a member of the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious.

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A few days ago I came across something on 1 of the dissident US religious groups that was trying to paint St. Jeanne as someone in their mold. They use the calumny of 1 priest, Abbé Augustin Marie Le Pailleur & the way he misrepresented things to the Bishop to justify their disobedience of the Holy Father & Catholic teaching. IMHO what they did was blasphemy given her loyalty to the Catholic Church, her willingness to submit to those over her even in the face of calumny, & the fact that her order also publicly declares its loyalty to the Pope & magesterium.