Sisters of the Presentation of Mary

  Mission of Compassion             

Works of compassion and the ministry of healing have a legacy in the charism and mission of the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary since the days of Mother Rivier herself.  Perhaps this enthusiasm sprung from her own experience of healing at the feet of the Pieta after a terrible fall at age 18 months that left her unable to walk.

Stories of her tender care for the poor and sick abound, her great attention in fulfilling every need and even desire of each suffering person.  Writing to a sick Sister, she says, “My child, I’ve just heard that you’re ill, and very ill at that.  Oh, how I sympathize with you in your sufferings!  How I’d like to alleviate them!”

Today, this ministry continues in Sisters who work as nurses, counselors and doctors, and those who care for our own elderly and sick Sisters, reaching out to the poor in mind, body and spirit.  In developing countries around the world, the Sisters continue to organize dispensaries to provide health care to those most in need.

For those who continue this ministry of healing and compassion today, inspiration, zeal and empathy continue to spring from the source of the Pieta, the image of Mary, a woman both suffering and yet unutterably caring and gentle, as she cradles her Son’s Body.

“For me it is life giving to care for and to ‘be with’ those in need: it is sharing and receiving Christ’s love and compassion.” S. Evelyn Nedelec (Registered Nurse)	“I desire to be the presence of Jesus Christ bringing ‘liberty to those who are held captive’ of their pain, suffering, and addictions, with a healing and compassionate presence.”  S. Chantelle Bonk (Professional Counsellor)