By LifeSiteNews (Faith) | Created at 2025-01-29 01:03:37 | Updated at 2025-01-30 06:55:56
1 day ago
Tue Jan 28, 2025 - 8:00 pm ESTTue Jan 28, 2025 - 5:19 pm EST
(LifeSiteNews) — Joining me on this episode of The John Henry Westen Show, from LifeFest at the 2025 March for Life, are Sisters Pia Jude and Juliana Guadalupe of the Sisters of Life. We discussed how the Lord called them to their vocations, the order’s history, how they help women heal after they’ve had an abortion, the remarkable power of prayer and the Holy Eucharist, and more.
After briefly discussing the history of the Sisters of Life, I asked the nuns how they were called to their vocations, noting that it’s uncommon for young women to take traditional vows which require them to leave their families and worldly lives behind.
Sr. Pia emphasized that their vocation was ultimately a response after they heard the Lord’s call to love.
“The only response to love is joy, is ‘Yes, … ‘Thank you.’ So the gift of an invitation to religious life is really a gift to live in great love with Our Lord Jesus, who then asks us to receive and then to go out and to share that,” Sr. Pia said.
“All of our prayer is sort of like a thrust to bring to the world the joy that we receive first in our Eucharistic Lord, on our knees in prayer … It all happens there; that’s where the joy begins and then to be His hands and His feet it then shares with the world,” she added.
Then I asked Sr. Pia what she meant when she said she “heard” the Lord’s call, noting that for most faithful, this doesn’t mean literally hearing the voice of God.
The nun highlighted how she heard this call in the silence of her heart during prayer, especially in front of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
“For me, that’s how it all began in Eucharistic adoration, where the invitation was really to be only His, to be ‘mine alone.’ And I tell you that it can be a scary thing at first to think, ‘Oh wow, what could I be called to? What does this mean for my life?’ But where He is, He promises, ‘Where I am is where you will be fulfilled, it’s where I’m waiting for you,’” Sr. Pia said.
“So, then God allowed me to find – I was working in New York – the Sisters of Life in Manhattan,” she added.
Sr. Juliana first underscored how difficult it can be to hear the voice of the Lord when there’s so much noise in the world trying to grab our attention. Then she explained that she also heard the Lord’s call in silent prayer, especially during adoration.
“I remember discovering the gift of a Eucharistic adoration chapel and realizing, ‘Wow, right here, Jesus Christ [is] waiting for me, gazing upon me with love, holding onto my heart.’ And it was this experience of realizing that every desire I had for meaning, for fulfillment, for love was right there, just waiting for me,” Sr. Juliana said.
“And it was in that place of silence where I could begin to let my heart ask deeper questions and not just tell God my plans for my life but ask Him, ‘Okay, Lord, what did you make me for because you know me and you love me and you want my heart to flourish?’ And in that space gazing upon Jesus, I could discover who He made me to be and begin to hear those gentle, soft tugs in my heart revealing to me, ‘Okay, Lord; you made me to be your own bride,’” she added.
To hear more from Sisters Juliana and Pia of the Sisters of Life, watch or listen to the full episode.
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John-Henry is the co-founder, CEO and editor-in-chief of LifeSiteNews.com. He and his wife Dianne have eight children and they live in the Ottawa Valley in Ontario, Canada.
He has spoken at conferences and retreats, and appeared on radio and television throughout the world. John-Henry founded the Rome Life Forum, an annual strategy meeting for life, faith and family leaders worldwide. He is a board member of the John Paul II Academy for Human Life and the Family. He is a consultant to Canada’s largest pro-life organization Campaign Life Coalition, and serves on the executive of the Ontario branch of the organization. He has run three times for political office in the province of Ontario representing the Family Coalition Party.
John-Henry earned an MA from the University of Toronto in School and Child Clinical Psychology and an Honours BA from York University in Psychology.
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