On a drizzly, gray, Virginia fall day, the light of Christ shone bright at St. Timothy Church in Chantilly for the third annual Day of Recollection for the Seven Sisters Apostolate of the Arlington diocese Oct. 14. The steady showers didn’t dampen the spirits of the more than 150 attendees, who shared in joy-filled fellowship, hot coffee, Mass, prayer, spiritual talks, lunch, and a holy hour with confession.
The keynote speaker for both talks was Father John Riley, retreat master and spiritual director at the diocesan San Damiano Retreat Center in White Post. Father Riley focused on the feminine genius and universal appeal of two great Doctors of the Church: “la petite” St. Therese of Lisieux, and “la grande” St. Teresa of Avila, both of whom spent much of their lives in intense prayer for priests.
“You will never go wrong in looking to these two great masters to deepen your understanding and experience of prayer,” Father Riley said, adding that prayer is “about truly being with Jesus Christ, through both the glory of Tabor and the desolation of Gethsemane.”
He also emphasized the need to pray for priests: “Without us you starve, for we bring you the Bread of Life. Without you and your prayers for us, we fall into darkness.”
The Seven Sisters is an apostolate launched in 2011 in St. Paul, Minn., with the express purpose of praying for priests. It began with a single group of seven women, each praying a holy hour one day a week for their pastor — seven women, 365 days a year of holy hour coverage, for one priest. From this tiny one-group acorn grew a mighty and ever-expanding oak, with approximately 3,200 groups internationally. Seven Sisters has been active and spreading throughout the Arlington diocese for more than five years, with nearly 140 dedicated groups across 70 parishes.
When asked how this apostolate has impacted her own life, Amy Wells, a Seven Sister from St. Raymond of Peñafort Church in Springfield, said, “It’s helped me to recognize how beautiful but challenging it is to be a priest, all they have to go through, especially the spiritual attacks. We can’t thank them enough, and I realize how lost we’d be without them.”
McCready, a parishioner of St. Raymond of Peñafort Church in Springfield, is a Seven Sister.
For more information
Go to SevenSistersApostolate.org, or to start or join a group in your parish, contact Andrea Elliott at [email protected] or Beth Oswald at [email protected].
