Did you know that the Hospitaller vocation is an answer to God’s call to follow Jesus and continue his charitable action in the church and world for people who are ill and in need?
Discover how this area is developing in the Province of France.
My name is Gabrielle Lion, Sister Hospitaller of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (junior sister). I am currently a pastoral theology student and I collaborate with the Youth Vocation Ministry area in Paris. In the Province of France, 63 young people and sisters are currently in the initial training phase and in the last 10 years, 22 sisters made perpetual vows. The sister responsible for the Youth Vocation Ministry in our province is Sister María del Henar Sandoval.
In France, three sisters of French nationality have joined our congregation since the beginning of the 1970s. I am the third. If we had to define what vocations are, in our province we could say ‘wealth in Africa and poverty in France’ (it would be the opposite of the economic development in both regions). To invigorate this situation in my country, France, I believe that the first thing we must do is a new evangelisation through humility, then address the Youth Ministry and lastly the Vocation Ministry. Among the various activities that we develop in this area, we can highlight:
In Paris, we organise a pilgrimage to Lourdes on an annual basis. Users, collaborators and volunteers collaborate along with Sister Soledad López. Also, several groups of school-age young people come to our ‘Maison Sainte Germaine’ centre to spend some time with the residents, people who are differently abled. On the other hand, our parish has given us the opportunity to give academic and spiritual support to some 50 girls from 7 to 16 years old who we have met with every Wednesday. We are also working to strengthen the relationship between sisters and collaborators. To do so, we hold meetings at a café and organise ‘open days’. This year, as something new, we are preparing ‘Hospitaller meetings’ to offer our young volunteers between 20 and 30 years old the chance to share beautiful moments once per week by accompanying the residents and through a prayer time with the sisters.
