Dear Friend,

If you’re like me, at the beginning of the New Year you want to be sure the people most important to you know that your wishes and prayers for them in the coming year are sincere and meaningful. The usual “Happy New Year!” just isn’t enough. You want something more.

For me, one of the most profound greetings is the Scriptural text from Numbers 6:24. There we read that the Lord Himself told Moses to instruct Aaron how to bless the people:

The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord let His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace.

That, friend, is our New Year greeting for you. Our prayer is that you will have an abundance of peace. What a tremendous gift of grace to have the Lord’s peace in our hearts! We live in such troubled and violent times. Seems not a day goes by that we don’t hear news of some devastating event in our country or another part of the world. That’s why it’s important, now more than ever, that we be peacemakers, instruments of peace for those around us.

We can only do that when we have the Lord’s peace in our hearts. That’s why I can think of no better wish or prayer for you than that the Lord look kindly upon you and fill your heart with His peace.

You have looked kindly upon the Sisters of Charity and brought peace to us and to those in our care. You have stood by us and journeyed with us. You are our dear friend and faithful supporter, and for that we are profoundly grateful. We are deeply humbled and gratified by your generosity, so, as the New Year dawns, our hearts turn to you with appreciation and affection, and we offer you our prayers to support you on your journey.

Friend, I hope you will consider the gift of a New Year offering to continue your support of our ministries. Your donation of whatever your means allow, will not only help us serve and care for God’s poor and needy, but also provide the resources for the Sisters to offer significant assistance that truly improves their lives and brings them peace.

The measure of peace in our hearts is always the measure of our connectedness with the God of peace. And the way to stay connected to Him is through prayer. Prayer is our lifeline to God, our lifeline to peace. And now we have received more copies of MY TREASURED CATHOLIC PRAYERS, a collection of favorite prayers compiled by the Sisters. May it help all who read it enter more deeply into the Heart of God, the God of peace. May the words and thoughts of these traditional prayers, long-cherished by Catholic families, sink deep into your heart and flood your soul with peace, enabling you to bring that peace to others.

Every day the Sisters and I pray for you. You are especially dear to our elderly and infirm Sisters. They know it’s through your goodness that they can live out their golden years in peace, and so they daily ask our loving God to bless you with His peace.
If there are particular needs you would like them to bring to Our Lord in prayer, send them to us here.

While no donation is ever required for prayer, your generosity helps to bring peace to a homeless mother and child who come to our Shelter, to the hungry who visit our Food Pantry, to our treasured elderly in our nursing home and assisted living facilities, to the children in our schools, to our young Sisters preparing to carry on the great mission of the Sisters of Charity, and to our own dear elder and infirm Sisters who have spent their lives bringing peace to others and now look to us to bring them peace.

Thank you once again for your faithful support and for keeping the Sisters of Charity in your daily prayers. It is through the kindness and generosity of wonderful, caring friends like you that we are able to continue to bring peace to others.

May the Lord bless you and keep you … May He look upon you kindly and give you peace. The Lord loves you infinitely and unconditionally. You are in our hearts and our prayers.

Gratefully, in Mary, Mother of the Church,
Mother Marie Julie, SCMC
Superior General

With the Sisters of Charity, YOU GET THINGS DONE! Thank You for all you’ve helped us accomplish during the past year. We are counting on your continued support in this New Year! And please don’t forget to send us your prayer requests.