“Their sturdy backs bent down, by labor and fatigue, their eyes intent upon the earth, sift through stubble discarded by the reapers.”
—Sister Michaela O’Connor
Above: The Gleaners, by Jean-François Millet (1857), depicting three peasant women gleaning a field of stray stalks of wheat after the harvest.
Our Mission:
To seek out and advocate for the poor and needy, especially families, for the Kingdom of God since 1872
Foundations
from the past
As Gleaners, we stand at the edge of society where Christ is encountered in Word, Silence, and Action where power of His Kingdom pushes out the boundaries of our world. We will be recognized by our simplicity of life and visible presence among the most abandoned.
Ministries
of today
Our mission as Gleaners will be to serve segments of the population who are underserved by Church and social institutions, including children, the homeless, the hungry, immigrants and refugees, those needing healthcare, and others.
Legacy
for the future
Reflecting the heart of their mission the Sisters of the Holy Family’s legacy lives on into the future for others: Gardens at Palmdale, Opportunity Fund, Archives Collection and Early Childhood Education Scholarships.
Scripture Reflection for Sunday, February 16, 2020
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
“Instruct me, O LORD, in the way of your statutes, that I may exactly observe them. Give me discernment, that I may observe your law and keep it with all my heart.” We are a nation founded on law. We are also, to some extent, a church founded on law. We are a species founded on love, and for those whose hearts embrace the law of the Lord in its fullness, the law is not a list of rules and regulations, but a way of being that treats all, in the words of the Golden Rule, as we would want to be treated ourselves. The laws governing divine and human institutions are enacted because not all of us embrace that law of the Lord fully. Jesus summed up the law in two rules: You shall love the Lord with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself. St. Augustine got it down to one: Love, and do what you wish. Neither one mentioned anything about loopholes. As long as we greet old and new laws with a search for loopholes, we will miss the whole point of law, and will keep multiplying laws that don’t work for their intended purpose. We might do well to pray, “Give me discernment, Lord, that I may observe your law and keep it with all my heart.”
Sister Carol J. Crater, SHF
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