God's Faithful: Never Deserted by God

The Entrance Antiphons of today’s liturgy reads:   “Perpetual light will shine on your Saints, O Lord, and life without end forever, alleluia.” And: “This is the one who was not deserted by God on the day of struggle and now wears a crown of victory for faithfulness to the Lord’s commands, alleluia.”

Today we Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother grieve the loss of one of our own, Sister Leonilda Niberle, who passed from us suddenly following a head injury resulting from a fall Wednesday evening.  Perpetual light now shines on her and she possesses life without end forever with her God and Savior, her confidante and dearest friend Jesus. In her retirement, Sister Leonilda spend hours in prayer every day (and probably during the night as well).  She was always interceding for the persons whose needs were recorded in our Chapel Book of Prayers.  This was a woman who remained faithful to the Lord’s commands and was never deserted by God on the day of any struggle, and especially yesterday as she breathe her last breath on this earth!  She now wears a crown of victory for her faithfulness to the Lord and His faithfulness to her.

It’s hard to imagine the glory that awaits a person who, his or her entire life, sought the Lord and found Him in all of the vicissitudes or ups and downs of life. Sister Leonilda was such a woman. She was  one of 8 children, all girls.  Four of the 8 children answered the call to consecrate their lives to the Lord as Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother.  She came to America in 1951 and six months later, after and intensive English course, she was missioned to one of our schools.  She enumerated her  ministry experiences as follows:

·         1952—St. Francis Borgia School, Cedarburg, WI: Housekeeping, cooking & washing

·         1953--Bakerville, WI (another elementary school). People, she says, loved me at the church.

·         1953-1970—St. Clare’s Hospital, Denville, NJ. “I was in charge of the Diet Kitchen.”

·         1970-2002—In charge of food service at Our Lady of Sorrows Convent where "I prepared the meals and took care of the kitchen and dining room."

Sister Leonilda described her retirement in terms of volunteer ministry and its impact as follows:

•  Ministry of prayer at SSM Franciscan Courts 
•    “My most important ministry” 
•    “I like to pray in chapel a lot.”
  

•    “Prayer is a blessing and help for others. I benefit spiritually as well.”   
• Watering  plants. “Plants are an enjoyment for me.”
•   Visiting students
•    Knitting scarves and caps and giving knitted items to friends and SSM craft sales. (The proceeds of these sales support SSM Missions in the Dominican Republic , Brazil and Tanzania

"This is the one who was not deserted by God on the day of struggle and now wears a crown of victory for faithfulness to the Lord’s commands, alleluia.”

 

How faithful am I? How faithful are you?