The Blessing of Quiet Wisdom

Below is a message from Sr. Patricia Murray, IBVM, The Anna Trust Chair

As we come to the close of this momentous year, we have much to give thanks for. At The Anna Trust Foundation, hard staff work and a hard-working Board have created the launching pad for coming years of growing service to elderly Catholic sisters. We give thanks for the lives and spirits of our elderly sisters. They are an inspiration to us, to their congregations around the world, and to the Church. And we are deeply grateful for Pope Leo XIV who, following in the path of Pope Francis, has lifted up the elderly as a gift and a blessing, a sign of hope that can “light the path for coming generations.”

As Pope Leo XIV has also acknowledged, that light can also have its moments of darkness. Loneliness, ill health, frailty can also be shadows in the lives of the elderly. But, aging should not mean isolation. It should mean continued engagement in the life of the Church and, importantly, in bringing quiet wisdom to societies often caught up in frenzy.

How often is frenzy a part of our own lives? “To do” lists that grow by the hour. In-boxes overflowing. Texts pinging. Competing priorities. Endless needs.

Quiet wisdom. How we thirst for quiet wisdom. We need to lean on our elderly sisters for quiet wisdom. Our accompaniment of our elderly sisters in aging is not simply for them and their dignity; it is for us. It is an opportunity for our souls to drink from their quiet wisdom.

This is a deep value in the eyes of The Anna Trust Foundation. We are dedicated not simply to the needs of our elderly sisters, we are dedicated to them as witnesses to the meaning and purpose of life. They provide us all with the blessing of quiet wisdom.

While we educate, train, advocate, fund, and lead, - all fundamental services and the core of our mission – we also pause in this season of the birth of the Christ Child. We pause to be thankful for our elderly sisters, for their witness to the meaning of life.

We at The Anna Trust Foundation pray that each of us, in these sacred days, will pause, turn to an elderly sister near us, thank her for the depth of her faith and service, and then pray to drink from the pools of her quiet wisdom.