It brings me great sadness to not be with you tonight on this great Feast of St Joseph and also my mothers 103rd birthday, to speak for “Catholics for Catholics.” As a religious we take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. The most challenging is obedience, and so tonight out of obedience from my superiors, I will not be able to be with you in person. But while I am with you in spirit, John has let me share my thoughts with you here.
I pray tonight brings you much fruit and joy for our Lord.
John Yep asked that I share just a few words on religious life.. so here goes…
When people meet me for the first time, they often ask, “Are you a nun?” And I always smile and say, “Well… yes and no.”
There actually is a difference between nuns and sisters — and it’s a beautiful one. Since I am a physician I will explain this in medical terms.
Christ is the Sacred Heart of the Catholic Church. He is not merely a founder in history. He is not a distant memory. He is the living, beating Heart who pumps His Precious Blood—grace—through His Mystical Body.
In the human body, the heart contracts and relaxes in a steady rhythm. But that rhythm depends on something hidden. It depends on specialized cells.
The pacemaker cells initiate the heartbeat. They are quiet, unseen, but absolutely essential. Without them, the heart loses its rhythm.
The contemplative religious—the cloistered nuns and monks—are like those pacemaker cells. They live within a monastery, hidden from the world, devoted primarily to prayer and contemplation. Hidden. Silent. Unseen by the world. Their entire life is ordered toward adoration and intercession.
But they sustain the supernatural rhythm of the Church through prayer and adoration; Nuns like cloistered Carmelites, and Poor Clares. Saints like St Theresa de Lisieux, St Theresa the great, and Mother Angelica the great.
Then, there are the Purkinje fibers—those specialized conduction fibers that spread the electrical impulse throughout the heart muscle so that it contracts effectively and pumps blood outward.
We active religious, are the Purkinje Fibers. The Majority of us are out in the world as Missionaries. Teachers. Nurses. Doctors, Sisters serving the poor. Priests in parishes. We help carry the impulse outward to the rest of the Church. But we do not generate life. We transmit it. For example, St Theresa of Calcutta, Fr Chris Alar, my youngest brother Bishop William Byrne and my poor self and many, many others. Our life as religious sisters (as well as contemplatives) are rooted in prayer. But here’s the important part: whether cloistered or active, nun or sister, the heart of religious life is exactly the same.
It is a calling from God.
Jesus says in John 15:16,
“You did not choose Me, but I chose you.”
Without prayer we are just glorified social workers. Our community, The Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts, pray 4 times a day, most of which is with Adoration. Our mornings begin early in the morning with 2 ½ hours, personal prayer, community prayer including the rosary and then holy mass. Tonight as you are having this remarkable dinner we “Little Workers” will be In the chapel, having adoration for your intentions!
Our job, as active religious, is to help carry the life of Christ — His Precious Blood — out into the world. Into hospitals. Into classrooms. Into battlefields. Into the margins.
Religious life is really about love. A spousal love. A total gift of self.
In Matthew 19, when Jesus speaks about those who leave everything for the sake of the Kingdom, He’s not imposing a burden — He’s offering intimacy.
And that’s what religious life is: intimacy with Christ for the sake of His Church.
Whether nun or sister, contemplative or active, we are meant to remind the world of one thing:
God alone is enough.
Our vows proclaim that:
Religious life is really about love. A spousal love. A total gift of self.
In Matthew 19, when Jesus speaks about those who leave everything for the sake of the Kingdom, He’s not imposing a burden — He’s offering intimacy.
And when that life is lived joyfully — not perfectly, but faithfully — it becomes a sign of hope for the world.
And the laity? You are the muscle fibers of the Body—living in the world, bringing Christ into families, workplaces, schools, politics, culture. When the impulse of grace reaches you, you contract in charity. You love. You sacrifice. You too witness this Sacred Heart of Jesus.
In medicine, if the conduction system fails, the heart weakens, circulation falters. Organs suffer. Extremities grow cold.
Spiritually, when prayer weakens, charity cools. When adoration disappears, mission becomes activism. We stop looking through the lens of Christ…When we disconnect from the Sacred Heart, we begin to operate on adrenaline instead of grace.
Christ is the Sacred Heart of the Catholic Church. Everything flows from Him. The Church is not an institution first — it is a living Body, and its life comes from His Heart.
But here’s what you must understand: if the pacemaker stops, and if the heart stops, the fibers have nothing to conduct.
Which means this: prayer is more important than activity.
In Mark 1:35, we read that “Jesus rose very early, before dawn, and went off to a deserted place to pray. “
This is the Son of God. If anyone had important work to do, it was Him. And yet He withdrew to pray.
Why? Because everything He did flowed from union with the Father.
It’s the same for us.
Our life is one of prayer and service — but prayer is first.
In every Mass, the sacrifice of Calvary is made present. The Heart of Jesus still pours out His life for us. When we receive Holy Communion, we receive the living Heart of Christ.
When we stop receiving Our Lord, body, blood, soul and divinity we mystically become fragile which leads to weakness in virtue, and callousness in charity.
But when we remain close to His Heart—especially in Eucharistic adoration and Holy Mass—the circulation of grace strengthens us. Our thoughts align with His. Our will conforms to His. Our fears diminish.
The contemplatives sustain the rhythm.
The active religious distribute the impulse.
The laity live the contraction of love in the world.
But it is one Heart. And that Heart burns for the love of all of us, no matter who we are.
When Our Lord revealed His Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary, He showed a Heart
crowned with thorns, aflame with love, wounded yet radiant. He lamented the indifference
of humanity. He asked for reparation. He asked for love in return.
The question is not whether His Heart beats.
The question is: are we in rhythm with it?
Are we synchronized with His will? Or are we in spiritual arrhythmia—out of sync,
distracted, divided?
The remedy is simple, but not easy. Go to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus. Spending
quiet time before Our Lord, deepens our love for Christ as He does for you. What
is beautiful about God choosing HIS HEART as the mystical love for us, is that
the heart is the one muscle that NEVER STOPS WORKING,
NEVER FATIGUES, IN FACT WE ARE NOT EVEN AWARE THAT IT IS WORKING
FOR US (MOST OF THE TIME)… THAT IS HOW OUR LORD IS WITH US. HE NEVER
STOPS WORKING, HE NEVER FATIGUES, IN FACT
AT TIMES WE ARE NOT EVEN AWARE THAT HE IS ALWAYS AT OUR SIDE
COMFORTING US.
Our Founder Blessed Francisco Greco said that “it’s before the most Blessed Sacrament that I found the love of Jesus and the power of that love.” His love transforms all our hearts wiping away guilt, weariness, confusion, and transforms us. As St. Paul says, in Galatians 2:20 “it is not I who lives but Christ who lives within me.”
So let us console His wounded Heart.
Let us allow His Precious Blood to circulate through every aspect of our being.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, burning furnace of charity, make our hearts like unto Thine.
Keep us in rhythm with Your grace.
Hide us within Your wounded side.
And when our final hour comes, draw us into Your Heart—where love never ends, and life never stops.
May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be praised as we place all our trust in You.
Thank you, and God Bless You!
Sr. Dede Byrne, POSC
