Sister Marie & Sister Agatha Of The Little Sisters Of The Poor, St. Augustine Home On Their Vocation To Care For The Elderly Poor

In a world full of turmoil, despair and darkness, you need to carry the light. Season three of the Get Attitude podcast is where we will ignite your mind, your heart and your attitude. And welcome to the Gap. The Get Attitude podcast. We are the podcast that helps bridge the gap from where you are to where you want to go and from who you are to who you want to become. And let me tell you, ladies and gentlemen, we have two unbelievable guests with us. They're going to help you bridge the gap. But you know what? These aren't famous actors. They're not famous athletes. They may or may not be international best selling authors. These are people that carry the light. These are two ladies that live what they do instead of promote what they do. But you know what? We've got them here to promote a little bit about what they do. And today on the Get Attitude podcast, we want to introduce you to Sister Marie Cecilia of Jesus and Sister Agatha of the Holy Rosary. Good afternoon and welcome to the Gap.

Thank you very much. Thank you for having us.

I'm so happy that you are both here. We're here because Sister Marie was at our church. Church and speaking about the Little Sisters of the Poor and what they do. And when we think about carrying the light, I said, you know what, these are wonderful ladies that are working on a mission. And so why don't we just inform our listeners, what do the Little Sisters of the Poor do? What is your mission and what is the attitude of being a little sister?

Well, our mission as a little Sister of the Poor, Sisters of the poor, we take care of the elderly poor. We welcome the elderly poor into our home as we would welcome Christ himself. And we take care of them as our own families, you know, till God calls them to himself. And you want to add anything, Sister? And what is your next question, please?

So that's your mission. And maybe tell us about what brought you to this mission or how are you called to the mission of helping the elderly poor?

Well, me, of course, both of you.

You can start with you. And then we'll go to Sister Agatha.

Thank you. First, I, you know, I started, I met the little sister in Hong Kong. My intention was to go to St. Vincent de Paul to visit the Blessed Sacrament, but then it was closed. And there was a lady who told me, you know, there is always a church open, run by the religious. So she showed me the way to the Little Sisters of the Poor. And so I went there, I went straight to the chapel because when I went in, nobody around. I realized it was after lunch where the sisters are not available or probably they were at their community. And then I went in the chapel, I spent times there. And then on my way out I met the Mother Superior and she asked me, are you visiting our residence? I said, no, I'm not visiting. I said, I was in your chapel, I hope you don't mind. She said, no, not at all. And she introduced me, you know, what they do, who they are. And then she invited me to come back. So I started volunteering. Then almost every weekend or whenever I'm free, I went there. And then, you know, I realized the residents so fragile. And I realized I have the strength, you know, to share and also the love that I know I have so much love in me that I can, I can, I can give. I realized, you know, more and more as a little sister, we are called to be diffusers of love. Like St. Teresa said, our vocation is love. And we are called to, to do that. So when I realized I. I had that got the health, I got the strength, I have love to share. And I prayed about it and I. And I told my dad, I want to be a little sister of the poor. And it took me more than two years to realize that because I was really prayed more about it, that if this is really what I want to do. So I told dad, I said, I want to be a little sister of the poor. And he asked me, what are you going to do there? And I said, I will take care of the elderly poor. And he said, don't go too far, you have your grandparents here. And so I told my mom, I said, mom, please do pray for me. I said, I know, I believe I have vocation. And she said, honey, I'm praying for you. I hope you will change your mind. She said, those, those nuns, they get up early and you never been a morning person, you know. And when my grandmother heard about it, oh, she said, Jesus, Mary and Joseph. She worried more than my parents because when we were growing up, she knew as well, you know, at six o' clock she used to go to my parents house for early morning coffee. She was, she walks and then she take for a walk and then have morning coffee with my parents. And then at 6 o', clock, if we were not awake, she was banging our door. Girls, you're still in bed. All the graces of God had been spread. Nothing left for you, you know. I love my grandmother, but on weekends I was praying it will go into rain so she will not come so we can sleep, you know. But, but in the vision When I. And you know, my first assignment in a visit, they'll ring her to make sure the nuns were awake. I said, jesus, you must be kidding. And that was already 27 years. You know, I'm still struggling in the morning to get up. I said, two minutes more.

What time do you get up in the mornings?

We usually get up like I usually get out of 5:15 to be in the meditation at 6 o'. Clock. Because every. Every morning we have a community meditation. We are together in the chapel to be there at 6 and have our meditation and morning prayer. And Sister is always there. I admire our little sisters, you know, even as a community, we are supporters with one another. And for them to be there, especially elderly sisters, and to be there in our daily program, it is really admirable.

And so how long have you been a little sister, Sister Marie?

27 years.

27 years. And then, Sister Agatha, tell me how you ended up becoming a little sister of the poor. And how long have you been a little sister?

Well, after high school, to get a change. I was born in the middle of the country in a very rural district. We had only about 40 acres of land, but we had everything on the land, cattle, everything you could imagine. So we were able to look after ourselves with everything there. But I was a little bit tired of the country and I just longed for city life and fun and everything. So I did an exam for the civil service and I got a job in the GPO in Dublin. And I started enjoying life. I had a passion for cycling. Oh, I cycled for thousands of miles around Dublin with my friends. And then one evening, my friend was not with me, and we had an apartment. She wasn't with me. And I was passing by this building, a big gray building, and I passed by it every single day, but I didn't see it. There was a big plaque, kind of a bronze plaque on the wall. Little Sisters of the poor. And that rang a bell. They had come to our school. I barely remembered it. When I saw the name, I remembered. And out of just sheer curiosity, I said, I'll go in and see what's going on. So I got up those steps and went in. And the very nun who had come to our school greeted me. And she said, would you like to see around? I said I would. So she showed me around, showed me all the holy pictures, told me the life of Jan Dugan, told me everything. Nothing made any impression at all. But when we were coming out, we passed through the infirmary dining room. That was where the very old residents had Their meal. And there was two old gentlemen setting up the tables for the evening. We didn't have staff at that time. It was only in the late 1960s we got staff. The residents helped us with everything. But these two lovely old gentlemen, they were laughing and talking, and it just. I don't know, it thrilled me that all people could be so happy and so loving. And this I was really touched very, very deeply. And I thought to myself, oh, boy, this is where I want to be. There's such love and joy and laughter here. I want to be part of this place. Well, anyhow, we got talking and they both asked me to come back again, which I did. But then my mother, when I told her how impressed I was, she said, get it out of your head. You're meant to do something better than that. Get it out of your head, go to night school and do something good with your life. Well, in the end, anyhow, I knew that this where I wanted to be. So she said, look, I'll sign the paper for you. She said, but I know you'll be back in one week because I know what you're like, and I know you can't stand anything dirty, anything with a bad smell, any of that stuff. You cannot stand it. You'll be back in a week. So I signed the paper because I know what's going to happen. But of course, I didn't come back. So then she got very worried about me. So anyhow, there was kind of a cooling of our relationship during my years as a novice and as a young sister. And then when I went to Latour for my final vows, I was longing to go on the missions. So I wrote home and I asked my mom and dad and dad said, you can go at my blessing. Mom said, well, you're gone anyhow. She said, so you might as well go like that. So anyhow, I did go on the missions after my final vows.

Wow, that's something. So how long have you been a sister?

Well, I'm 70 years in the convent, so I'm about 68 years a sister.

Oh, my gosh. Well, that is something. Well, thank you for all your life and prayers, and we hope that you pray for the Get Attitude podcast hosts and their guests. Now, let me ask you, when you think about this word called attitude, and I would like both of you, how would you define attitude? And who was your first attitude teacher or coach?

You want to answer that?

Well, attitude is a deep disposition. You have an outlook, and it gives you an outlook on things. And my first.

Coach.

Coach Was my dad.

Oh, your dad sounded a little more supportive than your mother.

And he was such a positive holy man. He was. We lived in the country. He taught us all about God. We would lie down in the hay fields. He would read Bible stories to us. He'd tell us to look up and talk about eternity. When the Angelus bell rang, he would take off his cap and say the Angelus. He was a good man.

So what was your father's name?

Tom.

Tom. And so did he have a favorite story, or did you have a favorite story from the Bible that he told you that you remember as you were laying on the ground?

I think the story we all like to hear was Noah taking all the animals into the ark. Because we had a lot of animals and we said their ancestors must have been in the ark.

That's fantastic. And Sister Marie, what about you? How would you define attitude and who was your first attitude teacher or coach?

Well, the way I see attitude is something that. How we face each day of our life. You know, sometimes. How do we take situation in a given situation? Do we take it a negative or positive reaction? So I think all our reactions, all our way of seeing things, the way we live our life is what defines us. Our attitude in some way defines us in a very natural level. Because sometimes when people are reacting either positive or negative, you know, there is always supernatural level that we have to bypass the natural, because there is always factors behind that attitude that. That really brought it up. You know, sometimes we have to look beyond, especially when it. When it's negative reaction, you have to look beyond that natural reaction because there must be something going on, you know, that brought about that. That we have to understand a person where they are coming from. So we cannot define, like, just like what I said, it defines us. But really that's very. A natural level. Yeah, but you have to bypass that to understand where is this person coming from.

Sure. Yeah.

There's.

There's always a reason behind the reason.

Yes. So you cannot just define this person because of his negative or positive reaction. There is difference, you know, that is to. To look beyond.

And then who. Who influenced your attitude or when you think back, who. Who would you say your first attitude coach or teacher was that I gave you the spirit?

I think my grandparents and my parents, because we come from the farm. I come from a big family of 11. And then we brought up praying together. And being in the farm, we, you know, after. After the. How do you say that in English? When they do the crops, they till already harvest, not harvest they are just planting it. Yes. So after all those planting, you know, being in the farm, and my parents, they are more depending on God's providence, good weather and prayers. And that has brought us to the faith. We are counting so much on God's name, divine providence. Even from the younger age, you will see, I can see my, I still can see my parents. We are praying together and praying for a good weather, to have a good crops. Because with all this farming, it all depends our livelihood and we are all going to school. So this is really that deeper faith and trust in God. That really.

So your grandparents and parents were farmers? Yes, Sister Agatha, your grandparents and parents were farmers as well. Wow. Now, do you ladies or sisters believe that God controls the weather?

Yes, I do. I do too.

I do too. And that was when we said the rosary at night?

Yes.

There was a list, a long list of prayers after, but it was for good weather, for the cattle, for this and that. Every single night.

You would always pray. Now did you say the rosary every day as a child?

Yes, every night we knelt down and if any visitor came in, my dad would say, kneel down. He'd have to say the rosary.

Everybody said it and we say the litany. And it was, when you're young, it's litany so long, you know, you just can't wait to finish the prayer because you know, after prayer you're going to have supper. So. But you know, we learned so much about, about living with our parents, the way we were growing up, with all those devotions and also their gratitude to God. You know, whether you had a good crops, whether it was good or not, they give thanks to God. I think that is, that was really beautiful.

That's so, so cool and so foreign. I want to, you know, I can't imagine that you guys participate in social media, watch all the horridness and politicalness of news. You probably shelter yourselves from that. But Sister Agatha, being around for 70 plus years or 80 plus years, I.

Wasn'T sheltered from anything.

Yeah, so you're not sheltered from anything. I love it. So when you think about the attitude of America or the world, I'd love to. Just like when you're praying for the poor people that are living on earth today and all that, they deal with what astounds you or what is so different on how people treat each other or how people maybe treat you, do you see a difference or do you think that not much has really changed over the course of 40 or 50 years? I'd love to just get your Insights on that.

It's a different, it's a totally different world.

Okay.

And I think, excuse me, but the social media has got a lot to do with it.

Yes.

You know, people now are. They all have their cell phones, they don't talk to one another. I mean, once upon a time when you went to the doctor's office, you talked to the person next to you and then you were all talking, there was communication, there was, you formed relationships with people. But now everybody's with their phone and you know, there's no time for anybody else.

Yeah, it's very shut off. So what you're seeing is people being closed off.

Yes.

And I call it nose in phone disease. In my book. They have, I say you have nose and phone and they say what's nose and phone? I said nose and phone disease. And so it's so that communication, just like you said, so beautifully illustrated, whether you're at a restaurant, whether you're at a doctor, whether no matter where you are, no one is really talking or reaching out to each other. What about you, Sister Marie? What changes have you seen in the world besides social media or just how people treat each other? What concerns you both most about what's going on?

You know, now we have a lot of career women and also a lot of recreational activities or any even gadgets that are being offered with all these new technologies now that really take so much time of people and sometimes not even have the time to pray. And also now there's so much distraction that sometimes they don't even discern what really God wants from them. And I think this is a factor, a contributing factor of being lack of vocation to the priesthood and consecrated life. Yes. Because there's so much distraction, there's so much career being offered. You have all these choices, what do you want to be? And, and that is, and you know what, what I realize now, especially going to church collection, we met a lot of kind of middle aged women who, who wants to be religious that they just cannot. You know, they have tried everything and they want to have more meaningful life. They want to be religious, but sometimes more on 40s, early 50s and. But we have a cut off of our vocation, like 40, you know, can't.

Come in after a certain age.

They do exemption with a long training, like 10 years of training. Then it brings them up to.

It takes 10 years of training.

Well, yes it does.

It takes at least eight years formation.

It's tougher to be a mother, a little sister of the poor than a surgeon.

It's true.

You can be a doctor.

You guys got some skill. I like that. Well, that's good. That's plenty of discernment, isn't it?

It does. It is. It is. It is. Eight years, you know, at least eight.

You're allowed more. You're allowed nine, 10.

Nine.

Wow. And so let's just. Just explore that a little bit. Tell me, is there a formal track over the eight years? Is it, you know, two years and then another two. Another two. Just, I guess, in general terms. Like, what does that eight years look like? What type of services are you looking to do? Or what do they have you do in those eight years?

Well, the first two years after you make your vows, you're usually sent to the homes where you get acquainted very much with our hospitaller life. We have a young sister with us at the moment in Indianapolis who has just made her vows. And then after two years, they renew their vows for three years and life goes on at the same tempo. But they cannot, during that time, start if they want to, maybe, or if they're like, if they're able to do nursing or do some professional training. And then after that, they can, if they're suitable, and if they want to, they can go to the Mother House for their final vows.

Interesting.

That's another year. Then they spend another year there, and they can be allowed one or two more years if they're in doubt whether that's their vocation or not.

And so I've heard the word Mother Superior and Mother's house. Mother Superior sounds very intimidating to me.

You should meet her. She's not at all intimidating.

Well, good. Maybe we'll have her on another podcast.

Well, do. She's a great speaker.

Oh, wonderful.

Oh, she's a marvelous speaker.

So is there only one Mother Superior in every house?

In every house we have a superior, and then we have a province with nine or 10 houses in each province, and we have the Mother Provincial then in charge of the province. And we have. How many provinces have we.

Well, we have 16.

16 provinces, yes.

Wow.

And then the Mother General is in charge of the whole congregation.

So. Mother General.

And she's lovely. Yes. She visited America this year.

Well, good. I'd like to meet her.

She's in France.

She's Spanish.

Oh, please.

She's Spanish. She's Spanish. She's very, very nice.

And so the Mother. Mother Superior. Then just talk to me a little bit about what is Mother Superior, what's her role? How do you become a Mother Superior? And what's the attitude of a Mother Superior.

The Mother Superior is essentially there to help the little sisters grow in the spiritual life, grow in their love for Christ and imitation of Christ. That's her main role. But also she runs the house. She makes sure that the house is very well regulated, that the sisters are doing what they're best at and that they're not overburdened.

I see.

But that's not quite the thing now because with shortage of staff, we're always.

Everybody's overburdened.

And then, then she sees the sisters at any time they want to go and talk to her about a difficulty or a problem or something they want, you know, she's very motherly in that respect. She has been provincial before and now she goes and helps everywhere. She helps with the wash up. If there's chartered dining aid, she goes and helps with wash up. She had served the residence. She's at everything under the sun.

And so it's the St. Augustine Home. Right. How many residents are there? And is. Is what's like the smallest resident? What's the smallest number of people that you serve in a house and what's maybe the biggest one? So at the St. Augustine home, how many.

Presently we have 74 residents. Before we were. Before COVID we have about 90. Yes, yes. And most of them are depending on Medicaid.

Yes.

And that's, you know, our. We don't, we don't have income or investment or. That's why our mother, founder St John Jugan, she opted not to have fixed income or fixed resources because she believes we are one big family of God. And through begging, seek and integrate the public to the mission. They may not be a part of the direct contact, having direct contact with the residents, but through their contribution, they are part of the mission. And to reach out at the same time, you know, to offer the channel of grace. Sometimes, you know, it is amazing when our benefactor said, sister, thank you very much for helping us to help. Isn't it? Very encouraging?

Yeah, that's so cool.

It is, you know, being a beggar, I should say. And we were just kind of talking about how many residents we have throughout the world. We take care of almost 10,000 elderly poor in all our homes.

Okay, that's what I wanted to know.

In the five continents.

Five continents?

Yeah. We are international congregation. Congregation. We are in five continents. We have 164 homes throughout the world. And all of these homes are depending on God's divine providence. Isn't it amazing that just like a multiple multiplication of bread every day.

But you know, that forms our attitude, too, to see this providence coming in such a wonderful way every single day.

You know, the gifts of God, the.

Gifts come freely, you know, we couldn't be but thankful and aware of God's goodness.

When you said the word beggar and when I was listening to you, I was like, beggars have such a negative connotation. And it's almost, whether you know it or not, it was almost alarming to me. And I'm like, here she is calling herself a beggar. I don't know anybody that's proud.

Because we are begging. We are begging for donation, you know, so you want more.

So if people do want to donate to us, we want them to go to Little Sisters of the Poor, St.

Augustine's Home St. Augustine's Home Indianapolis, Indiana.

Little Sistersofthepoorindianapolis.com Little Sister of the Poor indianapolis.org so we'll be putting that link into our show notes. But if you've been moved by what the sisters have said today, if you don't want to admit that you're a beggar, but the reality exists that maybe you are begging for peace in your life, maybe you're begging for more virtue in your life, maybe you're begging for more spirituality and calmness in your life, maybe, just maybe, God's divine province will come into your life if you're good enough to answer the begging of Sister Marie in our podcast today. So I hope if you're listening to this podcast right now, that you'll go to little sistersofthepoor.org find the Indianapolis link or any link. We'll take it. If you're listening, in whatever city, we'll take it. But I think the concept of being a beggar needs to be reinvented. The stigma of it needs to be reinvented and the beauty of it needs to be redefined. So I just love that whole piece that you guys do.

It is very humbling if you said, like, I am begging, but it is such enriching because you meet a lot of people aside from their financial support, you know, they open their hearts. Sister, please pray for my family with this problem. They open their hearts. It is that is more humbling to receive a financial support or whatever in kind they give to us than, you know, to entrust their problem and to trust our prayers. And really we take to heart what is their. All their intentions. And it is, I feel so unworthy to, to, you know, to present all this to God. Who am I to be presented with all this problem but that is the. That is the point. That is more humbling, you know, But I owe them so much because of all these intentions that they confide to us through these intentions they cast. They make me more converse with God and that continual communication with God. They make me more closer to God, you know, because there is always something to present to God. Lord, here I am. I'm unworthy to present all these intentions, but please answer them. Here they are, you know, it is. It is humbling, but it is. I owe them. With that entrustment of their intentions, they make me more communicate and closer to God.

Yeah, I love it. What a gift. Sister Agatha, anything to add?

Well, we make a vow of poverty, and one of the four vows we make poverty, chastity, obedience and hospitality. But poor in spirit is our goal. Poverty and spirit is our goal. And whatever gets us there is good. So begging can be good.

So poverty in spirit. You try to help people who have poverty in spirit.

But also we try to become poor in spirit ourselves. We're asked to become poor so that we'll be able to understand the residents because they. At that stage of their lives, they are. They're not at their best, put it like that, in ways. So we have to be poor in spirit to get to their level, to understand them, to constantly understand them and assess their needs and give them what they want at all, especially give them love. As Sister said, we have really to be the merciful, loving face of Jesus for them. We have to, because that's what they expect. They've left their homes, their families. Sometimes the families, if they're working, they're not able to take care of them. And the families are very, very grateful to us, too. We become very close to their families, but they have made big sacrifices to come to us. So we just want them to feel very loved. But we cannot do that if we're wrapped up in ourselves and if we think we're great and if we think somebody owes something to us. We have to really be poor in.

Spirit, you know, I'm gonna have to get there.

We all have to. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the poor. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Theirs is the king. Man, that is so good.

And, you know, the residents also. Personally, I really. Taking care of the residents, especially the dying, they help us to prepare ourselves to that, you know, to the states of life.

Yes, I'd love to know and I would hope. I'm sure there's someone. Not to put you on the spot, but was there a resident that Ever shook you that ever. You said, oh, my gosh, that was so beautiful, so profound. That taught you a lesson. I'd love to know that story as you cared for just one of them. I'm sure you probably have many, but who was the most profound? Who made the most profound impact on you as somebody that you cared for as they were dying?

For me, it was a resident in our home in England, in Leeds. I was doing the magazine at the time, and I was doing it. I was doing a series on death. My father was dying at the time, so it was a thing that was up most in my mind. So I went to this resident in the home in Leeds, and he was standing up, walking around the room. He looked very good. And he said, oh, come in, Sister Agatha. He said, you know, I'm dying. I'm dying of cancer. And he looked so happy. I said, you're not. You couldn't be. He said, sit down. So after a few visits, I got to know his whole story. His life was a very, very sad one, but it was a life of prayer and union with God all the time. He married his schoolheart Sweden. First of all, he was in the Air Force, so his job was during the war to drop bombs. So, you know, he said a lot of prayers while he was doing that. But then he came back and he married his schoolheart sweetheart. And the Ronnie married a couple of months when she got a mental breakdown and had to go to an institution, which broke his heart. Then he put the Stations of the Cross in his house every day. He made the way of the cross.

Wow.

Yes. And said the rosary. And then visited his wife, of course. But it was heartbreaking for him to visit her also because she didn't even know who he was. So his life was very, very sad. But his prayer life and his love of God and all he wanted when he was dying was. And I was there with him. He said, I would love you to sing or sacred head Ill use it.

Oh.

So I did. I was with him when he died, and I tried to sing that for him.

Can you give us a line or two of that?

O sacred head Ill. You said.

I.

Have to think of it. A sacred head surrounded.

I can't remember putting you on the spot, but that was beautiful. The first three or four notes. Yeah.

I can't remember the notes.

Well, that's okay.

Yeah. But anyhow.

But you sang to him.

I did. And, you know, to me that was somebody that nobody would ever know was so holy and so beautiful. Had an actual decided to Write on death at that time. So he faced death without fear.

Yeah, not many do, but those who do are great. How about you, Sister?

You know, it's hard to single out a person because there's so many residents in our homes, in different homes where I have been, they are just so prayerful. They just want to see, spend their day time, most in the chapel, praying for their families. You know, it is so. It is so encouraging to see a lot of residents visiting the Blessed Sacrament. But one, one that I remember very well when I was watching the dying, you know, he. He was so. He was in a coma for a long time, but when that night I was watching, he just lifted his head and look on the. And look on the window and had a big smile and then put down his head and died. That's all I really. It's amazing.

But you were witnessing him.

Yes. What did you see that I didn't see? You know, and then gone. It is everybody, the dying residents, they go in different ways. There are some of them that were so peaceful. There are some that really struggled. So. But to be there at their bedside and praying for them, it's really a grace.

We take our turns, like we watch, say from 9 to 12 and 12 to 3 and 3 to 6. We take our turns in community.

I see. And just maybe speak to this. You take care of the elderly poor, but you also take care of the dying poor. And as I remember, you said, we make sure that no elderly die alone.

And they ask us, they say, sister, will you be there when I'm dying?

You know, they don't go to our home to die. It's just to live out fully their remaining days, you know, and most of them, most of them really say, I wish I came earlier. I wish I was here before, you know, because they didn't know us before. They don't want to come. But when they come to know, to know us, to live in the home, they wish they come earlier, you know, they came earlier. It is encouraging.

And with that said, there's only 10,000 lucky souls that are able to have you care for them.

That's why we pray for more vocation. And I've been telling these young women in all our church visitations that they have veils waiting in the convent.

I love it. Maybe some lovely lady out there listening to this podcast changes direction because of this. You just never know. Just as you walked past that church so many years ago and had no idea, and just as you met the Mother Superior, by happenstance, both of you not really knowing that that's where you wanted to be. Maybe somebody has this on in their car. Maybe somebody's walking on a beach looking for something more. And quite possibly this podcast could. Could do that. So there's. How do people get their families to qualify to be one of the 10,000? Like, how does that work? Is there an application process? An extensive application process.

Right. And usually the resident comes to the home to see what it's like. And we see them.

Ah.

Oh, yes. We have all the details about them.

Interesting.

You have to be poor.

That's the first quality.

You have to be poor.

You have to use.

What if I give all my money to you guys?

That doesn't work that well.

That's not good either.

I have no shot. Well, Jason, you're not very rich. Right. Well, thanks for calling me out there. No, I'm just kidding. No, I'm sure you'd like them to take care of you. Talk to us about the start of the little sisters. Like what. What was the history? Where did the idea come from? Who was the person that founded it? And just so we get a feel for how this unbelievable ministry started, I'll help you.

After the French Revolution. Start there.

Yes. And our mother, founder, St. John Juguance. She was born in 18. In 1792, and she was 18 years old. First when she was. She was born in Saint Servan, Cancal, and then her father was a sailor. When she was four years old, her father left sailing and then didn't come back. So her father lost in the sea. And then when she. How many brothers and sisters she has?

She had three sisters and a brother.

And then when she was 18 years old, she was offered a marriage. And also when it was repeated when she was 25, but she told her mom, mom, there is a word that is not yet known, that one, God's maid for himself.

Wow.

And that when she was 47.

She.

Worked as a maid. And then her employer was very charitable person. She worked as a kitchen maid. And one of her duty is to give the leftover or any sandwiches or anything for any food that the beggar will come at the back door. So. And then she also went out to visit. To visit hospital with her, with her employer. And then one winter evening, on her way back to home, she met St. Anne Siobhan, the old lady, the first old person who came to her. She took her to her apartment and then she gave her bed to her and she slept in the attic. And that was the beginning of the congregation. And then they saw Anne Siobhan being well taken care of and so many more beggars came and can you take me as well, you know. And then to the point that she herself didn't want them to go out begging. And she told them, tell me where do you go begging? And I will beg for you in your name. So that is the start of the begging.

Very good. Do you have anything to add?

Well, there were some young women who liked the work. They were children of Mary or something. They liked the work and they came to help her. So they were the first little sisters too. One of them was the one who came to America, Mary Augustine. And then a priest who was a little bit neurotic. I would call him Father Lepire. He saw that the work was going to be something. And he decided after she had been re elected twice, Janjugan was re elected twice as his superior. He decided that she wasn't really suitable, that one of his girls who had more education than she had, should be the superior. And he squashed the elections because as a priest in those days they could do what they liked and squashed the elections and put his girl in charge of the congregation. And Jan would go out begging and begging. She was for the next. Well, for the next 10 or 15 years, she became so well known and so loved in France that she received the Prix Montion, which is like the Nobel Peace Prize. Yes, she was known all over France. And then when he thought that she was getting too popular and too well liked, he decided to put her out of the way. So he asked her to go to the novitiate. So he had to go to the novitiate. But that was providential because in the novitiate were girls from all over the world, including from America, coming to be formed as little sisters. And Jan Xugan lived with them, she worked with them, she lived with them. And she somehow gave them her spirit and her attitude and her way of doing. And that stayed with them, their great spirit of sacrifice. When they came over here to some of the places in America I came at, well, I was in Cincinnati at one time and they were in the coldest part of the city. Our first home was in the coldest part of the city and it was a German enclave. But their spirit of sacrifice made them stand up to it and get on well. People began to love them and the same in England. The first little sister was actually. Her father was a unionist. She had really basically no faith. And she became a little sister. She came to France and she saw the little sisters and she decided to Be a little sister. But then when she went back to England, they had no time for Catholics. But when they saw the way they were caring for the residents, they loved them and they started helping them.

Well, that's a great lesson and attitude for those of us listening. To be at the very top, be displaced or squashed down. To be such a light.

Yeah.

To all those around you and raised back up.

Yeah.

And then yet to be sent away yet another time.

But that's poor in spirit. That's what the poverty of spirit is. You know she was canonized a saint.

Yes. Yes. Unbelievable. That's just so beautiful.

Yes.

Well, I thank you for sharing that for us. A quick question. You've been around the world. I'd love to know what is the most. Let's start with this. What is the one place you went where you really like. I'm not going to say you struggled because you're poor in spirit. And you get it. Where you said, man, this is a bad place. And then what's the place that you went? And you said, oh, my gosh, I think this is heaven on earth. Do you remember walking into a city or a building or a circumstance that was truly, truly ugly and desperate? I'd like to know where that was. And then I'd also like to know where you walked in and you said, oh, my gosh, this heaven on earth.

Well, for me, wherever you go, in all our homes, I went in Hong Kong, I went in France. I am here now in United States. I was in Palatine before, in Illinois, and then in Maryland and then Indianapolis and Pittsburgh and Alabama. Wherever I go, you know, you find that family spirit. And I cannot say, I like it here, I like it there, because it's the same. That's, I think, because we have a vow of obedience. We have a vow of obedience, poverty, chastity, and hospitality towards the elderly poor. For me, I find it's very hard, the vow of obedience, because you live with the residents day in and day out. You help them, especially they are sitting sick. And then when you are called to go from one place to another, and that was the difficult part that I can say. Oh, that's really. That's the part that is hard.

I see.

And because you come to, I should say, attach. Or get closer with the employees that you are working with, with the residents, with the community, and then they pull you out to a place that you never been, and you don't know your community you're going to live with. You don't know the residents. But when it's a matter of forgetting oneself, you know, and be open to God's will. This is what God wants from me now, to live even it is hurting. Especially when you know the residents, you're not going to see them again.

Yes.

And then you go there. You're just a matter of opening one's heart. And this is my. Another family, where God is extending my family. And then afterwards you feel at home, because wherever I go, I feel at home. So that's the beautiful part.

She doesn't have a real answer, which is fine. She doesn't like to answer specific questions.

Well, I cannot say she's very political. No, I cannot really say that there is a ugly place or. Because wherever I was sent, this is.

Yeah, that's where you're supposed. I think that's beautiful and I love it. And now I know that you probably feel the same way, but I guess. And maybe not. Hopefully not. Because what I'm getting at is like, you know, when you're. When you. I interview a lot of war veterans and we talk about. As they step off the helicopter and putting their foot on the ground in Afghanistan and that feeling and the visual, and that's kind of what I'm going for. Was there any place that you felt either unsafe, Sister, or that you. That it shook you and you're going, man, I got some work to do here. Sister Agatha, any place in your history.

When I went to Australia, first, I went to Kalgoorlie to work with the old miners, which was beautiful. I just loved them. They were just wonderful people. They'd come to make. To find all the gold after the, you know, the gold finding Kalgoorlie. And I was there for one year. And while I was there, outside in our park, there was aborigines. They were always fighting or drunk or throwing bottles at one another or police picking them up. And I thought, isn't that awful? Oh, I said, they are dangerous. A year later, Mother Finchell called me and she said, you know, she said, I have no one to do the Aboriginal Center. Would you like to go? Oh, my God. To be honest with you, I cried for a whole week. I was scared and I was. I was. I was. I. Because I was so happy there. But after year after year after year after year, I got to know them and I got to love them. I got to love them as my family. And there was a murder among them about. When I was there about eight years, their son, son of two residents that I cared for, was murdered in the city. And they should have revenge. It was their law that they would revenge. Burned down our nursing home or something like that. So anyhow, we pacified them, filled their cars with clothes and food and this and that. But my heart was broken because Charlie and Lorraine was gone and something was gone, light was gone from the Aboriginal Centre. There were characters. They were really characters. Well, anyhow, we kind of got over it. And then, you know, they would ring the bell if they wanted a blanket. We had a big shed to give them blankets because they slept out our food. We had a lot of food in the kitchen. So when the bell would ring, I would go to see who it was, you know, this and that. One evening I went out and who was there but Charlie and Lorraine, the two of them. And I thought they'd just come for a blanket, that they were going to sleep out in the. He said, googambi. This is a good house, my house. I said, you're going to stay, Charlie. He gave me a big hug.

Oh, what a great story. Isn't that wonderful?

It was the forgiveness and the love and. Because when I went there first, after about. I was learning the language and they would sit around me on a Sunday morning and they'd tap if I said wrong words. And one morning I thought they liked me and everything. One morning I looked at them and I said, do you really trust me? They all put their heads down, which means we do not. So it came. It was a big change from that day till the evening Charlie and Lorraine came home.

And so how many years were you there?

Sixteen.

Oh, my gosh.

Yes.

With the people that you feared most.

With the people. And then the end. The people I loved most and the.

People you love most. And if that's not a story or an antidote for everybody listening to this, that the people that you may fear the most, the people that you may misunderstand the most, the people you don't understand, the people that are coming at you in a manner that is aggressive and scary. Quite honestly, with the power of God, the healing spirit and forgiveness that those people, those people you just might end up being close to, being loved and being hugged, just like Sister Agatha. So what a great story.

Yeah, we used to go visit them in the prison and it was sad. Their children would be. They had manicles on their feet and on their hands, you know, because their life, they couldn't. They couldn't live in the city. They had no idea at all what it was to live in the city. They would come in from the bush and all they could do really was. Play music and get drunk. That's how they lived. And they were hated in the town. Yes, I was hated too. But what do you do?

You were hated too? Oh, yes, yes. They didn't like the Catholics.

They didn't like me because I was trying to keep them off the drink.

I gotcha.

And I got to know the Baptist church very well. They were my best friends, the Baptists were. It was a Baptist minister, an Irish Baptist minister from the north of Ireland. He told me when he was a young man, his father was no good. He was a drunk. He wanted to give his life to God, but he couldn't go to a Catholic priest because priests had no time for Orange people at that time. So one evening he was coming home and he heard this man preaching on the streets, talking about Jesus and how he loves. Oh, he said, I want to be like him. So he became a Baptist minister. What? A minister? He translated the whole Bible into Nana Dara so they could read the Bible. And if we had time, I could tell them miracles what happened to them through the Bible.

Wow.

Give us one miracle.

Well, they were all drunks. Yes, but these. I'll have to tell you very quickly. These old.

I resemble that remark.

These elders. These elders had a vision of their young men going to Kalgoorlie and bringing some of their people back to God. So they. Actually, it was a. It was a young. He called himself a walking minister. He used to go from every place, talking. One evening he called me at 4 o'. Clock. He said, could you ring all the churches, sister, and get the. Get the people coming in here tonight? I said, It's 4 o' clock in the afternoon. There'll be nobody. God will send them, he said. So I rang all the churches and you wouldn't believe it. That evening at 8 o', clock, the compound, the yard was all full of people. And then those six young fellows from the bush came with their guitars and their Bibles and they started singing, singing Baptist songs and explaining the Bible. And as they did so, some of our drunks came up front and knelt down and gave themselves over to God.

Lovely.

We had a book and we made list of them because we had a. What do you call it, a rehabilitation center in Perth that we used to send them to. So. And we had a bus ready to send them out the next morning, which we did. Yes, but when the thing was over and there was always a kind of. The Catholics kind of always had fear of. Of other churches. I personally didn't. But anyhow, that Night. All the other churches, the Baptists, the Anglicans, everyone said, where's the coffee, Sister? Come on, we're going to have some tea. And then they just brushed me out of the way and went into the kitchen, made the whole place their home. It was like the Holy Spirit. It was beautiful.

Oh, I love it. I love it. That's a beautiful miracle, and I think that's a good story to end on. You've been so gracious with your time. I hope we.

You have, too.

Thank you very much. I hope we've raised the awareness of the little sisters. I love what you said at Mass. We pray you pay, you pay. So, ladies and gentlemen, if you got some spirit out of this, if you got some attitude out of this, we would sure love you to go to little sistersofthepoorindianapolis.org and show your support for these sisters. If you want to volunteer, you can call in. We need linen washers. We need food preparers. We need, I'm sure, maintenance people, painters, whatever.

Gardeners.

Gardeners. If you feel like you would like to give, and if you'd like to meet Sister Agatha and Sister Marie, then I'm sure they would love to receive you. We always like to end our podcast with each one of you, if you don't mind. You may call it a prayer or you may just make it a statement of hope, but the people that listen to us, listen to us because they want to get. Get from where they are to where they want to be and from who they are to who they want to become. And I would just, you know, just from your heart, if you could just either bestow a prayer on them or give them a thought or a story that helps them understand that wherever they are right now, they don't need to stay there. What is the best vehicle that you've seen people be able to move their lives and transform their lives or just a simple wish of goodness for them? We would just love each of you to say what you need to say, and then we're going to close the show.

You know, first, I would like to thank. To thank you for having us and this opportunity. And I would like to thank this opportunity as well, to thank all our benefactors who are supporting us. But, you know, with your message, I just want to, even for me at this moment, I'm still, you know, every. Every day, just want to overcome oneself, something like that, that forgetting oneself so that we can give more.

Yes.

To.

To others. And sometimes we. We have to realize that we are love. And there's so much love in us that we can share. And sometimes being so close into ourselves or not sharing that love, not letting it flow through us, it makes our heart heavy or life is more kind of gloomy. But if you. If we let ourselves, you know, try to give more ourselves, life is lighter and, and joyful. I love it. You know, and also when you. You have peace to go to bed, when you know you have done your.

Part, it is when you've loved others. Attitude booster number 10. Be a part of something bigger than yourself.

It's true. It is So.

I love that. So thank you, Sister. I appreciate it. Sister Agatha will let you finish with your thought of hope or your words of hope. For those listening.

For those listening. Thank you for listening. But I think for all of us, we can't forget that we have a spiritual mother who really loves us very, very much. And the Blessed Mother, Mother of Jesus, she loves us very much. And all we have to do is to go to her and ask her to help us to know Jesus and to love him and to imitate him and to bring his love with us wherever we go. And she will answer. At Guadalupe, she said to Juan Diego, am I not your mother? I'm not taking care of you. What are you worrying about? So we have to find her and find the love and the care that she has for each one of us. God bless you.

God bless you both.

Thank you.

Spread the love. Love your mother. This is so wonderful. And ladies and gentlemen, this is Glen Bill with the Get Attitude podcast with Sister Marie and Sister Agatha wishing you the blessings of Christ. We'll see you later.

Thank you. God bless.

God bless. Very good.