By Sister Donna Lim
Sisters in NSW came together on March 7th for the annual Women’s Office gathering that coincides with International Women’s Day.
It was an afternoon of spiritual nourishment and fellowship among sisters who came with happy smiles from all over Sydney and Newcastle. We started with praise and worship led by our dear sister Rubie Herrera from Blacktown Handmaids of the Lord, ably supported by Bro. Mike and Sister Doris Macahilig.
In this Jubilee year of 2025, we were blessed with a very thoughtful and inspiring talk on becoming Pilgrims of Hope. Our lovely speaker Katrina Alvir encouraged us to thirst for hope, which is a gift freely given to us by the Lord.
She also reminded us that we are deeply loved and exist as daughters of God, and because of that love our hope stems from knowing that our Lord will never leave us. Katrina illustrated the concept of hope with the touching story of Misha, the little orphan boy whose manger project had two babies in it. There were eighty sisters in the hall, and some of us may have shed a tear or two.
Katrina shared the Pope’s beautiful message for this year of hope, Spes Non Confundit (“Hope Does Not Disappoint” from Romans 5:5). The Holy Father advocates we (1) find hope through forgiveness and God’s infinite mercy, (2) grow in hope through patience and trust in God’s timing, (3) pray to the Lord, our source of hope, with more determination, and (4) become a sign of hope for others.
She also shared Love Letter from the Father’s Heart, every line of which is scriptural, that we can all take to our prayer time:
After a brief Q&A with our speaker, the sisters had the opportunity to participate in a Swap Meet.
Everyone joined in the community exchange enthusiastically, and it all finished in a flash! There was more than enough time to catch up with each other, snack on delicious sandwiches prepared by the Local Area Council sisters, and prepare for the last activity for the day!
Sisters Evelyn Espiritu, Anna Javier, Connie Soon, Florianne Bibon, and Carina Bognot hopped up on stage and before you knew it, 40 minutes of warm up, fun exercise and cool down were over! The water bottles that everyone brought along definitely came in handy, with a few of us mopping our brows while the music was on! 😊
We finished with a prayer and left the hall grateful that God loved us into existence, resolute to be beacons of hope for everyone around us. We’ll come together and celebrate our sisterhood again next year!
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