Pink Sisters dedicated to a prayer life in permanent enclosure

The charism of the Sister Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration is glorifying God by living a life totally dedicated to the contemplative life in a permanent enclosure. They keep adoration before the exposed Blessed Sacrament, sing the praises of God seven times a day in their divine office and offer prayers and sacrifices, especially for priests and missionaries.

They lift up to God the whole world and the intentions entrusted to them. They maintain a special devotion to the third person of the Blessed Trinity, opening themselves to his action and collaborating with him.

Bishop Mariano S. Garriga initiated the conversation of having the Sister Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration, also known as the Pink Sisters for the color of their garb. Subsequently, Bishop Thomas J. Drury continued talks with Mother Superior M. Aurora, superior general of the order, and they executed—under the aegis of the U.S. superiors—an agreement to establish the Blessed Sacrament Convent in the Diocese of Corpus Christi. The convent was inaugurated on March 8, 1970.

The life of the order is prayer. For a sister with the Sister Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration, prayer is living and breathing in the Holy Spirit. For a servant of the Holy Spirit, every day should be a new Pentecost, every breath they should beckon to the Holy Spirit.

“Our schedule takes deeper breaths of the Holy Spirit through the times set aside for devoting attention to the mystery of the presence on a deeper level, for example, in the celebration of the Eucharist, in our adoration day and night, in the Divine Office, communal prayer and in the other spiritual exercises,” Sister Mary Leticia Acayan, SSpSAP said.

The Eucharist is the center and heart of a sister’s life and prayer. Perpetual adoration is an unrelinquishable task of the congregation. Their entire day’s work, not just the time spent before the Blessed Sacrament, is a continuous interior adoration.

Praising, thanking and petitioning God, they endeavor to intercede in the divine office for all those in active pastoral and missionary work.

“The riches of community is a gift of the Holy Spirit,” Sister Leticia said. “We are called to glorify the holy triune God and to serve the Church’s missionary activity not as individual sisters, but as Sisters of a community and in community. Our goal is perfect community with the triune God.”

The Holy Eucharist is the sign and source of unity and union in their sisterly love. The differences in abilities, talents and gifts among the individual sisters constitute the wealth of the community and equip it for its service in the Church.

“The more our sisterly love is expressed in willingness to share in every area of our communal life, in readiness to serve selflessly and to extend unconditional reconciliation, the more we are following Jesus’  teaching and example and his glory shines more clearly in our community,” Sister Leticia said. “Thus our community becomes a missionary community by the witness of its life according to the Gospel.”

The order includes 318 members constituted in 22 communities in five continents with 15 nationalities. Wherever they serve, they try to sustain with prayer the missionary activity of the Church in the world. They try to be in as many territories as possible, especially where the Church is not yet fully present. By their witness, example and dedication they seek to effectively assist in building up and extending the Church.