{"id":29058,"date":"2025-11-19T12:36:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T11:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/news\/listening-to-others-out-of-love-age-is-no-barrier-for-religious-sisters\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T12:36:00","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T11:36:00","slug":"listening-to-others-out-of-love-age-is-no-barrier-for-religious-sisters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/en\/news\/listening-to-others-out-of-love-age-is-no-barrier-for-religious-sisters\/","title":{"rendered":"Listening to others out of love: Age is no barrier for religious sisters"},"content":{"rendered":"
Although many religious congregations in Europe face the challenge of aging members, the heart of their vocation remains unchanged: to serve those in need with love and dedication. In Matera, in southern Italy, 93-year-old Sister Angela Sinopoli continues to do so on the streets of her city, living out her pastoral ministry of closeness.<\/p>\n
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By Sr. Ilaria de Lillo<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cNo one is so poor as to have nothing to give, and no one is so rich as not to need something to receive,\u201d said the late Pope Francis, citing Fr. Oreste Benzi (Pope Francis\u2019 Message for the 61st World Day of Prayer for Vocations).<\/p>\n
Looking at Sister Angela\u2019s full life, one would say that this is indeed the case. Regardless of age, experience, or where one is, there is always something to give and to receive out of love. A retired nurse, she is 93 years old and has lived 70 years of religious life with joy.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Sr. Angela Sinopoli, a religious sister of the Helpers of the Holy Souls in Purgatory, has been living in Matera since 2001, carrying out her pastoral ministry of closeness.<\/p>\n
This mission leads her to go out into the streets to welcome those whom she meets on her way, visiting those who are alone, sick or looking for someone they can trust and with whom they can share the burdens of life.<\/p>\n
Her energy is inexhaustible because it is rooted in the awareness of giving: despite her 93 years, the nun faces the challenges of everyday life with determination and humour, animated by the love she first received, which keeps her from being discouraged by anything.<\/p>\n
Sr. Angela\u2019s approach can be characterised by three key words: strength, energy and courage. She draws on the wisdom of Ignatian spirituality\u2014the pillar of the Society of Helpers\u2014to live out her accompaniment as a presence among and alongside the people.<\/p>\n
Therefore, it is not age that stops the desire to share the joy and mercy of the Lord with others. Even if the body may have limitations, the heart transcends all boundaries.<\/p>\n
Sr. Angela listens to the problems that people entrust to her and becomes a companion in life, using their stories as a therapeutic moment for them. By calling things by their name, they come out into the open so as to be faced in the light of hope rather than in the darkness of despair.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time people tell me about their problems and fears,\u201d explains Sr. Angela. \u201cI try to encourage them to move forward. Sometimes we say a prayer together, other times we exchange smiles.\u201d<\/p>\n
When she returns home, she brings everything into her personal and community prayer. She continues: \u201cIt is a way of witnessing God\u2019s love for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Sr. Angela with temporary professed sisters <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Listening in crisis of presence<\/h2>\n
Sr. Angela does not wear a watch when she leaves her house early in the morning to begin her rounds in the city. She is well-versed in the art of \u201cwasting time\u201d with people and welcoming the unexpected in her encounters.<\/p>\n
In the morning, she plans which families to visit during the day; other times, she makes a list of the people she knows are in difficulty and carries out her pastoral work \u201cby telephone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Calling someone just to say hello can be like a caress for that person, a way of communicating to the other person that they are important, that there is someone who thinks of them, and this instils confidence and hope.<\/p>\n
Often the encounter is not planned; it happens on the street and allows Sr. Angela to say, like Peter, \u201cSilver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you\u201d (Acts 3:6). Being present in that pain, so that no one is left alone with their problems, is a way the sisters share the people\u2019s pain.<\/p>\n
Sr. Angela sees closeness as a way of addressing a contemporary problem that anthropologist Ernesto De Martino called the \u201ccrisis of presence,\u201d i.e. the loss of meaning, the inability to control one\u2019s own existence and role in life.<\/p>\n
In this era of multiple crises, Sister Angela feels the urgent need to restore value to people simply by being there for them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is mainly mothers who tell me about problems with their children,\u201d she emphasises. \u201cParents feel alone, they face many challenges in raising their children, job insecurity in the south is another cause for concern, and there is a fear of not having a future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Listening with care, to hope together<\/h2>\n
When listening to these situations, the temptation may be to want to offer a solution that sometimes does not exist, or to give answers that may not be appropriate.<\/p>\n
But in her toolbox Sister Angela carries with her: listening without judging, keeping silent, keeping the other person\u2019s words in her heart and \u201caccompanying the person so that they do not become depressed but, rather, hopeful\u201d, she points out, \u201cbut I don\u2019t have a recipe for what to say, I let myself be guided by the words that the Lord suggests to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
And with humility, she entrusts herself to Providence.<\/p>\n
Learning from Christ to go out to the peripheries<\/h2>\n
Leaving home and visiting people, what Pope Francis called \u201cgoing to the peripheries,\u201d is an evangelical style that Sister Angela adopts, taking Jesus as her model.<\/p>\n
Attracted by the way Jesus looks at others, that is, as beloved creatures, the way He cares for the poor and brings them hope, Sr. Angela is driven to seek encounters to see God at work in this world, with certainty, despite conflicts and problems.<\/p>\n
Sr. Angela is one of many religious women who continue to serve people long after retiring from their professions and responsibilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cOurs is a life of service to others,\u201d she concludes. \u201cThe life we have chosen and our charism are gifts to be shared with joy!\u201d And one never stops receiving and sharing.<\/p>\n
![\"Sr.](\"http:\/\/www.vaticannews.va\/content\/dam\/vaticannews\/multimedia\/2025\/novembre\/06\/121.jpg\/_jcr_content\/renditions\/cq5dam.thumbnail.cropped.750.422.jpeg\" "\\"Sr.")
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