The life and work of Saint Maria Micaela continue to illuminate today’s challenges through spirituality, human dignity, and commitment to the most vulnerable women.

Our foundress responds to three great cries of our time, becoming a guiding light for those of us who feel drawn to the charism of Adoration and Liberation inspired in her by the Holy Spirit.

1. The cry for a spirituality lived in freedom

More and more people are seeking practices that go beyond what is observable and verifiable. They “purchase” experiences of connection with nature, Eastern practices, and many other things that reveal humanity’s thirst for transcendence, confirming what Saint Paul wrote to the Romans: “The Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans” (Rom 8:26).

For her part, Micaela, at a very young age, found spiritual delight in keeping company with the Blessed Sacrament (Autobiography, no. 8). Later in life, after establishing the work that God inspired in her—the Sisters Adorers—people heard her say that He was “the love of my loves, my beloved, the spouse of my soul, my comforter, my consolation…” (Peña, A., p. 77).

Today, it is possible to embrace this precious inheritance of Micaela by integrating Eucharistic spirituality into daily life, making it a source of inspiration for community sharing, Shared Mission, and social work with women.

2. The cry of girls and women in the face of structural violence

In the 19th century, the condition of women was a very serious social issue: “all the paths of feeling were open to them, while all the paths of intelligence were closed” (Vázquez, M., 1995, p. 30), limiting their possibilities for social and economic autonomy.

In the 21st century, progress has been made regarding the Human Rights of girls and women. Even so, in practice we continue to legitimise social and economic systems based on their exploitation, manipulating their consent and using euphemisms such as economic empowerment through paid sexual activities, personal branding on social media and webcam modelling platforms, or the philanthropy found in many women who seek to make families and parents happy by helping them have a child—at any cost.

Micaela understood the causes that generated the exploitation of women and responded through the Colegio de Desamparadas. She became a defender of their lives; she herself went out to rescue them “from the claws of pimps and exploiters” (Peña, A., p. 47), educating them so they could build sustainable lives.

What should we—Sisters Adorers sisters, lay people, and volunteers—do in the face of the normalisation of the complex forms of exploitation suffered by girls and women?

Let us question ourselves constantly about this. Let us make space for reflection and prayer so as to understand through the Spirit.

And something very important: “The Sisters Adorers save lives,” a sex work activist in Bogotá once told me, “We stand on very different shores, but you save lives, and I will not interfere with that.”

This is a great key.

Women themselves offer us elements for understanding. They have escaped death and know perfectly well this structure of evil. Let us continue listening to them.

3. The cry for coherent and simple lifestyles

In the different documents of the Congregation, we see how  then Viscountess sought the best way to respond charitably, with order and structure, to the needs of her time. Thus emerged initiatives such as the “home assistance board” and the “support for nuns” (Autobiography, no. 12), as well as the committee of women she chose to direct the Colegio (Peña, A., p. 43).

She recognised, however, that this latter experience was not suitable for social and ecclesial work with women. This led her to personally assume leadership, inspired by the power of the Holy Spirit she experienced at Pentecost in 1847 (Autobiography, no. 27), giving rise to a new congregation with its own identity.

The mystical experiences and the call to social commitment planted such deep roots that, in today’s society, Church organisations and, especially, institutes of Consecrated Life constitute one of the most effective networks for responding to complex realities such as wars and conflicts, migration, or human trafficking.

We are part of this great network of human dignity, and therefore we must strengthen coordinated networking based on the principles of the Gospel and Human Rights, both founded on the dignity of every person.

And I will take the liberty—may my religious sisters forgive me—of affirming that today’s cry is also for lay people and volunteers who embrace the Adorers identity in order to continue the legacy of Saint Maria Micaela, now more relevant and necessary than ever.

Victoria Tenjo, Lay member of the Adorer Family

References

United Nations General Assembly. (2024). Prostitution and violence against girls and women: Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences. Retrieved from: https://corpocolmena.org/conoce/instrumentos-internacionales/

Peña, A. (n.d.). Saint Maria Micaela of the Blessed Sacrament. Lima, Peru: Edition of the Sisters Adorers.

Saint Maria Micaela of the Blessed Sacrament. (n.d.). Autobiography. Madrid: Sisters Adorers Handmaids of the Blessed Sacrament and of Charity.

Vázquez, M. (1995). History of the Institute of the Sisters Adorers Handmaids of the Blessed Sacrament and of Charity. Volume I (1845–1856). Madrid.