WELCOME

SISTERS OF ST. JOSEPH

of Northwestern Pennsylvania

Come to the Waters, is a history of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Northwestern Pennsylvania written by Leonie Shanley, SSJ, and Mary Francis Becker, SSJ, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Sisters of St. Joseph in the Diocese of Erie in 2010. Click here to explore the book.

News

Give a gift that grows on Erie Gives Day

| August 5, 2019

A gift to the Sisters of St. Joseph or our ministries on Erie Gives Day is automatically increased through a generous percentage match! August 13, 2019 marks the 9th Erie Gives Day, which was started in 2011 in honor of the Erie Community Foundation’s 75th Anniversary. During this event that runs for 12 hours between…

praying together

| August 1, 2019

Belonging to a prayer group can help us connect, not only with each other but with God. This is the SSJ mission. Many of our associates, agrégées, and sisters belong to prayer groups. One such group is the Meadville Associate Prayer Group which has met continuously, each month since it began in 1985 at the…

meet SSJ associate Patty George

| August 1, 2019

Associate Patty George and her late husband, Bob, became associates in 1992 at the invitation of Sister Mary Paula Zaleski and Sister Stephanie Wagner. Patty has known the Sisters of St. Joseph since her days at St. Patrick’s grade school. Today, she belongs to Blessed Sacrament Parish where she helped establish the parish food pantry….

Maxims — A Modern Take

More than 360 years ago, Father Jean Pierre Médaille, SJ, composed the Maxims of the Little Institute, 100 short sayings to help the first Sisters of St. Joseph grow in virtue. We share them here, along with contemporary translations developed by Susan Wilcox, CSJ, Brentwood, and a group of her students.

MAXIM 12

ORIGINAL

Choose to bear all the evils of time rather than the least of eternity, all the evils of nature rather than the least deprivation of grace, since all kinds of reasons illumined by faith teach you to live according to this truth.

Original Maxim 12
as written by Fr. Médaille

MAXIM 26

ORIGINAL

Seek in everything God's contentment and not anything else, and the better to practice this, remember in the entire living out of your life, in desolation, in sick¬ness, etc., to desire God's greater contentment without giving a thought to your own interests.

Original Maxim 26
as written by Fr. Médaille

MAXIM 54

ORIGINAL

Empty yourself of all human respect and of the least blameworthy concession, and declare, with a generous heart, never to yield in anything that would be against God's will.

Original Maxim 6
as written by Fr. Médaille

MAXIM 81

ORIGINAL

Whatever the virtue you recognize in yourself, never turn away from a true fear of God, conscious that his judgments are unfathomable and that his appraisals are quite different from ours.

Original Maxim 81
as written by Fr. Médaille

Read all Maxims

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