In October 2024, the American Province launched Graced Moments, where every month, a Holy Child Sister shares a “grace-filled” experience that has influenced her life. The project flows from the Society’s mission “to help others to believe that God lives and acts in them and in our world.”
We thank Nancy Bello, a Sister of the Holy Child Jesus for 21 years, for offering her “graced moment.” Sister Nancy lives and ministers in Santiago, Chile.
Feel free to leave a comment for Sister Nancy at the bottom of this page. Thank you!
Click below to listen to the Spanish version read by Sister Nancy.
Click below for the English version read by Margaret (Peggy) Doherty, SHCJ.
Well, I would like to tell you about a moment of grace in my life. It’s a little difficult because I have had many moments of grace and it is difficult to choose one, but today, I would like to share with you a moment that has marked my life deeply. And although it has been in a time of pain, it has been very, very significant.
I am referring to the fires in Valparaiso last year. I felt motivated to go and be with the suffering people and when I arrived there, to see Christ suffering in so many children, men, women and old people — it has truly been a privilege to be with them, to cry with them, to embrace them, and to give them hope in such difficult times.
It has been a grace moment for me, but I didn’t see it that way at first. But now that I remember, it has been a moment of grace that I saw as a mark in my life, when they – the suffering – they me that we must get up, keep trying ahead, and move on, and in the midst of so much pain. I truly believe that it has been the greatest privilege in my life.
And it has taught me to be more aware of those who suffer. I ask the Lord to always, always make me see those who suffer, and I thank the Lord for that. I’m thankful for my community and Holy Child Associates who always go with me wherever I go. So, thank the Lord for that moment. I carry it in my heart with feeling a little bit of sorrow but also joy.
“It is not presumption to have hope and joy
and confidence in God’s grace.”
-Venerable Cornelia Connelly
What in Sister Nancy’s graced moment resonated with you? Please share below.
Joy can and is found in the presence of sorrow and suffering. Suffering and pain need not be denied to be happy or joyful. God is present everywhere and can and is indeed found in everything.
Very helpful to hear what Nancy is doing in Chile! Well done! We keep you in thought and prayer. We remember your visit here and look at the photo we took with members of all three provinces. How good God is to us!
Thank you, dear Nancy, for the graced moment you gave me in sharing your graced moment. Blessings on you as you seek to serve those special friends of God directly. I promise you a daily prayer as you pursue Jesus hidden among them. May I go with you to where I have never gone…
What resonates with me in Nancy’s graced moment is my reality of experiencing sorrow and joy concurrently. It’s real and it’s a gift from the Lord.