VERONICA NOVOTNY
STAFF WRITER

Several dozen young ladies gathered in Christ the King Chapel to worship Christ in the Eucharist by candlelight at a holy hour on Feb. 13.
Hosted by Franciscan University of Steubenville’s Women’s Ministry, the night was one of the ministry’s first events of the semester.
Sister Teresa Reyes, TOR, set the tone for the evening, “Dare to be vulnerable,” challenging the ladies to be vulnerable with and loved by the Lord in their time of prayer.
“Let the Lord love you (in your weakness). He longs for you to experience his infinite love precisely there,” Reyes said.
The Rev. Luke Robertson, TOR, presided over the time of Eucharistic Adoration and gave a short meditation that gave examples of saints who followed God’s will by being vulnerable to his presence in prayer.
Robertson focused on Elijah’s experience of prayer in 1 Kings 19.
“He finds God in … a still, small voice or a gentle whisper, something that would have been very easy for him to miss had he not been listening very carefully: the voice of God,” Robertson said.
Robertson also described St. Francis’s famous encounter with a leper.
“In the brokenness of that leper, St. Francis discovers his own brokenness, his own weakness before the Lord. He realizes that in that brokenness and in that weakness, he can become the most effective instrument before the Lord,” Robertson said.
The holy hour closed with a time of praise and worship centered around growing closer to God in moments of weakness.
Senior Rachel Lavallee commented on the beauty of spending time in prayer with other women. “The whole atmosphere and music contributed to a more intimate encounter,” Lavallee said. “There’s something beautiful about coming together as women to come see Jesus.”
Women’s Ministry invites all young women to attend its next event, which will be held on Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m. in the Gentile Gallery.
Over the course of the semester, women’s ministry will be hosting several book studies on the books “Abba’s Heart,” “My Sisters the Saints” and “Searching for and Maintaining Peace.”
Women’s Ministry will be accepting applications for the Capture My Heart retreat until Feb. 16.
More information on all that this semester has in store can be found on the FUS Women’s Ministry pages on Facebook and Instagram.