Servant of the Lord of Mercy

Servant of the Lord of Mercy –  Sister Corazón de Jesús y María Inmaculata, S.S.M.                                                                     Sierva del Señor de la Misericordia                                                          “The sick suffer more from loneliness, lack of family support, and rejection from others,                                                 than from their own illness.”    –  Mother Anastasia

Foundress:  Mother Anastasia Jaramillo Esquivel

Place:  Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico

Year:  1985 A.D.

Her Charism:  This Sister consecrates her life to God with simple perpetual vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the ardent search for holiness.  Her apostolate is one of compassionate love and mercy at the Casa Simón de Betania where she cares for terminally ill patients with cancer, AIDS, and tuberculosis and who are most vulnerable and also totally abandoned without any hope of familial support.  Here, patients know that death is close.  In the authentic Franciscan spirit, her service is generous and her love tender and unconditional.  She makes sure that those who are placed in her path are given quality of life care in their last phase on earth.  In the sick and suffering, this Servant encounters the tortured Face of Christ marked with sadness, poverty, and crippling loneliness.  For them she becomes a manifestation of Merciful Jesus and a reflection of His teachings put into action.  And for all this, patients are never charged a single peso.                                                              † Casa Simón de Betania is named for a leper village where Jesus was given food and lodging according to Matthew and Mark’s Gospels. †