It's near-impossible to walk the streets of Manhattan -- or any other major American city -- without running into a woman on the sidewalk begging for money. She may have a sign that she is a mother, explaining how many children she has. She may have a child or two right there with her.
With every such encounter, I think of a woman who is about to be seen on theater screens: Francesca Saverio Cabrini. She's a canonized saint. An upcoming movie about her, "Cabrini," tells some of her story, presenting it as a feminist success -- and it is, in the truest sense.
She faces obstacles, including the skepticism and unhelpfulness of men. A missionary from Italy, she came to the United States to help immigrants who were languishing here in the pursuit of a better life. A Catholic religious sister, she cared for the orphan and the widow, as the Bible instructs us to. She helped build some of the institutions that would be the backbone of so many lives here, as did many other Catholic religious women: Orphanages. Schools. Hospitals.
Just the other day, I witnessed a religious sister named Julia Balu making her final profession with the Dominican Sisters of Our Lady of the Springs of Bridgeport. It's a small group of women with a long history -- more than 800 years. At Balu's final profession on a Sunday just before Lent, young girls from St. Vincent Ferrer High School, where she teaches religion, were present, full of smiles and flowers for their teacher. Like Cabrini, Balu serves as another another example of how religious women can touch people's lives.
Seeing the story of Mother Cabrini on screens is a tremendous opportunity to reintroduce the courage and leadership of nuns and other religious workers to a culture that doesn't always encounter them.
"Let us be generous, remembering always that the salvation of many souls is entrusted to our charity," Mother Cabrini wrote in her travel diaries. She continued: "We can do nothing of ourselves, for we are poor and miserable, but if we have faith and trust in him who comforts us, then we can do all things. Let us open wide our hearts, let us help those souls lying under the yoke of the king of darkness. Let us break, by the fire of ardent charity, the heavy chains that bind these poor souls to the terrible slavery of the devil, and we shall see that our efforts are not in vain."
The Cabrini movie is being released for Women's History Month, and that's brilliant in its way -- it's for more than a pious crowd, to tell a story that reaches beyond church pews. At the same time, her story cannot be told without an understanding of the deep humility that fueled her boldness. She saw herself as a mere instrument of the Lord, no greater or lesser than the people she served.
A few years ago, I put together a book, "A Year with the Mystics: Visionary Wisdom for Daily Living." This isn't meant to be a plug so much as an explanation. A main reason for my writing the book was to show the heart of people like Cabrini. They did tremendous works, but the only reason they could do them was time spent in prayer.
Wherever you are on your life's journey and whatever you think about the current state of politics, there's something more. If you can pursue it, you could find peace. Cabrini showed us how, as does the word of God.
(Kathryn Jean Lopez is senior fellow at the National Review Institute, editor-at-large of National Review magazine and author of the new book "A Year With the Mystics: Visionary Wisdom for Daily Living." She is also chair of Cardinal Dolan's pro-life commission in New York, and is on the board of the University of Mary. She can be contacted at klopez@nationalreview.com.)