We are commonly called Pink Sisters because of our pink habit but our official title is Sister-Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration (SSpSAP); for short, Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters. Pentecost, therefore, is our titular feast, our patrocinium (cf C 410).

Two questions often asked:

Why PINK?

Our Founder, St. Arnold Janssen, chose the color pink for our habit because it is the symbol of the love and joy of the Holy Spirit.

We are consecrated to the love of the Holy Spirit - “a love which is grace, generosity, a desire to draw near, a love which does not hesitate to offer itself in sacrifice for the beloved” (Pope Francis). The renunciation which our life of love requires is made in the joy of the Holy Spirit. God loves a cheerful giver. The hallmark of a Sister-Servant of the Holy Spirit is joy!

Young ladies employed in an airliner came to inquire about our life. One of the questions asked was, “Is it not boring (inside)?” to which I responded spontaneously, “Is love boring?” To my amazement, their spoke person immediately understood and turned to her co-workers and said to them, “That is why we do not understand, because we do not have love!”  And love is the reason for our joy.

“In your lives of prayer, moreover, Christ’s praise of his Eternal Father goes on. The totality of his love for his Father and of his obedience to the Father’s will is reflected in your radical consecration of love. His selfless immolation for his Body, the Church, finds expression in the offering of your lives in union with his sacrifice” (St. John Paul II).

In the footsteps of the poor, chaste and obedient Christ, we make the three evangelical vows of Chastity, Poverty and Obedience.  

Why the grille? 

Signs alert our senses to the meaning they contain. Since we are both body and soul, we need signs which convey deeper meaning. One such sign for us is the grille. As a sign of our withdrawal from the world, its mystery is “containment” – within the cloister is the fullness of Life and Light in the Holy Spirit; and the power of the Holy Spirit within us reaches from the cloister far out into the world and beyond the grille to give hope to the world.

Our enclosure does not alienate us from others. Communing with God and experiencing his tenderness, we bestow our love on all primarily in a spiritual way (excerpts from C 314 and 315)

The paschal mystery is also the key to understanding our life - the life of a cloistered sister. The grille separating her from the world is like the stone rolled before the tomb of Lazarus (cf Meditation in the Spirit of St Therese of Lisieux by Fr. Gary Caster). But unlike Lazarus the sister in the cloister is not dead or even resting but very alive! She lives in the Spirit who is life and love. Possessing the Spirit’s dynamism and energy she transcends every boundary (cf C315). Our life is a paradox. “Unless a grain of wheat dies it remains alone but if it dies it bears much fruit” (Jn 12:12). In the same vein our enclosure does not constrict freedom but gifts us with true freedom which enables us to share freely with others. Pic: reception room

We are not here to escape from the world but to live a life of prayer and penance for the world. We are here, above all, to witness to God’s presence among us in the Eucharist and to his great love for all in the joy of the Holy Spirit!

 “Open to the intentions and concerns of the Church as well as to the needs of all, we intercede before God in their behalf” (C 109). 

EUCHARISTIC LIFE          

The Eucharist is the heart of our personal and communal life (excerpt from C 103). Our contemplative life draws its strength from the Eucharist (cf C 106). Everything revolves around the Eucharist in praise and glory to the Triune God!

Live quietly with God.

Work gladly for God.

View things from God’s viewpoint.

Talk things over with God.

Glow with zeal for the glory of God.

Find your joy in God.

Rest deep in the heart of God.

 - Mother Mary Michael

In grateful adoration, day and night, before the Blessed Sacrament, we praise his goodness and mercy unceasingly and invite all to join in our homage. We welcome you to our Eucharistic Adorers League which is open to all who would like to join.

We sanctify the whole day by praying the seven Hours of the Liturgy spread throughout the whole day beginning with the Morning Praise; Midmorning; Midday and Mid-afternoon Prayer; Office of Readings; Evening Prayer and Night Prayer.

… by offering these praises to God we are standing before God’s throne in the name of the Church our Mother (cf SC 84,85) in union with Christ addressing his Father. In the Liturgy of the Hours we proclaim God’s saving deeds. (cf C 107)

Blessed Trinity

The Blessed Trinity is the very heart and foundation of St. Arnold’s spirituality which he gave to his spiritual sons and daughters as a legacy. “Within the mystery of salvation, the Church and hence our Congregation too is rooted in the mystery of the triune God and serves to glorify him” (C 101). “May the Holy Triune God live in our hearts and in every heart.” is the first motto of our Congregation.

Sacred Heart of Jesus

A Sister- Servant of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration is devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus present in the Most Blessed Sacrament and allows her heart to be transformed into his Heart. Imbued with the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, she witnesses to his love for all humankind; lives in the spirit of reparation and fervently prays that his Heart may live in every heart. (cf C 411.3)

Immaculate Heart of Mary

Our foundation day is on December 8, 1896, the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary.  We honor the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of the Lord and emulate the virtues of the Immaculate Heart of Mary; a model of faithful, loving attentiveness to God’s Word which she kept and pondered in her Immaculate Heart (cf C 412).

Give me a heart in deep solitude at home

in your great silence that beats for you alone.

Give me a heart full of your Spirit that knows

and loves you and loves others in you.

Give me a heart in communion with all peoples and the

whole of creation in your indwelling Trinitarian life and love.

Give me a heart absorbed in adoration that

possessing the Spirit’s energy and dynamism

pours itself out to all humanity in love, solidarity

and compassion; and reaches to and beyond the

four corners of the world your grace and salvation.

A Red Letter Day: September 3

On September 3, in our Mother House in Steyl, Holland the official
opening of the diocesan process of beatification of our Co-foundress
Mother Mary Michael took place. Holy Mass was celebrated at 10:30 a.m.
in our chapel, followed by the installation of the Tribunal and their
oath-taking in our Founder’s room, where most of our relics of St.
Arnold and Mother Mary Michael are exposed. In all our houses, we had
a free day spent in the spirit of joy and gratitude!


The first choice of date for this occasion was September 8. However,
this date was not possible for the invited Bishop of Roermond, Frans
Wiertz. He chose September 3, a free date in his calendar of
appointments – which proved to be God’s providence! Why? The letter of
Mother Mary Michael thanking the Founder for her acceptance into the
community of the Missionary Sisters was dated September 3! Later she
transferred to the contemplative community of the Holy Spirit
Adoration Sisters and is now honored as Co-foundress.