Author: Renee Yann, RSM

Sister Renee Yann, RSM, D.Min, is a writer and speaker on topics of spirituality, mission, and ethical business practice. After twenty years in teaching and social justice ministry, she served for over thirty years in various mission-related roles in Mercy Health System of Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Joyous Angels

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Advent, joy, Mary, spirituality1 Comment

Third Sunday of Advent
December 14, 2025

Is there a difference between happiness and joy? Walking through the Med-Surge ward, the chaplain juggled that question. He had just left Betty whose test results had proven benign. Her reaction still echoed in his mind. Like someone awaking from a bad dream, she had said, “I am almost afraid to be happy!” But John, just across the corridor, was beyond happiness. In the slow diminishment of a terminal illness, John had told the chaplain, “It seems strange, but I have never been so joyful. In the busyness of my life before this, I had never realized how much I was loved.”

Coming to joy, even in the midst of challenge, is the perfection of the spiritual life. This week’s readings offer a syllabus for that journey. We find two great biblical figures visited by angels. Mary welcomes her angel somewhere within the humble routine of her day. She seems almost to be expecting the visit, already to have prepared a place for the Surprise of God. Presented with astonishing news, she simply asks God’s methods before bowing in graceful accord. Zechariah, on the other hand, receives his angel in the reserved sanctuary of the Temple. This angel disrupts the practiced rituals stabilizing Zechariah’s faith. Zechariah is startled, skeptical – afraid to be happy.

During this week, as we listen to scripture’s angels, may we hear their call to joyous freedom. May we delight in the prophet Zephaniah’s image of God Who, replete with divine joy, sings over us with gladness. Each day, we are visited by angels. Will they find in us the advent-heart of Mary, open to the wonder of the Holy Spirit? Or will they find us petrified in practices and protocols born of fear? The core of all deep healing lies in this: can we help people find their joy? Can we find our own? The answer begins in the recognition that, despite any contradiction of circumstance, we are infinitely loved.

Music: Handel: The Triumph of Time and Truth, HWV 71:
“Guardian Angels, Oh, Protect me”

Guardian angels, oh, protect me,
And in Virtue’s path direct me,
While resign’d to Heav’n above.
Let no more this world deceive me,
Nor let idle passions grieve me,
Strong in faith, in hope, in love.
Guardian angels. . .

For Your Reflection

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Suggested Scripture: Luke 1:26-38

Click for Scripture

Sun of Justice

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Advent, Courage, Faith, Mary, spirituality1 Comment

Second Sunday of Advent
December 7, 2025

Blessed are you, holy Virgin Mary, deserving of all praise;
from you rose the sun of justice, Christ our God.
Alleluia Verse: Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

There are a few places where nature offers a darkness so absolute that it can be terrifying. Assateague Island lies along the barrier coast of Virginia. On a winter night, darkness there feels complete, enveloping. As evening lengthens, night pulls its velvet canopy from the black ocean, covering the beach in silence.

The whisper of rustling sea oats along invisible dunes is the only link to a land left behind. But slowly, like sparks rolling through dry tinder, stars burn one by one through heaven’s blanket. By midnight, their incomparable brilliance convinces the soul that it has never been and can never be alone.

During this second week of Advent, which includes the feasts both of the Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Guadalupe, we are continually assured that we are not alone. Mary, First Among the Redeemed, rises like an evening star in the long story of salvation history. She begins a motherhood for Jesus and, in so doing, becomes our Mother too.

Like all maternities, Mary’s was a gradual awakening to the Life she bore within her. In this week’s readings, we see her absorb the angel’s stunning announcement into the immensity of her faith. We see her begin to prepare, in the confines of her humble life, a dwelling for Infinity. We see her labor to introduce God’s extraordinary secret into the ordinary dimensions of her life. We see her carry Incarnate Grace into the disrupted world of her cousins Elizabeth and Zechariah, anointing them with the blessing of her faith-filled Magnificat.

Boticelli: Madonna of the Magnificat

As we pray with Mary this week, let us hold all mothers in our hearts. Certainly, we hold our own mothers, whether in presence or in memory. May our prayer embrace all single mothers, unwilling mothers, refugee mothers, mothers so overburdened by poverty that they cannot enjoy the blessing of their children. We include all mothers, sick with any form of illness in body, mind or spirit. May any darkness these mothers face be lifted by the gracious hand of Mary who intimately knows their hearts and circumstances.

Mary visits each of us with the same unbounded joy she brought Elizabeth in that ancient Advent. She teaches us the profound yet simple secret of her holiness: that she understood her life to be a sacred channel for God. As we prayerfully wait with our blessed Mother for Christ to be born, may we listen in the darkness for her maternal lessons.

Music: Magnificat – Johann Pachelbel

For Your Reflection

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Suggested Scripture – Luke 1: 26-38

Click for Scripture

On That Day …

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Advent, Courage, Eternal Life, Scripture, spirituality5 Comments

First Sunday of Advent
November 30, 2025

On that day, the Lord will bind up the wounds of His People.
Isaiah 30:26

Today, we will begin the sacred season of Advent. It is a time of miracles, and we do not want to miss them because of our Yuletide distractions. Let me tell you a story about someone who longs for such miracles.

Christine is a beautiful woman, inside and out. She is as vital as fresh air or summer sun. She is successful, strong, sincere and faith-filled. But her heart is a fragile hidden glass, ready to break at any moment, because her beloved son is a heroine addict. Johnny lives in a tidal darkness beyond the shore of her sustaining light. Like spilled ink, that darkness regularly invades her joy and conspires to steal her hope.

Spiritual darkness holds a profound contradiction. It is the place where we may be deeply lost but even more deeply found. It is an interior tunnel through which every person walks at least once in her life, the deep chasm from which Isaiah pointed to the distant mountaintop.

During the thrilling season of Advent, we step out into the land of promises and prophets. The language of hope unfurls in a galaxy across the heavens, calling us out of darkness toward an Infinite and Incarnate Light. In this first week’s glorious readings, the prophet Isaiah points to our salvation, star by prophetic star:
• There is a Day coming, he tells us, and on that Day, the Lord will bind up the wounds of his people.
• In a very little while, he tells us, Lebanon will be changed. A shoot shall sprout from the tree we had thought to be withered.
• On this very mountain, he tells us, we will behold our God.

For all of us who, like Christine, carry human sorrow in the shadowed valleys of our spirits, there is healing on the near horizon. The Daystar of Jesus Christ is about to dawn through the darkness. God is about to put on the very humanness that is our burden and transform it into glory. Let us begin, with an eager faith, to enter the divine mystery being sung among the stars.

Music: Darkness and Light – Harald Hauser

For Your Reflection:

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Suggested Scripture: Readings for the First Sunday of Advent

Click for Scripture

Grace

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, Courage, Faith, Prayer, spirituality, Thanksgiving3 Comments

November 26, 2025

What is “grace”? I think it can be many things:

Saquon Barkley weaving through the opposing defense like an electric needle
Alysa Liu, her silver skates writing poetry
in the icy air.
Andrea Bocelli, embracing a world he cannot see
with the vision of song

Yard by yard, spin by spin, note by note, these graceful artists work their lovely craft.

This Thanksgiving Day, many families will begin their sumptuous meal with Grace, that humble awareness that all we are and have belongs to God. At some tables, the youngest will be appointed to say the blessing, encouraging them to recognize God’s gifts. Whoever offers the prayer, let the moment be a reminder for us of what true grace is.

Grace is an attitude of the heart that lives life gratefully. It is that constant, though sometimes silent, acknowledgement that I did not create myself, nor any of the gifts that bless my life. With kindness and respect, we see all life as gift, a reflection of Divine Generosity.

In a harsh world, where Life and Earth are often dismissed with irreverence and violence, Thanksgiving offers us the grace to reach deepened awareness and compassionate action.

Meister Eckhart, 14th-century mystic and theologian, said, “If the only prayer we say in our entire lives is ‘Thank You’ it is enough.” And it is enough. When we realize that gratitude is the only appropriate response to the awesome gift of life, that realization is enough to make us holy, happy, and wise. It is enough to let us live with true joy.

Thanksgiving Day, our all-American feast, is a time to gather family, friends, memories, and hopes, celebrating the community that embraces us. Even if the past year has brought a measure of loss or struggle, still we have been blessed with one another’s courage and support.

In a way, we become like the luminaries mentioned earlier. Through grace, we find the opening in the defensive walls around us. Through grace, we keep our footing in icy circumstances. Through grace, our lives create their own melody.

Don’t let the cascade of football games or preparations for Black Friday shopping obscure our appreciation for this holy time. Grace is the light of God’s life within us, and no darkness can ever extinguish it. Revere it on this beautiful holiday.

Tomorrow, as we give thanks for God’s gifts, let your gratitude be evident. It may take the form of a long-overdue reconciliation, or a private “thank you” for overlooked work. It may be a little extra help in the kitchen, or an offer to head the clean-up crew. It may even be volunteering to say the Grace with humility and hope. It may be a walk after dinner with someone who needs your light. Whatever form your thanks takes, may it fill your heart – and the hearts of your family and friends – with renewed strength and love.

And thank you all sincerely for your kindness and encouragement in supporting me and this Lavish Mercy. Know that you are in my Thanksgiving prayers. ❤️ Renee

Music: The Thanksgiving Song – Ben Rector

For Your Reflection

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Suggested Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-23

Click for Scripture

Extraordinary Days

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Advent, Hope, joy, Love, Mercy, Prayer, spirituality1 Comment

November 20, 2025

As we draw close to the Holy Season that will close our year, let’s welcome each final day as an extraordinary gift, grateful for the faith, hope, and love that sustain our lives.

Music: “Your Love” from “Once Upon A Time in the West” ” – by Ennio Morricone – performed by Hauser

For Your Reflection:

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Suggested Reading: Lamentations 3:22-23

Click for Scripture

Eucharist Means Thanksgiving

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Jesus, spirituality, Thanksgiving5 Comments

November 16, 2025

It may be a bit early, but as we draw closer to the season of Thanksgiving, it is time to make preparations for our “family eucharist”.

Families pass batons much like relay teams do.  One generation hands its gifts and stories on to the next.  Eventually, the cycle of love and tradition wears a deep path in history that becomes known by your family name.

How often do we see a newborn child and comment that she has her grandmother’s eyes?  How many times have we said to someone, “You remind me so much of your father.”? Whenever we see the pattern of strength and generosity repeated through the generations, we are given reason to hope and to be grateful.

In our family, the making of the Thanksgiving pies is a beloved tradition.  Over the years, it has passed from my grandmother to my mother, my father, my brother, and me.  Like many family traditions, pie-making has become a mark of our family – a “charism”, if you will – symbolizing our desire to feed, support, and love one another. It is also a way of remembering those who have taught us its intricacies.

30 years ago....

Over thirty years ago, I went into the kitchen and found my oldest niece, then about nine years old, preparing the pie crust and stirring the filling.  Looking at her, I realized that she and her brother and sisters are the beloved hope of our family’s future and the blessed confirmation of its past. Now, I have the joy of seeing their children making the Thanksgiving pies – so symbolic of that renewed hope and blessing – and such a source of joy.

Cookies Count Too
Pie with Grandpa
Some prefer to eat pie
Training without product!
Where’s the meat …?

The Newest Generation

Be especially mindful of your children this Thanksgiving. Confirm in them the traditions they continue and the newness they contribute to your family.  Whether they sit over at the kids’ table or have joined you at the “big table”, make Thanksgiving Day a special time to love them.  Share the stories that connect them to their heritage. Offer them that irreplaceable stability as they create their unique chapter of your family’s story.

Such simple moments can offer us a eucharistic grace – 

  • the welcoming of all at a shared table, 
  • the telling of stories that define our values,
  • the exchange of joyful hope, and the security of forgiveness with our familial community
  • the challenge and encouragement to model such hope in the world

Surely at such times, Jesus is with us, reminding us to “Do this in memory of Me.” As we pass the bread – or the pie – to one another, let’s remember the power of such Love.

My Mom’s Family-Famous Chocolate Pie

Music: “Family is Family” from the movie “Family Camp”

For Your Reflection

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Suggested Scripture: Ephesians 4:2-3

Click for Scripture

Imagine a letter …

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn spirituality3 Comments

November 11, 2025
184th Anniversary of the Death of Catherine McAuley

Venerable Catherine McAuley (left) and Frances Warde
in Our Lady of Mercy Window
BASILICA of the NATIONAL SHRINE
of the IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
Washington, DC

Fifteen years ago, as the Sisters of Mercy in Merion, Pennsylvania, prepared for the Sesquicentennial of our founding, we imagined what Catherine McAuley might write to us as we celebrated.

As we lovingly remember her today, on the anniversary of her death, perhaps you would enjoy reading the imagined letter she so graciously sent us:

Beloveds in Mercy,

I wish I could be with you in person on this special occasion, but – well, I’m sure you understand.  In place of that, I hope this letter brings you the warm blessing of knowing how grateful I am to each of you.

When I was contacted to offer you a few words, I indicated that I had already been talking with all of you for quite some time. If each one of you would think, just for a moment, our first conversation will come back to you.  It was the moment you realized that when you serve someone in the name of Mercy, you share the glorious and humbling call that I received so long ago. You share the work of God!

You and I may have talked in your classrooms or labs, in the crowded corridors at the change of class, or on your way home after a tiring week. We may have spoken just before a Board meeting, or in the midst of a celebration such as the one that brings us here today.  Perhaps we spoke at a hospital bedside, or kneeling beside a warm street grate on a snowy night.

Our connection happened in that moment when you realized, as I did in my own life, that you loved your wards and life companions the way God loves them – wanting their good, forgiving their shortcomings, honored to be with them on life’s journey. You loved them with Mercy.

For some of you, that sacred realization came when you helped a young person recover her self-esteem. For others, it came when you listened patiently to a harried parent until he found his way back to confidence.  For some of you, it was the pride you took in keeping the school beautiful, the records in order, the cafeteria churning. For some, it was the mutual support you found among your peers. For others, it was the ministry of sponsorship that you have exercised in my name for the sake of those we serve.

For many of you, it was the needy cry of the world outside a school or hospital. It was your courage to help your students and co-workers hear that cry too, and to guide them toward a merciful response. It is a call repeated to others by your witness of fidelity, justice, and charity in a tumultuous world.

How proud I am of each and every one of you! Long ago, when I still walked the streets of Dublin, I had already thought of you. It’s true! On a spring afternoon, passing by the sycamores of St. Stephen’s Green, I would imagine someone, long into the future, fired with the same passion for mercy that filled my own heart. That someone was you. Even then, when our little community was only a seedling, I knew it would endure and spread like a noble tree. I could already see its leaves shimmering with your names.

Over these nearly 200 years, I have slowly learned each of your names by heart – the thousands who have preceded you, and the thousands who will come after. You are one – and a very dear and special one – in an infinite line of compassion. You are the eternal reach of God into human need. You are the tender community of Mercy.

Today’s ritual marks a significant time in the evolution of this community.  It is a time of reminiscence, gratitude, blessing, and hope. I give you my everlasting thanks for joining your heart to this mission and your courage to carry it into the future. It was God’s dream in me so long ago, and it endures because of you.

But the years also bring change, which carries its own considerations, I know.  I went through many changes and challenges in my short ten years of ministry. And the changes over two centuries – oh, I can’t begin to tell you! They can bring hesitation and worry, but they also offer the opportunity for faith and creativity.  As I encouraged my first Sisters long ago, “We have one solid comfort amidst this little tripping about, our hearts can always be in the same place, centered in God, for whom alone we go forward or stay back.”

My final words to you today are these: trust our Merciful God who is always with us. Your trust will bring a new grace and a new call. It is the next imagination of mercy, and you are its architects! Be faithful and be blessed. Be Mercy in the world!

And, oh my friends, will we all meet in heaven? What joy even to think of it!

Your loving sister,

Catherine

Veterans Day

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn spiritualityLeave a comment

November 11, 2025

Photo by Wilson Rodriguez on Pexels.com

Today, we recognize all our men and women, living and dead, who have served in the United States Armed Forces.

This is not a celebration of war or military strength.  Rather, it is an acknowledgement of individual courage, generosity, and patriotism.  These are men and women who are willing to stand in the breach for the rest of us to protect our peace and freedom.

Yes, they are brave. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t frightened sometimes, or lonely, or discouraged about the course of international events.  Our veterans may show us ribbons, or pictures, or tell proud stories now. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t pay a huge personal price for their years of service. So did their families.

One cannot avoid the fact that there is confusion today among Americans as our military is domestically deployed against unarmed citizens and refugees. Many consider the deployment to be politicized presidential overreach using our military as pawns. We have yet to acknowledge what damage this does to the reputation of our military, the respect earned for 250 years of selfless service, and the well-deserved patriotic pride of its members.

Our men and women in service have made a valiant choice. They deserve to be inspired by leaders who value and honor that choice.  Their skills should be deployed in a manner that draws the respect of their countrymen and the world.  And upon discharge, they deserve to have the healthcare, housing, and benefits they have earned. 

However we feel about war or politics, to serve our country is an admirable contribution to the common good.  So if you know a Vet, thank them today for what they have done for you and your family.  And if you see a soldier, pilot, sailor, or marine in the airport or mall on this special day, say thanks and God bless you.  They answered the call to stand up for everything you have the freedom to celebrate today.

Music: God Bless Our Veterans – Voice of the Lamb (lyrics below)

Come to me all who are weary and burdened
I will give you rest and comfort your soul
The Lord is close to those with broken hearts
He saves those crushed in spirit never apart

In the darkest hours when shadows fall
He carries the weight answering the call
With gentle hands He heals the pain
In His promise of peace we remain

God bless our veterans brave and true
In every trial He stands with you
Through the pain and the sorrow His love renews
With strength from above He sees you through

He mends the hearts that are torn and worn
In His gentle touch the wounded are reborn
Fear not for He is ever near
With His righteous hand casting away your fear

In the darkest hours when shadows fall
He carries the weight answering the call
With gentle hands He heals the pain
In His promise of peace we remain

God bless our veterans brave and true
In every trial He stands with you
Through the pain and the sorrow His love renews
With strength from above He sees you through

Praise be to our God source of all comfort
In every affliction His love never falters
With the comfort we’ve received we comfort too
In His everlasting love all things are renewed

God bless our veterans brave and true
In every trial He stands with you
Through the pain and the sorrow His love renews
With strength from above He sees you through

He mends the hearts that are torn and worn
In His gentle touch the wounded are reborn
God bless our veterans in His holy light.

After Daylight Savings Time

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn spirituality1 Comment

November 3, 2025

The world changes.
The evening shadows
gather and surprise us,
like dinner guests arrived too early.

The meal is not ready;
the wine not fully decanted;
the candles yet unlit;
our warm spirits not yet gathered
to receive our visitors,
carried by the chilly dark.

It is this way with life as well.
Seasons of sadness, loss,
longing and incompleteness
intrude themselves into our light.
We are not ready
for their frosty secrets.

Yet they too carry
the Great Spirit’s warm caress,
though harder to discern.

So challenging to find the way
to a peace hidden in darkness.
So effortless to keep the path
in a summer afternoon’s full light!

Yet we must not shun
these blessed November evenings.
They squeeze the most amazing brilliance
through the vespering clouds.

Be still in their encroaching darkness.
It is but a moment until,
like a pinprick on velvet,
the Evening Star appears
tumbling a universe of diamonds
into the night.

~ Renee Yann, RSM

Music: Adagio – Tomas Albinoni

For Your Reflection

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Suggested Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:11

God has made everything beautiful in its time,
and has also set eternity in the human heart;
yet no one can fathom what God has done
from beginning to end.

Our Saints

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, Courage, Discipleship, dying, Eternal Life, Faith, spirituality9 Comments

November 1, 2025

Often, we see someone more clearly in death than we do in life.

One Sunday, nearly 25 years ago, our religious community gathered to commemorate the precious life of our Sister Germaine Donohue. Germaine, who was more familiarly called Mercedes (Mercy), was one of our missionaries in Peru. She was vivacious, compassionate, holy, and too young to die. While ministering in our remote mountain home village of Pacaipampa, Peru, this marathon runner who loved to dance suffered an unexpected heart attack. By the time the neighboring villagers brought her down the eight-hour descent to Lima, she lived only a few more hours. It was All Saints Day.

At her funeral liturgy, the legacy of love she had quietly planted throughout her life blossomed like a field of vibrant wildflowers. Listening to stories that spanned the 40 years of her religious life, it was easy to see how consistently she chose to be with others in simplicity, honesty, and joy. It became clear that everything in her life had led her to a remote mountain village among the poor, who perfectly mirrored her deepest values. They were her heart’s companions.

Just like producing a prize-winning garden, bringing one’s life to such a degree of simplicity and beauty is no easy task. As human beings, we are constantly battling the weeds of self-interest and the complexity it breeds. But when, like Germaine, we choose to learn from those who are poor, we can grow in our capacity to trust a Power greater than ourselves to sustain our lives. We thus become freer to celebrate the beauty of others and of life around us.

For their first ten years in Pacaipampa, our Mercy community had been laboring — without success – to bloom roses in their tiny garden. When the sisters returned from Lima with Sister Germaine’s body to bury her among her beloved poor, they were greeted with the miracle of the first Pacaipampa rose. It blossomed there, a new life among the simple “pueblos jóvenes”. Perhaps they named that rose “Mercedes”.

I share the story of Sister Germaine’s passing because I hope it will offer you the gift it gave to me. The slow, daily, and sometimes frustrating work of building our lives around truly important values will — in the long run — transform and bless us. In everyday decisions, it is difficult to get enough perspective always to realize that. But when our lives are gathered someday in the story-telling of our children, our friends, and our communities, may we be fortunate enough to have left a legacy of beauty — our own miracle “rose”.

Music: El Condor Pasa

This song, popularized by Simon and Garfunkel, is actually drawn from a Peruvian folk song.

For Your Reflection

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Suggested Scripture: Proverbs 31 (Adaptation)

Who can find a merciful woman?
She is worth far more than rubies.
Her community has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
She brings them good, not harm,
all the days of her life.
She gets up while it is still night;
she provides food for her neighbors
and portions for the very poor.
She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.
She sees that her work is fruitful,
and her lamp does not go out at night.
In her hand she holds the distaff
and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.
When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
She watches over the affairs of her beloved community
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her neighbors arise and call her blessed;
her family also praises her:
“Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all.”
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman of mercy is to be praised.
Honor her for all that her hands have done,
and let her works bring her praise at the heavenly gate.