VATICAN CITY (CNS) – In the eyes of the world it would appear “absurd” to begin helping the poor and struggling for justice by spending time in adoration before the Eucharist, Pope Francis said, but that is precisely what an Italy-based religious order has been doing for 100 years.

Pope Francis greets members of the Sister Disciples of Jesus in the Eucharist at the end of a meeting in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican Aug. 25, 2023. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

“In the face of immense needs and with almost no resources at their disposal, what sense did it have to tell the sisters to get on their knees in adoration and reparation,” the pope said Aug. 25 as he joined a celebration of the centenary of the Sister Disciples of Jesus in the Eucharist.

But the practice worked, Pope Francis told the sisters and their collaborators at the meeting in the Vatican audience hall.

The prayers and adoration of the early members of the congregation “generated a contagious force, which soon led them to undertake and promote works of material, cultural and spiritual redemption far exceeding all expectations,” he said.