By Kathleen Nichols (Consecrated Woman of Regnum Christi)
December 5th, 2024 - Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center
Almost 500 women gathered in beautiful Donegal for the "Abide in His Love" Women’s Conference in November. The event aimed to celebrate the beauty and dignity of women in the Church and the world today, featuring guest speakers from Ireland, England, the United States, and the Holy Land, including Celine Kelly and Kathleen Nichols from the Consecrated Women of Regnum Christi.
Kathleen Nichols delivered a talk titled Women of Pentecost: You Are Beautiful, Your Eyes Are Doves, inspired by the Song of Songs. Her presentation highlighted the universal mission of women in the world through the stories of nine women depicted in Notre Dame’s Pentecost Room.
Kathleen explained, “When a woman keeps her gaze and focus on the Lord, she is filled with the Holy Spirit, and her eyes become ‘dove eyes.’ Filled with God, the natural beauty that characterizes every woman is amplified, drawing the gaze of others toward her and ultimately up to the Lord, if her own gaze is fixed on Him. In this way, women have a mission to elevate the world, raising mankind toward God.
“She can, however, naturally pull people down when her focus is on earthly matters or on base and sinful things. Her attractiveness can deceive and even stunt others’ growth when her emphasis is on herself as an endpoint. But when she is filled with the Holy Spirit, she becomes like Beatrice in Dante’s Divine Comedy. Just as Dante was captivated by Beatrice’s beauty, the world is drawn to a woman’s natural beauty. And as Beatrice looked up to God, her eyes mirrored Heaven. Dante, looking into that mirror, found himself gradually drawn upward, as described in Canto 22 of Paradiso.”
The event drew women of all ages, with large banner prints of the women depicted in Daniel Cariola’s paintings from Notre Dame’s Pentecost Room adding a visual dimension to the conference. Legionary priest Fr. Todd Arsenault, who offered confessions during the event, remarked, “The Holy Spirit was working in the lives of the women present! They were encouraged, motivated, shaped, and inspired toward ongoing conversion, holiness of life, and hope.”
Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center hopes to officially inaugurate the Pentecost Room in June 2025.
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