The following are quotes from the Minute Book, that Pres. Boyd K. Packer uses in this great talk.

“This society is organized, according to your natures…You are now placed in a situation in which you can act according to those sympathies within you.”

“If you live to these privileges,…the angels cannot be restrained from being your associates…”

“If this society listen to the counsel of the Almighty, through the heads of the Church, they shall have power to command queens in their midst.”

I really love the grand picture these words create. That word “if” will play an important role come judgment day.

In “The Circle of Sisters”, given by Pres. Packer, he shares a story of Relief Society sisters in Eastern Europe. They were humble, they were a small group, but as they heard these thoughts from our original Relief Society sisters they were strengthened and full of the spirit.

We often feel separate from the Priesthood. We struggle remembering the various quorums, the keys of authority, and feel since we don’t have the men’s responsibilities, we don’t need to worry about that part of the gospel. Pres. Packer addresses this misconception:

“The Relief Society, the Prophet told us, is organized after the pattern of the priesthood. When a man holds the priesthood, he belongs to something bigger than himself. It is something outside himself to which he can make a complete commitment. It requires full dedication and loyalty. There is connected with it an oath and a covenant.

“Relief Society is a great strength to the priesthood. Through it, you will share in the privileges and blessings that belong to the priesthood. Indeed, the holders of the priesthood cannot have a fullness without you.

“If you sisters follow after that pattern, you will not be preoccupied with the needs of women.  You will serve your organization, your cause—the Relief Society—this great circle of sisters.  Your every need shall be fulfilled, now, and in the eternities; every neglect will be erased; every abuse will be corrected. All of this can come to you, and come quickly, when you devote yourself to Relief Society.”

“Service in the Relief Society magnifies and sanctifies each individual sister. Your membership in Relief Society should be ever with you. When you devote yourself to the Relief Society and organize it and operate it and participate in it, you sustain the cause that will bless every woman who comes within its influence. You are organized, I remind you again, after the pattern of and under the authority of the priesthood.

“Attendance at the Sunday meeting is but a small part of your duty. Some of you have not understood this and have set aside much of what Relief Society has meant over the years—the sisterhood, the charitable and practical parts of it.”

“Do not allow yourselves to be organized under another banner. Do not run to and fro seeking some cause to fulfill your needs. Your cause stands under the authority of the priesthood of Almighty God; that is the consummate, the ultimate power extant upon this earth!”

“Rally to the cause of Relief Society! Strengthen it! Attend it! Devote yourselves to it! Enlist the inactive in it and bring nonmember sisters under the influence of it. It is time now to unite in this worldwide circle of sisters. A strong, well-organized Relief Society is crucial to the future, to the safety of this Church. God bless you sisters of the Relief Society who bring so much.”

 

Boyd K. Packer, “The Circle of Sisters,” GC, Oct. 1980