On October 25, 1866, two Sisters of Divine Providence
touched Texas soil after several months crossing the ocean from their
motherhouse in France Over the past twelve months, my Congregation, the Sisters
of Divine Providence, has experienced a year of profound grace, joy and
gratitude. We have been remembering, celebrating
and ritualizing this event that occurred 150 years ago, and we are committing ourselves
to honor that legacy by living it into the future.
We end this year with a retreat
together at our motherhouse in San Antonio on December 31st. One of the Sisters on the committee
responsible for preparing the prayer for this retreat just sent me a draft of
part of our retreat day together. Part
of the prayer is a “dialogue” with Mother St. Andrew, one of those two original
Sisters of Divine Providence who came to Texas 150 years ago, and who led this
fledgling Congregation until she was persecuted and ostracized by the then presiding
Bishop of Texas.
In the dialogue, Mother St. Andrew, a heroine to all of
us Texas CDPs, asks this simple question, “How can you be Providence to the
world, if you are not Providence to each other?” I could not and cannot read
this question without tears. It
resonates with a profound conviction I have had for many years about the ministry of
service we offer to our own frail, elder Sisters. We Sisters have been schooled to serving “the
other” in a totally selfless manner. We
have also wholeheartedly accepted the mandate, operative since the days of the Sister Formation Conference, that we should be fully prepared for
the ministries to which we are assigned, or to which we feel called. However, until we Sisters make that shift of consciousness – that the
ministry of service to our own members is on a
par with and is as sacred and as Gospel-driven as any other ministry “to others” –
we will miss the mark.
For me, as a Sister of Divine Providence, I live out our
Congregational charism when I am “being Providence”, when I am reflecting the
abundance of God’s loving care for all of creation. I cannot, my congregation cannot, restrict
living the charism only to “the other”. The charism must also be lived in the
way I see my frail, elder Sisters and in the manner in which my congregation
sees and executes its ministry of service to their own members.
For women religious following this blog, what is your Congregation's charism? When you ponder that in terms of the aging of your own members and the aging services they need, what do you see in a new light?
