ihmimmaculata.orgihmimmaculata.org/.../optional-tool-for-spiritual-discussion-2018.… · web...

Guide for Spiritual Discussion - 2018

Chapter 2018 has called each of us to recommit ourselves to living our IHM spirit in vibrant and tangible ways through a deeper understanding and a clearer articulation of our Charism! Ultimately we are called to become more fully joyful bearers of God’s redeeming love to the people of God!

This Guide for Spiritual Discussion is offered as a possible first step in the process of learning about, reflecting on, recognizing within and without, embodying, living and sharing our Charism! This guide is in no way intended to be the only way to

approach this goal! Rather it is provided as a practical means to initiate the implementation of Chapter 2018. Each local community has the option of using the resources that they find most beneficial for spiritual discussion.

With regard to this guide, except for Reflection 1, all of the content is excerpted from the Charism Committee Script that was presented at the Chapter. Selected segments of that document are reprinted here; sisters may find it helpful (and inspiring) to read or re-read the complete document which can be accessed on the Congregational website in the Sisters Section under Chapter 2018. Reflection 1 of this guide includes the recommendations of the Community Life Chapter Committee with the thought that they might be useful in the formulation of a local community goal. This reflection is probably most useful for spiritual discussion in October. Reflection 8 suggests an assessment of progress toward the local community’s annual goal. This reflection would be appropriate at the end of the year. The remaining six reflections may be used selectively in any order that best serves the local community.

May the year ahead hold an abundance of grace and blessing for each local community as together we ponder anew the very core of the legacy of our Charism! May our reflections bring us to a deeper understanding of our charism and a recommitment to living it in vibrant and tangible ways in joyful service to the people of God!

Contents

Reflection 1: Gathering the Graces of Chapter 2018 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 2

Reflection 2: Witnesses to a Living Charism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pages 3 - 4

Reflection 3: Called to Be Women of Love, Called to Be Women of Creative Hope . . . . . . . . . . . Page 5 - 7

Reflection 4: Called to be Women of Fidelity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pages 8 - 9

Reflection 5: Charism: The Challenge of Clear Articulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pages 10 - 12

Reflection 6: Revitalization of Charism: A Contemplative Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pages 13 - 14

Reflection 7: Revitalization of Charism: No Room for Complacency! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pages 15 – 17

Reflection 8: Reflect, Assess, Give Thanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Reflection 1: Gathering the Graces of Chapter 2018

Focus StatementInspired by the pioneer spirit of our congregational story, we are called to revitalize and respond anew to our Charism of love, creative hope, and fidelity. Through a deepened understanding and a clearer articulation of our Charism, each sister recommits herself to living our IHM spirit in vibrant and tangible ways so as to be a joyful bearer of God’s Redeeming love to the people of God, especially those most in need.

Community Life Committee Recommendations affirmed by Chapter 2018

1. To affirm that each Sister be invited to consider and work on essential responsibilities of community life, namely: Communal Prayer, Care and Concern, and Presence over the next four years.

2. To affirm that each local community be invited to consider and work on essential responsibilities of community life, namely: Communal Prayer, Care and Concern, and Presence over the next four years.

3. To affirm that we entrust to the Implementation Committee the work of the Community Life Committee.

For personal reflection:

Chapter 2018 has called for each sister to consider and work on essential responsibilities of community life and to recommit herself to living our IHM spirit in vibrant and tangible ways.

What is this call asking of you personally? What are some practical ways to respond?

For local community sharing:

Share a significant experience of Chapter 2018 either as a delegate or as a supportive member.

The local community is an essential source of grace for the Congregation. Consider using the Focus Statement/Recommendations from the Community Life Committee as you formulate your local community goal: How is God inviting our local community to grow?

2

Reflection 2: Witnesses to a Living Charism

Focus Statement

Inspired by the pioneer spirit of our congregational story, we are called to revitalize and respond anew to our Charism of love, creative hope, and fidelity. Through a deepened understanding and a clearer articulation of our Charism, each sister recommits herself to living our IHM spirit in vibrant and tangible ways so as to be a joyful bearer of God’s Redeeming love to the people of God, especially those most in need.

Excerpt from the Charism Presentation Script – Chapter 2018 (page 2)

“To pioneer” is to be among the first to explore, research, or develop a new area of knowledge or activity. A pioneer spirit certainly permeated the actions of Fr. Gillet, Mother Theresa Maxis, and our early sisters, and has continued to enliven the mission of the IHM’s throughout our congregational story. Our IHM story is one of joyful servants stepping forward, trusting in Divine Providence in order to respond to human need with joyful presence.

For Personal Reflection:

Take some time to re-read chapters of our Congregational Story. Among the resources which might be found on your convent bookshelf are the following:

Alma, Maria. Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, 1845-1967. Dolphin Press, 1967.

Baney, Margaret Mary. Witness: One Response to Vatican II. Vantage Press, 1987.

Congregation, Member of the. Thou, Lord, Art My Hope! The Life of Mother M. Theresa, a Pioneer of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Dolphin Press, 1961.

Enderle, Gilbert Ahr. I Desire to Be Everywhere: Louis Florent Gillet, Frontier Missionary, Founder, and Contemplative Monk. Oblate Sisters of Providence/Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, 2012.

Gannon, Margaret. Pilgrim Let Your Heart Be Bold. Congregation of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Scranton, PA, 2018.

Kealy, Sister Marie Hubert. Renewed Vision: Vatican II to the Millennium: 1962-2006: Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Immaculata, Pennsylvania. Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, 2008.

3

Additional resources are posted on line in the Sisters Section of the Community website in the Spiritual Discussion Section.

For Local Community Sharing

Share a piece of our “Congregational Story” that seems to embody an aspect of our charism “in vibrant and tangible ways”. The story you choose to share might come from one of our Community history books, it might come from the oral sharing of IHM stories of community and ministry that have never been written down, or it may be part of your own IHM experience.

Each Sister, each local community is writing the living story of our IHM Congregation! Within your local community and ministries, how is the charism lived out in vibrant and tangible ways?

For Congregational Sharing (optional)

Take a picture(s) of our charism being lived out today in your local convent and/or ministry site. Photos need not be limited to ministry - community life photos are welcome. Forward photos to Karen Creely ([email protected]) who will post them on a “Living Charism Page” in the Sisters Section of our Community Website. Include the name of the convent and the ministry site.

4

mailto:[email protected]

Reflection 3: Called to be Women of Love, Called to be Women of Creative Hope

Focus Statement


Excerpts from the Charism Presentation Script – Chapter 2018 (pages 3, 4)

Called to Be Women of LOVEBe a joyful bearer of God’s Redeeming love!

We are called to be Women of Love, joyful bearers of God’s Redeeming love. Faithful Witness states: This Charism is LOVE, which continues to manifest itself today in the sisters’ joyful service of God and his people… Since our beginning we have sought to joyfully bring God’s Redeeming Love to his people. We who know we are loved, forgiven, and saved by our God of All Grace have responded to the call to bring that love into the midst of God’s people in joyful service for one hundred seventy-three years. We have done this in grand ways and little ways, but always with the Love which is our Charism – the kind of love which Saint Alphonsus referred to when he said, Love never says enough!

We have been Women of Love in times of great need. In 1918, exactly 100 years ago, there was the devastation of the Influenza Epidemic. A Navy ship from Boston brought Influenza to Philadelphia in September of that year. According to James F. Armstrong in the article "Philadelphia, Nurses, and the Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918," (< Navy Medicine 92, no. 2 {March-April 2001}: 16-20) "Philadelphia was about to become the American city with the highest, most rapidly accumulating death toll in the worst pandemic in recorded history." From the Pennsylvania Gazette on October 8, 1918 we learn:

Today in Philadelphia, there are “1,481 new cases, 250 deaths. The shortage of doctors and nurses, 75 percent of whom had been called to military duty, is acute. The director of the Philadelphia Hospital pleads for volunteers to relieve nurses who have collapsed from overwork.”

How did our sisters respond? We responded that to Love is to serve! Beginning October 9th our sisters began volunteering. Mother Alma (Mother Maria Alma, Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Lancaster, PA, Dolphin Press, 1967) records that from the 26 Philadelphia convents alone “127 Sisters were serving in general emergency hospitals; 162 caring for the sick in private homes.” Sisters served in other ways as well, such as preparing and serving dinner to students of Saint Charles Seminary who were digging graves in Holy Cross Cemetery. These sisters lived the words of St. Teresa of Avila –

5

Dive into the ocean of endless love; see as God sees; remember, God looks through our eyes. We have always been Women of Love when called to serve God’s people.

Called to be Women of Creative Hope“…to the people of God, especially those most in need”

Faithful Witness continues: This Charism is creative HOPE, which puts all its confidence in God’s loving Providence. In her prayer book we find these words that expressed for Mother Theresa her resolution to depend fully on Divine Providence in faith, hope, and charity:

I adore You, I love you, I give myself wholly to You. O Jesus, Son of Mary, have mercy on me; increase my faith, and make it lively and active. Strengthen my hope, may it be immovable and enable me to live in total resignation to Your amiable Providence. Fill me with charity; fill my heart with Your love. Let it be Your love. Your love which may move me to live, and grant me to die in the exercise of Divine Love. (Prayer Book pp. 114-116)

We, her daughters, have lived these words, going where a need was present and trusting that although not all the details were yet in place, the call of God was clear, and our response was true.

In Mother Alma’s community history book we read: Mother Theresa mentions seven sisters in the community (1851). One of the seven was Mary Ann Walter from Baden-Baden (Bah-den Bah-den), Germany who knew only German. Her reception was postponed because of her language difficulties.

But in God’s providence, Sr. Mary Ann eventually was received into the community and was available when a teacher was needed for German girls at St. Michaels Parish, Monroe. She later became a pioneer to Susquehanna, PA and the Mistress of Novices there. As we are continually reminded, God’s ways are not our ways. Though we do not always know how, we know that God will provide and what seems like impossibility can, with God’s help and faith in Divine Providence, become an unexpected reality. We are reminded to Take Courage!

This trust and dependence on Divine Providence has been true since the beginning. Many of us will remember Mother Theresa’s record of some of the challenges of the early days:

“The winter of 1845 was very severe … Besides not having any of the conveniences, we were badly off for water even for daily use…With all these inconveniences, however, we were very happy and were often amused at such novelties.” (Mother Alma’s Community History Book p. 42)

These instances remind us that commitment to hope in Divine Providence empowers us to overcome all obstacles and bear any hardships. From our foundation, sisters have responded joyfully to the call of the present moment, trusting that God’s grace will guide and strengthen our lives and our plans.

But perhaps even more importantly, this living of Creative Hope highlights the reality of the lives most of our sisters have lived day after day – trusting, sacrificing, serving, making due, supporting each other

6

every day. We do it for love of God and God’s people, figuring out along the way how it will be accomplished, and knowing that is it not “we” who do it.


As you review your personal IHM history, can you recognize times when, motivated by great love, you responded with a creative hope to a call, a need, or a new assignment without knowing “how” you would accomplish it, but trusting that God’s Providence would provide the graces needed? What was the outcome?

For Local Community Sharing:

“Our Congregational story is full of times when we rose to the occasion; we did not fear to take a risk. Can we continue to walk in faith into the unknown?” – Charism Presentation

What are some of the unknowns we encounter today as we walk in faith into the future? How can we respond with creative hope?

What risks are we being invited to take today?

7

Reflection 4: Called to be Women of Fidelity

Focus Statement


Excerpts from the Charism Presentation Script – Chapter 2018 (pages 5, 6)

Called to be Women of FIDELITY“each sister recommits herself”

Responding daily to the call of the Divine with creative hope and loving engagement calls forth a profound awareness of the grace of Fidelity. Faithful Witness reminds us that Fidelity is twofold in that it inspires fervor

- in one’s vocation in Christ - and in one’s mission in the Church.

Fervor in one’s vocation in ChristFather Gillet reminds us that our Fidelity is possible first and foremost because of God’s Grace.

First of all [is] the grace of God. It is the wind which causes the vessel to advance. Everything is possible with God’s grace; nothing without it. . . Without Jesus Christ, without his grace, your efforts remain fruitless – they are without merit. . . (The Reverend Louis Florent Gillet: His Life, Letters and Conferences, pp. 237-246, Sermon to Novices on The Grace of God and Fervor)

However, fidelity to our vocation in Christ and attention to our own spiritual life play a vital role in our effective living of our Charism. At the time of the dedication of Villa Maria House of Studies, then Archbishop Krol addressed us in these words:

And of course, this is the paradox of religious life, the more active we become in the apostolate, the less time we spend in the presence of God, the less effective becomes our work. The more time we spend with God the more effective becomes our spiritual, our intellectual and our professional competency. . . .[God’s people] expect of you not only this competency. . .they seek in you a reflection of the love and joy of Christ. (Mother Alma’s history p. 451)

8

Do you hear in those words exactly that JOY that attracted us to this community? Isn’t JOY what those interviewed for the last Convocation presentation stated over and over is what speaks to them of IHM? Being who we say we are in whatever age represents a key component of vocation fidelity and vocation promotion. Charism challenges us to live a fundamental, deliberately chosen option: fidelity to our rule, our traditions, our shared vision. We are called to be fervent, faithful Women of Joy. REJOICE!

Fervor in one’s mission in the Church The second part of Faithful Witness calls for Fidelity to our mission in the Church. What is our mission? The voice of Mother Theresa echoes from letters about the proposed establishment at Susquehanna, PA:

I cannot help expressing to you my satisfaction upon hearing that it is among the poor that we are called, for that is exactly what we like. We have no desire of being established in large cities and among the great ones of this world. The location and all give me the assurance that it is the will of God we should go. (Thou O Lord Art My Hope, p. 78)

This quote highlights our Alphonsian heritage and points to a priority for the poor and marginalized. Pope Francis in his World Day of Consecration homily echoes this challenge of going forth to the people of God while witnessing to the Charism, when he exhorts:

To go out of ourselves and to join others” (Evangelii Gaudium, 87) is not only good for us; it also turns our lives and hopes into a hymn of praise. But we will only be able to do this if we take up the dreams of our elders and turn them into prophecy.

For Personal Reflection: (Fervor in Vocation) In my very busy life, with numerous demands on my time and energy, how

can I safeguard time to be in the presence of God and to cultivate my spiritual life? (Fervor in Mission) Do I approach my ministry with joy and fervor? Is this visible to those with

whom and to whom I minister?

For Local Community Sharing: What are some of the ways that this local community participates in the mission of the Church? What are “the new poverties” of our times? What response is God calling forth from us?

9

Reflection 5: Charism: The Challenge of Clear Articulation

Focus Statement


Excerpts from the Charism Presentation Script – Chapter 2018 (pages 7-10)Clearer Articulation

What are the challenges for our Chapter in looking anew at Charism and the Call as voiced through our Focus Statement? Historically, much of our challenge has been putting our LIVING CHARISM into words. We appear to find it hard to describe that “something” that called us to this community of Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. . . As a delegation, as a community, we seem to be saying that finding words to articulate more clearly the meaning of Charism as IHMs remains challenging. Let us look at a few possible reasons for the difficulty in articulating our Charism. Our community has its roots in a rich trinity of influences, unlike some other communities such as Jesuits or Franciscans. We embody the gifts of Alphonsian spirituality in our Redemptorist roots, and in the life and example of Father Gillet and Theresa Maxis – all of which come together to express what it is to be an IHM Faithful Witness. No wonder it is hard to put into a few words! In our living expression of IHM we have developed a multitude of practices and devotions which speak to the influences of these roots, captured beautifully in “Heritage Prayer.” Beginning as early as the adoption of the Angelus which Father Gillet taught to Therese Renauld and progressing to our current use of the Prayer of Saint Alphonsus as our corporate Prayer in Preparation for Chapter, we have a treasure of IHM traditions . . . Hidden underneath that Trinity of spiritual influences, hidden within these practices and devotions, are 173 years of charism lived in the daily, ordinary, hidden acts of our sisters, of you, who simply do what needs to be done, every day, making God’s presence known and God’s redeeming love visible, quietly and faithfully. In an article in America Magazine John Conley remembers and reflects on his fourth-grade teacher, Sr. Thaddeus:

The poorest pupil in class was Charlotte. The school’s class structure was simple: the split-levelers, the row-housers and the people from “the project,” where Charlotte lived. She also stuttered badly. In Sister Thaddeus’s class, one of the girls would call out a pupil’s name from a

10

stack of cards as we plowed through the daily oral drills. After several weeks, however, I noticed that Charlotte was the one pupil whose name was never called. Only years later did I surmise that Sister Thaddeus had pulled her card to avoid any humiliation. Our parish was an endless round of social celebrations: the May procession, the carnival, the St. Patrick’s dance, the St. Joseph table, bingo, the concert by the Mummers string band. Sister Thaddeus would circulate among the families with a warm greeting for each person. When our family showed up at the festivals, we often brought our sister Nancy, who had Down syndrome. Sister Thaddeus would always go out of her way to give a small gift to Nancy. We quickly acquired “the Sister Thaddeus collection”: a St. Bernadette medal, holy cards of Our Lady, a plastic rosary bracelet. After decades of teaching, it dawned on me that Sister Thaddeus had long ago made her own preferential option for the poor. Whereas many teachers play for the stars, Sister Thaddeus cared for the vulnerable. Her pedagogical compass was compassion. The Gospel made her tick. ("Teachers Who Teach," America Magazine, December 16-29 issue).

Hidden stories like these live in the hearts and minds of all those we have touched in our few or many years of ministry. THIS is who we are, without any fancy words, living the legacy passed on to us, LIVING our Charism. . .

While Faithful Servant refers to the essence of our Charism as love, creative hope, and fidelity, our Charism is much broader than a statement of theological virtues. It is a way of being, responding to this gift from the Holy Spirit, and reflecting a unique expression of God’s presence in the lives of all sisters in all times who live out the IHM tradition. This way of being is mirrored in our title and our symbolism. The title of our Congregation, Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary expresses the core of our Charism:

• Sisters – relating to one another and with God’s People • Servants – responding to human needs with presence and joyful service • Immaculate Heart of Mary – offering joyful service in communion with Jesus and Mary’s Hearts filled with love and compassion.

“Heart” captures essential aspects of our Charism. It speaks of loving, joyful service; creative hope in ministering to the most abandoned; and fidelity in prayer and presence. Hearts are on our rings and are used in all of our community symbols.

Charism encompasses the “package of life” given by the Spirit from our foundation and entrusted to us, as members of the community at this time. ALL that we have been given provides a bountiful resource to be used for the building of the kingdom. We want to look with new eyes . . . We want to “articulate” what this “givenness” means for us here and now . . . As we live the life of Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, we realize that Charism must be lived out in relationship. As a gift given to each sister individually through her vocation to the IHMs and given to the congregation through its foundation under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we are called communally and uniquely to live out the fullness of this gift for the benefit of the God’s People, the Church. We share this gift of Charism through our ministry, our community-living, our inclusive and

11

welcoming stance, our overcoming our weakness and celebrating our virtue, our taking risks, and responding boldly and bravely to graced opportunities. Charism demands a total investment in God’s gift. We are called to be conscious of ourselves as members of the congregation, making a deliberate choice to respond joyfully to the demands and circumstances of life as they arise.

For Personal Reflection: How would I articulate the IHM charism? How has the IHM charism shaped my spiritual life? How is our IHM charism expressed in my ministry?

For Local Community Sharing: What does joyfully bearing God’s redeeming love look like in our day to day lives? How can our IHM charism serve the emerging needs of the Church?

12

Reflection 6: Revitalization of Our Charism—A Contemplative Approach

Focus Statement


Excerpts from the Charism Presentation Script – Chapter 2018 (pages 10, 11)Questions: How to revitalize and to respond anew?

The IHM Charism is a way of living the IHM spirit, reflective of God's invitation to us to participate in the redemptive mission of the Church, expressed through joyful presence and joyful service to God's people, rooted in prayer and filled with love. Charism seems to be at the heart of our Focus Statement, but how exactly are we to accomplish what is asked? Our committee often returned to the table responses as we considered our response to the Focus Statement. Much can be learned by listening repeatedly to their message and spirit. As we prayed and shared about them, we began to hear some calls and some fears. First, we hear a call to a contemplative approach. The table responses speak to:

• contemplative revitalization of our Charism in order to respond to the contemporary needs of the People of God • deepening our contemplative understanding • acquiring a deeper contemplative appreciation…

What might a contemplative approach to our Charism entail? A contemporary understanding of contemplation implies presence, wakefulness, openness and availability. Most simply, the heart of contemplation seems to be “waiting on God” to show us how to “see as God sees.” Might such a contemplative approach enable us to:

• listen more deeply • trust more wholeheartedly • love more unconditionally

13

Might such a contemplative approach revitalize our understanding of Charism and help us to respond more authentically to the contemporary needs of the People of God? Might such a contemplative approach be a way of bringing new energy to living our Charism? Might a commitment to personal and communal contemplation help us, individually and communally, to:

• love more joyfully • hope more creatively • be faithful more fervently

If a contemporary understanding of contemplation implies presence, wakefulness, openness and availability, might a contemplative stance invite us to wake up TO each other, to wake up TO the Word Made Flesh among us. A contemplative approach might invite us:

• to realign our use of “time” • to take time out for presence • to take the time to notice • to take the time to be available

It takes a bold and courageous spirit to be so radically ready for a future beyond our dreams and visioning. In the words of a familiar song, “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard what God has ready for those who love him! Give us the mind of Jesus! Teach us the wisdom of God!” What is it that would call us to prayerfully contemplate our Charism? Surely, this begins with an individual commitment. We asked for this focus on Charism as a congregation. Can we ask ourselves, “What am I willing to do to respond to the challenge of the Focus Statement...”

For Personal Reflection: How could contemplative practice enrich my spiritual life, my community life, my ministry? How could contemplative practice revitalize my personal living of our IHM charism?

For Local Community Sharing: What does a contemplative approach to the charism entail? What role does contemplation play in our readiness to engage present and future challenges in

community and ministry?

Reflection 7: Revitalization of the Charism – No Room for Complacency!

14

Focus Statement


Excerpts from the Charism Presentation Script – Chapter 2018 (pages 11, 12)Questions: How to revitalize and to respond anew?

. . . We hear in the table responses a call to address 2 fears: complacency and a loss of a bold and courageous spirit. Has complacency crept in? The table responses suggest we fear this is so. In our Chapter Focus Statement we call for EACH SISTER to recommit herself to living the IHM Charism in new and vibrant ways. Are we willing to make a personal commitment to examine our own living? Are we, as a delegation, willing to make a commitment to call ourselves and our sisters to more? Faithful Witness calls for this in the oft-quoted, “each sister has a right to the spiritual strength and moral support of every other sister in order that she may experience that same strength and support that community living gives.” We may have looked at this as a call to accept and embrace one another. But perhaps this is also a call to inspire each other to MORE and to EXPECT it from ourselves and each other?

In 1916 an unnamed sister writes:We learn from St. Alphonsus that there is no family bound together by closer ties than a religious Community. Those who have taken the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience have a moral unity surpassing altogether any possible unity in the natural order. They have one end in life, the honor and glory of God and the salvation of souls. . . the members of their Community are their constant companions, and as all are striving for the same end, and using the same means to attain it, the family spirit is emphasized. Upon this bond of unity and perfect religious harmony Father Gillet placed the greatest importance; and that it might become the distinctive characteristic of his newly-organized Community, he made it imperative that the members should have “but one heart and one soul, loving one another with an affection founded more on spiritual than on natural motives. (A Retrospect Three Score Years and Ten, By a Member of the Congregation 1916, p. 52-53)

Every Charism is born in the heart of God. Every sister has received a spark of the Charism, analogous to the grace of vocation. How can we help each Sister to embrace the Charism anew? The pre-Chapter table responses emphasize the necessity of each sister being on board with this. Sisters, this personal recommitment is also our foremost responsibility as a delegation. It begins within each of us personally, and then proceeds to not just an invitation to the community at large but an expectation that we will all

15

do this. There are not some fancy words that will make that happen, but maybe there are some ideas that will fuel our recommitment. . .

Sr. Tina McCann quoted Sr. Sandra Schneiders in reminding us that community is “the entire reality of congregational belonging and participation.” By our choice of membership, we are responsible to the Congregation, to our local communities, to individual sisters. In a society that teaches us to take care of ourselves, have we lost the sacrificial spirit of our elders? Would we not be better served in supporting each other to “spend ourselves?” Sister Tina goes on to remind us that belonging and participation go hand in hand. Opting out is not an option, and yet the table responses suggest it has become one. How do we address this? Naming the problem is the first step to a solution. Can we courageously own the reality expressed in our table responses and Focus Statement that this is real? Archbishop Chaput reminded us that Chapters are about facing our failures, then recommitting ourselves to Jesus walking among us leading us from discouragement to joy. How we got here is not as important as: “What are we going to do about it?” Our future depends on “What we are going to do about it?”

That brings us to another fear that seems to come through in the table responses. Are we still BOLD and COURAGEOUS? The table responses suggest we fear we are not. We are begging for SOMETHING that will renew and re-energize us; we sense that grasping something new is what will lead to revitalization.

Perhaps some energy for revitalization can be drawn from the example of Mother Theresa and all those great women who preceded us. As we go back and read the stories of our community founders and “elders,” we realize we are heirs to a legacy of faithfulness and courage. Nothing stopped them from responding to the impetus of the Holy Spirit in loving, joyful service to God’s people wherever and whenever the call was heard, trusting that Divine Providence would clear the way and provide what was needed. In her new book, Pilgrim Let Your Heart Be Bold, Sister Margaret Gannon reminds us that above all Mother Theresa gives us her example of courage:

There can be found just a few moments in which she seems to be afraid. Surely, she had a natural spirit of daring and confidence, and she used it to risk everything time and again, in seeking to discover and do the Will of God. In contrast, it was the fearfulness of others that caused much of her sufferings. It was persons afraid for their power and for the serenity of their situations who resisted her return into their midst, even when she could hardly effect whatever disruption they feared. She remains a free and courageous model for today. She urges us all with the words of the Jerusalem Bible translations of Psalms 27: “Let your heart be bold!” (Gannon, Pilgrim Let Your Heart Be Bold p. 90)

If we, as a delegation, begin by committing to a bold and courageous living of our Charism, could we not “Wake up each other?” Read the stories! The history! The testaments! And then live it! The zeal of another is intoxicating! As Pope Francis charged religious to “Wake up the world!” we could also be witnesses to each other. We cannot change the heart of another, but could we not create something of which we all WANT to be a part? Is this the “SOMETHING new” that will renew, energize, and revitalize?

16

Every Charism is born in the heart of God. Every sister has received a spark of the Charism, analogous to the grace of vocation. How can we help each Sister to embrace the Charism anew? The pre-Chapter table responses emphasize the necessity of each sister being on board with this. Sisters, this personal recommitment is also our foremost responsibility as a delegation. It begins within each of us personally, and then proceeds to not just an invitation to the community at large but an expectation that we will all do this. There are not some fancy words that will make that happen, but maybe there are some ideas that will fuel our recommitment. … Sr. Tina McCann quoted Sr. Sandra Schneiders in reminding us that community is “the entire reality of congregational belonging and participation.” By our choice of membership, we are responsible to the Congregation, to our local communities, to individual sisters. In a society that teaches us to take care of ourselves, have we lost the sacrificial spirit of our elders? Would we not be better served in supporting each other to “spend ourselves?” Sister Tina goes on to remind us that belonging and participation go hand in hand. Opting out is not an option, and yet the table responses suggest it has become one. How do we address this? Naming the problem is the first step to a solution. Can we courageously own the reality expressed in our table responses and Focus Statement that this is real? Archbishop Chaput reminded us that Chapters are about facing our failures, then recommitting ourselves to Jesus walking among us leading us from discouragement to joy. How we got here is not as important as: “What are we going to do about it?” Our future depends on “What we are going to do about it?”

For Personal Reflection: Do I generously embrace my duties and responsibilities as a member of the Congregation? Am I an active member of my local community? Do I bring a positive, supportive presence to

communal prayer, local assemblies, spiritual discussions, faith sharing? Do I keep abreast of Congregational news, projects, concerns, outreach through reading The

Angelus, the Social Justice Info Alerts, and other Congregational communiques? Do I respond when appropriate?

If my health permits and if distance or ministry/family responsibilities are not prohibitive, do I actively participate in Regional and Congregational Meetings?

For Local Community Sharing: What impact does complacency have on the vitality of a local community? On the life of the

Congregation? What will renew, energize, and revitalize us?

17

Reflection 8: Reflect, Assess, Give Thanks

Focus Statement


Prayerfully review your local community goal for the year.


How has God been present in my personal response to our local community goal? What graces and blessings have come my way in community this year? In what ways have I grown in my understanding and living of the charism?

For Local Community Sharing:

What progress have we made toward the realization of our goal? What are the fruits of our reflections on charism this year? How has God blessed our local community this year?

Rejoice always, never cease praying, render constant thanks; such is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. -- I Thessalonians 5:16 – 18

18

ihmimmaculata.orgihmimmaculata.org/.../optional-tool-for-spiritual-discussion-2018.… · web...

Documents