Pope Francis has declared 2015 the Year of Consecrated Life. In The Associate, winter 2015, Vol. 20, No. 1, p. 1, Associate Cathi
Duffy, Society of the Holy Child Jesus, writes in an article entitled “Wake Up
the World: Year of Consecrated Life”: “It would be easy to focus on the problems in religious life today,
such as the diminishment of numbers and ministries. But that would be to miss a
most important reason for celebration – why women and men have stayed in
religious life. In her essay, “Why They Stayed,” Immaculate Heart of Mary
Sister Sandra Schneiders says those who stayed found “the taproot of their
vocation. They don’t just belong to religious orders, they are religious.”
These individuals remember the one who drew them to religious life in the first
place and who alone is their ultimate reason for staying. Having studied their founding
charisms, they have embraced them anew. They have grieved losses of members,
ministries and customs, and have emerged with an inner freedom to face the
future with joyful hope. They are grounded in God’s creative project of
bringing fullness of life to all of creation. Does this sound like any of the
sisters you know?”
As a
member of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother, Third Order Regular of St.
Francis of Assisi, this reflection by
Associate Cathi Duffy strikes a cord of gratitude to the Lord who has given me and so
many others the grace to stay. That is not to say that those who left religious
life following Vatican II were unfaithful. No, they, too were following the
will of God—the will of God for them.
Those of us who stayed were following the will of God for us. We are here today to witness to God’s
faithfulness to us and to the call to renew our charisms in the world of the 21st
century. Though smaller in numbers than prior to the exodus from religious life
back in the 60s and 70s and thus having fewer ministries than then, we are no
less vibrant, no less committed, and, by far, no less needed than then! The problems our world faces now are as
urgent as the ones faced by our founding Sisters. And I am delighted to be a
part of religious life today when the world is so blessed to have a Pope who
understands the necessity of women in today’s Church and the essential presence
of men and women religious to wake up the world of the 21st century!
Think
about it! Is God calling you to join a religious community of your choice (and
God’s) to make a difference in the world of today?
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