Greetings and prayers for peace throughout our world,
As we prepare this letter, our Church is in Synod whose theme is How to be a missionary synodal Church. The meditations given during the preparatory retreat before the synod by Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, OP invite us to pause and ponder. Fr. Radcliffe used four themes of Christ’s resurrection in the Gospel of John. We invite you to visit the Vatican News website to ponder his words and challenges. These reflections call us to mercy and reconciling love.
We live in a very perplexing time in our Church, our world, in religious life and in our own congregation and local areas. We see and experience so much struggle for communion, when we as Adorers are called to be promoters of communion. There are wars, conflicts, polarizing actions between and among peoples. We bring our own human vulnerability to our life together as local community and congregation. How do we hold all this struggle in our hearts and not allow it to distract us and our mission of promoting communion? What could it look like to be persons of communion? Lights in the midst of darkness, hope in the midst of despair, Love in the midst of pain and suffering.
We are invited to focus on the healing and reconciling power of the Paschal Mystery. We have come to know the Christ of the Gospels, the Christ who lived, died and became fully known in the Resurrection.
This month we have eight women who are part of our heritage and are witnesses of the healing and reconciling power of Christ’s Life Blood. They were persons who lived their human life trusting God would accompany them in their weakness, their challenges, gifts, their vulnerability and frailty.
We remember Venerable Serafina Cinque, the “the white angel of the Trans Amazonian Highway”
She was a very simple, practical person of faith. She relied on Divine Providence for the immediate needs and ways to ensure a future fullness of life for the dear neighbor. She sought to establish structures and systems to ensure good education, immediate health care and formation so that all may know their own dignity and become self-supporting. She is remembered as often saying, “How good God is.”
We remember our Five Sisters – Martyrs of Charity
Here we have five diverse expressions of the ASC charism with a common mission in Liberia West Africa. They sought to be present to whatever was most needed for our dear neighbor. They provided education, healthcare, social services, pastoral formation, accompaniment and empowerment. They felt the call to solidarity with the people deep in their hearts as a war creating pain, mistrust and broken relationships raged around them. They were truly called to be credible witnesses of charity by their communion with those who suffered.
We hear in their words vulnerable and mission centered Adorers:
“Never before have I felt I was supposed to be there. Now I believe I am supposed to go. I believe we need to move to the call of our mission, not to the call of our comfort.”
Sister Kathleen McGuire, ASC
“I’m glad that I came. There have been learnings in pain, vulnerability and suffering, which I probably would not have allowed myself to experience in another place and culture. This may be the most growthful time of my existence because it is the lives of my sisters and brothers that now have highest priority.” Sister Agnes Mueller, ASC
“Making this moment the best we can is the way life goes best. We’ve got to share with our whole body as well as our soul when we do something, and that is the difference between being alive or dead.” Sister Mary Joel Kolmer, ASC
“Perhaps we will come to see the day when everyone recognizes that we all inherit the earth and we can allow each person, each people to claim their rightful inheritance.” Sister Shirley Kolmer, ASC
“Well, it is two years now that the war started and it looks as if (Liberian guerilla fighter Charles Taylor) will not give up his land of fortune, between carrying buckets of diamonds and gold out of the country, also all the timber.” Sister Barbara Ann Muttra, ASC
We remember our Two Martyrs of Faith in Croatia
In these two women we find the mystery of God’s mission continuing beyond us. It is God’s mission not our own. These two women, caught in the midst of a violent world war were forced to make courageous choices. They remained true to their call to the charism and mission as Adorers, outside of the Adorers. They could have been forgotten, but the memory of their care and courage lived beyond them in those who knew and experienced their presence. God has a mission.
We remember these women and call them our Sisters of Faith:
Josipa Nevistić dispensed due to the ravages of World War II, continued to promote the faith and catechism. Following the war she suffered imprisonment, abuse and death. She is recorded among the Croatian martyrs of the Second World War. Only in the1990’s after the fall of communism was the light of her mission and presence revealed.
Eulalija Kuller
She too was a victim of the ravages of war, when our community house was appropriated by communists and the sisters were dispersed. She courageously searched for a place to live and serve, bringing the gift of music to a dark place. She too was abused and killed. The local people knew her as a Martyr of faith, bringing her story to life after 1990.
Today, we, Adorers of the Blood of Christ and those who share in our charism, continue to be called as promoters of communion. People who know what it means to be human, forgiven, loved, accepted with our limitations and our gifts, given space to be fully ourselves in all our diversity. We have known the unconditional love of God and seek to bring this same reconciling love to all.
How might we be remembered? Adorers of the Blood of Christ, committed to deep and discerning listening, promoters of communion in every place, space and periphery. Persons who recognized their human frailty and celebrated God’s limitless grace. Promoters of Christ’s reconciling love for the dignity and life of All. See how they love one another.
Blessings of grace and peace,