When one of the disciples calls out to Jesus today, “I will follow you wherever you go,” I wonder if he realized the implications of that statement. Many of us may feel something like that in our hearts, following Jesus wherever he goes and wherever he calls us, but it could lead us to some very difficult, challenging places.
Last week, I traveled to southern Indiana to be a presenter at a workshop at St Meinrad Benedictine Abbey to a group of new pastors for different Dioceses throughout the country. Back when Indiana was at the edge of America’s western frontier, a French nun named Mother Theodore Guerin, the founder of the Sisters of Providence, traveled with 5 of her other sisters from their motherhouse in France to Indiana. This was in the year 1840. Mother Theodore Guerin and her companion nuns attracted postulants to their order, as well as students to their school, from the pioneer families in the area, creating a thriving, prosperous religious community. Their biggest hardship was the local bishop, who treated them very cruelly. At one point Mother Theodore offered to resign as superior of the community. The bishop was not content with that, declaring that she was no longer a Sister of Providence at all. He expelled her from the Diocese and threatened to excommunicate any sister who followed her. All of the sisters decided to leave to go back to France and to start anew. Their bags were already packed when they received news from the Vatican that a new bishop had been appointed. Prayers had been answered. Mother Theodore Guerin had followed Jesus many places in her life as a nun. She died in 1856 in St-Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana. She was canonized a Saint in 2006. I love this quote from Mother Theodore: "We are not called upon to do all the good possible, but only that which we can do."
No comments:
Post a Comment