September 29, 2024

Foundation Day

Dear Sisters and Associates,

What comes to mind when you think of Foundation Day?  Is there an image, a certain word, maybe a phrase that comes immediately to your mind?  The phrase that comes to me as I sit ready to write this letter is: “dogged determination.”   I’m not sure how that will translate in our other languages, but that is what the Spirit sent me and so I share it with you.

Mother Marie had determination.  She refused to give up or give in to pressure.  When she began the community with that first little group of women it started out well.  Bishop Ketteler and she had high hopes for this small band of women.  The foundation of our community prospered.  Mother Marie’s burning passion compelled her to keep trying, to push on despite hardships.  She and Bishop Ketteler had a vision and they continued moving forward.  Mother Marie was a woman of “dogged determination.”  She also had great faith—the kind of faith that refused to give up.   

Founders are people of great tenacity, I think.  They have a dogged determination and focus to create a community – to have a dream they refuse to let go of, despite meeting resistance.  Our founders gave us a legacy – a vision, an example of steadfast faith.  Our job is to hold on to that faith, to that vision.  We must steward, guard and promote it.  They met obstacles along the way, yet they kept going.  Their prayers and efforts were not in vain! 

The little band of women grew, crossed the ocean, crossed to other continents, and here we are the Congregation of the Sisters of Divine Providence, spread across Germany, the United States, Puerto Rico, Peru, Korea, and Rome.  Who could have known at the beginning, despite the hardships, despite the resistance from a particular German priest who didn’t like Mother Marie, that the little band of women would grow to 300 strong? 

One thing is sure – new adventures don’t happen without people with dogged determination, without people who persevere.  God used Mother Marie and Bishop Ketteler, ordinary people, to do extraordinary things.  Now it is our turn.

Let’s revisit that sense of calling and excitement when we first heard God’s voice.  Do we still have that passion?  Do we remember who God has been and is for us throughout our history?

What is our focus in our particular area:  province, mission or here at the Generalate?  Are we willing to look at new adventures together with the same dogged determination of our founders?  What will it require us to let go of in order to move into a new future together?  What could we do, what might we try? 

We have many examples from Scripture when God spoke to individual people like Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Moses, Ruth, Naomi, Esther, Joseph and Mary.  It seems in every instance that God was making a covenant with his people, promising them a future full of hope.  God found ways to capture their attention and invited each of them to join in the journey.  God is inviting each of us, too. 

In Galatians 6:9, Scripture says:  “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”  Do we believe that God is working in us, in our present realities, to bring about something new?  I do! 

I don’t have a crystal ball to predict the future.  It’s definitely a mystery!  I do think, though, we can create our future together with God, step by step, by our trust in our God of Providence, and in one another.  It takes openness, courage, risk-taking. 

We can create our future by the choices we make each day.  Our founders trusted God to lead and inspire them.  Shouldn’t we have the same dogged determination to trust God through any given situation?  Shouldn’t we keep on being faithful, living our calling, our vows, our covenants, knowing that God has plans for our future?  Let’s continue to walk the path before us with trust and that same “dogged determination” that Mother Marie and Bishop Ketteler had.  Let’s carry forth their vision and dream new dreams!

Happy Foundation Day!

One with you in God’s loving Providence

Sr. Barbara McMullen

Congregational Leader