January, 2025

Dear Sisters,

The Jubilee Year of 2025 began on the vigil of the Lord’s Nativity, December 24, 2024 in Rome and in local dioceses on Holy Family Sunday. 

I write to you because a Jubilee Year in the life of the Church is a significant moment.  The theme for this Jubilee Year is:  Pilgrims of Hope.  Pope Francis often writes about Hope and I think his message in choosing this theme is to ask each of us to be messengers of hope to the world.  As we all know, our world is in need of peace and an end to conflicts.  It is a world in need of healing from hatred, racism, and divisions of all kinds.  It is to this very world that we, as Providence People, can be the pilgrims of hope that Pope Francis calls us to be. 

Brene Brown, an author I like, names hope as a cognitive process, not a feeling.  She writes that “hope is forged when our goals, pathways, and agency are tested and when change is actually possible.”  According to her “hope is a function of struggle—we develop hope not during the easy or comfortable times, but through adversity and discomfort.”  Nowhere does God say we won’t struggle.  But when we face struggles in our life, we need to dig deep down and trust that God is in the struggle and will not abandon us.  Somehow I think Pope Francis knows all about this struggle and is asking us, as pilgrims of hope, to stay in the struggle, to be in the present moment, to be grounded in God.  That is the call for all of us in this world so in need of hope and joy. 

I write also about our gift of consecrated life which is evolving in an ever-changing world.  I believe that our vows can be and are a very real sign to people today of the ability to live a life that is counter-cultural and prophetic in many ways.  It is like a pilgrimage, growing in freedom, open to the unexpected along the journey, and filled with love for Jesus.  It is a pilgrimage of service, and though we may often feel like it is small and insignificant, our witness speaks to others of faithfulness, compassion and joy.   This deep abiding joy comes from God and is a characteristic trait of our vocation.  So you have to ask yourself from time to time:  Am I witnessing joy in my life?  Do I believe and act as a Beloved of God?  Am I daily giving my full-hearted YES to what God asks of me, individually and in community? 

Though we don’t know for certain what the future of religious life will look like, what we do know about is the present moment and the gift of joy given each of us as God’s Beloved.  When we made our vows, we put our life journey into God’s hands and each present moment connects us to the next one with our core and essence.  I hope in this Jubilee Year that all of us will examine our commitment to God, asking the Spirit to help us embrace our consecrated life, our vows, and the present moment which often holds surprises we could never have imagined. 

I wish you a Jubilee Year filled with joy, deep abiding joy that lasts and gives rise to HOPE—an energy that releases light, love and joy into our world.

In loving Providence,

Sr. Barbara

Congregational Leader