Excerpts from Sister Catherine Dolan’s Opening Address to the General Chapter

I want to reflect a little on the theme: Fan into Flame the Gift of God. . . . to remind us of common gifts we have for the chapter.

First of all fan into flame the gift of God, the gift of Godself. God is gift to us and to all humanity. God is gift to us at this chapter. Is it possible for us to fan into flame this gift?

We can also fan into flame, and share with each other, the gifts of gratitude for, and faith in, God’s presence, of conviction that God is the God of newness, of trust that God’s presence is active, and of peace because we know that with God all will be well. . . . God is with us in this place at this time and this is where we will meet God as individuals and as a chapter.

Another gift we have at this time is the actual presence of each person here, whatever their role at this chapter. This is a place, an opportunity to meet, to share, to listen in community to the voice of the Spirit. Each of us brings our own gifts but the very person and presence of each of us is gift to each other and to the chapter, and hopefully we can fan the flame of this presence into passion and energy which will fire us as Institute to respond to what God is calling us to at this time. And, of course, to know what God is calling us to we need the gift of discernment, individual and communal, and we hope that this will be the prevailing attitude during this chapter.

A gift I would like to highlight is Gailhac’s vision which we want to set ablaze in our hearts. What a gift this vision is to us, and this vision for our day is what our chapter is all about!

First of all, for Gailhac mission was primary, and it was mission rooted in the centrality of Jesus in the lives of the sisters. He very clearly recognized the absolute need of contemplation for action to be effective. This action he saw in relation to real needs to be met in the social, economic and political context of the day; needs of real people, and situations which called out for “life.”

Also Gailhac had a dream that the Institute with its particular mission and charism would expand throughout the world.

It seems clear that Gailhac wanted the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary to be women who are rooted in God and passionately committed to Mission in the world of many needs, with the ability to move freely beyond boundaries, to risk and embrace new situations for the sake of mission. This is our founder’s vision of RSHM, his dream. This is what he would want this chapter body to be.

The logo illustrates the theme so well with the conjunction of the flames, the world and our cross. The flame holds together our Institute represented by our cross and the world . It reminds me of the words from Wisdom: The Spirit of the Lord fills the whole world. It holds all things together, and knows every word spoken. And it reminds us that the cross is ever present with us, that discipleship is costly.

Catherine Dolan, RSCM

 

 

© 2007 RSCM / RSHM