21 April 1985
London, England

My dear Sisters,

On the 21 April 1647, which happened to be Easter Sunday that year, St. Louise wrote a letter to St. Vincent. Among other requests she made to him was that he would be kind enough to write a letter to all the Sisters of the community at Nantes. There had been some considerable tension and division within the community and St. Louise thought it would be appropriate if St. Vincent were to write a letter to all the Sisters, manifesting what she called "a little displeasure," while at the same time asking him that he would also encourage them. The formula was to be a little scolding blended with a little encouragement.

Were I to adopt the formula of St. Louise, I must confess that I would be at a loss to know what I should scold you about. Besides, you would respectfully suggest that such a scolding was not an appropriate subject for a Centenary celebration. Allow me, however, to say that, in the words of Our Lord in this morning's Gospel, one can detect the suggestion of a scolding, perhaps not so much a scolding as a reproach. Appearing to His disciples after His resurrection, He greets them with His peace. They are frightened. Our Lord seeks to calm them. There is a note of reproach in His words: "Why are you so agitated and why are these doubts arising in your hearts?" (Lk 24:38). If there is a reproach in Our Lord's words, it is not for something the disciples have done in the past. It is because of their present disbelief. Their friendship with Him before His sufferings and death, His own clear prediction, not only of His death but of His resurrection on the third day; all this should have banished their agitation and their doubts. The past should have prepared the minds of the disciples to accept the reality of the resurrection. In fact, however, it did not. Because of that, there is a note of reproach to be detected in the words of Our Lord in today's Gospel. It was the Jesus of yesterday Who had prepared the disciples for the Jesus of the day of the resurrection. The Jesus of yesterday is the Jesus of today. "Jesus Christ is the same today as He was yesterday and as He will be forever." (Heb 13:8).

There have been one hundred years of yesterdays in this Province, and all of them have been lived in and with Jesus Christ. There has been no day in the past one hundred years that Jesus Christ has not gathered Sisters about Him and renewed the offering of Himself to the Father in the Sacrifice of the Mass. There has been no day in the past one hundred years of this Province that Sisters have not at the end of Mass heeded the imperative to go forth to love and serve the Lord in the person of the poor.

We of today have certainly no reason to reproach the Sisters of the past for what they have passed on to us: apostolates, spirituality, fidelity to ideals of St. Vincent and St. Louise, loyalty to Superiors. But have the Sisters of the past anything for which to reproach us of the present? Rather, has Jesus Christ, Who is the same yesterday, today and forever, anything to reproach us for? Knowing St. Vincent's profound devotion to Divine Providence, I like to think that St. Vincent himself might suggest that we find an answer to that question in the Gospel which the Church, guided by Divine Providence, has asked us to reflect upon today. "Why are you so agitated and why are these doubts rising in your hearts?" (Lk 24:38). Have we tended to fret too much these last few years, to become disturbed and agitated because the Province has been forced to yield some of its works, to close houses? Have we become a little less Christocentric in our spirituality? Not for a moment am I suggesting that we do not believe in Christ, but is Christ the point of reference for us in all things, for our thoughts, our words, our deeds, our projects, as He was for St. Vincent? "Look at My hands and feet; yes, it is I indeed. Touch Me and see for yourselves." (Lk 24:39). Have we ever so slightly set aside some of the very valuable counsels of our Founders because we may consider them irrelevant today? Have we these last few years centered our lives less on the reality of the presence of the Risen Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, Christ Who is our "still point in a turning world?"

A little scolding, blended with a little encouragement; what of encouragement? Each of us here this morning will admire the tree that has sprung from the mustard seed that was sown here one hundred years ago. It is a mighty tree that has sent out branches or roots to Ireland, Australia, Ethiopia, Nigeria. It is a great tree in which a fraction of the poor of these countries now find shelter. But the territorial expansion of the Company is not the principal source of encouragement for us, impressive though it may be. What gives us encouragement is the intensity with which Sisters live their lives in Christ Jesus. What gives us encouragement is the single-minded devotion which they give to Jesus Christ in the persons of the poor. What gives us encouragement, too, are the new insights we have been receiving these last few years into the charism of our Founders and the enthusiasm with which these insights have been received and shared in our Community. What gives us encouragement is the continuing search that has gone on in this Province to find new ways of helping and serving some of the casualties of a society that has a broad system of social assistance but has yet to learn that man does not live on bread alone. What gives us encouragement is the deep faith, the serene hope and the unaging love of our elderly Sisters. I like to think that there is not one Sister here this morning who could not offer to the Province her own personal word of encouragement, mindful as she must be of what Jesus Christ has done through the Community in all the yesterdays of this first century of the British Province.

To return to St. Louise's request which she made on this day in 1647, did St. Vincent write that letter to all the Sisters, blending a little scolding with encouragement? He did, a letter of seven pages no less, written on the 24 April which was his sixty-sixth birthday. It is a letter woven with golden threads of spirituality and silver ones of practical advice. Characteristically St. Vincent does not commence with a little scolding, but rather with a little encouragement. So let me end by reading the opening sentences of that letter: "I never think about you the happiness you have to be Daughters of Charity and the first to be engaged in assisting the poor where you are, without feeling consoled. However, when I hear that you are living as true Daughters of Charity, which is to say, as true daughters of God, my consolation is increased to the extent that only God alone can make you realize. Keep this up, dear Sisters, and strive more and more toward perfection in your holy state...a state which consists in being true daughters of God, Spouses of His Son, and true mothers of the poor." (Coste III, Eng. ed., ltr. 939, p. 181).