2 July 1982
Paris, France

My dear Sisters,

The time for saying goodbye to one another has come. There's always a certain note of sadness when friends must say goodbye and go their separate ways. Very many of you came here without knowing anyone else in the group, and what a difference the month you have passed together has made. You have not only discovered new riches of spirituality in St. Vincent and in St. Louise, but you've discovered new riches of spirituality in one another. I would like to think, too, that you have not only discovered new spiritual riches in the Company and in one another, but in yourselves also; that each of you is going back to your Province greatly enriched by what she has received and discovered. Returning to your Provinces you are surely rejoicing that you are members of this Company which is united throughout the world in its love of God and in its service of the poor; rejoicing, too, that you have been called to a very special task within the Company; rejoicing humbly that by the grace of God, you are now a more adequate Directress than when you came here a month ago.

As you go on your way rejoicing, some of you will return to seminaries where the number of Sisters is sizeable. Others will go back to seminaries where vocations are few in number. Let none of you be discouraged. He whom St. Vincent liked to call "our blessed Father," St. Francis de Sales, used to say that one soul was sufficient for a Bishop. In the practical order, it certainly makes life more difficult for a Directress when there are only two or three in the Seminary than when there are twelve or thirteen. However, let not our minds dwell too much on numbers, but rather on the very rich inheritance which is ours now and which we hope to pass on to others--the heritage which was passed down to us by St. Vincent and St. Louise.

Our Lord remarked to the little group of disciples who were with Him at the well in Samaria, "The harvest indeed is great and the laborers are few." (Lk 10:2). The fact that He Himself felt that the numbers were few and the work was great, did not deflect Him from pressing on with the work of preaching the Gospel to the poor, of healing the sick, of giving sight to the blind. Nor did it deter Him from going up to Jerusalem to suffer and to die. So it must be with us. We should not allow the fewness of numbers to depress us, nor to deflect us from pressing on in faith, which enables us to see only in a dark manner, towards what St. Paul calls "the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil 3:14).

Speaking of harvests, we can say that they are not gathered in quickly, nor do they ripen quickly. Have you ever noticed how many parables of Our Lord center on the image of the growth of small seeds? These parables underline for us the need of patience. "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground and should sleep and rise, night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how." (Mk 4:26-27). These parables of growth underline for us the point that we should not look for immediate results and that harvests do not ripen quickly. So it is with us as we try to direct others. In this age of instant results, it is difficult for us to be patient with the slow growth of virtue in ourselves and in others. On many occasions St. Vincent counsels Superiors to be patient with the defects and limitations of their subjects. Like his Divine Master, he did not wish to break the bruised reed nor extinguish the smoking flax. Certainly in the name of the Community, you must make demands on young Sisters. These demands must be carefully distinguished from those which may be motivated by reasons that border on the selfish. Live with the conviction that God is working through you in the souls of young Sisters in ways of which you are unaware. In future years you will be surprised to find one whom you had as a Seminary Sister who will gratefully recall some observation you made as Directress, when you yourself have long since forgotten it. At times, that can be embarrassing, at other times encouraging. Live, too, with the conviction that, according to Our Lord, it is one person who sows and another who reaps. Be content to think of yourself as a person who sows. If we, by the grace of God, gladly do some careful sowing now, God will give the increase in His good time. Above all, be confident in the special grace which God gives you by reason of your office. Take heart in what St. Vincent said to a member of his Community on one occasion. Quoting St. Francis de Sales, he said that "when God calls a person to an office, He either sees that person already in possession of the necessary qualities, or He intends to give them to him." (Coste XI, Fr. ed., p. 142).

I cannot close this Seminarium without expressing your thanks and mine to Mother Rogé and her Council for initiating and planning this meeting of Directresses of the entire Company. Our thanks also are owed to the Commission which under Sister Isabel began the work of organizing the details of this session more than a year ago. I am sure all of you are also grateful to the community of the Mother House who have hosted us throughout the past month. From what I observe here, the community of the Mother House seems to be receiving Sisters from provinces all the year round. Their cordial receiving of Sisters is indeed a very special form of giving. May the Lord reward them for their generosity. In your name, too, I would like to thank those who have performed the difficult work of translating. In the full sense of the word, they have been mediators among us, as they translated the thought of one mind into the language of another. May the Word of God be their enlightenment and recompense.