20 February 1987
Rome, Italy

My dear Sisters,

For those of us who travel around the world, visiting our missionaries and Sisters, the first reading of today's Mass is a constant topic for meditation. How often do I not find myself reflecting on the first sentence of today's reading and saying to myself that it would be wonderful if we could get back to the situation when, as the author of Genesis states: "The whole world spoke the same language, using the same words." (Gn 11:1).

Certainly communication would be easier, but how much easier? I knew two priests in my own province who were brothers. They were both very good priests, but very different in temperament and character. When they used to meet each other--and it was not very often--they would usually start to argue over some opinion or other. One of these brothers used to say to us that the only thing that the two of them could agree upon was the Creed. They were of the same family, belonged to the same Community and spoke the same language. Yet for all that, communication between them seemed to have been difficult.

So language is not the only barrier which prevents us from understanding and communicating with each other. Important as language is, it is not the only means we use to transmit the thoughts of our minds. Before we can speak effectively with our tongues to our communities, we must speak to them with our hearts. Before we open our mouths to speak to our communities, we must first open our hearts to them. Our Lord has said that "out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." (Lk 6:45). The hearts we must open to our communities must be pure hearts. That is why in prayer and through the Sacraments, through the Sacrament of Penance particularly, we must allow the Lord to cleanse our hearts and to purify our motives of all that we say and do. That is why, too, we must often ask God with the psalmist "to set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips." (Ps 141:3).

It is not difference of language that makes communication difficult within the Community. It is the diversity of character, of temperament, of experience, of upbringing, which confuses our communication with each other, and it is that confusion which causes tension among us. St. Vincent was realistic enough to know that within our communities all tension could not be eliminated. He did, however, recognize that the charity of Christ, which presses us, can be a strong force in helping us to live with tension. Furthermore, while we cannot change our temperament and cannot eradicate totally our weaknesses, we can often stop and ask ourselves if there is anything in our manner of living, in our manner of acting, in our manner of exercising authority which is an unnecessary source of tension to those with whom we live. While being conscious of your responsibilities as Sister Servants to lead your Sisters along the road of continual conversion, reflect from time to time on that prayer which, no doubt, you have seen: "Grant me, O Lord, the courage to change the things I can change, the patience to accept the things which I cannot change, and the wisdom to see the difference."

Before the experience of Babel, it would seem people were able to dialogue easily. I wonder, was it as easy as the author of Genesis suggests? It is one thing to use the same language in speaking to a person; it is another to really dialogue with a person. It is Vatican Council II that emphasized the importance of true dialogue in our communities. True dialogue should characterize all our communities. As Sister Servants, the gift and grace of being able to dialogue with your community is an important one. To dialogue is to invite others to speak of what the Holy Spirit has communicated to them and, at the same time, to genuinely welcome what the Spirit may have said to them. To dialogue is to humbly offer others what the Spirit has given to us. The key to all dialogue is acceptance, acceptance on the part of the Superior and acceptance on the part of the community of the decisions made by the Superior. Where there is true dialogue, there will be a life of communion. Where there is true dialogue, there will be an authentic missionary community. When a Sister Servant has succeeded in creating good dialogue, she will have gone a long way in fulfilling her essential function as Sister Servant. That essential function, according to the Directives, is, and I quote: "to work for union among the Sisters and to foster the growth of charity." (cf. "Directives" Section: The life of Charity). As Pope Paul VI wrote in his first encyclical: "Dialogue is a way of making spiritual contact. In a dialogue well conducted, truth is wedded to charity and understanding to love." (Ecclesiam Suam, p. 81-82).