Walking towards the Promised Land, with Abraham and Sarah
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The Bible is a story about travellers. It all started with Abraham and Sarah when they listened, in Ur of Chaldea, to God’s call to leave their country and set out on an adventure into another country, which was being given to them as a promise. They had to leave behind old customs, old plans and invent a new way of living in Canaan, a world that was unknown to them. |
Something similar happened to Sophie: the events that she had to live in her time (the period following the French Revolution), took her out of “her country” (her desire to be a Carmelite), and they spoke to her so strongly that she recognised in them the voice of God and took on the risk of starting the adventure of a new way of living religious life.
| She was leaving behind elements that were considered essential if one wished to “be a nun”: strict enclosure, grilles, long hours in choir, monastic structures …. It was not easy for her to open up new ways. She had to endure tensions and insecurities, she went through moments of uncertainty and she had to put up with a great deal of criticisim. Why could they not be “ the usual kind of nuns”? When was she ever seen to be trying to “equip the minds” of young women? Why not steer them in the same direction as always so that they would becomeS good housewives? Is it not dangerous to encourage them to think for themselves, to be critical, to make their own decisions? Sophie, apparently so delicate and timid, possessed an inner strength that impelled her to go beyond the resistance and the difficulties and she did not hesitate on her road towards the promised land which for her had a name: “Society of the Sacred Heart”. |
Naomi Kojima (Japan)
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And what about us ? Are we prepared to walk with her? We can make ourselves aware of the conditioning that ties us excessively to what is “tried and tested”. And we can also recall our own “experiences of daring”, those moments in our lives in which we were capable of taking risks, trusting in the Word of God, savouring the freedom that is born from this. |
Dolores Aleixandre, rscj
Province of Southern Spain
Castellano : Aún en el caso de que hubiéramos recorrido el mundo entero ¡cuántos viajes nos quedan aún por hacer! Eso sí siempre con la confianza de lo que expresa este texto:"Sé valiente y firme, no tengas miedo ni te acobardes porque el Señor tu Dios estará contigo allí donde vayas". Gracias, Dolores por ofrecernos estos nuevos "turismos" interiores.
Français : Même si nous avions parcouru le monde entier, combien de voyages il nous reste à faire! Ceci, toujours dans la confiance qu’exprime ce texte : « Sois vaillant et ferme, n’ai pas peur et ne crains pas parce que le Seigneur ton Dieu est avec toi partout où tu vas. » Merci, Dolores, de nous offrir ces nouveaux parcours intérieurs.
English : Even if we were to have travelled the whole world, how many journeys remain for us to make! That “yes” is said: “Be brave and firm, do not be afraid, do not be cowardly, because the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go”. Thank you, Dolores, for offering us these new inner “tourist routes”.