Rome, Villa Lante, June 20, 2004 Profession Ceremony | Conference to the Probanists Probation of The Compassionate Heart of Jesus Clockwise from top left:Teresa Ryden ( ENW) pronounces her vows; Teresa Ryden (ENW), Monica Esquivel (MXN), Namkung, Young Mi (KOR), Venizia Fernandes (IND); the Chapel; Jane Franbces Nabulya (UGK), Kirti Bhuinyan (IND), Chang, Kyong Ah (KOR), Choi, Il Sim (KOR), Lynette Toohey (ANZ); RSCJ from India offer the traditional aarti. | | "Lord, by your Cross and Resurrection,
you have set us free.
You are the Savior of the world!" | Lynette Toohey |  | Australia/New Zealand | | Teresa Ryden | England/Wales | | Kirti Bhuinyan | India | | Venizia Fernandes | India | | Chang, Kyong Ah | Korea | | Choi, Il Sim | Korea | | Namkung, Young Mi | Korea | | Mónica Esquivel | México/Nicaragua | | Jane Frances Nabulya | Uganda/Kenya | Clockwise from top left: Sisters from Africa lead the offertory procession; Monica Esquivel ( MXN) es recibida en la Sociedad del Sagrado Corazón por Clare Pratt, Superiora General; Chang, Kyong Ah (KOR) is sent on mission by Clare Pratt; Jane Frances Nabulya (UGK) receives her ring from the Superior General. | | Conference to the Probanists
We gather together this morning on the eve of the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, looking toward the celebration of that feast tomorrow, the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on Saturday, and your own special feast, your profession day, on Sunday. For all of us Sunday is more than the “Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time”! You could have no better preparation for it than these three days of prayer and celebration together, and they are a fitting way to end these months of probation which have been so significant for you.
In the Opening Conference I suggested that the two parables of the Kingdom from Mark’s gospel, that of the seed that mysteriously sprouts and grows, and that of the mustard seed, were a wonderful way to describe the process of probation, and I urged you to look upon probation as a time to nurture the growth of the seed. Each one of you has grown and you have grown together. No one’s personal process would have been the same without living it in this community. You have been gift to each other and have bonds that will continue to be strengthened as you find ways to remain united, despite the great geographical distances between you.
We on the General Council have had the opportunity to get to know you as a group and individually. I wonder if you have any idea of how moving and inspiring it is to hear each one’s experience recounted with trust and simplicity! When I came to the probation with Marisa after your retreat I had the sensation over and over again of wanting to take off my shoes, for I knew I was on Holy Ground. Your openness, your sense of responsibility for your lives, your valuing of our internationality and sense of belonging to the whole body of the Society, your ability to let go of the small tensions of community life, your gratitude, came through in all that you shared. Your common experiences of Sophie in France and her presence here, of Francis’ and Clare’s challenge to live a liberating poverty, of the moving exposition of photos of the Pietà, will remain in your hearts as you tap into this experience of probation over and over again.
The long tradition in the Society of giving each probation a name and a “devise” is very precious. I have not looked up the name and devise of every probation since the early days of the Society, but I do have a list that goes back to 1962. You will be the 70th probation on that list! Sometimes world, Church or Society events have had an influence on the name. For example, the name of my probation, which occurred in 1967, just after Vatican II, is the title of the document on Religious Life “Perfect Charity”, (Perfectae Caritatis) and the devise is a sentence from the document. In 2000, the year of the Society’s Bicentenary, the name of the probation was “To be the Heart of God on earth”, the logo of our year of preparation. Although there are a few repetitions of a name or a devise, with one exception there are no two probations that have been identical. And I can assure you that your name and devise are unique, recognizing your identity as a group, as well as the graces that each one has received.
As different as you are, there are certainly common elements in your experience, both before coming to Rome and during the probation. As I prayed over each one of you and all that she had shared, the name and devise came easily. First, your name. I am happy to “baptize” you the probation of
The Compassionate Heart of Jesus Your devise comes from the Eucharistic liturgy. It is one of the acclamations after the Consecration, and I like to think of it as a kind of “mantra”. The priest says: “Let us proclaim the mystery of faith” and we respond: “Lord, by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free.
You are the Savior of the world!” Let us reflect first on the devise. It is a bit like Peter’s response to Jesus in the gospel reading for your profession. Jesus asks, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter responds, “The Messiah of God”… (Luke 9:20) the “Savior of the world”. Jesus then predicts his suffering, his rejection, his death and his resurrection. But Peter and the other disciples cannot take it in. We have the advantage of having learned and believed the whole story. We know that Jesus died. We believe that He rose. We believe that through this mystery of life through death we have been set free. We and our world are saved. We are made new. We are made one. “Lord, by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free.
You are the Savior of the world!” And what is at the heart of this act of liberation, this gift of salvation? It is God’s incomprehensible love for us. A love that is free. A love we do not have to work for or deserve but which accepts us just as we are. A love that is inexhaustible, like a torrent of water that will never run dry. A love that took on our flesh and blood, our weakness and vulnerability, our powerlessness in the face of death. The second reading of your profession liturgy invites us into this mystery: Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus,
Who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this,
God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
To the glory of God the Father.
(Phil. 2: 6-11) “Lord, by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free.
You are the Savior of the world!” We live in a wounded world, and the Cross is no stranger to you. Each one’s experience is different, but together you have been touched by illness, death, separations of various kinds, material poverty, insecurity, failure, feelings of inferiority, anxiety and fear. But painful as some of these wounds still are, you have come to see them in a new way. Like Thomas, you have been invited by the Risen Jesus to believe, to put your finger into the mark of the nails, put your hand into Jesus’ side, find a welcome, a home, a permanent shelter in those very wounds, now glorious. You have been reconciled with yourself and your history. You have a new self-confidence and are not afraid to take responsibility for your actions. You have new eyes to see the wonder of your being and new ears to hear the beauty of your own voice. As one of you said “All events of life have a meaning.”
Some of you have experienced a kind of rebirth, new life. You feel as if you are a new woman. God has spoken to many of you through your dreams. Suffering has been transformed into joy. I am reminded of the image Jesus used at the Last Supper of the woman’s experience of childbirth. “When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world.” And the promise he makes to his disciples he makes to you as well: Do not be afraid, for “no one will take your joy away from you.” (John 16:21-22) “Lord, by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free.
You are the Savior of the world!” This new freedom is FOR something, for others, and your “name” is both a gift and a call. You are the Probation of the “Compassionate Heart of Jesus”. Even during your retreat, the daily headlines kept you connected with the world and all its present agony. I suspect that even closer to home, the voices from the top of the hill, calling down to their loved ones behind the walls of Regina Coeli did the same.
In identifying with the Compassionate Heart of Jesus you enter into his tenderness, his gentle presence, his ability to suffer “with”, his gift of standing in the others’ shoes, you take on his way of seeing the wounds in those to whom you are being sent, those whom the world excludes: the bent women of today, teenaged girls living on the streets, simple, rural people lured by the glitter of a consumer society… As one of you said “I have learned that Compassion is more than feeling sorry for someone.” It is living with an awakened heart. It is allowing the fire of love and a passion for justice to mobilize us, impelling us to go beyond feeling sorry to feeling a solidarity that seeks transformation, beginning with our own ongoing conversion. It is giving all that we do and all that we are, our giftedness and our frailty, to God’s Project of Love. It is putting broken, divided hearts back together “that they may be one.”
The day after your profession will be Monday of the “Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time”. Yes, you are returning to “ordinary time”, a bit like the disciples of Jesus after the Ascension. They went back to their ordinary lives. But the disciples were not the same and neither are you. Nor will “ordinary time” ever be the same again! You have been set free by the One who continues to save this world which he loves passionately, compassionately. And he has invited you to become one with him: sharing his pain, sharing his joy. You have promised to allow him to dwell in you, as you find your home in him, one Compassionate Heart with which to love this world every day of your life.
Sally and Luty will miss you and you will miss their constant efforts to give you the conditions in which God could work in you: accompanying you with love, offering input and the experience of their lives, being attentive to all that could make this the most complete experience possible. During this day of prayer, take time to offer thanks for them.
Know that the whole Society is with you these days, grateful for the definitive commitment you will make on Sunday, which is an opportunity for all of us to recommit ourselves to follow Jesus in the Society, wherever that road may take us in the future. We want to walk that road together with you, sure of the One who has called us to live with a compassionate heart.
I close these reflections with an acclamation that unites your name and your devise and I invite you to repeat it after me:
Compassionate Heart of Jesus,
by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free.
You are the savior of the world!
Amen, Alleluia! Clare Pratt, rscj
Superior General
Rome, Villa Lante
17 June 2004 |
