CONGRATULATIONS
General Council Elect
Marie Brigitte Rauscent
Belgian on my father’s side, from northern France on my mother’s side, I was born in 1941 in a farm in the Seine et Marne Region 30 km from Paris. In the 1950s I completed my secondary education at our school “Blanche de Castille” where I obtained my Baccalaureate in philosophy and got to know the Servite Sisters.
In 1962 I entered the Congregation, and after the formation received for the DUER (University Diploma in Religious Studies), I specialised in catechesis of the very young.
In 1981, I participated in the Pastoral Ministry of the Sanctuary of Notre Dame des Victoires in Paris and in 1993 was elected Prioress Provincial. Following this, I assisted in the management of the Province’s financial affairs and the oversight of the Educational Ministry carried out in our three Servite Schools.
Since 2000 I have resumed my work in the catechesis of the very young and for the last three years that of the handicapped also. This last is my focus of special interest today.
Sheila Sumner
Educated by the Servite sisters, I trained as a teacher before entering the Servites. I taught in 3 Servite schools and apart from the first two years, taught Maths to Secondary School girls with responsibility for welfare. I took early retirement in 1993 when I was elected Provincial. On completing this I have kept my interest in education by being on 3 Governing Bodies. My love of Maths enabled me to have some involvement in the finances of the Province. The Charitable Trust was my ‘baby’. My interests vary, from Sudoku to gardening with sewing in the middle.
Lisa Sheridan
20 years ago I became one of the first associates with the Servants of Mary in the American Province. Five years later, I entered formation. Currently I minister as a Co-Director of Associate Membership for the American Province and am a mental health therapist in private practice at our Motherhouse. I have a passion for both elements of my ministry as well as for community. I live in a community of three - Nancy Marsh and Suzanne Vandenheede. I am known for having too many interests - which I think speaks to my desire to be creative and to learn new things. Some of my interests are technology, photography, crocheting and knitting. I enjoy reading books that challenge me to think in new ways. I also enjoy quiet time for reflection and contemplation.
MARIE THERESE CONNOR
PRIORESS GENERAL ELECT
Marie Thérèse Connor entered the Servites in 1974. She is a registered nurse and midwife and holds a Diploma in Health Services Management and an MSc in Caring for the Seriously Ill Dying and Bereaved. Marie has been working in the field of HIV/AIDS since 1992, most of this time at Mildmay Hospital in the east End of London, the first Hospice in Europe for people with HIV and now the only unit in Europe providing care and rehabilitation for HIV neuro-cognitive impairment. Marie is currently Director of Mildmay and is also involved in international speaking on HIV related topics, training, capacity building and programme development. Marie relaxes through reading and classical music and is a member of the Barts Choir, London, a choir of 300 members.
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General Chapter Faith Sharing
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Theme: Faith and fearlessness
Reading: Matthew 14: 22-36
Commentary:
Jesus physically separates himself from both the crowds and the disciples….He also forces the disciples into a boat. He may be pushing them off into missionary activity, but he is staying behind. He will be distant from his followers.
Then Jesus ascends the mountain, a symbol of closeness to God, and opens himself in prayer. Although the mountain top may be close to God, geographically it is the point furthest away from the lake where his disciples are struggling. The disciples in the boat of “the church” are experiencing tumult, resistance, and danger. The cosmic images of wind and waves symbolize the social forces that are both resisting the teachings of Jesus and openly persecuting the disciples. They are in trouble, and Jesus is not physically with them.
But he is at prayer, and through prayer he is in the presence of God…and able to be with his disciples. This situation parallels the conditions of the early Church. After the death and resurrection of Jesus, he was not with them physically but through the power of God, he was with them spiritually. This spiritual presence of the risen Christ was especially important in times of crisis. The boat of the Church, tossed by waves and resisted by winds, is in crisis. What follows is a training lesson for the disciples in faith and fearlessness.
Unbidden, Jesus comes. His spiritual presence is described in symbols that express and communicate his intimate relationship with God. Jesus comes to his disciples walking upon the sea, a prerogative reserved for God who made the seas. Therefore, the tumult of the seas do not have power over him. He strides over the waves rather than sinks beneath them. Also, the winds that are against the disciples in the boat of the Church do not appear to hinder Jesus.
All this happens between 3:00 AM and 6:00 AM, the time when God rescued Israel by dividing and then closing the waters of the Red Sea. It is the resurrected Jesus coming to the aid of his disciples through the power of God.
However, the disciples mistake “Jesus coming to the rescue” for a ghost who has come to threaten them. The fact they see Jesus but apprehend a ghost conveys the difficulty of discerning the resurrected presence of Jesus. Obviously, the usual way of identifying Jesus by physical description is not available. His presence is disembodied, and so their minds respond to what they see with a [quick] reaction, and they categorize him as a “ghost.” Ghosts are considered the shades of the once living who linger on the earth and whose appearance terrifies people. In particular, ghosts have haunted the seas and allegedly been seen in late night mists. However, resurrection is a different reality. It is not the appearance of the surviving weakened remnants of earthly life.
Jesus immediately corrects their mistake and instructs their fear. It is not a ghost they are encountering and so their fear is misplaced. Jesus identifies himself as “I am” (a literal translation of the Greek), the name of God. This “I am” is translated “it is I.” So it functions to ground Jesus in the reality of God and to assure the disciples that it is not a specter. They are dealing with the real Jesus, albeit Jesus in a new form. This full and real presence of Jesus is functionally equivalent to God’s presence. Therefore, courage should replace fear, for the presence of God is greater than all the forces that threaten the life of the disciples.
 John Shea, On Earth As It Is In Heaven, pp. 246-247
For reflection and sharing:
- What feelings are in my heart as I come into this second last day of Chapter?
- What images from this Gospel and commentary touch my own life and prayer? My experiences of this Chapter?
- How has Jesus been training me and us in faith and fearlessness during this Chapter?
- This is our last faith sharing as a Consensus Group. What do I want to say to these women with whom I have been praying and discerning during this Chapter?
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