Message from Congregation Leadership: The Root is Love
by Susan Francois, CSJP
Hospitality is at the core of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Our founder, Mother Francis Clare (Margaret Anna Cusack) understood this well, writing “it did matter to me a great deal in view of our common humanity, and in view of my love of the poor, that I should do all I could for those whom He had loved so well.” She knew that we are called to make room for God’s love, God’s people, God’s creation in our hearts and in our very actions, and so inspired by the Spirit, she took the risk to found our community.
From the very beginning our early sisters sought ways to promote peace in family life, in the Church, and in society. They visited the sick in their own homes and created spaces where the needs of immigrants, orphaned children, and the visually impaired were attended to while their common humanity was respected. Later they established schools and hospitals, most often at the request of a local community.
These radical actions of love and hospitality continue to evolve today. In our sponsored ministries, our charism has taken root and is flourishing under the leadership of our lay ministry partners. Our sisters and associates continue to seek ways to do all we can for God’s dear ones, as you will read in this issue of Living Peace.
While our early sisters may have been inspired by the Spirit, at our 2014 Congregation Chapter we found ourselves disturbed by the Spirit. On any given day, there is an abundance of disturbing news—the global refugee crisis, rising arms sales, violence near and far, hatred and xenophobia. The list goes on. Yet, it is this very reality that led us to recommit ourselves to Jesus’ way of radical hospitality, in this time and place.
I was recently reminded that one meaning of the word radical is the root or fundamental nature of something. In this case, I think, the root is love: the love that Mother Clare had for immigrant women facing life in a foreign land; the love that our early sisters had for their charges; the love that God had for everything from the moment of creation, if not before and always and forever.
Radical, of course, has another meaning as something revolutionary, but that can also be about love. In his recent TED talk, Pope Francis talked about the need for what he calls a revolution of tenderness. “This is tenderness: being on the same level as the other. God descended into Jesus to be on our level. This is the same path the Good Samaritan took. This is the path that Jesus himself took. He lowered himself, he lived his entire human existence practicing the real, concrete language of love.”
Tenderness, according to Pope Francis, “is the path of choice for the strongest, most courageous men and women.” Perhaps that is why Mother Clare called us to be “brave, noble large-minded and courageous souls.”
This article was published in the Summer 2017 issue of Living Peace.