“You Will Be My Witnesses”

We are blessed to have multiple communities of women Religious in both of our parishes – a blessing I did not have as I grew up in another community along the I-495 belt (Acton). Whether we are talking about monastic nuns (like the Trappistines at the Abbey) or apostolic sisters (like the St. Chretienne Community), each has professed vows to live in union with Jesus Christ in such a way that their lives bear witness to the kingdom of God in accord with the charisms of their particular Religious Community. While all of us are called by our baptismal vows to a life of faith and holiness, Religious women and men do this in a way that only makes sense in relationship with Jesus.

One of our local communities, the Religious of Jesus and Mary in Plainville, is celebrating the two hundredth anniversary of their founding this year, and we are hosting a special Mass with them this weekend to celebrate their presence as they renew their vows at the 10am Mass at St. Martha. Their congregation was founded by Saint Claudine Thévenet, a woman of ‘high courage’ living as a Catholic amidst the terrors of the French Revolution. She experienced the execution of two of her brothers, and from that time on, Claudine dedicated her life and resources to alleviating the ravages left in the chaotic wake of that period. She came to have but one conviction: that the greatest misfortune is to live and die without knowing God. To address these practical and spiritual needs, she gathered friends around her to offer shelter and basic education for poor girls at risk. Her trust in God’s goodness gave her the courage to undertake works that seemed foolhardy. Her last words remain a legacy to her sisters: "How good God is"!  In time St. Claudine’s congregation grew and spread, to the point that today there are 1300 Religious of Jesus and Mary ministering in 28 countries (symbolized in their logo on our bulletin cover this week), sharing the goodness and forgiving love Claudine wanted so much to offer the children of her time.

The Jesus and Mary sisters have continued to live the charisms of St. Claudine, many of them through education, but also through other pastoral, social, and spiritual ministries. Today we are blessed to have with us some of their sisters from throughout New England, together with the mostly retired sisters at the Jesus and Mary center on School Street, Plainville. I say ‘mostly retired’ because they have long served diligently in their ministries and deserve the chance to slow down a bit in their later years, but they continue to stay active in prayer and even in ministry when possible. From serving as parish lectors, praying for our pastoral needs and programs, bringing Communion to the sick, and doing faith formation for children in special circumstances, our Jesus and Mary sisters are very much a part of both of our parishes. May other women and girls be open to God calling them to a similar vocation in Religious life, and may we all be blessed by the witness of faith these wonderful consecrated women provide for us. “How good God is”!