Jean Fox, the first Director General of the women after Catherine Doherty’s death, wrote this letter to the MH family at the beginning of 1994. It contains much wise counsel on how to live as an apostle of Christ in times of material and spiritual distress, so we reprint it here as a help for you our readers, in your own particular life situations.
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As letter after letter pours in, the echo of almost every house and heart is universal. Many have felt this has been the hardest Christmas they have ever experienced. The words “oppression,” “discouragement,” “pain,” “miscommunication,” “inadequacy,” and a sense of profound “helplessness” are in so many of your letters that I know it is not an accident.
Remember that you are safe and secure in the heart of Love! The piercing fire of the Holy Spirit is working on everyone. What we were able to pacify and lift from one another in terms of our burdens does not seem to work anymore.
Trust that the pain and discouragement that come especially through your emotions are not without a powerful love moving in you and through you.
Repressed pain seems to be revealing itself to everyone. Remember that repressed pain is not the reality of today. You are being cleansed and freed from lies and a wrong concept of self which is not in conformity with the love, mercy, and goodness that God rains on us all.
Be very still, open, and surrendered these days. Trust that the mercy of God is acting upon you, and yield your pain to the Cross so that it can be transformed into joy.
I beg everyone to guard their tongue and to speak with care to one another so that we do not inflict hurt upon wounds that are already raw, exposed, and in need of the oil and wine of compassion.
God is with you. God lives in you. Let him be the healing love for you.
If need be, take time in the mission houses to sit in front of the Blessed Sacrament more frequently.
The distress of those coming to you will grow greater in the days ahead. We have nothing to give anyone but our poverty, our open heartedness, our understanding, and our union with everyone who is suffering at this time.
The accuser wants to make us feel as though we are doing something wrong. Be watchful, alert, and careful of any voice, inside yourself or outside, that is accusing. You are chosen, you are beloved, and you belong only to Love. God is with us. Fear nothing.
On the practical side, a good long walk, deep breathing, a good joke, a little gathering to have fun can often break the tension that will plague us because of the difficulties that are everywhere.
When Catherine was with us, she told us daily that the problems were not primarily economic, political, or educational but spiritual. Go to the Source, and let God give you the love that is your true heritage. Only he can do that.
You are not able to fill one another’s needs except by listening, extending a hand of understanding and a heart of compassion for your brothers and sisters.
God is first. My neighbor is second, and we who are called to be “third” will receive everything if we stand still and let him complete what he has started in this family.
People will come to us as the difficulties increase, looking for a heart that understands. You will give love because you are one with the suffering of people all over the world.
Everything can be taken from us, but no one can take from us the great heritage we have received and our poor but noble ability to love one another in these days.
Quebec Morning painting by ©Donna Surprenant, Madonna House
