“Do all your Actions out of Love and with Love”1
Sr Rani Kurian DW
Congregational Leader
On October 11th we celebrated the tri-centenary of the arrival of Mother Marie-Louise at St Laurent sur Sèvre. It was a significant event that reminded us of our origins marked by poverty and the desire to love God in the poor and needy people of the time. For Marie-Louise arriving at St Laurent, it was the beginning of a new mission for which Montfort had already prepared her over time. After 300 years the Montfortian family once again gathered around the tombs of Montfort and Marie-Louise at this historical moment of Covid-19, to celebrate the past, to acknowledge the present and to affirm our desire to do everything with love and out of love. Recalling the life of our founders impels us to go forth to deepen our relationship with God, to embrace a new beginning, to let go of the known and familiar, to be open to learn new things, to be creative and to go forth to meet life.
Love without Borders 2
As Daughters of Wisdom we heard the prophetic call of Wisdom inviting us to ‘Love without Borders’. The General Chapter recognized that we were at an historical moment in the life of the Congregation. Today we recognize that we are also in an historical moment in our world marked by Covid -19. In a “Church that goes forth” we have heard the call of Wisdom Incarnate to be witnesses to the Reign of God, welcoming God
hidden in our neighbor, without distinction of race, religion, class, gender or age, with a heart without fear and without borders. Courageously with an open and sincere heart we have been searching for ways and means to respond to this call. This historical moment calls us once again to be united with our Brothers and Sisters who are suffering in many ways and it challenges us to change our life style, our mentality and our
way of being in our mission in order to adapt to the present reality. The call to seek and contemplate Wisdom urges us to witness to the Reign of God wherever we are, whether in active ministry, in a sick bed or in the infirmary.
Sisters to All
In his Encyclical letter “Fratelli Tutti”, Pope Francis wrote: “ If the music of the Gospel ceases to resonate in our very being, we will lose the joy born of compassion, the tender love born of trust, the capacity for reconciliation that has its source in our knowledge that we have been forgiven and sent forth.” Called by the Acts of the Chapter-2018 to “Love without Borders” and invited by Pope Francis to contribute to the rebirth of a universal aspiration to fraternity let us be Sisters to All in following the footsteps of Montfort and Marie-Louise.
1 I In dialogue with Marie-Louise de Jésus p. 101
2 Acts of the 2028 General Chapter
3 Ibid p. 4
4 Encyclical Letter Fratelli Tutti n° 277
5 Ibid n° 8
