SHE IS WITH US
Oh I am in prison; I cannot move to wherever I want to go.
Under my parents’ watch, I just want to be free to do whatever I want.
When will the holiday come? I just want to travel out of this place.
This health challenge has tied me down, will I ever be free again to live a normal life?
Sometimes we feel confined in one way or the other.
Are you confined?
Where is your confinement?
What do you do within your confined space?
A CHAT WITH THE VENERABLE MOTHER
In what I tagged my confined space of a feeling of desolation and uncertainty, I woke up one early morning filled with the thoughts of the Venerable Mother, confined to her wheelchair, and it was as though she was sitting before me, saying how did you think it was for me, being unable to travel to places I would have loved to be and spread the charism of the congregation further? But God’s Will, Amen!
These frequently said words of the Venerable Mother became more meaningful to me.
SITTING WITH THE VENERABLE MOTHER
I found this a call to reflect on the silent pain of the Venerable Mother who yet offered all thankfully to God. She did not focus on herself but kept her gaze on the Lord who continued to use her to accomplish His mission.
Full of life and energy.
Lots of dreams to be fulfilled.
Insightful, full of vision and plans for the growth of the baby institution.
She who was ready to serve and visit her sisters and the sick poor, became confined to the wheelchair at a time when there were no mobile phones to reach around the world like today.
I wondered how the Venerable Mother coped with the physical confinement.
Her words, God’s Will Amen, started to have greater meaning for me.
Making fruitful her confined space.
By the year 1831, she was confined to the wheelchair.
In the year 1834, St Vincent’s Hospital was opened to serve the sick poor and the vulnerable.
In the year 1838, the Venerable Mother sent five sisters to Australia.
In my reflection, distance was not just a barrier for the Venerable Mother to visit the sisters, but her being confined may have also cost her great pain, but she entrusted them to the Divine Providence.
The Venerable Mother wiped my tears and reminded me that God’s Will is worth submitting to.
Indeed, in His Divine Will, is our Peace.
Sr. Beatrice Opia, RSC
