« Our purpose is greater! Women who leave a legacy understand the importance of walking together… » (Talitha Pereira)
It was with this inspiration from Talitha Pereira, author of the bestseller – “Identity, Overcoming, Feminine Leadership” – that I began to reflect on our proposed theme. In her words, our RSCM Constitutions state that “we are called to Be Community”. And it is in fidelity to this word of order that we allow ourselves to be formed in the countertrend of what is sometimes the strongest call in our human nature… centered on ourselves.
“BEING A COMMUNITY” will never be something that naturally develops in us, human beings who are, from the beginning, egocentric, marked by this original tendency that we carry within us! We speak of this as “original sin” … and it becomes the mark of our choices… unless we CHOOSE, step by step, to learn to make choices in a way that is coherent with what WE WANT TO BE… TO WALK TOGETHER… “BEING A COMMUNITY”.
Contemplating the life trajectory of our Foundress, I am always encouraged by her docility, allowing herself to be transformed… in a process of “metamorphoses” that occurred along the paths she lived. We can say that, between Apolônia Pelissier, Apolônia Cure and our dear Mère St. Jean, a true TRANSFORMATION took place! And, with her “letting herself be made again”, we are learning that “everything can be transformed, reinvented, re-emerged for the better and acquire new potentialities. Thus, from the beloved wife of Eugène Cure, God forged a Foundress – our own Mère St. Jean! In one of his writings, Father Gailhac makes a statement that can enlighten us in this reflection: “God does not want to be the only one to do good, he wants our cooperation” (GS/5/III/86th. V.II, p.516).
This leads us to assume our personal and collective responsibility for this desired transformation, yes, but not always assumed, in this partnership that God expects from each one of us!
Women Walking Together… Being a community… always presupposes, on our part, making this choice in a process, personal and collective! in a permanent openness to this call, which comes to us from God!
Strengthened by the words of our Constitutions (§3), as RSCM, we have Mary, Mother of Jesus and ours, as our MODEL on this journey of life: “In following Jesus, we contemplate Mary, his first disciple, the one who cooperated most faithfully in the Work of Redemption. By the deep and active receptivity of her faith, Mary was able, in the power of the Spirit, to say YES to God, an unconditional YES, in the face of the unpredictable. It is the totality of this gift of self that we are called to imitate.
Sr. Rosa de Lima Pereira, RSCM (Heritage and Spirituality Group)
