Journals and Letters final week: Celebrate Mother Theodore
(Today we are discussing “Journals and Letters” Epilogue, pages 440-443. This is our final installment of reading Saint Mother Theodore’s writings together every week for the past year. Are you just starting to read “Journals and Letters” or did you join us midway? Follow along with our year’s worth of reflections here.)
With this week’s blog, we bid adieu, goodbye to our yearlong journey with Mother Theodore Guerin. By reading “Mother Theodore’s Journals and Letters,” we’ve come to know her in an intimate way. We’ve witnessed her fears, her tenderness, her determination, her grief, her annoyance, her practicality, her humor, her faith in God’s providence.
We began our journey Oct. 10, 2020; and we end it Oct. 2, 2021: Mother Theodore’s birthday and the day before her Oct. 3 feast day.
All of us who’ve read her “Journals and Letters” know that no one could be more surprised than herself to be celebrated as a Saint of God.
Her all for God and others
We, her faithful companions, are not at all surprised. Every page of her journals, every page of her letters reveals a woman who used all her energy, all her love and passion “to honor Divine Providence and to further God’s loving plans by devoting [herself] to works of love, mercy and justice in service among God’s people.” (The Constitutions of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana)
We, her faithful companions, find encouragement that one can be a saint while being annoyed with Sisters Basilde and Maria; be a saint while openly opposing a bishop; be a saint while deeply grieving a dear friend; be a saint while arguing with local bankers over monies rightfully hers; be a saint while giving practical advice like “I desire that you bring nothing with you but the things necessary for the journey and your flannels and stockings.”
Yes. One can be a saint by being 100% human and by 100% entrusting one’s self to God’s care.
Sister Mary Joseph wrote these words in a letter to friends in France telling them of Mother Theodore’s death: A willing exile from her beautiful country, full of zeal for the salvation of her fellow-beings, the charms of her mind drew them to her, while the goodness of her heart attached them to her; the rectitude of her judgment, the power of her words finished the conquest, no one left her without praising her and feeling grateful to her.
Our turn
Celebrate her feast day! Happy feast!
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Leave the things you value to the people and purposes you value most.
Beautiful ending reflection Denise! Thanks for much for your gift with words to describe our beloved SMTG.
With Connie I say thanks for your reflections that have made even more vivid the woman we have been contemplating together. Thanks to each one who added to that picture with their own sharing. This has been a richly rewarding experience, and I’ll miss the weekly visits with our Mother and her followers. May she embrace and bless all!
Thank you Sister Denise for all your articles and the beautiful ending this morning. I have treasured reading what you and Sister Ann have written over the year. Many times your words have given me a different perspective on what I had previously read. Again thank you both for all your time and talents in your writings.
Sometimes I feel as if I have heard and read so much about SMTG that my “picture” of her gets all fuzzy. Re-reading and reflecting with these commentaries clarifies her again and somehow demonstrates above all her humanity and “goodness of heart”!
Thank you for this wonderful journey with Mother Theodore and her companions.
I also am grateful for this year-long journey. Rereading the book, seeing the pictures, and reading the contributions of other companions on this journey have deepened my appreciation for this wonderful woman. Thank you, Sisters of Providence, and thank you to all who have contributed. May we all recognize and appreciate the working of our Provident God in our lives and in the lives of those around us.
A special thanks to Sister Denise and Ann Casper, Amy Miranda, PA & Publications/Marketing Manager and Mary Riley, Advancement Services Marketing Manager for sharing their reflections. May we who have read and reflected on Mother Theodore’s life gained encouragement to continue her legacy.
What a beautiful tribute to Mother Theodore. Thanks Denise. 😊