A Reflection for the 2024 Foundation Day Mass

The readings that were just proclaimed are beautiful reminders of what is foundational to our lives and the life of this Providence Community as we celebrate this 184th Foundation Day.

But none of these words captured my imagination or my heart like the reading Sister Jean Fuqua asked me to deliver at our prayer service out at the Log Cabin Chapel this Foundation Day morning.

It fell to me to read the story of the four-mile trip of our foundresses from Terre Haute to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. I will spare you some of the detail for which  our Saint Mother Theodore is so well noted, so just imagine six women in a stagecoach.

They are already worn out from almost four months of travel. They have just  been ferried across the Wabash River only to find themselves on a road that was so covered with water that Mother Theodore says, “It was like a vast pond.”

She further explains: “The plank road having disappeared, it became dangerous to travel on account of trees which had fallen here and there. No matter! The horses were whipped up and they rushed into the water.”

We know that their Chaplain, Father Buteux, who had met them in Vincennes, went ahead with a pole to sound the road. Soon the water became too deep, so he had to get up on the coach with the driver.

And soon after that, the carriage struck a stumbling horse, a wheel went over the trunk of a tree and the carriage was thrown on its side. Mother Theodore recounts, “The water entered the coach and the horses were swimming rather than walking … it was like being in the middle of a sea. … There was imminent danger for us. … The water poured in on us. We thought we were surely gone this time.”

Just sit with that image for a minute. … the water poured in on us; we thought we were surely gone.

‘Inaccessible to Fear’

I think this passage from Mother Theodore’s journal so affected me because of what she said next about that moment:

“I may say, however, that I was not at all alarmed. When one has nothing more to lose, the heart is inaccessible to fear. … When one has nothing more to lose, the heart is inaccessible to fear.”

What is the source of her fearlessness? Total dependence upon Providence, no doubt. She has nothing more to lose because she has surrendered all to Providence.

I want to suggest that this is the clarion call coming from the scripture readings selected to mark this day.

‘Dependence on God’

We have often referred to the passage from the Gospel of Luke we heard as the Providence Gospel. The subtitle in my bible for this passage is “Dependence on God.”

Jesus exhorts us: “Do not worry about your life.” In terms of a more colloquial translation, he might be saying: “Do not keep sweating the small stuff.” Consider the ravens, look at the lilies. “God knows what you need. Strive for the reign of God, and these things will be given to you as well.” In short, be fearless. I am with you. Together, let us focus on what is really important.

The reading from Jeremiah points us in the same direction. Jeremiah reassures the people of his day who are exiled in Babylon that God has not and will not abandon them. He offers those beautiful, hopeful promises: “ I know the plans I have for you, says our God, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.”

God promises us this same faithfulness — if we seek God with all our hearts. Be whole-hearted. Be fearless.

If the women in that stagecoach 184 years ago today were not seeking God with all their hearts, I don’t know who is.

Over and over, the foundation story of this community reminds us that dependence on God is what we should be boasting about today, as Paul suggests in the letter to the Corinthians. God made use of and continues to make use of the weak in this world to upend the strong.

‘Fearless in Conviction’

If we are to walk in the footsteps of these foundresses — of Theodore, Basilide, Mary Liguori, Mary Xavier, Olympiade, and Vincent Ferrer — then we, too, need to be fearless in the conviction that we have been called to bring Providence, God’s loving care, into our world. God is depending on our whole-hearted response.  

We all know places of imminent danger in our world right now. Places where water is literally pouring in on people, as they seek to escape hurricanes, floods,  typhoons, and even tsunamis. We know the severity of this danger will only increase if we do not attend to the climate crisis with whole heartedness.   

We all know people in imminent danger right now because of the color of their skin or their sexual orientation or their desire to immigrate to this country in search of a safe and fruitful life.  We know the severity of this danger will only increase if we choose to be bystanders and do not fearlessly step up on behalf of right relationship for all and with all.

Trust in God’s Providence

We all know people whose carriages are on their sides right now — you could surely think of experiences in your own life when the water was pouring in on you — grief resulting from loss of a loved one, or a failed relationship, or a serious illness or disability. The women in that stagecoach certainly had their share of personal hardships. AND they had each other and a profound sense of trust in God’s Providence.

They also had a very adept stagecoach driver who, “without losing his American coolness (these are Mother Theodore’s words), managed the horses so dexterously as to set the carriage up again.”

Even the horses were part of the saving grace that day. Mother Theodore continues her tale: “We could see dry land a short distance beyond … the horses were cheered at the sight of land … went into a gallop … the water passing over their backs. There was water in the carriage too. No matter. Five minutes later we were rolling along on terra firma.”

Let us fearlessly and whole heartedly be part of the saving grace of our time. We are, after all, the face of Providence for this time. God is beckoning us. We may know not where. But, NO MATTER, God will go before us and sound the road.

Happy Foundation Day!