“I was mad at Mother Theodore!” Sandra confesses. For years, Sandra had struggled with corneal degeneration. Prayers for Mother Theodore’s intervention seemed to fall on deaf ears.
“I wandered around the grounds complaining,” Sandra explains. “I ‘heard’ a voice saying, ‘Tell my story.’ Well, I said, ‘I am telling MY story!’ But the voice came again, and I realized it was HER! Telling me to tell HER story! I decided to do it.”
What matters is what is in our hearts and souls. It’s the warmth, respect and love that we have for others — that same love and respect Saint Mother Theodore modeled to all with whom she came in contact. It was her ordinary, her natural response that came from deep within her heart. It was a response borne of deep prayer and of complete trust in her Provident God.
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But I wonder: what would Mother Theodore think of being a saint? Would she be uncomfortable with all the attention? Would she feel like it was something she didn’t deserve? If given a choice would she refuse the honor? Mother Theodore once said, “What have we to do in order to become saints? Nothing extraordinary; nothing more than we do everyday. Only do it for [God’s] love.”
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“A friend told me ‘You are looking for the feminine face of God, and you’ve caught a glimpse of it in the Sisters of Providence.”
“Even as a child I was always in awe of the spiritual feeling you get here.”
Providence Associate candidates share what brought them here.
Sister Mary Cecilia Bailey reflected on Saint Mother Theodore’s style of leadership in a letter sent May 16, 1856: “She blended the tenderness of a Mother with the firmness of a Superior so perfectly that her government was most happy and effectual . . . “
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In the midst of her own pain and struggles, Mother Theodore still considered the most painful sight to be that of the injustice of owning other human beings. She looked upon her fellow human beings with compassion, saw clearly the results of an unjust structure, and yearned to end the suffering.
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An unshakeable trust in God. It set Saint Mother Theodore Guerin apart and makes her a model for us in our daily living. Get to know our brave and inspiring foundress better through these stories.
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