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Address for the Opening of the General Chapter of the Salvatorian Sisters
November 5, 2006
Dear Sisters,
Dear Confreres,
The Holy Spirit led you to choose as the theme of your XIX General Chapter: "Salvatorian Women in Solidarity for Hope and Life." We, your Salvatorian brothers and the Lay Salvatorians, have assisted you in the preparation of your Chapter with our prayers, and we intensify our prayerful assistance today as you start this Pentecostal event of a general chapter. We are very pleased that our dear confrere, Father Dennis, will be assisting you, not only with prayers like we do, but also in a professional way, which he does with all his heart and talents.
You will focus your discernment of God's will on the chapter theme and two Gospel icons; namely, Mary Magdalen announcing the resurrection of Jesus and Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. During this short address to you, I wish to bring to you yet another icon for your meditation; namely, the icon of the two disciples going to Emmaus after the tragic happenings in Jerusalem during the Passover feast. These two disciples are on the way from Jerusalem in a spirit of despair, sadness and discouragement with their hopes for liberating Israel seemingly buried with Jesus in the tomb. The tragic events of the Passover in our times are the evils of a divided world and the situation of women and children quite often abused and treated unjustly and inhumanely. I am sure that in some way each one of you has come to this Chapter from your home country with "sad faces" and feelings similar to those of the disciples on their way to Emmaus because of the enormous evils in our world, which, in spite of all our efforts, still continue to exist. Yet the disciples met Jesus on the road, and he listened to their concerns, explained the Scriptures to them, opened their eyes, gave new meaning to their lives, and made the darkness become light. Consequently, they felt encouraged to take the road back to Jerusalem with hope, new strength and courage; they could not keep the good news for themselves but shared it with others.
My wish for you during this Chapter is to find in your discernment the ways to recognize the face of the truly loving Jesus in those excluded, marginalized, abused and treated inhumanely, whom you serve daily. Then you will go back after this Pentecostal event of Chapter to "your Jerusalem" with new encouragement, strength, and hope to perform your unique mission in solidarity for Hope and Life. I pray that at your Chapter there prevails a spirit of confidence, unity in diversity, and a deep concern for the good of the Congregation and of our Salvatorian Family. I pray that like the disciples of Emmaus, who at a certain moments stopped to explain to Jesus the happenings in Jerusalem and to listen to him, so too you listen to Him during your discussions so that your chapter will be a faith event. Jesus opened the eyes of the disciples. So my wish for you is that, while listening to Jesus, He opens your eyes to choose the proper priorities and leaders and to make the proper decisions in the light of your personal, communal, religious, apostolic, and Salvatorian needs.
The disciples expressed their desire that Jesus remain with them. So too may Jesus remain always in your hearts and in your midst, so that your Chapter is a special opportunity to go back to Jesus the Savior in a more personal and radical way. Having experienced His deep and personal presence, your "sad faces" will again become joyous and you will desire, like the Emmaus disciples, to share this joy and optimism with others.
I address you as your Salvatorian brother but also as the tenth successor of Father Jordan. And so I wish to conclude my short address for the opening of your Chapter with his words that he addressed to your predecessors in November 1903 and would again today if he were physically present among us. These are his words: "You are the favored ones, preferred and selected. You have a particular right to approach the Divine Savior in order to be heard by him in all your concerns. Always remember that we are not yet in heaven, that we must still fight and suffer much. But never despair. Trust firmly in God, however great your inner or outer difficulties may be!"
May the Holy Spirit pour out upon you the abundance of gifts, light and hope.
F. Andrew Urbanski, SDS
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