(Message of Sr. Brigid Lawlor, Congregational Leader of the Good Shepherd Sisters, during the Centennial Celebration of the Good Shepherd Sisters, October 4, 2012, Good Shepherd Convent, Quezon City)
Gratitude is your inheritance. Engrave it on your heart.
Let its remembrance be your consolation, your hope.
(St. M. Euphrasia)
October 4, 2012
Dear Sisters and Lay Partners,
We are gathered here today to celebrate our inheritance. It is the inheritance passed on to us by St. Mary Euphrasia. Two Irish Sisters, filled with the spirit of St. Mary Euphrasia, who were missionaries in Rangoon, Burma, traveled by boat to Batangas 100 years ago! Good Shepherd was born in the Philippines! Happy 100th Birthday, Good Shepherds! I am quite sure that most of you have not reached 100 years of age to actually remember that day 100 years ago. However, I ask: What do you remember? What are we commemorating?
- 100 years of history! You have studied your history intensely and have celebrated it throughout the province during the past three years.
- 100 years of change! Our entire cosmos is different because of the new energy of God’s shepherding love which sprang forth 100 years ago and continues in so many Good Shepherd communities and services in the Philippines. You carried a shepherd’s crook from place to place to commemorate this joy.
- 100 years of vocations! Countless dedicated people attracted to the charism of the Good Shepherd discovered that charism within themselves and shared it as apostolic or contemplative sisters, lay partners, and program participants.
- 100 years of growth! Starting with two sisters to now you are 141 apostolic, 25 contemplative sisters within the Philippines, and countless lay partners, all of whom are co–responsible for our mission here today.
- 100 years of sharing within your borders! You have developed many partnerships throughout the Philippines with our church, government, NGO’s, and others.
- 100 years of creative response to the needs of families, women and children through concrete ministries as well as untiring advocacy for justice and peace!
- 100 years of generosity! Two missionaries came to begin the holy work. Presently, there are 32 Filipino Sister Missionaries in other parts of the world, who have generously responded to the call to reach out to persons desiring our Good Shepherd giftedness or to congregational administrative needs. Congratulations and thank you for sharing the witness of the missionary spirit that you were given 100 years ago. This is truly a clear living out of the words of St. Mary Euphrasia – “our zeal must embrace the world.”
All of us have within us the missionary spirit of St. Mary Euphrasia whether we are here in the Philippines or on another continent. When she says, “Let zeal be the vessel that bears you on… this holy work is in your hands,” we know that the symbol of a boat that came here from Rangoon continues as a particular sign for us today. That sign is the zeal which we have inherited and must continue to promote. Zeal calls forth gratitude….the gratitude that is the memory of the heart.
Our celebration of 100 years of Good Shepherd presence in the Philippines coincides with the beginning celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Blessed Maria Droste, our sister from Germany who was a missionary to Portugal. I close with her words; I believe they reflect the gratitude which is in our hearts:
Let me pour out this Love into the hearts of all. Let me welcome with compassion the poor, the oppressed, the rejected, those in danger, and lead them all to you, the Good Shepherd.
Maria Droste zu Vischering, Munster, 1975, Section VII-Reflection.
I brought you a 100th Anniversary Gift! Sr. Cecilia, would you please open it! It is a Shepherd with a wheelbarrow! I bring it as a reminder that our work in the Philippines is only just begun! We must use whatever vessels that are available to us today - be they boats, wheelbarrows, computers, internet, webpages, Facebook, Twitter, etc., to make our Good Shepherd spirituality known. There are many “sheep” with whom we must share the loving care of the Good Shepherd during the next 100 years and beyond.
Thank you for inviting me to participate in the celebration of our precious heritage here in the Philippines. The entire congregation unites with me with joy and gratitude.
Lovingly in the Heart of our Shepherd God,
Brigid Lawlor
Congregational Leader