I am sure all of you will have memories similar to this one as you made a new start in life. Seventy-five years ago on this very date, Sister Antoinette and I stepped off the train in Loretto Station. There were 14 others, young women with us. More would join us, including Valerie Ann, later that day. Already homesick after only 36 hours away from my family, I looked out the window of that train, saw two Sisters in their black habits and thought with some disgust, “Is this what I traveled all this way to do?”
But then we stepped onto this holy ground and gathered for lunch at the Guest House, which was in Knobs Haven in those days. I began to think that this seemed like a pretty amiable group, maybe it wouldn’t be too bad.
As in all new undertakings there were some surprises awaiting us: rise at 5 a.m. – Really? Use the cabins!!! – Did they actually say that? What do you mean we can’t talk to each other? As I think back, it took a LOT of courage for all 36 of us, but we did it!
Turning to today’s Gospel, I envision a very pompous scribe wearing all the insignia of his position as he struts up to Jesus in the hope of trapping him and asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Jesus responded, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. … And the second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The scribe had nothing more to say – he couldn’t argue with Jesus’ answer.
Turning to the first reading from Exodus, we are given instructions on how to love our neighbor. For example: “You shall not mock or oppress an alien for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.” I would like to have large banners made with this quotation and hung in the halls of Congress, the White House, the Supreme Court and the offices of Home Land Security. Who among us did not have ancestors who came from another country?
Unfortunately, in this country and others, as time went on, people who had been taken in and accepted, became the oppressors, unwilling to just share the land, but instead drove the original residents off the land. It is still happening today.
I had never really thought about this at the time so it was a bit of a shock to me when I realized that the land on which I grew up on had once been home to the Arapahoe or Cayenne tribes who lived on the plains of Colorado. My brother even found handmade Indian arrowheads in the pastures, but at the time we didn’t think about what had happened to the people who made them.
It was in the 1800s that my great grandfather brought his family from Germany and obtained the land through the Homestead Act. My family thrived on that land for more than 100 years! Where were the native Americans who once lived there now? Many of them probably died in the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864. And right now, I am again living on land that once belonged to Indigenous people. We Sisters of Loretto have thrived for more than 200 years on this land. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could give it back to them? None of us are personally responsible for this injustice, but we do need to be aware and watchful in future actions.
The reading from Exodus goes on to instruct us to care for the widows and orphans, not expect repayment when making a loan, return what you borrowed from your neighbor because he or she may need it. I Am the Way reminds us that we are “to work for justice and act for peace because the Gospel urges us.” So we remember with regret how the first Americans were treated and let them know we care. We remember that “Black lives matter” and to protect immigrant friends from danger. We work to provide day care, good care for the elderly, good use of the land, and try to make people aware of injustice wherever we see it.
Like Antoinette, Valerie Ann and me, Mary Rhodes, Christina Stuart and Ann Havern had no idea where their calling would take them. Even Father Nerinckx said, “I know not what will become of you.” But I believe that the author of Exodus and our foundresses would be happy to see the work that the Loretto Community has accomplished over the years.
Late week we witnessed another new beginning of the journey in the vow ceremony for Saima and Shaista. It stirred up old memories. Whether we arrived in October, February, June or any other day it was, it was a very special day, and we had no idea where our decision would take us. We had been called, often in very unique ways, to be part of something so much greater than ourselves. We were able to trust that our call was real. We’ve spent our lives learning to love God with our whole heart, soul and mind. Some days it was a struggle to love God or perhaps more so to love one of our neighbors. But it has been our life’s commitment and we did so holding on to God’s hand on one side and our Sister’s hand on the other. For that we give God glory, thanks and praise, O bless our works and guide our ways.
