By Sr. Clare Sullivan, M.S.
The Easter season is a season of joy! Celebrating the Easter season is an invitation to us from the Lord to live joyfully. Jesus has won the victory over sin and death for us, so we have every reason to be joyful.
Faith in Jesus’ love for us is an important first step. I recall the Lent of the year after I graduated from high school, when I was still living at home and working as a receptionist for a doctor in my home town. Coming home from work one day, Mom mentioned that the new community of sisters in Lincoln was having a weekend retreat for young women, and asked if I would be interested. It sounded like a good thing to do during Lent, so I registered for it and went.
The sisters lived on the third floor of the St. Thomas Orphanage, where they took care of the 80 children. Father Edward Tuchek was the retreat master, as well as the chaplain for the ‘new’ community. He gave his conferences to the three of us retreatants in the chapel, which was also on third floor.
The first conference Father Tuchek gave on Friday evening was based on St. Mark’s account of the story of “The Rich Young Man.” Only St. Mark records that “Jesus looked at him with love” (Mk. 10:21). He then invited him to sell everything, give to the poor, and come follow Him. Father pointed out that the young man did not accept the invitation which Jesus offered him, and he “went away sad”; St. Mark does not say that, because of his refusal, Jesus no longer loved the young man. Father emphasized that Jesus still loved him and respected his freedom to accept or decline the invitation.
In praying about my vocation, I had wondered if God was calling me to religious life, but I didn’t think I was good enough for God to love me that much. An awareness of God’s love for me, whether I became a sister or not, filled me with joy and a desire to freely offer my life to God. God’s grace—and Father Tuchek’s understanding and words of encouragement—were the catalysts for my courage to apply for entrance to the Marian Sisters. I entered in August of that year and have never regretted it. The joy of that experience has multiplied over the 65 years of my religious life.
The words and example of others have also been God’s invitations to joy to me. Mother Martha’s advice to me when I first entered as a postulant was “If you want to be happy, make others happy.” I found it to be true. Even a smile at others, or at God or myself, can bring a spirit of joy.
After Vatican II, religious communities were asked to identify their specific charism, the gift of grace that God is calling them to live out for His glory and for our contribution to extend His Kingdom on earth. We wanted to honor the joyful spirit of our two foundresses, Sister Martha and Sister Theresa, who showed great courage and trust as they surrendered to God’s plan for them. This included an underground escape from Czechoslovakia under Communist oppression in their country in 1950. It was God’s providence and Bishop Kucera’s invitation that brought them to the Lincoln Diocese. We are the blessed beneficiaries! As we all prayed to put into words what was God’s gift or charism for us, we were guided to recognize it as: “Doing God’s will joyfully in imitation of Mary and St. Francis.”
The two sisters never intended to begin a new community, but would have been content to take care of the children at St Thomas Orphanage. However, with Bishop Kucera and Father Tuchek’s encouragement, they did. They could have resisted and worried about how it would come to be; instead, they trusted God.
Since they were young sisters in the Mercy Sisters of St. Francis in Brno, Czechoslovakia, we adopted the Franciscan Rule. Neither of our foundresses took credit to themselves for establishing the community. They always told us it was God’s community. They chose joy over self-reliance, and trusted in God’s providence.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told us not to worry; as God takes care of the birds and the lilies, He will even more take care of us. Leo Buscaglia put it this way: “Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrows, it only saps the joy of today.”
As Marian Sisters, our Blessed Mother is our main patroness. Despite all her sorrows, she is an example of joy. When the Angel Gabriel announced to her that God had chosen her to be the Mother of the Messiah, she questioned how this could be since she had consecrated her virginity to God. Gabriel answered that the power of the Holy Spirit would overshadow her, assuring her that it would be God’s doing, not man’s. She wholeheartedly consented: “I am the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to Thy Word.”
Rather than worrying about how to be the Mother of God, she pondered God’s plan for her in her heart and made haste to visit and help her elderly cousin, Elizabeth, whom Gabriel had informed her was six months pregnant. Upon their meeting, Elizabeth was inspired to cry out, “Who am I that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?” Mary did not take credit to herself.
Instead, she humbly acknowledged her privilege by praising God: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”
Mary’s example of being grounded in obedience to God’s will shows me that the Lord is aware of every surrender we make of our will to His will, and He is never outdone in generosity, which brings joy.
Usually I accepted my apostolic assignments with trust in God’s grace and gratitude, but one year, I had my own proposed plan. I was very eager to be assigned to one of our missions away from the motherhouse. When the assignments came out in the spring, I was assigned to teach in Lincoln and live at the motherhouse. Knowing from experience that the grace of God would be wherever He assigned me through my superior’s choice, I willingly accepted the assignment.
On the first day of teacher meetings that August, my mother had exploratory surgery. The doctor told us that she had widespread cancer, and that she probably had only two or three months to live. I definitely felt deep sorrow.
When Mom and Dad moved from the farm to live in Lincoln with one of my brothers so that Mom could benefit from the hospice program, I felt gratitude and joy for being able to visit or call her more frequently than I would have if I had been at ‘my’ proposed mission. God did not give me what I wanted. Rather, He gave me what, in His Love, He wanted for me—and that was a real source of joy. Another gift He gave our whole family was that Mom was given nine more months with us, rather than just the predicted two or three.
Accepting God’s will brings us true joy. It is a great joy for me to live the charism of our community, “Doing God’s will joyfully in imitation of Mary and St. Francis.” In His will is our joy.
