Inching Toward God: A National Catholic Sisters Week Reflection

In a recent column, Father Ron Rolheiser invited his readers to reflect on the image of a mother who is supporting her young toddler in the process of learning to walk across a room. He writes: “Squatting on the floor in front of the child, an arm’s length away, her fingertips just inches away from the fingertips of the child, she gently coaxes the child to risk taking a step forward; then when the child takes that step, she moves her fingertips back a few inches, and again gently tries to coax the child into risking another step. And so, all the way across the floor.”

Sister Elizabeth Johnson, in her book “She Who Is” describes God as “the ground of what should be and what we hope will be, the power of being over against the ravages of nonbeing.” If we connect the imagery of the mother and toddler with this understanding of God as the ground of what should be, we can imagine that as God gazes at us with unimaginable love, God is seeing abilities, gifts, strengths, talents within us that we have not yet begun to imagine or even possess, just like the toddler that does not yet know she can walk all the way across a room.

In today’s readings, we will hear God speaking to us of living lives that are filled with virtue or right living. Another way of thinking about this is to say that God yearns for us to live lives where we are flourishing. Ezekiel writes of a God that calls us to life, who rejoices with every good choice we make, much as we might imagine the mother celebrating with her toddler after each step that she takes. In the gospel, Jesus calls his followers to the highest standards of discipleship, insisting that we let go of anger and resentments and be fully reconciled with the members of our communities. In both readings, God’s expectations can seem beyond our capabilities, but God sees in us, abilities, strengths and talents that God is still calling forth in us and the people around us. Like the toddler, we are still coming into the fullness of being what we are meant to be: God sees what we can become and calls us towards that future.

This week is National Catholic Sisters week. At Boston College, there are 17+ different women’s religious congregations represented, many of them at this Mass here today. Our congregations, over the centuries, have been involved in diverse ministries meant to support and help God’s people as they birth the graces and talents that are being brought to life in them. This has meant a willingness to actively seek out situations in all of our contexts where social and political policies have gotten in the way of human flourishing. For example, in my own congregation, our Sisters founded and worked in schools to give the underprivileged access to education at a time when governments didn’t yet offer socialized education. Today, Religious Sisters from our congregations accompany homeless people, immigrants and asylum seekers. They are spiritual directors, retreat directors and parish workers, supporting those seeking deeper relationships with God. They are teachers and professors. They are doctors and nurses and chaplains, walking with the sick. They are lawyers and activists, speaking out against unjust government policies. And much more! And I encourage you to ask the Sisters about the different ministries of their congregations today.

We are not all called to be Religious Sisters or to enter religious congregations. Religious Life is just one way of serving God which we remember in a particular way here this week. However, we are all called to recognize the ways in which we are toddlers today. As toddlers listening to today’s readings, I invite you to imagine God looking at you as one who sees all the potential you have, all that you will be. Imagine God calling you towards that future, calling you to realize new talents and new ways of living. 

I think we’re also invited in today’s readings to imitate God’s mothering energy. I invite you to look around at the members of your communities and consider what you can do to help them flourish. Encourage, affirm, empower. Try to see in the other, what they don’t yet see in themselves. Let us work with God to create all that should be and all we hope will be. Amen.