Delegation of Australia

Called and gifted for the “Care of Souls”

          The communities of Bundoora and Thomastown gathered together on 7^th October 2006 for the monthly retreat and the celebration of the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary marking the 68th anniversary of foundation of our Congregation.

          The theme for the day was “Reflecting on the care of souls”, and the guest speaker was Fr. Tony Ireland, Rector of the Corpus Christi Seminary in Melbourne. Fr. Tony introduced his first talk with a quotation from the Encyclical of Pius XII on The Unity of Human Society highlighting the need for shepherds and shepherdesses to have attentive ears and hearts in their commitment to the care of souls:

          Whoever has the care of souls and can search hearts, knows the hidden tears of mothers, the resigned sorrow of so many fathers, the countless bitterness of which no statistics tell nor can tell. He sees with sad eyes the mass of sufferings ever on the increase; he knows how the powers of disorder and destruction stand on the alert ready to make use of all these things for their dark designs (64).

          It is imperative for the disciple of Jesus to be attentive to the voice of the Shepherd in caring for people; it is only through listening and watching him closely that we learn the Good Shepherd’s way of showing mercy and compassion, and his attitude towards the person.

          Drawing from the Gospel stories of the cure of the paralytic (Luke 5:1-26), the cure of the man born blind (John 9:1-7), the son of the widow of Nain restored to life (Luke 7:11-17) and the Gerasene demoniac (Luke 8:26-39), Fr. Tony showed how throughout his ministry Jesus’ attention and concern was clearly for the whole person. In his caring for the needs of the body, which was essential, he was at the same time caring for the person’s soul and spirit, and in every case Jesus’ healing was at the same time a restoration of the person to new life in the community. 

          In his second talk Fr Tony presented excerpts from the teachings of the Fathers of the Church on the care of souls and in particular from St. Augustine’s exhortations to Shepherds to be models for the faithful. He also drew from the teachings of the Great Councils of the Church with ample quotations from the documents of the Second Vatican Council and the magisterium of John Paul II.

         The day ended with the celebration of the Eucharist during which we gave thanks to God for the 68^th anniversary of foundation of our Congregation and prayed that the Lord may continue to call young women all over the world to join our Religious Family and share in the pastoral charism entrusted to us in the church.

          We also read Sr. Marta’s message of good wishes for the occasion and her request for prayer during her brief visit to our Sisters in Brazil.