Letter from the Executive Director: Silently Out of the Night

Dear Friends,

I have heard any number of people expressing fear and anxiety over the past days. There are a litany of realities all over our world that shatter our hearts. How are we to live this time, what are we to do knowing that we are part of a whole web of life that connects us to all that is unfolding. 

We cannot escape the destructiveness of the world, but we need not be crushed by it. Perhaps the call is to become even more deeply involved in life, not to deny or allow hopelessness, but to care for and connect with one another even more intentionally. Compassion—literally to “suffer with”—asks us not to be afraid to be part of this world. Perhaps the anguish we feel is the other side of love. You only mourn what you love. 

Let us together focus our prayer for one another, for our world, for peace. These words of the poet Rilke are prayer for me these days. 

God speaks to each of us as he (she) makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.
These are the words we dimly hear:
You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.
Flare up like flame
and make big shadows I can move in.
Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don't let yourself lose me.
Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.
Give me your hand. 

In Mercy,

Sr. Anne Curtis, RSM
Executive Director