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After York fell to the Parliamentarians, Mary was able to return to her house in Hewarth, at that time outside York, now part of the city. Seeing her end was approaching one of her companions asked her, "What will become of us?" to which the sick Mary replied: "I am assured that God will help me and mine wherever we are."
Her life's work lay shattered but she remained convinced that she was not deluded, hence her serenity when faced with the collapse of her Institute. As her end was nearing she called her few remaining companions to her and told them not to be sad. Then with great feeling she commended to her companions the practice of God's vocation in them, that it be constant, efficacious and loving in all. Then with great love embracing each she faintly spoke the work Jesus and died. It was the 30th January, 1645. She was sixty.
As it was not possible to have a Catholic burial the sisters found a little Protestant churchyard. On her tombstone they wrote; To love the poor, persevere in the same, live die and rise with them was all the aim of Mary Ward.
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The Time of the Great Turning.... In 2012, we are aware that we live in the time called The Great Turning. Imagine... we IBVM's, colleagues and co-workers, have the ability to consciously re-direct our milieu to become a field of compassion. (See the Introduction to Field of Compassion by Judy Cannato).
How do I act in the presence of otherness? Do I reach toward a connection with the other?
Mother Teresa of Calcutta wrote.... Mary Ward is God's gift to the church and to the world, for she brought, especially to women, a new dimension; she made it possible for women to be involved in the wide field of education and hence in preparing girls and women for a new role within the church. She could be this gift only because, like Mary, she was "the handmaid of the Lord".
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Saturday - Mary Ward Week |
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Our greatest example of someone with a vibrant sense of 'hope at the heart of the Church', is probably our own Mary Ward. She suffered much at the hands of the Church leaders of her time; she was imprisoned in 1631, and ultimately would have been seen as a 'failure' to many at the time of her death. And yet, she came to be recognised favourably by a later Pontiff, John Paul II, and was named by him as "A Prophet of Hope".
Can we not surely say in this year of 2012, that Mary Ward's words..... Women in time to come will do much... have certainly come to pass?
What is God saying to me through today's reflection? How can I foster/nurture hope in my own life? As a woman, inspired by Mary Ward's dream and vision for the Church, what are the hopes that I have for today's Church?
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Mary Ward was very familiar with the concept of 'Journey'. Unfortunately for her, not by the same means of comfort and convenience that we know today. She was moving around from a very young age, and at 21, we know that she left her loving family and homeland to follow Christ more closely.
Some 400 years later ...... that journey still continues by Mary Ward women right across the globe. Like our founder, may we be led by that same spirit of God on our travels, exercising vigilance and wisdom always.
May we not become so bogged-down in our 'doings' that we forget to.... Work with great tranquility and joy, for what is not done in one year can be done in another.
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Thursday - Mary Ward Week |
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CALLED BY GOD... Mary Ward was called by God to be and to do something different. She called the church to recognise the new form of religious life she shaped. She was a catalyst, introducing a new dance step that was not acceptable in her lifetime.
In this 21st century, we IBVMs, colleagues and co-workers are called to glorify God through the dance of our comtemplative prayer and our active ministry. The Divine is in the dance.
To what new way of seeing am I being called? Have I experienced any new dance steps?
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