International Solidarity Reflection | School Sisters of Notre Dame

Introduction

On the night Jesus was betrayed, before going to the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed for his disciples, “that they may all be one, just as you, Abba God, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us” (John 17:21). This is the ultimate prayer of collaboration. We are to be and live out of a Trinitarian collaboration. Four years ago, the Congregation invited all of us to participate in the Symposium on the Triune God to examine what that could mean. This month’s theme invites reflection on how collaboration can lead to justice and peace.

Call to Prayer

God of the Cosmos, you permeate our hearts, our minds, our entire being and all of creation with your ever-creating love. May we be aware of your abiding Presence that we may love as you love so justice and peace may prevail in our homes, neighborhoods, nations and world.

Experience

A visit to a friend changed my life. It was Christmas 1989 and with my community member Sr. Marie Chiodo, DW, I visited my lifelong friend Sr. Cathy Arata, SSND, in El Salvador. It was distressing to see first-hand, and hear from those affected, how war devastates lives.

As we met women’s groups, we worked with Sister Cathy and began to sell Salvadoran crafts with the help of other SSNDs and Associates. This “help” however could not sustain families year-round. We expanded collaboration with Leslie Schuld, director of the CIS (Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad), an NGO in San Salvador. She gathered a group of savvy Salvadoran women who advised starting small women’s businesses in their villages producing things needed in the local economy.

In 2003, collaboration expanded and birthed Salvadoran Enterprises for Women (SEW), a nonprofit based in Maryland. The Atlantic-Midwest province of the School Sisters of Notre Dame provided initial funding. SEW’s dedicated board raised funds and extended our network. Over the next ten years, sixteen small, rural women’s businesses began. Salvadoran women were empowered; men began to appreciate women’s skills and ideas; public education was now affordable for their families, and girls could see new possibilities for their own future. Collaboration was the key to success.

Reflection

In United States culture, competition decides sport championships, drives innovation in manufactured products, and spurs college choices. Competition has many positive dimensions: developing teamwork, motivating research and creativity, impelling search for educational excellence. Those are reasons our own educational institutions promote competition in various areas.

In our Congregation, it is not competition, but collaboration that decides how we live the passionate vision of Blessed Theresa Gerhardinger “longing for the oneness of all in God.” Blessed Theresa’s challenge demands collaboration on a global scope. The Call and Acts of the 25th General Chapter were written based on the “urgent crises” of our times. We are to be in relationships of “communion”, “universal communion” as we live a “collaborative spirit” enabling healing of divisions, reconciliation and peacemaking.

Jesus describes a way to oneness in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice…” Matt 5:6. “Blessed are the peacemakers….” Matt 5:9. In his address for the World Day of Peace in 1972, Pope Paul VI recognized the long-held consensus of Catholic Social Teaching by stating, “If you want peace, work for justice.” As it is elaborated in You Are Sent, Constitution 7, “we work actively…to eliminate the root causes of injustice in order to realize a world of peace, justice and love”.

It is easy to get overwhelmed with the injustices reported in daily newscasts: tens of thousands killed in wars, starvation, violence against women and ethnic groups, catastrophic weather events due to human inaction. What is ours to do? Begin by realizing how we are already collaborating for justice and peace, evident in the hundreds of Shalom JPIC International Network engagements around the world and in the efforts of our UN-NGO representative. Our collaboration for justice is reflected in the activities of our Shalom Clubs and in such ministry involvements as Notre Dame High School in Guam, Beyond Borders in Haiti, Marian House in Maryland, USA, and Global Partners: Running Waters in Latin America.

Jesus’s pledge in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you” concludes with “Do not let your hearts be troubled…. do not be afraid.” Blessed Theresa tells us, “Do not lose courage. Jesus will stand at your side.” Trust & Dare.
How do you see us continuing and expanding this kind of collaboration?

Action

Pray for all those working for justice and peace. Whom do you think of when you pray for those working for justice and peace?
Name the issues of injustice that distress you. What are the organizations in your area or elsewhere that address those concerns?
Determine how you can collaborate with one of them: donating time, goods, promoting their work in your networks – parishes, schools, Zoom friends, sports fans, social media.
Envision how these efforts will promote justice and peace.
Advocate: call and write local and national leaders to promote issues of justice and peace.

Closing Prayer

(If praying with others, use “us” and “our” for “me” and “mine”)

Loving God, make me an instrument of your peace. May my awareness of injustice motivate me to collaborate with others for reconciliation and peace. I give you thanks for Blessed Theresa who longed for all to be one with you and who modeled how that could be. Bless SSNDs, our Associates and colleagues who live out our charism so that your love may transform our world in peace.

Prepared by Anne Marie Gardiner, SSND from the Atlantic-Midwest Province, for the International Shalom Network.
Graphic taken from 25th General Chapter design by Joyelle Proot, SSND CP