“God made everything beautiful in its time…and set eternity in our hearts from beginning to end. Eccles: 3:11

God made/makes our Little Company of Mary beautiful in its time … sets eternity in our hearts …. from beginning to end…

A few months before my mother died over forty years ago, I asked her to share with me her favourite scripture passage. In her love for the Old Testament, my mother’s choice was from Ecclesiastes – “God made everything beautiful in its time…and set eternity in our hearts from beginning to end.” Eccles: 3:11.

As Little Company of Mary Sisters, as Associates and Affiliates in this moment in time, let us embrace all that God has made in and through our Little Company of Mary from its beginnings to this present day and for the time ahead, ensuring that in us – ‘God may continue to make everything beautiful in its time’.

In our ageing and decreasing numbers of Sisters, Associates and Affiliates, the Little Company of Mary in parts of the Congregation, will come to completion/fulfillment in three decades or so. May we embrace this reality of our Congregation’s dying, within the context of fulfillment, in a journey which encompasses the mystery of Calvary leading to Resurrection and to the fulness of eternal life. As we embrace our truth, may we find a realistic human wholeness, a deep holiness and the gift of interior peace. In our ageing and diminishing numbers, may we continue to live life to the fullest in the words of Jesus himself – “I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10

In joy, we nurture the tiny shoots of new life and ongoing growth in a small part our Congregation, as we honour all that has been, all that is, and all that will be for us as Sisters, Associates and Affiliates of our Little Company of Mary in the story of ‘God’s Ongoing Creation’.

Our vocation among the dying has in essence lead our Little Company of Mary to become ‘specialists’ in the care of the dying within a broad palliative care network. May we now be able to apply this commitment and expertise, to skilfully and bravely addressing our own dying/coming to fulfillment as Little Company of Mary wherever this is occurring and will continue to occur. Taking hold of this stage in the journey of the Little Company of Mary Sisters, Associates and Affiliates, reflects a deep respect for each woman in our Little Company of Mary and each member of our Associates and Affiliates who has journeyed and continues to journey in spirit and in truth among the suffering and dying of our world.

In stewarding our Little Company of Mary mission among the suffering and dying through prayer and presence, the Associates and Affiliates today and into the future, will discern the need for flexibility and adaptability as they live out their commitment in different geographical areas of the Congregation. This adaptability will ask for a surrender in heart and mind, a surrender which sets us free.

In this spirit of freedom and faithful surrender into the hands of a loving God, let us take to heart my mother’s favourite scripture passage “God made everything beautiful in its time … and set eternity in our hearts from beginning to end…” Eccles: 3:11

‘God made/makes our Little Company of Mary beautiful in its time … sets eternity in our hearts …. from beginning to end’.  Amen.