Pilgrimage holds an important significance in all religious traditions. A pilgrim is someone on a spiritual journey. What a wonderful source of inspiration we have in our foundress Mary Ward, a real icon of a pilgrim of hope! The Holy Spirit at work within her was both powerful and gentle, enabling hope and patience. From the time she first understood her call to religious life she remained steadfast, in the face of family opposition and with no clear idea where this call would lead. She set out on her pilgrimage knowing only that religious life meant leaving family, friends and her native land. As a migrant of that time, she placed her trust in the God who called her, desiring only God’s will. This is why she became a pilgrim.
Her patient discerning pilgrimage over years led her from the Poor Clare contemplative contentment that her heart had yearned for, to an understanding that the glory of God was calling her to begin a new way of apostolic religious life for women rooted in that same contemplative spirit. Persecution marked Mary’s early life in England and the example of her grandmother enabled her to see how women strong in their faith could challenge the accepted norms of society. She was convinced that women could “do great things” both in the life of the Church and in outreach to the most vulnerable, particularly through education. A liberating framework was necessary, and Mary found this in the Jesuit Constitutions. Indeed, from the earliest years of this incipient institute Mary Ward began to form members according to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius and to use her authority in the gentle service of the fledgling community. Here, members were asked to satisfy themselves with “nothing that is less than God” and urged in community relations to be “as courteous towards each other as if we were strangers, but at the same time as gentle and amiable as we are accustomed to be with our most intimate friends.”
She walked many miles to Rome to lay before the Holy Father and the Cardinals the outline of her new Institute. Her calm confidence in the illuminations she had received from the Lord and the fruits of the Spirit evident in her life, meant that the hierarchy could not deny the holiness of her person, though they would not agree to the proposed Institute. Nevertheless, Mary never lost hope in the authenticity of the way God was calling her.
Even in the face of the suppression of the Institute in 1631 and the condemnatory language of the Papal Bull, she did not give up hope that God would bring to fruition what he had made known to her. Her ardent fervour to do God’s will burned more fiercely.
Despite real material poverty, a spirit of joy and love, not fear, was evident amongst the first companions. Indeed, Mary spoke of the importance of cheerfulness as a key characteristic for those who would join the Institute. Freedom, justice and sincerity marked her life, as they mark our own.
As we begin this Mary Ward Week two questions might assist us.
Questions for reflection:
Where do I draw from the rich resources of her life for my own life at this time?
What virtues that she expresses as a pilgrim of hope are necessary for me today?
Sr. Gill Goulding CJ from England, missioned to Canada and Sr. Mabel Rudum IBVM from India
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