In the early days of our congregation,
many stories are told about Blessed
James Alberione’s tremendous faith in
God’s care for the growing numbers of
young men and women who were following
him in the Daughters of St. Paul and
the Society of St. Paul. One
story that stands out for me is a
conversation that the young founder had
with the sister in charge of the
chicken coop. Alberione asked her,
“Were your hens good today? How many
eggs did they lay?” She told him that
there had been only a few eggs that
day, not enough to feed the community.
It was cold, autumn, and a very
unfavorable season.
Blessed Alberione responded, “Listen.
Go and gather all your hens together
and tell them that this is not good. We
have not decreased in number; rather we
have increased. Therefore, the eggs
must also increase, not decrease. Will
you do this?”
The sister responded that she would,
and the next morning while feeding the
chickens, she gave the hens a little
sermon, even threatening them with
ending up in the pot should they not
obey the founder! That evening when she
went to the henhouse, she was surprised
to fill a large wicker basket with
eggs. Excited, she immediately went to
show them to Father Alberione. In his
typical brief manner, he answered her,
“There’s enough eggs, I see, for
everyone. Now go and thank the Lord and
don’t complain.”
That was more than half a century ago.
I smile, because it seems that the same
situation repeats itself year after
year in our congregation all over the
world.
Our founder told us it would be
better to be in debt than to be
settled and safe with everything we
needed. And that’s just the way it
has been, ever since the
beginning.
So here we are in 2016… and things
haven't changed all that much. We are
still totally dependent on Divine
Providence for everything we need,
just as the founder predicted we
would be.
So I find myself repeating the words
of Blessed Alberione to my sisters:
trust, and don’t be afraid. Just give
everything you are and all that you
have to the daily work of our mission
and prayer, and you will see that God
will provide for us also. And he does
just that, through the persons
he has chosen to participate in our
mission through works of charity,
prayer and evangelization.
I personally have been stationed in
the US, in Germany, and in Russia. In
every country, over and over again, I
have realized that there is
absolutely no way that the mission of
the Daughters of St. Paul—or of the
Church, for that matter—could go
ahead without women and men who
understand that the world today needs
Jesus.
It’s true that we give up many things
to follow our vocation, but you also
give up many things to truly live
yours in the Church.
I want you to know how valuable you
are to the Church, to Jesus, and to
us. We are unable to perform our
mission alone. Together we are
Church, together we are apostles,
together we do good and extend the
kingdom of Christ on earth.
Would you consider helping us replace
our generator this year? As I watch
some of our sisters who are very
elderly, I’m concerned that if one or
more of them were to become
oxygen-dependent, or if we needed
emergency assistance during a
blackout, we would be in a very
difficult situation and unable to
respond adequately. This is one of
the concerns that weigh heaviest on
my heart.
I
personally want to thank those among
you who have already given so
generously to helping us replace our
generator.
I’m afraid I’ve gone on too long
here, but I wanted to end with a
thought from our founder.
"All who collaborate will receive the
reward of an apostle,” he
wrote. “The Lord will not make any
distinction. He will give the reward
according to the love with which it
[the offering] was made. The merit
belongs to all those who
collaborated.”
This is an echo of the words of Jesus
himself, "He who helps an apostle
will receive the reward of an
apostle."
Know that you are certainly in my
heart and in my prayers, and in those
of all our sisters. God bless
you!
Sr. Mary Leonora Wilson, FSP
Provincial of the Daughters of St
Paul
United States and English-Speaking
Canada
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