Leadership

Written by Sr. Rosemary, O.P.
Readings from: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/081319.cfm

One of the most poignant experiences I had at our Sisters gathering this summer at our Motherhouse in Michigan was the evening all 600+ of us processed down to our cemetery to remember and honor the 1621 members of our community who are buried there.  On the last part of the road, Sisters were intermittently stationed on the path reverently reading the litany of names of those who have gone before us.  Many were my mentors and my friends. Many were giants in the field of education, parish work, higher education, etc.  They were leaders in our church on whose shoulders the rest of us now stand and to whom we continue to implore for guidance, strength and future direction.

In our first reading we met one of the greatest leaders of the Old Testament, Moses.  He led his people for 40 years through the desert and now was about to die.  He knew he would never see the Promised Land and so he passes the leadership of the people on to Joshua.  As sad as the people were and as fearful as Joshua must have been, he left them, especially Joshua, with these words:  Be brave and steadfast, for you must bring this people into the land which the Lord swore to their fathers he would give them.  It is the Lord who marches before you; he will be with you and will never fail you or forsake you.  So do not fear or be dismayed.”

We are all leaders, maybe not like Moses or my Adrian Sisters, but we can all be agents of change wherever we are.  Our baptism calls us to this leadership role.  We can inspire one another and our world to greatness, to a Godly vision of living life.  Albert Schweitzer once said: “Example is not the main thing in influencing others, it is the only thing.”

We can bring to the outer world the strengths of our inner world. We are nourished for that challenge here daily at Mass.  Poverty, violence, vulnerable members of society, and the needs of our environment cry out for spiritual healing and healthy relationships.  We can do it because we look to the Lord who asks us not to be fearful and promises to walk with us.

May the leadership of Moses and the words he uttered to the people inspire us this day:

“Be brave and steadfast; have no fear, for it is the Lord, your God, who marches with you: he will never fail or forsake you.”