Mother Foundress

1. 

   Consider the spirit of confidence and self surrender to God to be the perfection of divine love.

2. God does not require sensible devotion.
3. You do not rely enough on God; bear in mid his infinite mercy and kindness rather than your own misery. Then your worries, anxieties and apprehensions will disappear.
4. Surrender yourself whole heartedly to God; He is so good! Can he refuse you anything?
5. At the sight of your faults, humble yourself deeply but calmly and peace fully.
6. Lack of confidence in God is the commonest mistake of Sisters. Those who have confidence are strong and courageous in face of trials.

GENEROSITY:

7. Be generous and faithful; abandon yourself to Divine providence. Do not be afraid of either suffering or sacrifice. We should please God who does so much for us. Half – measures never made a saint.

RESIGNATION:

8. I urge you to do your utmost to replace it by full resignation to the will of God.
9. How great the treasures of grace, peace and merit which this attitude of soul brings about! Dear sister, abandon yourself to this ever just and holy will of God. May He be blessed by all and in all.
10. God often uses one diamond to polish another diamond. This is a useful and consoling thought which prevents our getting unduly upset by the petty persecutions we tend to impose on one another.
11. A simple but sincere “fiat” is worth more than all our desires put together because of its eternal value. Once truly convinced of this, we are less shaken by irritable mishaps of life.
12. Often say our Lord’s Fiat from the depth of your heart; then rest assured that you will want for nothing.
13. Sufferings and the cross are precious graces for they alone can make Saints.
14. Bear in mind that to fail is human, to start over again is divine and to keep struggling is sublime.
15. Do not grow disheartened, be generous and give all to God by saying a confident ‘fiat’
16. Let us be vigorous and courageous women not fearing trials. To suffer requires more courage than to act. Resignation in time of trial and joy in sufferings are signs of genuine religious fervour.

POVERTY:

17. We must be poor in our clothing in our cells and in everything. To refuse to wear mended clothes would be contrary to poverty. We should not pretend that a worn dress or veil or pair of shoes are unsuitable to mean when with pupils. To harbour such thoughts would keep us for from lowing our Lord in his poverty.
18. Train yourself to be satisfied with the bare necessities and not to become attached to the small articles for your use.
19. You will find true richness in poverty. The Sister who possesses nothing has everything since God has taken over her life.

OBEDIENCE:

20. In religious life, obedience and sanctity are synonymous.
21. To be perfectly obedient means to be a Saint.
22. Obedience is the royal road to heaven; Jesus walked it first to show the way to his chosen ones. The saints all followed Him in this way and none came to heaven by a different route.
23. It is by obedience that you will give most glory to God.
24. Practice the sublime virtue of obedience wholeheartedly; in a way, it generates all the others.
25. Obedience is difficult yet every fruitful in all kinds of spiritual blessings. It brings about peace and joy, allays troubles of conscience, corrects faults facilitates salvation and makes rapid progress in perfection.
26. Nobody is happier than a perfectly obedient religious.

SILENCE:

27. Since silence is power full means to foster interior life, a Sister aiming at sanctifying will keep the rule of silence very carefully.
28. Let us love silence like a dear friend and we will often be grateful to this friend for saving us from all kinds of trouble.
29. To be faithful to our rule of silence shows God our readiness to obey his will.
30. We can practice silence even at recreation How? By avoiding complaints, grumbling, indiscreet gossip, malicious jokes that weaken charity and often bring scandal.
31. Train yourself to interior silence: This is the way to be happy and to do much for the salvation of souls”.

LOVE OF OTHERS:

32. Remain united to one another by the bond of charity, in mutual esteem, supporting one another and accepting one another in Christ. If you strive to reach this peace, the Lord will be with you. You will have on your side the Blessed Virgin, the angles, the heavenly Saints and even the creatures of the earth.
33. According to God’s designs, those who agree to work together for Him, experience well-being while all works together for their good.
34. To love one another and work in unity are certain indications that we are on the way to God and are pleasing to Him.
35. I do not let discord develop among you for – It would give bad example to the people inside and outside the convent. Discord leads to ruin. “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste” said our Lord.

SANCTIFICATION OF SUNDAYS:

36. On Sundays, we enjoy greater freedom. Let us profit by it to enrich our souls by more Prayer.
37. I really insist on your spending an extra hour in the chapel on Sundays to take time to consider whether the whole garden of your soul is in order and whether any flower of the religious virtues needs particular care.
38. Sunday is the Lord’s Day, so do only Holy things. Breaking out the work of the week, can benefit your soul.
39. Mother Foundress recommended that Sisters do only light house work and avoid spending time preparing sumptuous meals.

MINISTRY:

40. The obstacle in performing our work properly are too much eagerness in doing the work we like and a carelessness with regard to those tasks which we dislike.
41. There are two reasons that you could represent to your superior: health problem or danger for your vocation. Perhaps you would say: I cannot accept this work for it will certainly be a failure! God requires efforts not success. Pray often for holy indifference as to place and work.

TEACHERS:

42. A teacher should talk little and punish rarely. Never strike a child; it is well known that this does not help children but makes the offender guilty before God and the people.

LOCAL SUPERIORS:

43. It is not enough to bear the title of superior.
44. Never consider the exercise of authority as your personal property but as an obedience to God. See Jesus in each one of your Sisters as the Gospel teaches.
45. Before leaving the Mother house to go to your mission, pay a last visit to the Blessed Sacrament beseeching God to grant you to be what you should be.
46. Be kind, gentle, compassionate, open so as to be accessible to your Sisters. Then they will be at ease to deal with you rather than staying away and setting their business as they please because of cold attitude, air of boredom, harsh words or stiff manner.
47. Be regular and punctual at every exercise. This will keep your Sisters courage up and set good example for them;”Nothing is stronger than words supported by example”.
48. Unless impossible, be present at recreation, your presence is necessary for good order. Require Your Sisters to be present too. Do not allow any group of Sisters to take their recreation apart except for a serious reason.
49. Give good example by your obedience to the recommendations of the Superior General. To strengthen her authority is to consolidate yours; to lessen hers is to destroy your own.
50. Use few words to correct the Sisters and do it calmly. May your motto be neither harshness nor excessive familiarity. Never ague with your Sisters.
51. Generally speaking, your young auxiliary Sisters know little about cooking. Counsel them, give them hints but without necessary repetition.

To sum up: let us be gracious and kind to our Sisters and pupils. May we embrace no other way of proceeding than that of the love of God and of souls. Be convinced that kindness works better than bitter or severe reprimand.

Sisters, if we follow these counsels faithfully, and other similar observances, we shall certainly all be re united one day in heaven.

I give the Kiss of peace to each one of you asking God to bless you in the name of the Father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN!!