Newsletter
May 16, 2007
Dear Friends and Family,
Designing a web-site is a daunting task! How do we tell you about ourselves in a few pictures and fewer words? How do we capture a charism that is over three hundred years old and scattered all over the world? How can we introduce you to our 600 Sisters?
The two images that mark our web-site speak for us.
The view of the snow-topped roofs of Assisi, huddled beneath Mount Subasio, is what we see from our terrace at our Motherhouse in Assisi. It is not the usual picture of that medieval town known for nature’s beauty, spiritual peace, simplicity and song. It is not the usual view up from the sun-flowered plain beneath a clear, blue sky, past the glistening olive trees and swaying, red poppies toward the fortresses, frescoed basilicas, and the winding, narrow streets and stairways. But this is what we see when we look up and out from where we live.
As Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Assisi, we seek to look at the world from Assisi. Like our Founder and Foundress, we, too, are pilgrims who pass through, but we also stay. And our time there, in person or in prayer, makes a difference in our lives.
The image of Mary holding a basket of bread represents our Viceprovince of the Immaculate Conception in the United States. This life-sized, carved wooden statue is really the tabernacle in our Viceprovincial House in Holyoke, Massachusetts. It reminds us of our first ministry here cooking for Conventual Franciscan Friars, novices and seminarians. It also reminds us of the words of our Founder, Father Giuseppe Antonio Marcheselli, OFM Conv.: “Even if they do not ask, offer charity to anyone who is in need. If anyone asks for charity out of love for God or Mary, do not refuse them. If, in your home, you have only one loaf of bread, it is right for you to give half of it to those in need.” (Instructions according to the mind of our Father Saint Francis, 1713).
We have come to see our mission here as carrying Christ, as if He is the precious treasure in a simple basket. We share Him to satisfy the needs of the human heart. Today, some of us bring the Eucharist to elderly persons who are homebound or confined to nursing homes. We are involved in elementary education in a Catholic school in the Bronx, NY. We accompany individuals in parishes toward the Sacramental life. This willingness to share what we have inspires all of our corporal and spiritual works of mercy. In faith, simple bread becomes our Crucified and Risen Lord. Likewise, whoever we are and whatever we do can reveal His ways.
We welcome you to this web-site and hope you will visit often. At least four times a year, this newsletter will seek to inform and inspire you through comments on our spirituality, fraternity and mission. Let’s keep in touch and see what happens!
Peace and all good,
Sister Carol Woods, sfma
P.S. We are indebted to Ariel Edes who, while a student at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts during the spring of 2007, combined her love of history, her competence in the Italian language, her interest in sociology, and her sensitivity to spirituality to present our charism on this web-site and to trace its changes in her thesis. May Francis and Clare continue to lead her life’s journey and her giving!
