ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

Your Excellency, Archbishop Carlson,
Mother M. Regina Pacis,
Sister M. Stephanie,
Brother Priests,
Dear Friends in Christ,

It is a great joy for me to be back in St. Louis and to be here to celebrate the Spirit of Mother M. Anselma, Foundress of the Sisters of Saint Francis of the Martyr Saint George. It is a privilege to receive the Mother M. Anselma Award in the name of all priests who personify the spirit of true, faith-filled obedience to the Church exemplified by her, especially the priests of St. Louis, whom I once had the honor and joy to call “my priests.”

The Spirit of Mother M. Anselma, of which we are speaking, has a significant Franciscan content. It represents a significant contribution of Saint Francis of Assisi, which can be identified as the ingenuity of love and the creativity of charity in the face of need. This is what Saint Francis’ life was all about. His charism has been manifested since 1932 in Mother of Good Counsel Home, which is so much in our mind and heart tonight. And here this charism has benefitted so greatly over the years so many people, including a number of priests and their parents.

I have noticed in the biography of Saint Francis how beneficial was his contact with the lepers of his time. He was consoled by their presence. I do not know if any of the Sisters of Saint Francis of the Martyr Saint George in their great service to the Church throughout the world have ever had contact with and ministered to lepers, but I do know that the essential element of Saint Francis’ compassion for the lepers has, through them, embraced so many other categories of people in need.

Permit me to digress and share with you an experience of my own. It was some forty-two or forty-three years ago when I was stationed on the island of Madagascar in the service of the Holy See. I had the great privilege of visiting two leper colonies. On my visit to the first one, I was told to be very careful not to touch anything, and to wash my hands before and after the visit. It was truly a very moving experience and it was a privilege to circulate among the people affected by this serious disease and to show them deep interest and compassion. They reacted well and seemed very grateful for the visit that I made to them that day.

On a second occasion, I was invited by a Bishop in another location to accompany him to the leper colony in his Diocese. I thought the procedure would be more or less the same, but actually it was different. When we arrived a whole group of people affected with this disease came running up to the Bishop. With great familiarity and affection they embraced him and he embraced them. I could see that he had done this many times before and he knew exactly what to do. After the group greeted the Bishop so effusively, they turned to me. I was not quite psychologically prepared to know what to do. But I saw that they offered me their hands and came up to embrace me with their deformed limbs. I had never been in this situation. The other time I had been with the lepers they did not approach me in that way. I had just a split second to decide how to react. Luckily, I said to myself, if the Bishop can do it, I can do it too! So I extended my hands and it made such a big difference to be able to embrace these lepers. And, of course, there were no deleterious effects whatsoever. It was an extraordinary experience, though, to see how these people lived in patience and suffering and how they were ministered to by the Church. Now, many years later, I am sure that tremendous medical progress has been made, but certainly there are still so many people everywhere in need of healthcare.

The charism of our Sisters, the Sisters of Saint Francis of the Martyr Saint George, reflects the real charism of Saint Francis in so many different individual situations. And they serve with the same great compassion and personal involvement that the Bishop showed in his relationship with the lepers of Madagascar.

We know that our actions express who we are. The philosophical axiom says: “Action follows being”—Agere sequitur esse. Actually, Jesus expresses the idea very effectively when He says: “By their fruits you shall know them.” This is indeed the supreme criterion for judging the effectiveness of action, and the action of Mother M. Anselma was conditioned by the quality of her being, by her virtue. The fruits of her work reveal her extraordinary charism and that of her Sisters. She herself was a valiant woman who manifested in her actions and her apostolates the depth of her motivation. How revealing is her maxim: “For my Lord nothing is too hard.” But, for her, her Lord was identified with His brothers and sisters. The founding of her community was possible precisely because she believed: “For my Lord, nothing is too hard.” It was because of this principle that she was able to confront the challenges of life in Thuine. Her commitment made it possible for the Congregation to spread throughout northern Germany and even to Holland, within her lifetime. Later on, to Japan in 1920; to the United States in 1923; to Indonesia in 1923; to Tanzania in 1960; and to Brazil in 1972.

Tonight, the spirit of Mother M. Anselma honors priests just as Saint Francis did, and with such sincere love. Her spirit also challenges us to the same generosity, the same level of faith, the same ingenuity of love, the same creativity of charity. This maxim of Mother M. Anselma represents Gospel spirituality, splendid Christianity: “For my Lord, nothing is too hard.”

In the list of her maxims we also find this beautiful one: “See in the sick Our Lord Himself.” Mother M. Anselma showed that not only had she taken possession of the Gospel, but that the Gospel had taken possession of her. From the very beginning, the sick came to her in need. For her it meant that Jesus came, and in them she ministered to Him. How meaningful and inspiring for our priests, whose lives are so enriched and blessed and fulfilled in their ministrations to the sick, to the poor and all those in need.

What a beautiful arrangement of Divine Providence that the spiritual daughters of Mother M. Anselma have been able, here in this Archdiocese of St. Louis, to serve those people whom Saint Francis himself loved and respected and revered so much. In their double identity as priests and infirm brothers of the Lord, our priests have been served so faithfully by the charism of Mother M. Anselma and her Sisters in so many ways.

Yet another one of Mother M. Anselma’s maxims is: “Trials have to come for everybody.” These trials came abundantly, early in life, for Mother M. Anselma. They come abundantly also for our priests in every season. In her charism Mother M. Anselma perceived this reality and generously and providently encouraged her Sisters to pray for priests and to support and assist them. Today, the whole Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Francis of the Martyr Saint George prays fervently for priests so that they may be sustained in their Eucharistic ministry and service of God’s people, and in their tribulations too.

An outstanding example of how trials come to everybody is found in the last period of the life of Pope John Paul II. After having written so eloquently and compassionately about human suffering, the hour struck for him to bear the full measure of infirmity and pain, the full weight of the Cross. And bear it he did—with patience, dignity and contagious love.

In her own life of patience, dignity and contagious love, Mother M. Anselma was, in God’s loving plan, assisted by priests in fulfilling her important mission as a holy foundress in the Church. Father Gerhard Dall, the Pastor in Thuine, helped and encouraged her in the active founding of the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Martyr Saint George, as did Bishop Johannes Heinrich Beckmann of Osnabrück.

Today in the name and spirit of Mother M. Anselma, our priests are recognized by the award which I am so pleased to accept in their name. Not only are they honored by the recognition of their dedication and generosity to their priestly ministry, so greatly esteemed by Saint Francis himself, but they are enriched by the spiritual legacy of Mother M. Anselma’s teaching and by the lasting value of her example, especially her ingenuity of love and her creativity of charity.

It is the hope and prayer of all of us that Mother of Good Counsel Home, which so concretely embodies the splendid heritage of Mother M. Anselma, may long fulfill, for the glory of God, its great role of merciful love, quality care and joyful service in the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

Thank you.