No Longer By-Standers

By Gail Worcelo, CP

For LCWR/CMSM Assembly 2004

Like a Supernova in a far distant galaxy
explosive with the power of life
you spew your elements across the ages
you red giants of the night sky-
You Dominic, Benedict, Frances, Claire, Teresa
You blues dwarfs Theresa Maxis, MotherTheodore Guerin,
Nano Nagle

In your fiery bellies you held burning vision
Gestating
Until in universe time the moment was ripe
Not without sacrifice, internal implosion of supernova force
Ripped open your flesh of fiery vision blowing all elements into the vastness of space, nothing left of you only your gift

Like elements of the periodic chart
members came together by gravitational pull
first two , like hydrogen and helium, then many
becoming bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh
taking you further than you could have ever gone on your own
extending you through the ages
You  could not have known this dear Angela Merici, Elizabeth Seton, Louis de Montfort
In that dark night of your stellar sacrifice.

The universe roars towards life
Your star stuff begins to wear a face
form hands
shape a heart
a rule
a way
Love deepening,
Teaching the children, tending the sick, sheltering the homeless
Your star stuff going where no one else would dare-
Into Earth’s caverns where lepers, prostitutes, beggars fare
Love still deepening
Into Systems of government, corporations, United Nations
Love still deepening
Into universe, Earth, waters, air
Tending the Holy there

Can your stellar gift unfurl still?
Yes, Catherine McCauley, Jean Medaille, Emily Gamelin,
Catherine Drexel
Today you reach into the distant future
Through us

Even though we remember Mother Teresa bending over the moment
and still do so ourselves
The FUTURE presses in on us now
We feel the vulnerability of the child up ahead
Calling for a drink of clean water
Will there be any to be found?

The animals, plants, forests, streams
Vulnerable too in their innocence
With them- Joy
Without them- Soul Loss

Oh dear Mother Cabrini, Madeleine Barat, Vincent De Paul, Anna Dengel
It is for the WHOLE that we are no longer By-Standers
As if we ever were