St Ursula's Toowoomba

Feast of St Angela 27th January 2017

 

20170127 SUC2On Friday 27th January 11 Ursulines gathered with members of the St. Ursula’s College Toowoomba community for the celebration of the feast of St. Angela Merici. This was also a celebration and thank you by the college community to the Ursulines for our 86 years of contribution to the ongoing life of the college. Bishop Robert McGuckin presided at the liturgy which began in the Salo centre at 11.00am and was followed by a very beautiful Italian themed lunch in the Il Cielo Sky Gallery – the art gallery in the college where many of the students’ works are displayed. The liturgy was prepared and led by Debbie Ryan from the College Leadership Team and the year 12 students. It was a heartening experience that the College is in good hands. Our Province Leader, Sr Ruth Durick osu was asked to give a reflection on the Gospel and it is reprinted here below.

 

 

 

The gospel this morning (Mark 4:26-34) contains two parables about the kingdom or reign of God. Parables were a profound teaching tool used by Jesus to turn thinking on its head, to challenge us to new ways of thinking about life, the world, the earth, our relationships with each other and with God.

Jesus speaks of the kingdom, the reign of God in both of these parables. If we think of this concept of kingdom, it can bring forward many images. We often hear of people being ‘kingdom builders’ – usually a derogatory term in that it means they are building something of their own design, in order to promote their own importance and something which is usually associated with unilateral decision making - not consultation, dialogue and discernment. If we think of kings and queens, those who reign in kingdoms, then often the decision-making power is vested in single individuals who have done nothing to earn that right except to be born into a particular family line.

allora sunflowers

Jesus is speaking here of something very different and this is the function of parables - to turn our thinking on its head. The kingdom he speaks of is of the earthy, earthy. Here in the gateway to the Darling Downs this has rich meaning. We know that there is much activity going on beneath the top layer of earth after the planting; we know much of what happens when the minerals of the earth mix with the water, the fertiliser, the genetics of the seeds, the work of the farmer – we certainly know much more about this than did the farmers of Jesus’ time – and yet there is still so much to learn. What we do know is that in the right conditions abundance comes. Here in this part of the world tourists have been coming from all over the world in recent weeks to look at the abundance of the sunflower crops – the sheer beauty of so many flowers turning towards the sun which is what people come to see – but the farmers know that this beauty dies off and then the real abundance comes from the oil within all those flowers. This is the abundance which Jesus talks about in the reign of God – it is not an autocracy where power lies in the hands of the few.

The mustard seed is indeed one of the smallest of seeds. Those of you who have tried to cook with mustard seeds can attest to their smallness. The recipe usually says to cook the seeds over medium heat until they become fragrant. I’ve never used a recipe that tells you to be careful because if they become too fragrant they start popping out of the pan and onto the floor. This is when you can appreciate how small they really are because it’s very difficult to find them again!

The mustard seed though, for its size, grows into a large bush and spreads. Again, this is the symbol of abundance which is to be found in the reign of god – not meanness, not lack of generosity but sheer abundance and generous gift. The important line in this is further on: given such abundance, the mustard tree sends out big branches so that the birds of the air can shelter in its shade. It’s not just some birds – space is not limited; nor is it just some type of bird – all are welcome. This recalls the message of Ezekiel17:22-24 in the first reading - that every kind of bird can live and rest in the shade of the tree planted by the Lord.

For us, here at this time in this place we can reflect on what this means for us. What is the land, the earth trying to say to us? Are we listening?

In our relationships with each other – are we inclusive of all or do we just listen to the loudest voices? Or to those who seem more powerful? Who seem to have more influence?

While it is important to live in harmony – ‘sing from the same song sheet’ as they say – it is also important to listen to the still, small voice which might be calling us to something different; it might be alerting us to something which is not quite right in our lives.

It is always important to listen to what our experience, our tradition and our history are telling us. It is just as important to listen to what the future is calling us to, where is the future inviting us? How can the reign of God be truly present here at this time, in this place?

Just as the little mustard seed gives no indication of the potential which might come, so in 1535 when Angela Merici founded the Company of Saint Ursula she would have had no idea that 482 years later we would be here gathered on her feast day. Nor would those sisters from Germany, refugees coming to Australia on a boat in 1882, have had any idea that 135 years later we would be remembering them, their bravery and courage, their sense of risk and adventure, their faith, foresight and sacrifice. Even the sisters who came here to Toowoomba in 1931 to found a boarding and day school for girls would not have imagined what might be happening today. It began with 17 students, 3 of whom were boarders. We who are here today owe much to the resilience, faith and courage of those first Ursulines - Sisters Angela Dalton, Lawrence Fitzgerald, Clement O’Donoghue, Teresa Dreschler, Dolores Sexton and De Sales Swanbeck.

St Ursula’s College is not, and should not be, about preserving a tradition. If we are in to preservation, then we need to start pickling a few things. Preservation is the work of museums. St Ursula’s is about living into the future, always with a firm foundation in the gospel of Jesus. Like the mustard tree we need to send out branches, inviting all, no matter how marginal they are, to share the beauty of what lies within the branches. It is also very important to greet all the other trees in the forest, working together with them to produce the wonderful things we need to create a future more wondrous and, in the words of our psalm today, ‘to flourish in the courts of our God, still bearing fruit when they are old, still full of sap, still green’.

 

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Image above: from left Ursuline Sisters - Kath O'Shea, Helen Dyson, Maree Byron, Leone Pallisier, Anne Cougle, Ruth Durick, Anne Surtees, Mel Williams, Sue Flood, Judith Coleman and Gabriel Williams