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“We must always move forward, because God does not like comfort zones. He wants us to be courageous and to trust Him.” (Pope Francis)

While mulling over what our Institute would be in the future, I am drawn to reflect on Mary Ward’s TRUST IN GOD AND GOD’S PROVIDENCE.

Mary Ward travelled to Catholic Europe from Protestant England to become a Religious. She envisioned a radical idea of active Religious Life for women, modelled on the Jesuits, focused on education and mission rather than cloister. She walked over 1,500 kilometres with a few companions to seek Papal approval for her Institute. She was falsely accused of heresy and imprisoned by the Church. Her order was suppressed. Even after her Institute was dissolved and her mission forbidden, Mary continued to live in community and educate girls quietly and faithfully. Mary died without seeing her Institute officially recognised. She was buried in an unmarked grave, her life’s work seemingly ended.

Throughout her life, Mary trusted that God would lead her, though her journey was dangerous and uncertain; though she faced strong opposition from Church Leaders - she trusted in God’s inspiration. She endured hardships and fatigue, but strongly depended on God that God would take care for “The enterprise is God’s.” She never lost heart; she remained calm and prayerful through every tribulation.

Mary Ward’s trust in God and her daring and valiant nature runs in our DNA. We are once again being reminded to keep that flame burning and embrace missions and ministries that challenge us.

For many of us who are serving in politically and socially difficult places and circumstances, trust in God is not just a theological concept, but is a tangible experience, for it is our lifeline. I live and serve in our mission in South Sudan, a place where the fragility of life is ever-present. We live amidst political instability, threats of war, tribal conflict and economic hardship. In such a setting, radical trust in God becomes a posture of dependence, not out of weakness, but out of a deep recognition of human limitations and divine

providence. There are days when fear overshadows my faith; when questions in me seem louder than answers. It is in those moments that trust becomes most real - not a feeling, but a choice: a choice to believe that God's promises are not nullified by circumstances; that God’s light shines brightest in the darkest places.

Reflection questions:

What is the “first step” I am being called to take today towards a mission that seems beyond me - but is deeply aligned with God’s dream for the world?

(And what grace do I need to take that step with courage and trust?)

To what new and daring missions do you feel called as you look to 2035?

Baiada Mary Lyngkhoi CJ, South Asia Province missioned to South Sudan

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Echoes -                                     Dreaming a Future Woven Along the Pilgrim's Path

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Echoes -                                     Dreaming a Future Woven Along the Pilgrim's Path

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“Their report goes forth through all the earth, their message to the ends of the world.” (Psalm 19:5)

The echo of God does not come from the raising of voices.

It emerges in stillness.

Beneath our certainties, our plans, and the noise of busy days,

something sacred waits quietly to be heard.

I believe I am a pilgrim.

You are too.

In this moment—without borders, without clear answers—

we pause and wait for the voice of God:

not a distant sound

but an echo that stirs within us.

Mary Ward once heard that echo when no one else could.

She listened not with her ears, but with her life.

She stepped across boundaries she was not permitted to cross,

spoke where silence was expected,

and trusted God’s call even when the future was uncertain.

She did not merely carry the echo—

she became it.

Still today, the world remembers

how a woman walked freely

in response to God’s voice.

Now, I walk too

as someone who once studied sound

and now listens for something deeper.

I used to think harmony was something we heard only with our ears.

Now I find it

in the silence between students’ words,

in the soft hesitations of those too shy to speak,

and in moments of trembling beauty

that often go unnoticed.

I search for the hidden harmonies of grace

that whisper within the noise.

I teach music at a Catholic Girls’ High School.

Of course, ‘scores’ matter—

but so do souls.

And when I see a tired student

close her eyes as she listens to Bach,

I believe God is listening too.

This is my path:

not one of stages or performances,

but of classrooms filled with noise and grace;

not for applause,

but for quiet breaths and unspoken prayers,

for the hearts of those

who have forgotten their own melody.

In a world trembling with war and exhaustion,

where systems speak louder than silence,

I wonder:

Is there still space for sacred sound?

Yet, we are still here—

with the searching,

with the weary,

with one another.

I hear the echo

in students who keep singing despite missed notes,

in the shared laughter of a community that lives together,

in the deep resonance of all creation.

I feel it

in the music we live, not just perform;

in unresolved chords that remain faithful;

and in steps taken without certainty

but in trust.

I teach sound

but I walk each day to follow

the sacred echo beyond it:

truth,

beauty,

presence,

and praise.

I walk,

following the courage of a woman

who once turned her whole life into song

and offered the first echo to the world.

I walk

to add my small echo to hers.

Our steps are many,

our countries many,

our stories different—

but our direction is one.

When roads bend

and paths disappear,

we believe, not in maps

but in a voice:

a voice that never fades,

that calls forward,

that we trust more

than the silence around it.

Mary Ward’s echo is not just in the past—

it is our present.

It lives

in how we rise when it is easier to stay down,

in how we respond when unseen,

in saying “yes” again—

not because it is clear,

but because it is true.

So, we walk:

across centuries,

thresholds,

and fears.

Every step taken in faith becomes an echo.

Every echo,

a thread weaving the future

we dare to dream.

Reflection questions:

What echo can you hear in the stillness today?

What path into 2035 do you hear in the echo of God?

Anna Jeong CJ, Korea

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On November 4, 2025 we celebrated the long-awaited and deeply-desired merger of the Congregation of Jesus and the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This remarkable joy-filled moment was not the end of a long journey but the beginning of our new common story.

Like the image of Mary Ward, Pilgrim, on the cover of our booklet, we step out into our future. Like her, we are risk-takers, boldly stepping out into the unknown. We carry her charism in our hearts, and in new and emerging ways we give reality to her dream in our times.

Mary Ward Week 2026 emphasises Mary Ward, the risk-taker. We embrace her vision and, as risk-takers ourselves, bring it into our present and future realities.

Our contributors for this year’s booklet were invited to reflect on the life, charism, and spirituality of Mary Ward and to identify a moment in her life, or a personal quality or attribute of Mary Ward, that gives inspiration for the future. Taking into account the local reality connected to our new

expanded global reality, we asked contributors to imagine the year 2035. Ten years on from our merger, what will the Congregation of Jesus look like? What risks will we have taken inspired by our founder?

In responding to this theme, we offered additional questions for consideration:

• How are we staying connected as one global community?

• What does community life look like?

• What newness have we found in living out the vows?

 Poverty

 Chastity

 Obedience

• What is our relationship to the Church?

• What new areas of ministry have we focused on?

• What does leadership look like? At the local level? Global level?

• What margins of society have we reached? How did we go there?

• What does membership look like? How are we including lay

partners? What does formation look like?

Contemplate the year 2035 and a flourishing Congregation of Jesus.

What is your vision of the Congregation of Jesus in

2035?

Where is Mary Ward, the risk-taker, inviting you to go?

We invite you to share your reflections in this padlet.

In joy and the spirit of Mary Ward,

Magdalena Winghofer CJ, Middle European Province/Germany

Sarah Rudolph CJ, Canada

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For us C.J , Galiliee means to live closely with Christ and His people especially the poor and the marginalized. This calls us to experience simplicity, community bonding and service. Also, to listen deeply to people , to oneself and to God. The Galilee Experience of Mary Ward week is a sacred time to walk where people walk, live as they live, listen as Mary Ward listened, and encounter God as Jesus did in Galilee.

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The ‘CJ’ of the Congregation of Jesus can also stand for: ‘with Christ on the

Journey’.

Mary Ward often saw the light only for the next step, and we also don’t know how the Congregation of Jesus will look in 2035.

Thanks to our Sisters who have journeyed before us, we have a map: our Institutum and Constitutions.

Today, I invite us to pray with Article 1 of the Institutum 1621.

We start with the scene in Matthew 9:35-38 and beg for the grace we desire: that we may not be deaf to God’s calling.

As we listen to Jesus sending his disciples, we remember we are members of a Congregation founded primarily for the purpose of defence and propagation of the faith and for the progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine.

Mary Ward realised this aim through seven activities. We find them in the Institutum: leading, assembling, preparing, teaching, giving education, encouraging and seeing.

In prayer, let them come alive. How do I live them? How do we live them

together as one body? How can this Article become a key to our future?

Here are some of my thoughts:

Leading: We are all leaders by definition. Leading is synodality, leading is serving. Mary Ward instructs us to lead back - back to a Christian manner of life, in short: back to Christ.

Assembling: Assembling stands for a community: going to the peripheries,

opening doors, preparing an extra chair. Our Church is a community and it is in our communities where we internalise the art of being at one table. Now, as well as in 2035, we existentially need to live our vocation in and out of a lively community life experience.

Preparing: Mary Ward asks us to prepare people for the Spiritual Exercises. Preparing for the Spiritual Exercises is as crucial as giving them: we are obliged to talk to people about their open and direct access to God.

Teaching and Educating: Jesus is our Teacher. Although at times doubting the

influence of education, we believe that we need to keep searching for forms of education relevant and useful to both the universal and personal good.

Seeing: Becoming aware of people’s spiritual needs in cities and remote places requires close collaboration with partners: the Jesuits, and all colleagues, but foremost among us, and in and between our communities. We can build bridges between remote places and cities, east and west, south and north. Seeing beyond our boundaries is missionary by its very nature, and requires an active, life-giving connection with the body.

Encouraging: in particular girls, women, prisoners, the sick and the estranged.

May Mary Ward be beatified by 2035!

‘Jesus say Amen.’

Reflection questions:

We conclude this prayer with a question: Jesus, what have I done for You today? As we journey towards 2035, what might I do for You?

Share the fruits of your prayer.

We can open our ‘Institutum’ often, and ask these questions regularly, so that, as we journey together with Christ towards

2035 and beyond, we stay on our pathway to God.

Kamila Trojanová CJ, Slovakia missioned to Philippines

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"Get out of your comfort zone" is a phrase often heard, but what does it mean to step out of it?

For those of us who identify as followers of Mary Ward, this involves more than changing some of our habits or the brands we buy in the supermarket. Stepping out of our comfort zone - based on the charism of Mary Ward, a woman who walked across Europe to serve her Sisters/friends, challenged the ecclesiastical hierarchy of her time, and was imprisoned for it - definitely involves much more.

Stepping out of our comfort zone, for those of us who consider ourselves followers of Mary Ward, involves walking the path of justice, knowing that we will cause discomfort. We will stop receiving pats on the back and applause; we might be singled out as annoying. It means raising our voices, denouncing and demanding change of those who practise dishonesty and injustice. But above all, it means abandoning individual comfort to consider collective comfort and privileges equitably, encompassing all aspects and spaces in which we move, such as family, work team, neighbourhood, school,

etc.

For Mary Ward's followers, leaving our comfort zone means not only talking about justice but being an example of justice. This must be an integral part of our lives as members of Mary Ward's ‘Circle of Friends’, now and in the years to come, making justice a reality that increasingly takes hold in our lives as a community and as a society.

We can continue to demand justice from our leaders. However, all those demands will remain empty without the ability to live justice in every small action and connection, making it a reality in the smallest everyday expressions. "Being seekers of truth and doers of justice" is a conscious and determined daily attitude.

In my work accompanying migrants, displaced people, and refugees, I have learned that justice is practised and brought to life in the smallest of settings.

Therefore, when I think about what I would like for my work in 10 years, my wish is that the type of work I do will no longer be necessary. It will no longer be required to work towards seeking justice for those who are excluded but ensuring their rights are respected, and that they are treated fairly. The necessary inequalities will be reduced because by 2035 we will have learned to be better and more just human beings.

Reflection questions:

Where is the point, I am being asked to move beyond talking and instead focus on being an example of justice?

What would need to happen in the world in order for my work to become unnecessary by 2035?

Eva Rodriguez-Diaz, Co-worker and Associate, Canada

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If you want to translate the material on this padlet in your preferred languages, we invite you to use www.deepl.com

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I

I am not alone

Taking the unknown path

That may unfold in the future

When I welcome the unfamiliar 2035

It is uncertain and fearful

Certainly undisclosed unrevealed

Not far but very near

In the Indian context

Rings the bells of persecution

Who's next to be accused and arrested?

Terror runs through amidst the innocents

Those raise the voice for justice are silenced

Put behind the bars for trials.

II

Breath ceases to breathe freely

And counts with the sigh of relief

Thank God! Everyone is safe for now

Political violence and corruption

Terrorism and division of religions

Drags into social unrest and turmoil

Giving birth to more and more

Hatred, revenge and jealousy

Nurturing war against nations in fury

What newness can emerge to stir me up

From present realities to future secret

Hold hope together surely the way will be open

To make the difference in the world.

III

Am I alone in a deeper sense

On my sojourn to the earth?

Needy faces for help and love

Peep from every corner

Truly confirming a reason to live

A life full of sacrifice with risk taking

Jesus my best of all times

My only love and ultimate aim

Sharing partners in joys and sorrows

We are inseparable at any cost

In case of separation, it's a great loss to my soul

For strong faith and deep love binds us together

Let me nourish and become one with Him along the journey.

IV

The lady who dared to keep the hope lit

Adorned with particular charism, revered and loved

She's been fondly called Mother Mary Ward

Driven by the spirit to serve

The poor and obey the will of God

Had the courage to wait patiently

For God's own time and plan.

The plans I have may be different

But He designs and draws a perfect picture

Do I dare to resign and surrender

To Him; my plans and my will

With the perfect example of merger

Of Mary Ward sisters as a family.

Reflection questions:

Am I ready to plunge into the unknown:

Areas within me?

New challenges?

New possibilities?

Mission requirements?

What gives me life as I ponder the reality of the Congregation of Jesus in 2035?

What is the present world urging us to look into with the vision of Mary Ward?

Grace Mallick CJ, Patna

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We met on Saturday as the Mary Ward Altrincham group and studied the first day's material together.

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Francesca’s reflection names Galilee as a place Christ has already gone ahead of us.

My challenge is this, are we brave enough to actually follow Him there?

Galilee is not abstract. It is not a distant horizon or a future plan. Galilee is classrooms and staffrooms, boardrooms and playgrounds, policy decisions and pastoral conversations. It is the ordinary terrain where faith is tested, stretched, sometimes resisted, and quietly lived.

For me, Galilee is where leadership risks becoming truly relational, listening deeply, holding tension, and allowing questions to remain open long enough for the Spirit to work.

Like Mary Ward, we are asked not simply to go forward, but to go against the grain:, to trust God already at work in unfamiliar landscapes; to believe that unity, especially after long parallel journeys, is not a loss of identity but a deepening of it.

Virginia Fortunat

Alumni Loreto Normanhurst

Mission Partner Lead Formation

Catholic Schools Parramatta Diocese

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For me, when I think of Galilee, it is a source of consolation! Mary Ward was there before us. The ground has been prepared, and following her example, I feel encouraged to listen more deeply to the mission entrusted to us.

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So good to see you gathered together

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Oslavy Márie Wardovej v Slovenskej provincii

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Oslavy Márie Wardovej v Slovenskej provincii

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V sobotu - 24. januára sme boli v celej našej provincii spoločne zjednotené na oslavách Márie Wardovej. Stretli sme sa ako priateľky v Pánovi, ako spoločníčky Márie Wardovej na pokračujúcej ceste našich dejín. S nádejou pozeráme do budúcnosti a chceme vykročiť do každého nového dňa ako ženy, ktoré odvážne, s láskou a dôverou prežívajú svoj život v rôznorodých poslaniach.

Nech nás naša zakladateľka naďalej sprevádza.

Sr. Katarína Mazur, ktorá pôsobí na Ukrajine, pripravila krátke video, ktoré si môžete pozrieť prostredníctvom tohto linku:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YqV4vuCfRULWRjsqxVrgWpZGSd_C9GPy/view

Pieseň je v ukrajinskom jazyku a naspieval ju brat sr. Kataríny, kňaz Peter Mazur.

Tešíme sa, že sa môžme týmto spôsobom spojiť so sestrami po celom svete.

sr. Luciana, CJ, Slovenská provincia

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Thank you for the encouragement. We plan days of coming together and sharing the heart of the matter in these reading and reflections. At a certain age it is difficult to imagine out too far but it is good to be stretched and encouraged. Brenda

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Never do alone what we can do better together

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Never do alone what we can do better together

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This motto emanated from the Calls of the CJ General Congregation 2011, which was ratified as a principle in GC 2022, and has resounded strongly in recent years as an impulse that motivates us to an effective collaborative work at local, provincial, international and inter-branch levels, as well as to a collaborative work with those women and men who feel challenged by the charism of Mary Ward, and who today are part of the “Open Circle” of Mary's friends.

Recently, we have experienced the joy of the merger, the canonical confirmation as one Mary Ward family, and now the great challenge is to continue walking together, sharing the mission and the charism with our lay friends who work with us. They challenge us every day to live our vocation

with optimism and conviction, but above all they encourage us in times of difficulty, feeling part of us and reminding us that “the path of virtue allows no stops, whoever does not go forward, goes backward” as Mary Ward pointed out.

That is why when I was asked how I imagine the Congregation of Jesus in 2035, the first thing that came to my mind and then resonated in my heart, was the collaborative work with lay men and women. Every day I share the educational mission with men and women, who feel not only challenged by the legacy of Mary, but also called and committed to continue extending the Kingdom of God through the formation of children and adolescents. This

formation is based on the values of justice, truth, freedom, sincerity, and joy, awakening in each student a strong social sense and a critical spirit, but at the same time inclusive and transformative, able to embrace and reaffirm diversity, to build a more just and more humane society, promoter of peace and care for creation.

Therefore, I imagine Mary Ward's “Open Circle” as diverse and inclusive, where everyone feels welcomed, contributing the gifts and talents that God has given to them. The charism is not only shared from a place of work, but as a mission, where synodality, dialogue and generative listening are lived; where religious and lay people mutually nourish each other from the experience of God and accompany each other in the mission; where there are no hierarchies or divisions, but rather, where we all feel that we are brothers and sisters, members of the great family of Mary Ward.

Reflection questions:

What can we do better together as an “Open Circle” of Mary Ward in 2035?

I invite you to have a moment of contemplative prayer in front of the “Open Circle” and from your local reality see who will be there in 10 years.

Conclude your contemplation by asking for the grace to “Never do alone what we can do better together”.

Yamilet Veas Estay CJ, Amerindian Province/Chile

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The assurance of Risen Christ ahead in my Galilee.

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The assurance of Risen Christ ahead in my Galilee.

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The theme deeply inspired me and gave me great consolation for the journey ahead. I know that Christ is present in my uncertainties and in the unknown future. Mary Ward walked with this trust, and I continue to walk in her footsteps. I wish the entire CJ global family a grace-filled Mary Ward Week. Vinita CJ, Nepal Region

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Maps of some of Mary’s stops across Europe. 

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Maps of some of Mary’s stops across Europe. 

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Feel free to use / adjust. :-)

Mary Ward

https://maps.app.goo.gl/gAhChUSQKjSnBdVW8?g_st=i

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A small booklet (German) on Mary’s story (for kids)

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A small booklet (German) on Mary’s story (for kids)

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“But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”

(Matthew 26:32)

This verse resonates with me as I imagine the Mary Ward Family stepping audaciously into 2035. It holds an extraordinary promise: Christ will rise and He will go ahead of us into Galilee, into the everyday, into the future. For

us, it speaks of hope, leadership and assurance. We move forward knowing that God is already present in the places to which we are called.

In her quiet wisdom, Mary Ward tells us: “Remember that He is the end of all your actions and therein you will find

great satisfaction and think all things easy and possible”.

This call is a daily turning of our hearts towards the One who gives meaning to every step of Mary Ward, the Pilgrim. She walked courageously into the unknown, trusting that the Risen One had gone ahead of her. In 2035, I see the Mary Ward Family following this call seriously, stepping out into their own ‘Galilees’, with their new needs. One ‘Galilee’ is community life.

Community is not only where we live, it is how we live: nurturing a community united in shared prayer and discernment, with lay partners like myself

walking alongside Sisters as equals in mission, creating spaces of mutual growth, open to anyone who feels called to walk in Mary Ward’s footsteps sharing her social sense. The merger of CJ and IBVM is a resurrection of identity, a movement from parallel paths to one shared journey. Like Mary Ward, together we dare to believe in something bigger than ourselves.

Another ‘Galilee’ is a space where young people, the students in our schools and those outside included, can continue their search for meaning. I see the Mary Ward Family helping them to feel heard and not judged, allowing

them to explore their values, fears and dreams honestly, helping them to focus on questions not answers, letting them know that not having all the answers is ok - and part of the journey. Mary Ward herself confidently travelled long journeys, crossing the Channel to England no less than ten

times and visiting Rome three times during religious and dynastic wars.

As we step out into our future, may we always remember that ‘Galilee’ is not far away. It is wherever Christ calls us to meet Him and, like Mary Ward, may we hear the call and answer boldly and together.

Reflection questions:

Am I acting with the Risen One as the end of my actions or

with myself at the centre?

What ‘Galilees’ might lie ahead of me in 2035?

Francesca Salva, Friend of Mary Ward, Mauritius

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I have spent what feels like a lifetime in schools run by religious orders; being taught by Religious in primary school, secondary school and at university. I was nurtured, challenged, disciplined and loved by these women and I know how lucky I am.

These women are bound together by similar stories - of strength, overcoming adversity, standing up for what they believe, being driven, focused and assured. Their plight was never about themselves. It was always about what

else you can do to make the world a better place for others simply by being in it. The continuous question is ‘Who is my Neighbour?’ - the fundamental idea of loving one another; the knowledge that every single person is made in the image and likeness of God; that God can be found in everything.

We are surrounded by the continuous noise and images of a never-ending news cycle: a death in custody of an Aboriginal person; another woman murdered; leaders with no respect for the dignity of humans; riots in city streets; wars that are sparked by religion, and driven by hate; the widening gap between the haves and the have nots; effects of climate change. If this is today, what will happen in our future?

I was sitting behind our Loreto students at a meeting on a cold and very rainy Sunday. They were at the meeting as they had developed a friendship with a local group who raised money and awareness for women and children living

in Afghanistan. We were listening to what was happening in Afghanistan over the last four years since those horrific images of the plane leaving Kabul airport with the people desperately seeking to leave. It was the smallest snapshot of time watching these students as they listened to the first-hand accounts of a fractured world.

Teachers are often in awe of their students. We don’t acknowledge it enough. In a very real sense on that cold Sunday, they were being asked . . . Who is my Neighbour? The image of the Open Circle of Friends was in front of me.

The Open Circle of Friends is found in every community throughout the Congregation of Jesus. They are collaborators; they amplify each other’s voices; they are knowledgeable; they are driven, focused and assured. They want to make our world a better place. Just like the good people who came before them, they believe. It looks and feels different though, and it will again in the future. Change does this. The concepts are the same . . . loving one another; bringing dignity to all people as we are all made in the image and likeness of God; finding God in all things.

Our future looks and feels like the past that was captured in the Painted Life of Mary Ward. It is an enduring image: the constant welcome, the building of community, sharing love and respecting all, and ultimately always answering the question of Who is my Neighbour?

Reflection questions:

Who is your neighbour? To whom might this question lead you in 2035 and what boundaries might you need to cross?

Looking at your present and future, who do you see in your Open Circle?

Felicity Knobel, Coworker and Friend of Mary Ward, Australia & SE Asia