Dear Sisters, The 150th anniversary of Philippine‘s death gives us a special opportunity to thank God for the life of this great woman, Madeleine Sophie’s friend and our sister, whose “heart of oak“ was a heart on fire, and to spend some time looking at what her life has to offer us by way of inspiration and example. An anniversary is a time to share stories, especially with the next generations, so that the heritage is not lost but is held in our common memory. Some of us may not know her well. Some may have been put off by her personal austerity that might seem to be the practice of another age. Others might be tempted to romanticize Philippine and project onto her attitudes which, as a woman of her time, she could not have had. But having said that, I think her life has much to say to us today.

Dear Sisters, In this her special anniversary year, what lessons has Philippine Duchesne to teach us? We recall that her character traits were apparent at an early age—deep faith, zealous outreach to people who are poor, love of family and culture, indomitable strength, unbending will, and idealism. With this particular personality she entered into life wholeheartedly, almost recklessly, undaunted by risks and setbacks.

Back in the mid-70s, one of our sisters, a Religious of the Sacred Heart from India, came to the United States for a visit. One of her stops along the way was Princeton, N.J., where she agreed to talk to the seventh grade class I was teaching. Her country was in the throes of a terrible famine at the time, and she explained to the students that when, a few years earlier, Pakistan had suffered the same fate, India had given them her excess grain so now India had nothing to fall back on.

At the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) annual five-day conference this summer, the opening and closing presentations were “bookends” for me, posing today’s challenge to all the faithful: to live out these troubled times with active hope. This struck a familiar chord: the mission plan of United States Province of the Society of the Sacred Heart is entitled “An Act of Hope.”