In the Footsteps of St. Louis Marie de Montfort
"Footsteps Online"
Spring 2001 (Volume 6, Issue 2)
The Disturbing Face of Wisdom
'Like a root out of dry ground,
like a sapling he grew up before us,
with nothing attractive in his appearance,
no beauty, no majesty.
He was despised and rejected,
a man of sorrows familiar with grief,
a man from whom people hide their face,
spurned and considered of no account:
yet ours were the sorrows he bore ........'
Is 53: 2,3,4
The Cross of Poitiers was erected in 1700 by Montfort in the community room of the first group of women that he called together in the General Hospital of Poitiers (or Poor House) where he was Chaplain. And he nailed to the door leading to this community room, the title Wisdom. This community consisted of women with a variety of disabilities and all were inmates of the Poor House and were led by a blind woman. Among this early Wisdom group was Marie Louise Trichet, who was later to become the first Daughter of Wisdom. These women were to become living symbols of the disturbing face of Wisdom - some would say foolishness, weakness, madness - a sign of contradiction that caused people to question and reflect and ponder on its meaning in a society that had little time for true wisdom. Certainly, to those who had ears to hear and hearts to listen, the Cross of Poitiers and the group of women gathered around it,
- Challenged people's complacency and individualism
- upset their consciences
- and disturbed their way of life by demanding a change of mind and heart.
At the same time proclaiming,
- the Gospel values of Jesus Eternal Wisdom
- the false wisdom and values of Cl8th France
- wisdom at work in every person and community
Currently, the Daughters of Wisdom of the Cregg House Community in Sligo, Ireland, live and work among people with a variety of disabilities. Ireland is currently enjoying unprecedented growth and success in financial terms, and the future looks good. But good for whom? On a daily basis we live among people who will never be powerful or rich in the goods of this world, or hold high positions in politics or business. A sign of contradiction? Certainly! Because these men, women and children tell us that what is important in life is relationship, community and love.
Or, as Pope John Paul would say, 'a spirituality of communion which means, finally, to know how to 'make room' for all our brothers and sisters, bearing each other's burdens, and resisting the temptations which constantly best us and provoke competition, careerism, distrust and jealousy.'
And so, nearly three hundred years after Montfort raised the Cross of Poitiers as a sign of contradiction to challenge false wisdom, so the current Chaplain of Cregg House, Fr. John Carroll, through the medium of a newspaper and in response to an article and TV program, raised issues which challenge us as we launch out into the deep of the 21st Century.
Country Club or Community?
Sir, - Cregg house is, among other things, a residential centre for approximately 220 people with learning disabilities. As chaplain here for many years, it has been my privilege to experience the friendship of numerous residents, to have become aware in some small way of the grief and joy of parents and, above all, to have discovered the extraordinary love of parents and other family members for their Sinead, their Michael, their Sheila ......... |
Now that we have the means, as never before, to shape the future of our society, which do we want to build: a community or a country club? A community in which people of every age, colour, culture and disability are positively included; or a country club built for the productive, the creative and the accomplished, for the beautiful and the perfect people of the land - exclusively? - Yours
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These are questions that touch and disturb us all on our journey through Lent to Easter, and from Easter to Pentecost and beyond. Despite the growth in wealth of the upwardly mobile - the homeless remain homeless, asylum seekers and refugees are looked on with suspicion, Travellers still have to fight for basic rights such as water and sanitation, the disabled remain marginalised and on the fringes ......
In the light of Easter, let us launch out into the deep and let the disturbing face of Wisdom disturb our hearts and minds, and let us as friends of Montfort and Marie Louise, explore ways to actively defeat the false wisdom that abounds in society at local, national and international levels. Preparation for a General Election is a good time to ask questions and raise issues...... there is no time like the present!
Montfort and Marie Louise had a vision in their time. As their followers today can we launch out into the deep and give birth to a new world? The first Wisdom community was made up of misfits gathered around the Cross - but it was a community and the embryo of a great vision.
The choice is clear: Country Club or Community?
