Ministering in the Present
As we wind down our observances of the 200th birthday of Blessed Pauline von Mallinckrodt (1817-1881), one event continues to touch my heart. Over the summer we held “Response 200” renewal days, which gave us the opportunity to look at Mother Pauline from so many different perspectives – as a granddaughter, daughter, sibling, niece, cousin, friend, pupil, caregiver, teacher, light for the poor, servant of the poor, and – of course – as the founder of the Sisters of Christian Charity.
Although we considered Mother Pauline from many different perspectives, one thing continues to stand out for me – her ability to be totally present to any given person or situation. From a young age, she used detailed descriptions of people and events in her letters, making the recipients feel her complete, undivided attention. Whether sending her grandmother name day greetings or telling her mother about the teachers in her boarding school, Pauline wanted to be fully present.
In later years, when the Kulturkampf caused the closing of ministries and convents, she had a continual desire to be present not only to her Sisters, but to her family and others. Her mind and her heart could have been a million different places, but she found a way to be present to the person and situation right in front of her. For example, in just one week during February 1874, Mother Pauline wrote to a circuit judge, a baroness, a doctor, a pastor in New Orleans and her brother and sister-in-law. In each letter, even though she might have been discussing business matters, she inquired about the health of someone’s wife or children, and remembered to greet them for their birthday, name day or wedding anniversary. During this same week, she supervised the care of her nephew, who had become ill while his parents were traveling, even sending another Sister to confirm that the boy was progressing. Because of Mother Pauline’s keen attention to the present, those whose lives she touched could experience the Presence of God. What an example she has set for us!
In my ministry as a registered nurse in a clinic serving the uninsured and underinsured in one of the economically poorest cities in the country, I often feel the need to draw on Mother Pauline’s example of being present to the person and the situation right in front of me. Sometimes I find this difficult because, although I desire with all my heart to be present, in my mind, I know that in addition to the patient in front of me, there are many voicemails waiting, sick people who need care but don’t have an appointment on a day whose appointment slots are already overfilled, forms to be completed, vaccines and other medications to be ordered, and other unexpected events. With all this going through my mind, how can I possibly be present to the person in front of me? How can I be sure that they experience the Presence of God in their encounters with me?
This is where Mother Pauline’s example is most helpful to me and where I ask her to help me to be a minister to the present – the patient in front of me, the person on the other end of the phone or the co-worker who needs my assistance at the exact time I’m treating a patient or talking on the phone. During these times, I strive – sometimes successfully, sometimes not – to be the best daughter of Mother Pauline I can be. So often throughout the day, I find myself praying for her intercession in this intention (and borrowing from a prayer of Cardinal John Henry Newman): “Mother Pauline, please sustain me in this petition through your intercession with God: Help me to allow Jesus to shine through me and be so in me that every soul I meet may feel God’s Presence.” May we continue to call on Mother Pauline to help us to radiate the Presence of God to everyone we meet.
