PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Mission: Meaning and Message for a Restless World
BY CAROL JEAN VALE, SSJ, Ph.D. As I am writing this on Saint Joseph Day, I cannot help but reflect on the mission of the Sisters of Saint Joseph and its immense relevance in the world today. “We live and work so that all people may be united with God and with one another.” “Unioning love” and reconciliation are at the heart of the mission of the Sisters who established Chestnut Hill College, and this charism inspires the mission and the work of our College. Lifelong formation in the SSJ mission and charism, which share deep resonances with the spirituality of Saint Ignatius Loyola, deepened in me the profound mystery of God’s call and sensitized me to the urgent expectations of God’s people. Given this mission, it is no wonder that — from my first encounter with the works of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ, (1881-1955), paleontologist, geologist, theologian and philosopher — I was enthralled. Teilhard captures the spirit of this mission in a compelling and thoughtful way by building on essential elements of Ignatian spirituality, Johannine and Pauline theology, and Catholic doctrines in the context of a universe in evolution. “Only unite” is a recurring theme throughout his works as he articulates a bold, exciting theology of creation, incarnation, and redemption that is at once traditional and groundbreaking.
macromolecules; and finally, the emergence of the cell. The differentiation of functions, as each new scrap of matter emerged, was a positive outcome of their union. Throughout time, on every level of creation, we see diverse elements uniting to form more complex forms of matter. This is the dance of creation as it moved steadily towards the generation of human consciousness with its capacity for consciousness of the Divine.
The creation of the universe out of nothing began when a sudden explosion of energy shot from a hidden center the primordial cosmic “stuff ” in every direction. The universe expanded over billions and billions of years as subatomic particles emerged and, governed by an attraction that resulted in their union, formed new entities greater in complexity and capable of increased degrees of “consciousness” – protons, neutrons, electrons forming atoms; atoms forming molecules; molecules forming
Teilhard uses this pattern of differentiating union found in nature to describe the union of creation in God. “True union,” he insists, “differentiates the elements it unites.” Because all creation is destined to converge upon God, he believes that everything that unites us, that draws us together in love, and by so doing, makes us more perfectly ourselves, is of God; and everything that divides us, that separates us from ourselves, from one another, and from God, is of the evil spirit. I suggest this understanding of
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