What comes to your mind when you hear the words ‘evolution’ and ‘consciousness’? According to the Merriam -Webster dictionary, evolution means “a process of slow change and development” while consciousness is “a person's mind and thoughts or knowledge that is shared by a group of people”.
Evolutionary consciousness simply means becoming aware of and embracing the reality that the cosmos, our world, and we human beings are engulfed in constant change. And, it is suggested, that we are called to do our own part to move things forward, just as Jesus did.
Different times use different terms to express the same reality. However, there is a thread that runs from the beginnings of the Sisters’ founding in 1650 at LePuy in France to our present living in 2014. The founding community was guided by Jean Pierre Medaille, http://www.csj-to.ca/jean-pierre-medaille-sj , a Jesuit of great spiritual depth. He counseled the early members to strive constantly for “the More” – being more and becoming more in their personal and relational lives with one another and among the people with whom they worked. This was and is an on-going developmental day-by-day process. This was and is evolutionary consciousness in action!
The Sisters of St. Joseph hold oneness with others and all of created reality to be the heart of evolutionary striving as the future calls us forward to “the More”. Becoming more inclusive and enlarging our heart calls for self-emptying and letting go of fear, limitation and narrow interests just as God or Spirit did and continues to do in entering into the created world.
Medaille's concept of "the More", from 1650, seems to have similarities with the vision of Teilhard de Chardin, http://www.teilharddechardin.org/index.php/biography, another Jesuit. Teilhard , as scientist and priest-visionary in the 20th century, had the realization that “we are moving” and that “Love” is the heart and direction of cosmic, cultural and personal evolution calling us forward. We are “on the way” led by a Great Love.
As S. Margo Ritchie has said, “The movement of evolutionary consciousness calls for deepened personal responsibility for moving beyond the places of impasse in our shared life on the planet.” Please check out Margo’s blog at /blog/2014/5/28/nothing-elitist-about-it.html
To learn more please join us at the Summer Symposium 2014, ‘Becoming Agents of Evolutionary Change’. For details go to https://www.etouches.com/ehome/79110. Carter Phipps’ public keynote address at 7 pm Friday night will be held at the Kenny Auditorium, Kings’ College, London.
Mary Vandersteen, CSJ and Ann Steadman, Associate