What Do You Know?

by Sister Jan Kilian


I had never heard of Chundra Lela until her story came up at one of our early morning prayers. Chundra lived a remarkable life searching for God in every holy shrine in India in the late 1800’s. After many years her hunger for God led her to the Christian Scriptures and she believed and was baptized. As much as possible she became what she now believed. She freely shared her faith with others and gave her material belongs to others who needed them.

Chundra’s life reminds me of another message which says, “What you know, you don’t know until you live it.” Isn’t that a powerful word to take to heart?

In his life of St. Francis, Thomas of Celano has this to say about our patron: “He was no deaf hearer of the gospel; rather he committed everything he heard to his excellent memory and was careful to carry it out to the letter.”

I plan to keep this message before me in the weeks to come. I am involved in our Franciscan Sisterhood’s reflection on what it means to be a Franciscan Sister of Little Falls at this time in our history. I think I am learning all sorts of things from those Sisters who have gone before us. They were dependent on God in prayer, creative and committed to serving God and the poor, and lovingly faithful to one another. I think I “know” these things. I feel a big nudge to also live what I know. I think it is true, people can tell what we really hear and know by watching us live.

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