Inspiration

Anna Dengel - Foundress of Medical Mission SistersThe life and mission of Anna Dengel and all those who have gone before us, continue to be a source of inspiration for us. Anna Dengel, inspired by Agnes McLaren, dared to pioneer in response to the specific needs of her time. Her passion for mission was lived in constant discernment, with deep faith and trust in her call.

Her charism of healing and love for the poor, especially the deprived women and children, is a gift of the Spirit in the church and the world. The Spirit continues to draw others to share in this gift. We continue to be conscious of this inspiration as we respond to the needs of our own times. Fidelity to our inner call often places us on the margins of culture, religion, and church. This challenges us to a new kind of pioneering and to taking a prophetic stance that has political impacts on religion, culture and other social realities and where no one is in want.

Anna Dengel used the following words in her speeches, her writings and various inputs at meetings with Medical Mission Sisters: 

Mission

We must be missionary. It has to come out of itself.
It has to be so developed in us that it will be
a manifestation of our interior and of our spirit no matter where we go.

We are living in times of great challenge.
If we haven’t got the real faith, hope and charity
We will be totally ineffective.
The important thing is to depend on grace.

We should also have a broad missionary spirit
going beyond the barriers of race and creed
with an apostolic outlook, attitude and action.
That requires real maturity, reading and interest
And all that to have proper outlook and attitude and action.

If you have real love, you are inventive.
If you don’t love, you have no ideas;
Nothing comes to your mind. You are just neutral.

Love is inventive.