This Friday 1 May, our Foundation Day, we will gather at Ardfoyle with family, friends, and Sisters from near and far, to celebrate one hundred and fifty years of OLA mission. The significance of this occasion lies in the distance travelled, the years counted, the lives given, the relationships formed, and the shared story continuing across places and generations.
Ardfoyle itself is part of that memory. It has been a place of welcome, of formation, of ordinary days filled with far more than first appeared. To return here, or to arrive for the first time, is to step into something living. The past does not sit at a distance from us. It remains close, informing how we stand in this moment.
These days draw us towards prayer, remembrance, and a depth of attention that daily life does not often allow. We place before God all that has been given, received, and sustained over one hundred and fifty years. This is lived reality, often hidden, sometimes costly, always grounded in a willingness to remain present where it mattered.
We remember, too, those who have shared this path with us over the years. The people and places held within our life and mission. The communities among whom we have lived and worked, often over long stretches of time, building relationships that left their trace on us all. We remember those who have supported us, prayed for us, challenged us, and kept faith with this mission in ways visible and unseen.
There is no single way to speak of that shared history. It does not sit easily in a single telling. It is made up of countless encounters, decisions, and commitments, many of them known only to those who lived them. It lives on in prayer, memory and lives given over time..
We are also mindful of those who stand alongside us now. Those who follow this work, who read, reflect, respond, and in their own way become part of this wider circle. Your presence is part of how the mission continues today, sometimes visibly, sometimes beyond words.
One hundred and fifty years is no small thing. It brings responsibility in how we remember, and in how we continue.
For the Sisters, for those who have walked with us, and for those who walk with us still, this time together offers a time held apart, though not a conclusion. It is a moment to stand within the story as it is now, aware of what has been entrusted to us, and attentive to where it may yet lead.
One hundred and fifty years is no small thing. We hold it with reverence and thanksgiving.