Faith

"Remember then that God be the end of all your actions; therein you will find great satisfaction and find all things easy and possible." Mary Ward wrote and lived these words despite ending with her life's work ruined. Her reputation was destroyed, her companions scattered and her dream of equal potential and opportunity for women engulfed in a torrent of prejudice and disbelief, by the very church that she loved and served.

Mary Ward's hat and shoes.

Her heroic example has inspired thousands of others, down four centuries and across every continent in the world to share her dream. Today right across the world 'poisonous growths' of female daring so feared by the seventeenth century church have become shoots of hope, offering opportunity to generations of girls and women.

Whether in European universities or Indian villages, a school in the Arab quarter of Jerusalem or refuges for those caught up in the horrors of sex-trafficking, Mary Ward's insistent belief that 'women in time will do much' continues to bear fruit in ways that her own generation could never have imagined.

At the heart of all this is not just a heroic example but a deep and inspiring spiritual vision for human wholeness. The virtues she most prized were:

A girl from a project in Kibera, Nairobi.

Freedom

She spoke of being given 'a singular freedom from all that could make one adhere to earthly things'. In an age and culture that are increasingly consumption-driven and addictive, she teaches the 'freedom to refer all to God', a freedom that comes from finding our truest identity in whose image we are made.

Justice

Mary Ward dreamed of being a 'seeker of truth and worker of justice', seeing this not just as an ideal but as a possibility for everyone who opens their lives to God. Her inspiring vision for women flourishes at the United Nations, where Mary Ward International has been a non-governmental organisation since 2003.

Sincerity

Mary had no time for hypocrisy and pretence, instead encouraging her sisters to 'be such as we appear and appear such as we are'. This means not hiding in piety or putting on 'Sunday best', but by being real with God, with ourselves and with others.

One of her most powerful spiritual insights came to Mary while she was looking in a mirror and combing her hair. She spoke of true holiness in terms of 'verity' - that very English virtue of being valiant for truth. For her holiness was to be found in the ordinary 'stuff' of life, in doing 'ordinary things well' and detecting the intimate presence of God in the every day.

Sister Josie Bulger working in the Credit Union.

Joy

Despite terrible trials and disappointments, Mary valued cheerfulness and joy, especially in hard times, 'in our calling, a cheerful mind, a good understanding, and a great desire after virtue are necessary, but of all three a cheerful mind is the most so'.

Her faith in God's loving providence remained unshaken, despite imprisonment, disgrace and failure.

Mary Ward is one of the most attractive figures in English history: Joyful, fearless, deeply human and firm in her belief in the greatness or the ordinary. As she lay dying she left a legacy for all those who are inspired by her story,

"Cherish God's vocation in you. Let it be constant, efficacious and loving."

Gemma Simmonds CJ