Sr Ruth remembered as a force of faith, service, and contemplation

By Klysha Best

A life well lived in service to God. That was the life of Sister Ruth Bridget Montrichard SJC.

In honour of her life and in gratitude for all the lives she touched, many gathered at the St Joseph’s Convent Chapel, Port of Spain on Monday, June 22, to bid farewell. Family, friends, the Religious, her SERVOL family and, of course, her Sisters of St Joseph of Cluny (SJC) were all present.

Sister Ruth passed away peacefully on June 14 at the age of 84.

In his homily that celebrated a life of extraordinary service and deep contemplation, Archbishop Charles Jason Gordon reflected on Sr Ruth’s lifelong ‘yes’ to God, a journey that began at age 19 and touched thousands of lives across Trinidad and the Caribbean.

“A life given to God is really not equated by the work that the person does,” Archbishop Gordon said. “The work the person does is really the overflow of that life that flowed out into the touching of many, many, many others.”

The Archbishop pointed to a line of Scripture that he said revealed the heart of Sr Ruth’s vocation: “My father, that I should lose nothing of what he has given to me.”

“We often think of our thirst for God. But this text speaks about God’s thirst for us,” he said. “God’s restless heart for the thousands and thousands of young people who are falling through the cracks in this society, that was the inspiration she received very early in her vocation.”

He described how Sr Ruth, together with her teaching ministry, felt a profound call to the poor that left her “restless and seeking”, a divine impulse that compelled her to give herself fully through her vocation and her work with SERVOL (Service Volunteered for All).

“I have often thought, if SERVOL never existed in Trinidad and Tobago, what would we have been?” the Archbishop reflected. “When you think of the thousands of young people every year who had nothing and nowhere to go, SERVOL managed to give not just education but human development and a chance, a chance at a life and a living.”

An evangelist of the contemplative life

While Sr Ruth was a builder of communities and institutions, the Archbishop emphasised that her deepest work was always rooted in prayer. Through the World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM), she discovered the transformative power of contemplative prayer.

“Through Christian meditation, she brought to the Caribbean a contemplative way that is spread through many, many dioceses, right through the Caribbean, up to Jamaica, up to Nassau, and through St Vincent, through St Lucia, Barbados, and here in Trinidad and Tobago,” he said.

He described her as an “evangelist of the contemplative life,” whose influence extended far beyond what many could see.

“She believed that this God that she had known, had called her, and called her to give her whole self, to give her whole self to Him, through this community. And through that giving of her whole self to Him, to trust Him with everything of her, for her whole life.” “That’s a big thing,” he added.

The Archbishop also acknowledged Sr Ruth’s formidable character with affection.

“If you know her, she ain’t easy at all. But it is that feisty, fearsome spirit that allowed her to do on behalf of God so many things that she has done,” he said.

In her final years, cancer diminished her body but never her spirit. Even amid treatment, she spent six months in Bordeaux, France, helping to structure a new community for the WCCM.

“To have gone to Bordeaux and spent six months to work with the community there, in the midst of that time of cancer, that is one part of her living,” the Archbishop marvelled.

SJC Provincial Superior Sr Maureen Alexander, who delivered the eulogy, said: “Teaching was not merely a profession, it was a vocation. Whether in the classroom, the community, the Church, SERVOL, or the Christian meditation movement, she possessed that rare gift of helping people discover their own potential and recognise the presence of God within themselves.”

She captured the breadth of Sr Ruth’s impact in her closing words:

“To Religious life, she was a faithful sister. To SERVOL, she was a visionary founder and leader. To the Christian meditation community, she was a spiritual mother. To educators, she was an inspiration. To young people, she was a mentor and advocate. To the Church, she was a bridge builder and evangeliser.”

Sr Ruth leaves behind her only surviving sibling, Christine Montrichard Stone, and a host of nieces, nephews, and grandnieces.