Close to the feast of St. Joaquina de Vedruna, educational and pastoral communities in Brazil and Uruguay continue to weave paths of peace through small gestures of service, encounter and fraternity. Under the motto “I build peace when…”, children, families and communities have joined together to reflect and live peace as a daily task that is born from the heart and becomes concrete in daily life.
In Uruguay, the 5th graders delved deeper into service as a path to peace. Through dynamics and reflections, they discovered that peace is built every day by helping, listening, sharing and accompanying others. Inspired by the example of St. Joaquina de Vedruna, they understood that serving with love has the power to transform the world and bring us closer as brothers and sisters.
The 3rd grade children also wanted to express their affection and gratitude by singing to St. Joaquina and praying together a prayer for peace. Their simple and joyful voices reminded the whole community that peace begins in small gestures of love, welcome and daily encounters. In every song and every prayer resounded the desire to build a more fraternal world full of hope.
Meanwhile, in Brazil, the Vedruna mission continues to strengthen the culture of peace together with the families and neighbors of the sectors where the sisters live. In the Rebouças neighborhood of Maringá, the community gathered in the house of a family to pray for peace. Although the group was small, the meeting was marked by shared prayer, fraternal dialogue and the exchange of experiences that strengthen hope and closeness among people.
In Campinas, the students of the Vedruna Center participated in activities to raise awareness for peace through drawings and artistic expressions. Through their creations, the children reflected the importance and the need to live in a more peaceful and solidary world, showing how education and art can also become seeds of reconciliation and fraternity.
Thus, from different corners of America, the Vedruna Family continues to bring to life St. Joaquina’s dream of peace: a simple, close and daily peace, born of love and multiplied in every gesture of service and communion.
Sr. Isabel Miguélez, CCV
