With deep gratitude to God, our Lord, the long awaited meeting of the lay communities of Bella Vista (Mother Vedruna) and Cagua (Amigas Vedruna) together with Sisters Yasmín Montero and Trina Hernández took place this Sunday 23rd.
The theme and the dynamics were prepared to fit the present time. After the greeting and entrusting the meeting to the Lord, the lay women had to discover what was the formative theme to be developed, not without first recalling the events and liturgy of the month of February: Presentation of the Child in the temple, Our Lady of Candelaria and VC. Santa Bakhita, Our Lady of Lourdes, Day of Love and Friendship and our 199 years of Congregational Foundation.
We then built a puzzle in the shape of a heart, related to the Day of Love and Friendship, listened to the song “Love and more love that never says enough” and played a memory game where the cards contained double figures to be found, referring to images of the Heart of Jesus, Pope Francis, phrases of Joaquina about the Heart of Jesus, names of the encyclicals written by the Pope, images of the last encyclical “Dilexit nos” and St. Anthony Mary Claret.
This dynamic led through a dialogue allowed us to discover what the theme was, referring to some key aspects of the encyclical of Pope Francis “He Loved Us”, taking into account the references that Joaquina made to the Heart of Jesus. As a curious fact, on October 24, the day of St. Anthony Mary Claret, the encyclical “Dilexit Nos” was promulgated, making us delve into our charismatic roots.
Aren’t these things of God? Our beloved Pope Francis is hospitalized, the world is praying for him and we are tasting, savoring and taking hold of his message in this beautiful encyclical. This time of encounter could not have been better. The sharing was very rich.
We also discussed some matters of interest on the progress of the laity in Venezuela. We ended by sharing a delicious snack offered by all, enlivened by a raffle with prizes.
To close in the afternoon, we participated online in the celebrative meeting of the Charismatic Family of Vedrun-America, on the occasion of the 199th anniversary of the founding of the Congregation.
Life is full of coincidences. A “heart” appears in the logo, just as we work in the morning. We read this coincidence as an invitation to love with a “love that never says enough”, as the Lord, Saint Joaquina and Pope Francis ask us to do in his encyclical.
Sr. Trina de Jesús Hernández CCV, LV Liaison in Venezuela
