From the hand of Jesus and Nicodemus, our family home was filled with births with different meanings: to begin to live, to beget, to give life and to initiate the experience of maternity or paternity more than biological (NdN).
In contact with nature, from January 2 to 9, in Brazil, we had the grace to enter, deepen and pray with our chapter document, guided in a profound and dynamic way by our sister Maria Ines Garcia.
We begin with the dialogue between Nicodemus and Jesus during the night (Jn 3), how is it possible for someone who is already old to be born again? Can it re-enter the womb to be born again? María Inés helped us to become aware of these existential questions, of our personal, community, congregational, ecclesial, social, planetary vulnerability, among others… It helped us to realize in our life, that it is God who makes us be born, that this process of being born again in our life is happening. We were following this path of naming all the aspects of the new that is emerging among us, as a sign of God’s grace that accompanies us.
We prayed with themes from the different chapters of our document: An integral and ecological spirituality; the art of encounter; creative mission; the charismatic family; sustainability and prophecy. They are fundamental to guide our life in mission today. In addition to these topics, we were offered supporting texts by Liliana Franco, (CLAR coordinator) and Benjamín González, SJ, which enriched our moments of silence and group reflection, where the Holy Ruah leads us to this new moment we are living.
We ended these days with a very grateful heart to God, for all his fine details with us, from the atmosphere, the food, the people who prepared with so much care and affection, the Eucharistic celebrations, the moments of spirituality prepared by the communities, being together as a family.
We widen the tent of our heart to welcome, prune and let bloom all that we have lived during those days.
Sr. Maria do Socorro Vieira, CCV
