The eighth day of the EGC began with renewed enthusiasm after a day of rest. After a solemn Eucharist and a hearty breakfast, the participants gathered in the plenary hall, ready to get the activities underway.
On Monday, March 16, after the work session in the first hour of the morning, at 12:00h we opened our Zoom meeting to welcome Sister Gloria Liliana Franco Echeverri, a religious of the Company of Mary Our Lady, and all the people of our Family who were able to join us to listen to her live.
Liliana is recognized as one of the most influential voices of women religious life in Latin America. With a doctorate in theology, throughout her career she has combined theological reflection, pastoral accompaniment and a strong commitment to the social realities of the continent. She has exercised leadership responsibilities both in her congregation – as provincial superior – and at the continental level, highlighting her presidency of CLAR and her collaboration with CELAM, in addition to her participation in the Synod on Synodality convoked by Pope Francis. Her ministry and her written work reflect a deep spirituality, a Church in a synodal key and a prophetic commitment to religious life, social justice and care for creation.
. Maria Teresa Cuervo welcomed her with words full of affection and gratitude for sharing this time with us, even though it was very early for her, connected from Colombia.
His speech can be viewed in its entirety on our YouTube channel:
You can also read the full text:
The lecture opened with the Gospel image of the mustard seed, symbol of a hope that springs from the small, fragile and apparently insignificant. In the face of a wounded world, consecrated life was presented as a seed with healing capacity. Christian hope was not understood as naivety, but as trust in the fidelity of God, who acts in the unseen. From this perspective, it was proposed to understand synodality as a path that embraces smallness and discovers in it its fruitfulness.
A heart like Jesus
The center of synodality, a primary reference point, is Jesus of Nazareth. Liliana stressed the importance of sustaining hope in times of crisis, looking particularly at the Easter women.
Five fundamental ideas for the spirit of synodality are:
- the art of listening, in a reciprocal, merciful and open way to the Spirit, in order to live the fullness of our vocation with humility and mercy.
- a contemplative view of reality, which allows us to recognize God’s presence in history and to renew our commitment to the poorest of the poor
- the need to unlearn anti-evangelical ways of living the faith in order to welcome the newness of God.
- the itinerancy, both existential and geographic, which prompted him to live in missionary outreach.
- missionary outreach in inter-congregational and inter-culturality, as an expression of communion in diversity.
Travesia con Espiritu
Without the Spirit it is not possible to understand and live synodality. The Church and consecrated life are realities animated by his action, even in the midst of fragilities.
To walk in synodality implies personal and community conversion, renewal of structures and openness to discernment, which is only possible if we have opened our hearts to the Spirit. Liliana insisted on the need to listen to the cry of God in history and let ourselves be affected by reality. The Spirit is the force that recreates life, generates fraternity and sustains the utopia of communion.
Liliana also emphasized that the Spirit impels us to diversity, rejecting uniformity, and encourages us to go out to the peripheries, especially to the poorest, migrants and the excluded.
The strength is in “being one”.
There are those who seek to fragment unity. Therefore, today more than ever, our mission should lead us to become guardians of unity. Unity is an attribute that shapes identity… Unity does not exclude difference; unity requires relationship and gratuity in personal encounter; it demands the constant practice of reconciliation and forgiveness. The identity of each person makes him or her the bearer of a gift, a charism and a particular style, all unique and different. In a synodal Church we are asked not only to walk together, but above all to learn to meet, work and discern together. The conversion to which the Church is called demands giving primacy to the Spirit, putting Jesus at the center and listening attentively to reality. The synodal journey requires conversion.
Embracing Evangelical Minority
In the dense night, the dialogue between Nicodemus and Jesus revealed a glimmer of light that must be discerned. “Life only needs the space of a crack to be reborn” (Ernesto Sábato)… This “rebirth” is not based on personal capacities, but is produced through the creative power of the Spirit. Between “not being able” and “not knowing how” to be reborn, a dialogue of search arises. “To be reborn” invites us today to return to our charismatic sources and to reinterpret minority not as a lack, but as a space of freedom, availability and genuine encounter with God and with others….
Decisions to live synodality
Accepting our reality as consecrated women and this delicate moment that our congregations are going through calls us to make decisions:
- Decision 1: With the heart centered on God, be a wise presence that humanizes. Those who serve within the Vedruna family would do well to insist on the importance of interiority as a foundation that gives new reasons for being. We are called to face reality as Jesus did. It is necessary to continue to promote real opportunities for formation and deepening that allow the people we accompany to grow in their faith, to interpret reality more deeply and to develop the richness of their spirituality.
- Decision 2: Allow each person, according to the rhythm of the Spirit, to contribute his or her gift. This leads us to prioritize discernment as the space where the Spirit acts, paying attention to the movements that He awakens in us. We must seek in God’s will the guidelines that renew our commitment and make it relevant and meaningful. The Church has a woman’s face: assemblies, parish groups, liturgical celebrations and apostolic ministries are often sustained by the generosity, reflection and dedication of women.
- Decision 3: Be authentic in order to be with others and allow grace to flow freely. Relationships must be purified so that we can place ourselves on the ground of true horizontality, where everyone has a place and all voices are heard. This requires strengthening creative practices of encounter and choosing community life as the vital fabric that sustains and articulates our mission. It also calls us to build bonds of hospitality and tenderness.
- Decision 4: Expand our hearts until there is room for everyone. A Church, a congregation and a charismatic family that sees itself as a welcoming home with a Samaritan face is invited to choose a compassionate closeness that restores dignity. This implies accompaniment. It will be necessary to renew our commitment to our Common Home as the place where God is revealed: the Earth, cultures and the poorest of the poor cry out. A Church that moves to the rhythm of the synodal spirit must grow in its capacity to welcome and expand so that no one is excluded.
- Decision 5: That service be rooted in the Word that gives meaning, provides coherence and opens horizons of renewal and commitment. The Word of God is indispensable nourishment in all synodal processes. The challenge will be to allow that Word, that Good News, to resonate with its power to heal, liberate, restore dignity and uplift, so that around it communion is renewed and celebrated.
- Decision 6: To be small signs. Our lives will become a sign if we live them with joy, delighting in the God of the unexpected. Religious life must take the risk of serving God’s unpredictable grace. “Religious life must be an ecological nest of freedom.” We must allow ourselves to be joyfully surprised by God.
- Decision 7: Mercy must be the driving force of commitment. Choosing Jesus has consequences and implies building the Kingdom, recognizing mercy as the driving force of committed solidarity. To help ensure that what we are, from the identity of the Vedruna Family, takes us to the frontiers where the poorest are found.
- Decision 8: Listening leads to conversion. Without listening, service in the manner of Jesus is not possible. “Listening implies, therefore, an existential transformation, a conversion, a de-centering of oneself. Listening thus becomes a vital attitude, because it places us in the position of the other. Listening opens the way to the transformation of the heart.
- Decision 9: The call is to the mystique of the encounter. The mystique of encounter requires fostering information, participation, dialogue and shared responsibility, as well as strengthening networks so that people can support and accompany each other in living what they have in common. This requires learning to manage conflicts without losing hope and without falling into paralyzing skepticism.
- Decision 10: Everything requires time, processes and patience. Processes make it possible to develop the potential of life. They must be interrelated and interdisciplinary processes, rooted in reality, embracing life in its fullness and giving prominence to the people with whom we walk. Today more than ever, assuming the mission entrusted to us requires compassionate hearts and hearts like that of Jesus.
Conclusion: fullness in littleness
In conclusion, Liliana pointed out that the eternal Word has become small, so small that He lies in a manger. He became a child so that the Word could be within our reach. Now the Word not only can be heard, not only has a voice, but also has a face that we can see: Jesus of Nazareth.
God is always on the way to us, and we to him. Our God, the living Word, draws near, bends down and embraces our humus, our littleness and our humanity to reveal to us the depth of the divine, of the eternal, of that which endures.
In the encounter, and when we embrace our minority, we become more human. The warmth of a glance shelters us, the depth of a word saves and liberates us, the sweetness of a caress rescues us from the vertigo of haste and consumption. Everything ultimately becomes language when it is moved by the grammar of love. This is what Jesus came to teach us when he entered our history and, made Word, taught us that the person is above the law, dogmas, flags or treaties with which human beings so often confine themselves and limit their encounter.
. Liliana concluded her speech with her poem entitled “Plenitud” (Fullness).
