This is the testimony of the group called Amigas Vedruna from Santiago del Estero, Argentina, which since 2018 meets with Sisters to deepen the Vedruna charism. Next February 26 they will celebrate a meeting with former students and people linked to the Vedruna Family, to celebrate the 199th anniversary of the congregational foundation of St. Joaquina, and begin to be part of the group of Laity and missionary as Vedruna Charismatic Family.
Seven years ago, on July 16, we met in the chapel of Carmen in the parish of Santiago Apostle, La Banda, Santiago del Estero.
Driven by Sr. Hortensia and accompanied by the sisters of her community Alicia, Betty, Carmen, Isabel and Catalina, we began a new journey of search. We started from the personal experiences of Joaquina de Vedruna and how we had known her. We discovered that we have a common denominator, devotion to St. Joaquina de Vedruna, which identifies us with her charism.
We dare to say that the charism remained in each one of us forever. Joaquina’s embrace and her desire to go to many places and remedy the needs of all reaches us and we receive it gratefully. The charism that travels through time and pilgrimages through the geographical spaces of our planet is a gift for the Vedruna Charismatic Family and for all humanity, of which we feel part. For that reason we want to celebrate it, to live it and to communicate it “For the Glory of God and the good of the Neighbor”.
We are a group of six and more people who, together with Sister Betty, are deepening our Vedruna spirituality, having as a base the communities of sisters in the four continents and the Chapter Document “Born Again”, as well as uniting in prayer.
Our objective is to respond to the call, “to be outgoing” and to live the charism in “shared mission”. Therefore, we will insert ourselves in the pastoral life of the parish, with the identity of “Amigas Vedruna”.
Our first action will be to convene and invite alumni and people who have had contact with the sisters to celebrate the 199th anniversary of the congregational foundation of St. Joaquina. Also to be part of the group of laity and to go on mission as Vedruna Charismatic Family, taking advantage of the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the College, to think together and celebrate as a family.
As it is said: “We want to tear down the wall of our background and the farthest point to be the horizon created by God”.
We are grateful to the sisters who, with their witness of life and teaching, showed us this grace, this gift of God, which is a living gift in the church:
“Everything by love, nothing by force.”
Prof. Marilín Salvatierra
