loader image

30 days in 20 images – Last Probation

May 11, 2023

When you put your heart into it, life becomes Life. What is difficult is to put into words what the Lord writes in the hearts of each one in a profound way. This is how the group of the Last Probation lived the end of the Exercises and the welcoming of the five new sisters: Magda, Mary, Florie, Claribel, and Silvia. A gift for all of us to meet and share the experience of God in these weeks that have been very rich and varied.

1. Our light

The nine sisters had the opportunity to get to know each other better and to cohere as a group thanks to the dynamics of the group. Nuria Cerrillo and Mari Mar Etxebeste, are two professional team-building experts. two professional experts in teams. For three days, with depth and seriousness, we shared the lights and shadows of each one of us and we were able to experience how we are a diverse group, as the Congregation of the Daughters of Jesus is diverse. A challenge that we face with energy and with the commitment to help each other.

2. La Paz

Living the Passion and Resurrection in Rome had a very special flavor of universality. Perhaps it is the most characteristic word of this time, which when it sounds in the Eternal City becomes even more real. We highlight the Stations of the Cross in the Colosseum, which this year Francis had to renounce due to the cold of those days and the delicate health of our Pope. A unanimous cry for peace, a prayer that becomes an indescribable experience to live it from within and from there, with so many different people and with devotion.

In addition, on the Resurrection Sunday we had the opportunity to participate, together with some sisters of the Curia, in the Eucharist presided over by the Pontiff in St. Peter’s SquareThe blessing was given by Cardinal Re. The blessing Urbi et Orbi this year was a call for dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians. The Holy City, so that “peace may reign in the Holy City and in the entire region”. In addition to other wars, Francis prayed for peace in Ukraine and an end to “all conflicts that stain the world with blood.”

3. The Resurrection Table

After Mass, the shared Table, the Table that becomes Life with the Bread that is shared. A Table for all the sisters of Rome and of the Last Probation. A Resurrection Table that encourages us to continue giving ourselves.

4. What are the greatest needs today?

From April 10 to 13, we will deepen our understanding of the vow of poverty with the help of the Jesuit Patxi Álvarez de los Mozos. From the poverty in the Old and New Testaments, we went deeper into the poor and humble Jesus, into what our documents say, and into the greatest needs of our world. We are called to live a prophetic and transforming poverty: there are global dynamics that all the countries of the world are experiencing and that bring as a consequence strong inequalities… What has been our goal?
has been the most repeated call? To ask ourselves if we are there where the needs of the world are today.

5. Synodality

With María Luisa Berzosa FI y Cristina Inogés, we delve into the Synod that the Church is currently experiencing. A new way of living, of feeling, of treating ourselves, of organizing ourselves… We know it is an attitude. As women participating in different commissions of the Synod, they indicated that this process will have consequences for evangelization. With the need to know the vision of the world that is nourished by the female experience, with the need to talk about life and death by listening to the women who are the protagonists of the first and the last act; with the need to deepen social relations by dedicating time to the encounter with others; with the need to talk about the body and sexuality, also keeping in mind the female body; with the need to talk about sin also from the woman’s point of view. The Synod has been convened to give voice to those on the margins… and we women are there.

6. Our Life Project: The Constitutions

To speak of the Constitution is to enter into what is most precious to us, into our most valuable being, into the life project of the Daughters of Jesus. With Clara Echarte FI we have been able to go on pilgrimage through them with true desire and deep joy. The Formula revealed to us the three desires of Mother Candida: to be Daughters of Jesus (our identity, vocation-mission), charismatic government, and evangelical poverty. From there, the ten parts of the Constitution make explicit the way to live the Formula. It is a path, a living letter that must be incarnated wherever we are. “It is our heritage,” said Clara, “and we are invited to read them by entering into that current of the Spirit. With two fundamental attitudes to welcome and live them: trust in God and obedience to what the Spirit writes and imprints on hearts.

Our pilgrimage has been very deep, from East and West: “They are not a book that tells us what to do, but they are given to us as an aid to discern”.

7. Assisi, the poor man of little things

Prior to the deepening of the vow of obedience, Assisi welcomed us with a splendid day to set foot on the land of St. Francis. Truly, an opportunity to reflect on the importance of detachment from all that is superficial in order to give priority to the transcendental, uniting us with all creatures. This day of rest gave us the gift of breathing fresh air, and listening to nature, the Common House that unites the cry of the poor with the cry of the Earth. And in the heart… sentences of St. Francis: “Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words”.

8. Rome by night

The city that welcomes us speaks of God at every moment, but the light that falls at the end of the day gives beautiful images that we can only be grateful for. Rome by night is a postcard that is engraved in the soul and before which we can only exclaim: Blessed be God who loves us so much.

9. The vow of obedience, a responsibility for everyone

Obedience requires an act of faith. Obedience is what is most mine, something very deep, my will, my project, my own love, desire, and interest. Ignatius stresses obedience so much because he wants to reach that deepest core of the person”. This is what he told us Claudio Paul SJ during the days we worked with him on the vow of obedience. In the tradition of Ignatian spirituality, we delve into difficult obediences and mediations, knowing that each one of us is also a mediator. Listening and transparency are two indispensable attitudes for us to be marked by obedience and to live in and for the mission.

10. Mother Candida’s answers to everyday life issues.

Firm, clear, simple, straightforward, affectionate, emotional… a woman who had God at the center. Thus we have rediscovered Mother Candida in her letters. With the help of Mercedes Vilas we delve, above all, into the self-sacrifice, as an aid for the experiences we will make in May. ” Mother Candida starts from daily life to express her experience of God. She touches on many issues but has a notable predilection for everything that has to do with people,” said Mercedes. Maria Antonia Bandrés Mercedes gave us a letter from Natalia Bandrés, patroness of the Daughters of Jesus in initial formation.

11. Celebrating life

And three more images as a gift, because this time of deepening, of silence and universal sharing, is bathed in birthday parties that encourage and help us to feel a sense of community. Silvia, Gloria, and Lucia the three celebrations of life.

Relacionados