Our Superior General, Graciela Francovigsaid in Circular No. 36 dated April 2, 2024:
“The General Congregation is always a time of grace, an opportunity to let ourselves be encountered by the Lord in our deepest identity, that of being true Daughters of Jesus, to continue to look at the world and listen to its pain, to walk together and discover in our community settings that He is there present and challenges us to a MAGIS.”
We will begin, he said, “by asking for the grace to make your preparation a spiritual experience, in which we want the Holy Spirit to be the protagonist.
With this rich motivation the Provincial Superior, Dayse Agretticonvenes the Regional Assemblies of our province of Andean America to begin this journey of conversations in the Spirit.
The Assembly of the Argentina Region was held on June 15, 16 and 17, 2024, in the house of the Madre Candida community of La Plata. The Daughters of Jesus from the communities of Monterrico, Córdoba and Villa Ocampo arrived. Also from Bolivia arrived María del Carmen Caballero y Rommy Villarroelmembers of the Provincial Council.
We began the Assembly on the afternoon of the 14th with the celebration of the Eucharist presided over by the chaplain of the community, Fr. P. Rogelio.
At the end of the Mass, and after singing the phrase prophetically written by Mons. Enrique Angelelli wroteEnrique Angelelli prophetically wrote: ” We have to keep walking, Lord, we have to keep walking, Dayse addresses us some
words about the meaning of these days and we are given the material with which we are going to work: a booklet with the texts that we will be reflecting on and another one for personal notes.
We began the journey by becoming aware of the importance of being ready to enter before the call to set out on the road… We asked ourselves: Do we want to go? Are we going or not? Make the choice of wanting to enter. LET’S GO!
Dayse gives us a general presentation of the material and the method to follow, from the prayerful reading of different biblical texts that accompany each stage and in the morning we have a space for personal prayer with the contemplation and prayerful reading of Jeremiah 6, 16 and (31, 1-4 a) following the orientations of the text, in openness to the Spirit. A question is proposed to us, to share in this journey: What do we want to recognize and honor?
Following the proposed method of conversation in the Spirit, we shared in an atmosphere of sacred respect what the Spirit had suggested to each one of us. We are going to share this part with some motions in the different rounds.
Round 1: “We want to recognize and honor”.
- The testimony of Daughters of Jesus who have passed and have left traces of fidelity, of belonging, of generosity and dedication to the mission, of being true Daughters of Jesus”.
- The Calls of General Congregation XVIII, the invitation to center our life in Jesus Christ, to be Daughters and Sisters.
- The process of searching for new challenges. New presences and renewed searches.
- Integrate the laity as Mother Candida’s Family. Opportune time to rebuild and plant.
Some of the resonances of Round 2:
- The witness of so many Daughters of Jesus who have left traces of fidelity, coherence and dedication to the mission.
- Valuation of our origins.
- Integration of the laity as Mother Candida’s family.
- An opportune time to look ahead to rebuild and plant together with others.
In Round 3, we spontaneously expressed some motions in response to what was shared:
- Take off your shoes because the place you walk on is sacred.
- Presence of the charism, appreciation of the origins and search for new challenges.
- Time to plant and rebuild with others.
The next day we started with a time of personal reflection on the material LIGHT FOR THE WAY A and the material of the CONVERSATION to share: Contemplation on the image of MarK Hensoj which talks about the new pioneers and other material for reflection and dialogue following the method.
Finally, gathered by communities, we shared question 3: How can we, as a community group, help each other in this process?
Other aspects shared and discussed helped us to become aware of the present moment with its lights and shadows and opened us to new searches and challenges for the process: to continue growing in the sense of ecclesial, congregational and community belonging:
- The Bull of Pope Francis on Hope in view of the Jubilee Year 2025
- Reflection on schools, management teams – organization and pastoral care
- Youth and vocational ministry in the region.
- Youth movement in each school.
- Commitment and challenges.
- …
In all this, what are we looking for? Where are we going? In the Assembly’s sharing , we valued the richness of the material, of the contributions and of the method as a help to continue in community working on the different stages.
We ended the Assembly with a Eucharist of thanksgiving celebrated by Fr. P. Federico RinaldiFederico Rinaldi, former teacher of the school and friend of the community. We share some of the resonances, feelings and motions: Life – search – hope – gratitude – discernment – union of souls – to be a living memory of the charism – let us recognize and honor history – new challenges – grateful memory of what we have lived and openness to the new – history is changing, let us search together – it is time: trust, give us courage and make our way.
We would like to end this sharing with what our Provincial Superior, Dayse Agrettiexpressed in circular letter No. 23 to all the Sisters. of the Province of Andean America:
In this special time that we live in as a Congregation, I would like to end this letter with a paragraph from the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium: ” Every time we try to return to the source and recover the original freshness of the Gospel, new ways, creative methods, other forms of expression, more eloquent signs, words charged with renewed meaning for today’s worldspring up“.
We are grateful for the impetus received as an Argentine Region in this Assembly to continue our commitment in this time of grace in preparation for the celebration of the Provincial and General Congregations.
Mother Candida Community – La Plata July 2024.
Excerpted from NotiAndina 215
