We have asked our sisters Blanca Esther, Mary Carmen and Rosa to tell us something of their recent experience in Rome, with a group of Daughters of Jesus from the various countries where we are. We are already reading something on the web but we wanted personal news and we have asked some questions.
These are the answers of Rosa Espinosa.
Thank you for making time in your busy schedule to share your understanding and relish of these days in that environment of Universal Body.
1. My experience of this meeting has been …
The experience of meeting the Lord who calls me to follow him as a Daughter of Jesus and the encounter with the entire Congregation in the diversity of faces, languages and cultures.The charism of Mother Candida has been inculturated and enriched with so many yeses of Daughters of Jesus from so many countries who have come out of themselves and live out the intuition of Cándida María de Jesús in following Jesus.
Vocation is a gift that is updated day by day, although there are special moments, like this one, in which the root is touched and the desire that beats in the depths of the heart is renewed.
2. The work consisted of …
Making a rereading of our Constitutions that are our “light and guide in the way of the Lord” (CFI331). Study, reflection, prayer and sharing has been the methodology used. Words and habitual expressions that make up our being as Daughters of Jesus – the good of our neighbors, help, obedience, glory of God, service, self-denial, union of souls, Body of the Congregation, co-responsibility, belonging – have been filled with a meaning that is not exhausted in every reading that is made, if the Spirit accompanies that approach.
Mother Candida defended her charismatic intuition that she captured in the Constitutions. The experience of the Exercises cuts across them and gives them meaning. She was very clear that the person who goes out of the Exercises is the ideal person to follow the poor and humble Jesus who invites us to live from these attitudes to extend the Kingdom. We, the Daughters of Jesus, have the responsibility to live and update that intuition and seal of identity that is specified in the Constitutions.
3. For me, the encounter with sisters from all countries has meant …
Experiencing that our charism is alive and that we live in different places; it is an enrichment and experience of very great universalism. The vow of availability to go anywhere in the world becomes clear and understandable in this context of plurality and diversity.
