“I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me” (2 Timothy 1:12)
It is with these words, with which St. Paul expresses complete faith in God, that we were welcomed to the Ongoing Membership Development meeting of the Italian area that took place in Assisi from January 24 to 26.
The title of the meeting was actually different, dense with meaning and full of promises that will show themselves fulfilled beyond expectation: “Adults in faith, adults in sisterhood, adults emerging to foster generative meetings in the style of Mary and Elizabeth.”
There are three stages, three dimensions to becoming adults, not only for ourselves but to offer the gift of generative relationships to tormented humanity and wounded Creation, by learning from Mary and Elizabeth to whom we looked to find inspiration during our last General Chapter.
In Assisi we dedicated space and time to examine this subject in depth. It was a weekend that was rich with topics constructed among us and by us with a creative variety of instruments: from prayer to guided visualization, from table conversation to different group dynamics that were prepared well by the Wisdom Circle that organized the meeting, in which we all participated with docility, enthusiasm, and gratitude.
Adults in faith: We took a trip through the many possible definitions of the term “adulthood,” offering one another opinions and experiences. Our sharing of the face of God, which each of us encounters or discovers during her journey of personal growth, was very fruitful and deep.
Adults in sisterhood: We entered the heart of our lives, bringing into the dynamics of the group not only the wisdom of experience matured thus far but also the questions, painful knots, achievements, and hopes for the future.
We believe we can offer ourselves a “beyond.” To do this, we reexamined the toolbox we have been using to build sisterhood among us. We identified new ones and discovered that we can fill the practices we already use with different, authentic content, such as writing a plan for the community or fraternal visits to other communities, check-ins…
Basically, a lot of richness that is both possible and accessible. We needed to dedicate extra time to add to sisterhood a reflection on community life, which we are called to build with patience and mercy.
Adults in emerging: each of us testified about how the charism of Mother Frances, which is entrusted to us, is alive, effective, and necessary, and how it generates care and processes of healing, always and despite our littleness and, rather, through our fragility.
We told each other about our personal Elizabeth, in whose encounter the power of the Charism was reawakened in each of our lives, and a Magnificat emerged in song, profound and full of gratitude, thanks to which we sensed that the words of Mother Frances, “Allow Him always and only to operate and look with wonder and humility at His Work,” were alive.
Personally, I emerged from this weekend feeling truly strengthened by contemplation, in the words of the Chapter Direction, ready to set out with Mary again to cultivate the fullness of LIFE. Through the atmosphere among us, the candor, the affection, but also some knots, the splendid “Casale di Monica” that hosted us, the visits to Santa Maria degli Angeli and Mass celebrated at the Lower Church of the Basilica of St. Francis, it was possible to live everything in continuous CONTEMPLATION, rediscovering in a new way this dimension that is reawakened and reactivated.
Thus, the wish that our Congregational Minister, Sr. Wilma Molinari, sent to us from Senegal at the beginning of the weekend “Renew ourselves, remotivate ourselves, and begin anew” came true beyond our expectations.
Sr. Mariapia Iammarino, SFP
