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In the family … Joyful in the Lord

Two months have already passed since the beginning of the “Amoris laetitia family” Year, an initiative accepted with enthusiasm everywhere in the world and we like to turn our gaze to our family life experiences. We discover that we have lived very happy moments allowing us to enjoy the work, the rest and the meetings … we have learned also to be cheerful in the midst of difficulties. One to the other, we pass that joy and our open heart as source of happiness because “there is more joy in giving than in receiving” (cf. Acts 20,35). That is exactly what the Year of the Family intends: to help us to grow in the joy of loving and to be missionaries of joy; that at the end of this Year dedicated to the family, may we be grown in the joy that is fruit of the true love.

We also recognize that, in some moments, sadness has invaded us and we have transmitted in the environment our negativism and lack of integrity and we have almost caused family breakups. “Conflict cannot be ignored or concealed. It has to be faced. But if we remain trapped in conflict, we lose our perspective, our horizons shrink and reality itself begins to fall apart” (cf. EG 226).

Let us today enter barefoot into our reality, because it is sacred land (cf. Ex 3,5), always keeping our gaze fixed on God who is joyful. This joyful God dwells in us.

God makes happy our hearts: «You have given to my heart more joy than when they abound with wheat and new wine» (cf. Ps 4,7). Joy is born in the heart of God; He is neither sad nor melancholic and therefore, those who love God experience his same feelings and rejoice with Him , “But joy for all who take refuge in you, endless songs of gladness! You shelter them, they rejoice in you, those who love your name” (cf. Ps. 5,11).

God rejoices in his creation and God’s creation reflects the joy of its Creator: “Desert pastures blossom, and mountains celebrate” (cf. Ps. 65,12). The Word of God invites us to join and rejoice with it and to sing joyfully, raising our voices and clapping: «Sing joyfully to the Lord, all the earth» (cf. Ps 95,1).

As a part of that creation, we also rejoice: “With all my heart, I will praise the Lord; let all those who are helpless, listen and be glad.” (cf. Ps 34,2), “Praise the mighty rock where we are safe” (Ps 95,1). With Jesus, joy is always born and reborn in us and we are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness (cf. EG 1). Saint Paul VI told us: “No one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord” (cf. Exhort. Apost. Gaudete in Domino 22).

“The great danger in today’s world, pervaded as it is by consumerism, is the desolation and anguish born of a complacent yet covetous heart, […] where there is no longer room for others […]  God’s voice is no longer heard, the quiet joy of his love is no longer felt”(cf. EG 2).

“Shout praises to the Lord, everyone on this earth” (Ps. 100,1). That is a personal and family matter.

In our common home the wounded and abused nature, lives the human family, the family of humanity, a family of a broader level that also within itself, receives wounds that tear and disjoin it. That is why “The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development” (cf. LS 13).

The best ecological practices require the cooperation of all and of each member of the family. The excessive consumerism affecting us today is an important cause of the high environmental pollution we all are complaining of, without thinking that each one of us contaminates individually himself and does not take into consideration the family, group and social consequences of our personal and common choices.

Every year, the UN invites us, on the International Family Day, May 15th, to deepen one of the sustainable development goals. This year 2021 the theme is goal no. 13: “Take urgent action to combat climate change, focusing on families and family policies to adopt urgent measures to combat climate change and its effects”.

The UN invites us to pay attention, among others, to the following goals:

  • To improve education, awareness and human and institutional capacity, in order to mitigate the effects of this climate change.
  • To strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to risks related to climate and natural disasters, in the different countries.

Our assignments could be: To consume only what is necessary, to enjoy the outdoors, free spaces and ornamental plants, to keep clean and welcoming the spaces of our house since we deserve clean places where we like to stay, to use what is necessary because, maybe, we have things that someone else needs.

In short, let’s keep what we have in such a way that it may be useful and delighting to us; at the same time, let us make the others feeling well. Do you like to be up for it?  I am up for it and I invite you to do the same.

What is left to us, is to carry out actions in order to face this challenge as a family, dragging our neighbors to do the same; through that, we’ll build families happy in their daily love and enjoying the space where we live. Neighbors too will feel well; Pope Francis invites us to be good neighbors “[…] the sense of neighborhood [where] each person quite spontaneously perceives a duty to accompany and help his or her neighbor […] where these community values are maintained, people experience a closeness marked by gratitude, solidarity and reciprocity. The neighborhood gives them a sense of shared identity” (cf. FT 152).

This same month of May we celebrate Pentecost. We need the Holy Spirit’s warmth and fire for the transformation of families. He works in us and helps us to carry out our tasks and this is the experience of many praying people in whom a different life pulsates and whose gaze sees beyond; that could be granted to us too.

The first task of Christians is precisely to keep alive the flame that Jesus brought to the earth (cf. Lk 12:49); and what is this flame? It is love. Without the fire of the Spirit, sorrow supplants joy, routine substitutes love, service turns into slavery. The Holy Spirit makes us to experience the moving joy of being loved by God (Pope Francis Catechesis, March 17, 2021). And whoever feels loved, loves and loves with joy.

HNA. BERTA MARÍA PORRAS FALLAS, TC

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Biodiversity

Origin of the concept of «Biodiversity» and its commemoration on May 22nd

“The care of creation is not only due to practical reasons such as a responsibility towards the future generations;  its deepest reasons are theological. The creation is a  work of the Holy Spirit and cannot be destroyed without offending its Author” (P. Raniero Cantalamessa OFMCap)

The topic that concerns us today is «Biodiversity«, an expression originated in a scientific environment, but that quickly awakens interest in philosophical, social, political, economic and religious fields and in people interested in the conservation of biological diversity because they fear the irreversible harm of natural environments, endangering the basis of the human existence.

The UN seeks solutions and in the United Nations Scientific Conference in New York (1949); it  deals with the theme «Conservation and use of resources» but its interest is focused on the adaptation of natural resources to the requirements of the economic and social development, without taking care of its conservation.

The first summit about the earth takes place at the «Stockholm Conference on the human environment» (1972). It sets out the need to preserve the land, flora, fauna, and natural ecosystems, avoiding their depletion and taking into account the benefit of present and future generations. In its statement, it exposes the principles for the conservation of the human surroundings, makes recommendations for international environmental action, and warns governments that they must take the necessary actions to control activities that may cause an atmospheric damage and their consequences on the climate. To fulfill its declaration, it creates the United Nations Environment Program UNEP, the largest environmental authority in the world.

The concept of biodiversity is the result of several studies carried out by Thomas Lovejoy (1980) President of the Biodiversity Centro of Amazonia, university professor and principal member of the UN Foundation and Norse and McManus (1996); in their studies they use the expression “biological diversity” referring to the variety of species, including genetic and ecosystem diversity. In the National Forum on Biological Diversity, held in Washington, Walter G. Rosen (1985), is the person who, for the first time, when he is talking about the variety of life on earth, at all levels, from genetics to different biomes, he uses the expression “biodiversity”. So, this expression becomes popular in the report of the event, published by Edward O. Wilson, professor at Harvard University.

The Convention on Biological Diversity held in Rio (1992) is based on these studies and deepens in the problems related with the production of toxic and polluting materials as well as of clean energy and of the drinking water. He synthesizes the concept of «Biological Diversity» as the variability of living organisms from any source, including terrestrial and marine ecosystems, other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes they are part of. One of its greatest achievements is the Convention on biological diversity, which makes the issue of biodiversity becoming part of the political agendas of the signatory countries and not only concerning development but also in the environmental care, considering that the biodiversity future depends on both biological and sociocultural processes. This Convention is an international and juridical binding treaty, whose text is approved on May the 22nd 1992.

On the other hand, the Millennium Summit, gathers in September 2000, at the UN headquarters in New York, to approve the Millennium Declaration and eight objectives to work out until the year 2015 as UN values: peace, security, and disarmament; eradication of poverty; protection of the common environment; human rights; democracy and good government; protection of vulnerable people; attention to the needs of Africa and UN strengthening.

At this summit, to commemorate the day when the Convention on Biological Diversity was approved, the United Nations, on December 20th 2000, declares May 22, the World Biodiversity Day; its purpose is to propagate the meaning and value of biological diversity (species and ecosystems) in human life. This date is designated as an opportunity to sensitize governments, media and people in general, about problems of common interest that are still unresolved and to require the implementation of concrete political actions.

Many are the achievements of the Convention on Biological Diversity, in the different summits: in Nagoya (2015), the Strategic Plan for the Decade 2011-2020, in Cancun (2016) the United Nations Environment Program, in Kunmimg (2021) the Summit of climate adaptation and its efforts to end COVID 19.

There are still outstanding debts with the planet; since if the ecosystem is damaged, it cannot offer the expected well-being and zoonotic epidemics related to some ecosystem diseases, appear. Biodiversity is in danger and it is everyone’s obligation to protect it, making an aware use of its resources and generating protection measures well knowing that, every day, we received from it innumerable and often unperceived benefits. Among them we mention the following ones.

Bees and hummingbirds pollinate the planet: plant plants that produce flowers for their food. Forests regulate temperature and plants generate oxygen: plant trees that will generate oxygen and your environment will be cooler. Reefs are home to a quarter of the marine species and protect the coasts from waves, storms and tsunamis; take care of the coasts and beaches, avoid disposable products of polystyrene or plastic. Mangroves capture carbon dioxide: protect them if you have the privilege of living near them.

Thank you.

LIGIA INÉS PÉREZ ARANGO, TC

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May the 11th: a day of memory and to renew life

On May 11th, 1885 in the Shrine «Our Lady of Montiel» (Valencia – Spain), a small group of women promised to live according to the Form of life drawn up by the young Capuchin, Father Luis de Massamagrell; it was born in the Church the religious Family of the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of the Holy Family.

Since then, on this date and every year, the Sisters remember this event and they joyfully celebrate it because, what happened on that day, continues along the time.

A religious congregation foundation is something similar to a child birth that requires a patient waiting and care by the person who will give birth and, as we know very well, Father Luis Amigó prepared this moment, not only following his dreams and personal projects, but remaining attentive to the signs that the Lord was sending him in his daily life and ministry and discerning them in prayer.

May 11th is a birthday celebration gathering all the Sisters, but it cannot be only a feast day to remember with emotion our foundation and to thank the Lord for what we have lived through and for the witnessing of life we discover in the congregational history, but it is an opportunity to reaffirm our personal and community commitment that allows our history to continue through the engagement of the Sisters walking every day along the roads of the world, faithfully reflecting in their lives the light of the Charism received from Father Luis Amigó.

Undoubtedly, the community renewal of Religious Profession that we make on this day, expresses our will to be faithful to our commitment but, at the same time, entails for us a “renovation” of our consecrated lives. The time and our lives continue their course, continually presenting us new challenges and the renovation of our religious vows means not only to reaffirm what we promised years ago, but to commit ourselves to “make new” our vocational response since our experience and well knowing that the One who called us one day, will not retract his promise (cf. 2Pt 3,9) and, as the Risen One, will always be with us, in the moments of light and in those of darkness, sustaining us along the path and giving peace to our heart.

The Saint Francis’ Little Flowers narrate that, during the Chapter of the Withes, Brother Francis talked to more than five thousand friars gathered there and told them: “My sons, great things have we promised unto God, but greater are the promises of God to us-ward; let us observe the promises we have made unto Him and let us await with confidence those things which he promised unto us” (cf. Lit Fl.  XVIII). May these words of the seraphic Father Saint Francis bring a further touch of joy and hope to our celebration and may the blessing of Father Luis, humble protagonist of May 11th 1885 in Montiel, continue accompanying our personal and fraternal journey and as Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of the Holy Family.

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The mother’s day

During the month of May, in many countries of the world, the feast of the mother is celebrated. The origin of this feast day dates back to the distant past, since in the history of ancient pagan and monotheistic civilizations, there are signs of a feast in honor of the mother. It is meaningful that, in most of places, this fest day is celebrated in this month that, in the northern hemisphere of the planet, coincides with the peak of spring and, after a long and cold winter, a new life springs up from the earth adorning trees and gardens with beauty and a colorful variety of flowers and early fruits.

The feast of the mother, which in the Catholic tradition is also associated with the month of Mary, the Mother for excellence, rekindles in each one of us feelings of affection and gratitude for the woman who gave birth to us and cared for us with love and an undoubted sacrifice. Mother plays an important role in the child’s growth process and even when the child has achieved a full personal autonomy, she continues to be an important reference point for him.

Each culture instills in people love and great respect towards the mother and the Word of God itself is rich in texts inviting to cultivate these values towards her. “Honour your father and your mother so that you may live long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you” (Ex 20,12), is one of the Decalogue commandments and as such, it guides the social and religious life of the people of Israel and, furthermore  it is the only one promising a reward. Other texts also exhort us to observe the parents’ teaching (cf. Prov. 6,20), to obey them (cf. Eph 6,1-2) and to be sure that they will never lack the care they deserve (cf. 1Tim 5,4.8).

But the most endearing biblical texts speaking about the mother are surely those presenting her as an  image of God himself: “Could a mother forget a child .. Could she fail to love him? Even if a mother could forget, I will never forget you” (Is 49,15).

The Mother day always rekindles thousands of memories full of affection, gratitude and may be nostalgia for those whose mummy is already in heaven. May this day in honor of mothers confirm the certainty of the love of God that we always call “father”, but whose tenderness and deep love is like that of a “mother”.

The Mother’s Day is the proper time to thank your mummy for all the efforts she has made throughout her life, only for you and for your dear ones. What a nice! Here we offer you a beautiful poem that can help us to celebrate this day but the best one is the one that springs from the heart of each son and daughter. Happy feast day to all the mothers!

 

 

Guiding Light Mom

Mom, from the time I was really young,

I realized I had someone…you,

who always cared,

who always protected me,

who was always there for me no matter what.

You taught me right from wrong,

and pushed me to do the right thing,

even when it was hard to do.

You took care of me when I was sick,

and your love helped make me well.

You had rules,

and I learned that when I obeyed them,

my life was simpler, better, richer.

You were and are

the guiding light of my life.

My heart is filled with love for you,

my teacher, my friend, my mother.    

By Karl and Joanna Fuchs

 

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Ramadan and easter time: waklking together as messengers of hope

April 13th, for Muslims, was the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, which will end on May 12th with the Id al Fitr, the second great feast day of the Islamic religion. Ramadan is the name of the ninth month of the year of the Muslim lunar calendar during which, according to Islamic tradition, Muhammad received the revelation of the Qur’an.

In the spirit of fraternity blowing throughout the world that Pope Francis has rekindled with his Encyclical “Fratelli tutti”, the Christian community likes to join spiritually the followers of Muhammad and, through the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, has sent «fraternal  good wishes» to the «dear brothers and sisters» in Abraham, their common father in the faith.

Muslims live Ramadan as a time to search and meet God through the prayer, the sacrifice of fasting and the almsgiving in favor of the poorest and all that is quite similar to the spirit of the Lenten season that, for Christian , is as well a strong time for conversion.

As members of the Church and even more as Franciscan sisters, we are invited to get closer to our Muslim brothers and to ask God that their religious commitment contribute to promote and strengthen peace and brotherhood in the world. Franciscan history records that, at a time of a great tension between Christians and Muslims, whose the Crusades were one of the most violent expressions, Francis of Assisi decided to approach the followers of Muhammad through dialogue and a sincere attitude and humbly presenting himself to the Sultan, as a God’s messenger, he produced a strong impact on him and immediately earned his veneration and esteem. Biographical sources, when narrating this fact, emphasize that the Sultan perceived the fervor of spirit and the holiness of Brother Francis who had no word of contempt for the person of Muhammad or for the Qu’ran and had respect for people, recognizing in everything the action of God (cf. LMj IX, 8).

The Ramadan as a time for conversion and the 50 days of the Easter season as a time of joy and hope for the Resurrection of the Lord, are propitious terms calling upon the believers of these two great religions to return to God and to their brothers and sisters and to be messengers of peace and hope. The message of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, referring to the historical moment that we all live being «in the same boat» and rowing together in the storm, takes up this idea and affirms that «during these long months of suffering, anguish and sorrow”, people have perceived their «need for divine assistance but also for expressions and gestures of fraternal solidarity» and that «we, Christians and Muslims, are called to be bearers of hope for the present and for the life to come and to be witnesses, restorers and builders of this hope, especially for those experiencing difficulties and despair ”. As adverse factors to hope, the Message mentions: lack of faith in God’s love, loss of trust in our brothers, pessimism, despair and presumption, and taking up the words of Pope Francis in «Fratelli tutti» recalls that hope is something “deeply rooted in the human heart, independently of the circumstances and historical conditioning … it is a longing for a life of fulfillment and a desire to achieve great things, like truth, goodness and beauty, justice and love” (cf. FT 55).

With joy and faith in the Risen One, we join our Muslim brothers who make Ramadan, asking the same God in whom we believe, to help us to open ourselves to the Father of all, to strengthen our call to brotherhood and to live in peace among us (cf. FT 272).

 

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My experience of life and mission In the pastoral for vocation and the youth

With the joy that characterizes this Easter season, on 25 April, we celebrate the 58th World Day of Prayer for Vocations. In our fraternities, this initiative of the Church continues throughout the whole year but on this day, the ecclesial communion unites us and reminds us, through Pope Francis’ invitation and message, that we all have the responsibility to announce, care for, invite and collaborate in the task of the Pastoral for Vocation and the Youth.

My name is Sandra Milena Velásquez Bedoya; with a special pleasure I like to share my experience as a vocational companion and promoter during 8 years. I commemorate this day being certain that each Christian is, in himself, a God’s letter to the world and I am aware that we should put all our faculties and abilities at Christ’s disposal so that we could exclaim “I have died, but Christ lives in me” (cf. Gal 2, 20); that is why I am deeply grateful for how this service has contributed to strength my option of life as a Capuchin Tertiary Sister.

Pastoral for Vocation and the Youth has been for me a school of life and has offered me the opportunity to grow in humanity and to deepen into the reasons of my call. If someone would ask me what did motivate me to carry on this service, I would say not only that it was the obedience that, through my superiors, sent me to carry it on, but I would also add that I am motivated by the deep desire that many young people might be as happy as I am.

When, in our fraternity, we pray to the Lord to send many good vocations to our Congregation, I always internally think that it doesn’t matter anymore the “number” and I am sure that when we welcome a person coming to us, either to stay or simply to discover before God her place in the world, we are already fulfilling our task and a sharing our gift.

If they asked me, what would I thank to the young women I have accompanied, I would undoubtedly say that, in this service, their confidence is the greatest gift they give to me, as well as my great responsibility to guard it with loyalty and respect. I value the story that, with a deep faith and generosity, they put into my hands and that is what I have most loved in this service: the good present within each person and the novelty and distinction she brings through her unique and genuine experience of faith.

In the early stages of formation, I deeply enjoy listening to young people speaking about their experience of God, their young first love, to which many of us are invited to return. In the young women, at the beginning of their process of discernment, there is so a great authenticity and I often regret that time is transforming this experience in something uniform and common.

This is a service that does not require only dynamism, creativity or technological skills and neither being at the forefront of today’s youth. It is true that a little of all that is required, but even more are needed wisdom, understanding and unconditional love in the art of welcoming each young person without prejudice or labels that block the possibility of a healthy, affective and effective bond that will allow them to advance in their process of discernment with freedom and conscience.

One day, evoking my own path of vocational discernment, I remembered something that my father told me. First of all, I should say that for some time, he took position against my vocational option – because I am his only daughter – but when he knew more about our lifestyle he valued it a lot. Well, on one occasion my father told me: “Sandra, I think you should make vocational videos through which the young people can really see how your life is and show them to their parents, lest they be not like me. When you told me that you wanted to be a religious I made you suffering a lot because I had a very different idea of ​​that lifestyle”.

On that day I realized that religious life had remained quite hidden to people and it needed to open its doors; therefore, together with the sisters of team of the Pastoral Vocation and the Youth of my Province, we created a weekly program called: «We, the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters, open to you the doors of our fraternities”. It is this a simple space, which every Saturday afternoon, gather many of our fraternities, young people and other persons met in our evangelizing mission and, through these videos, they express their closeness to and love for the Congregation.

As Capuchin Tertiary Sisters we have been able to respond to the concerns of young people, to make ourselves known simply and “without filters”, to get back the stories of our works and of our own vocations. Above all, we dedicate time to them, just as Pope Francis encourages us to do in his post-synodal apostolic exhortation “Christus Vivit” (cf. no. 199). Therefore, whenever we open the door of a new fraternity, once again we experiment the joy of being sisters of all, with our doors open and ready to welcome people passing through them or willing to remain with us; each young person that comes to us, grasps something of our Charisma, keeps it and propagates it so our Amigonian heart gets fill of names, presences and memories.

Finally, I like to thank because this space, belonging to us, has offered me the chance to share my personal experience and I am grateful also for the love through which the sisters support me in the mission entrusted to me. The Lord continues calling and attracting the young hearts and, together with them, we’ll get an extraordinary novelty that is a promise for our Congregation. Because of that, with hope and confidence, let us pass the “baton” allowing them to continue the race on the track we already covered. Certainly, on these tracks there are some indelible traces of many sisters who spent themselves doing well; I will personally say that the footprints along the way, offer a lot of confidence but also demands much responsibility.

Let us feel blessed with all the young women who, attracted by the Lord, his project and our particular way of life in the Church, come to our Congregation.

SANDRA MILENA VELÁSQUEZ BEDOYA, TC

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“Called to be a merciful presence in the experience of Accompaniment and care to coronavirus sick «

«If you wake up in the morning and you see that you are still alive, you have a divine mission to fulfill».

This saying that the Lord placed before my eyes at a difficult and hard time in my life, is  accompanying me every morning as a call to renew my «yes» and so, I confidently devote myself to the mission He entrusts to me, being certain that, wherever I go, He precedes me. May be that is why, given the reality of the pandemic that in a strong and hard way surprised all of us, I never was afraid, and, on the contrary, even intuitively knowing that it would not be easy, I felt happy and grateful to the Lord for the privilege to stand on the front line.

During more than 35 years caring for the sick, I have undergone through tough and difficult situations, but also through more others, full of hope and life. However, the experience of the pandemic has forced us all, not only to consider a new way to understand the life, but also to a new way of working, facing and sharing our fight in order to  improve every day the health and the life quality of our patients.  

At the beginning everything was consternating and in our hospital there was a lot of confusion. We were receiving from everywhere new instructions, steps, protocols … All that was known to us and we could dominate, transformed in a few hours and for us all, into something disconcerting, uncontrollable, invisible and, even worse, it got the «death taste and color»; that was something real because more and more anguished and frightened patients were occupying the beds, feeling that they had been torn away from their loved ones and experiencing a deep loneliness. At that first moment, when all our securities were falling down, I could experience God’s strength and the grace of abandonment and trust in Him: as well I realized that, if we were letting Him to act through us, all our energy was multiplying and becoming creative. That is how the miracle happens.

Our surgery unit, where patients enter with a specific health problem and leave restored in their health, quickly became a “Covid unit” where nothing was programmable, calculable or predictable and we could not give clear answers to the questions the sick people were asking us. This impotence forced us all, even the most distant from God, to acquire attitudes of humility, dialogue and common searching out and also  to acknowledge that, without a divine intervention, we would not be able to face this situation.

For me it has always been important to take care of the sick person as a whole and during this experience I have much more deeply and clearly perceived that «saving lives», does not consist only in healing the body, but that it is possible to “save life” also accompanying, with God’s care, mercy and tenderness, the path towards death, considered as a step and beginning of a new life that has reached its fullness.

Sometimes it is very difficult to tell the patient, through words or simply through silence, that his life is slipping away from him and that it is humanly difficult to stop this process, but however, I could experience that the truth may become a source of peace and acceptance. I remember that a patient told me: «Thank you because you are the first person who listened to me and, fearlessly, did not hide me the truth, giving me false hopes because I know that my life is ending» and another patient said to me: «Excuse me for talking to you so much, but when one feels confident, it is easier to speak and speaking contributes to reduce fear”.

If suffering is a hard experience, it is much more so when we live it alone and far from the persons that, in that moment more than in others, we need they be by our side. I do not forget the expression of emotion and gratitude on the face of a sick woman when I gave her the bag with things that her daughter brought her: although she could not see her, she said with immense joy: “My daughter has been here!” and when she took the bag it was as if she were holding her daughter in her arms. I remember also a patient who, with such a great joy and pride welcomed the buns that his son, each day before going to work, was leaving at the hospital reception for his father’s breakfast.

Accompanying loneliness has been a great challenge and I have felt myself always accompanied by God’s hand.  In the first days, when I entered into a room, a sick woman told me: «With all the protection you wear on, I see that you are all the same and I do not know who is the person entering and taking care of me».  In that instant I realized how it was important to be present beside the patient, for whom we were the only human contact, to stop and, through silence, a word, a gesture, a look, a way of touching, listening and welcoming, to offer him warmth and humanity and to create a relationship that could fill, even if only a little, his heart emptiness and claim. «There is no possibility of tenderness in accelerated rhythms, because tenderness germinates in silence and listening».  The Lord granted me to be able to «stay” next to the sick and in the middle of work, movement and sometimes rushing, I got the gift of phrases like these: «Will I see you also tomorrow?»; «I recognize you because your eyes always smile»; «You are an angel for me» or «I have been thinking about what we said yesterday» …

Along with our task of caring for and accompanying the sick, we had also to face a new way of accompanying families, especially in the strong and hard moments of farewell or mourning when we were the only human possibility of contact and it was not easy for us to control our emotions. But once again, I considered a privilege to be able to transmit, despite the pain, a lot of love and strength. In my heart I still keep the words that a daughter asked me to tell to her mother who, for several days, was living between life and death: “Tell my mother that she may leave and she will continue to take care of each one of us and of the family, from heaven”.  A few hours later, the Lord welcomed her into heaven. This is how the Lord works, in a silent, hidden and mysterious way.

Another tough situation I never thought it would be possible to live was the lack of available beds in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) and we had to choose between two patients in order to profit better the technical care. After a long dialogue to assess the situation, we agreed to wait one more day before deciding, I strongly prayed to the Lord that, if possible, He would free us from making such a decision and a miracle took place: when, the following day, I arrived to the hospital, they informed me that one of the patients had improved and the other remained stable.

With an immense gratitude I can say that, day after day, and especially when tiredness, emotions, uncertainty and pain merge together, it has been a great gift for me, to rely on the presence, listening, understanding and unconditional support of the sisters of my community.

Many times, in tough situations of suffering and helplessness, we asked ourselves: «Where is God in all that?” But the answer to this question is not in words but in the experience of faith in God who loves us, suffers with us and manifests that Himself is accompanying us with great mercy and tenderness; he is  a God who also needs us and likes to count on us, entrusting us every day «a divine mission to fulfill.»

For everything: «Praised be my Lord!»

M.R.A.R.

(The author of this article is a nurse Capuchin Tertiary Sister, who likes to remain anonymous)

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Alternative experiences of economic auto-sustainability In the Philippines

The pandemic caused by Covid 19 has been in the world for a year and it seems that its end is still far away, although its strength and surprise have diminished. Even before the pandemic, our Congregation, immersed in the reality of the world and walking in the footsteps of “going forward” with the Church, had reconsidered the issue of an evangelical, sustainable, and solidary economy.

In St. Clare general Viceprovince, the pandemic has undoubtedly been a great opportunity “to live the prophecy of the solidarity economy based on austerity, minority, and the adequate use of goods, sharing with the poor and the demands of social justice which is lived evangelically” (cf. XXII General Chapter, Option 4).

This year there has been a process of adaptation, learning, and raising awareness in which creativity, solidarity, and fraternity have stood out, essential elements to achieve an evangelical and sustainable economy. Creativity has arisen from the need of having to re-invent life before the closure of the largest source of income that the Vice province had and this in turn has brought us:

  • Solidarity with the poor, empathy, feeling on your own skin the uncertainty of not having a job and what it entails.
  • Re-discovery of our capacities and abilities, wit, cooperation, and resilience have abounded.
  • New way of perceiving our religious life from a new way of mutual sharing with the poor.
  • Strengthening of our fraternal bonds, recognition.
  • Constant questioning for betting not only on self-sustainability but also on the ecological issue, for the positive impact that it may have at least in our small environment.
  • We have discovered the need to rethink how to help sustain small economies and opt for the “non-branded”.
  • The scope of our apostolate has expanded and in an unimagined way, all from our need.

Among the projects undertaken there are:

  1. Sale of traditional food and pastries: Pick n´ eat
  2. Total Cleaning: production of cleaning and hygienic products that includes a bio-liquid that uses the fruit skin and other natural waste that reduces the chemical impact.
  3. Increase in home gardens in different communities, for our basic consumption.
  4. Taking advantage of a small piece of land that we own, we created a small Farm where fish, chickens and pigs are raised.
  5. Candle making
  6. Online English classes and tutorials.

The photograph and videos that we provide are a graphic sample of what we have been able to do.

ÁNGELA MARÍA MARTÍNEZ SIERRA, TC

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Francis: Not even one tear, not one sigh is lost in god’s plan of salvation.

During the General Audience on Holy Wednesday, Pope Francis gave a brief explanation about the meaning of each celebration of the Easter Triduum, underlining that those who participate in them, renew the mystery of Easter; subsequently, he offered a profound reflection about the historical event of the Resurrection and the reality we are living in the world at the present.

Once having briefly presented some fundamental aspects of each celebration, and stressed about the redemptive intervention of the Lord, in his Body and Blood gift commemorated on Holy Thursday, in his profound experience of pain represented on Good Friday and in which all human suffering is reflected, and in the hopeful silence of Holy Saturday, Pope Francis launched his message saying that  in the darkness of Holy Saturday, joy and light will break through with the rites of the Easter Vigil and, in the late evening, the festive hymn of the Hallelujah. This celebration will be the encounter in faith with the Risen Christ, who will dispel all questions,  uncertainties, hesitations and fears and will gives us the certainty that good always triumphs over evil, life always conquers death, and it is not our end to descend lower and lower, from sorrow to sorrow, but rather to rise up high.

As last words of his speech, the Pope said that «not even one tear, not one sigh is lost in God’s plan of salvation».

Easter evokes and makes present in the world the triumph of Life over death, of Light over darkness and renews the hope that sometimes, can be extinguished in the heart of the man, especially when he experiences his own fragility. On this feast, we cannot forget the drama we are living but we have the chance to open our hearts to the Risen One who comes to meet us on the roads of Galilee, where we walk during our daily life and says to us: “Peace be with you … it’s I, don’t be afraid …! (cf. Mt 28,9-10; Jn 20,19) and, acting as a pilgrim, he walks by our side, rekindling with his words the embers  burning in our hearts (cf. Lk 24,13-33).

Christ is risen and he is the Risen One: let us strengthen our faith and, wherever we are, let us run to announce it to our brothers.

 

 

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Online biblical course

On March 29th as a part of the Ongoing Formation Project, began the online biblical course organized by the Congregation and directed to all the sisters. The theme of the course is: «The Gospel of Mark»; it will be developed in seven sessions that will take place every fortnight and it will end on June 21st. The lecturer of the course is Sr. Estela Aldave Medrano, Capuchin Tertiary Sister, doctor in Biblical Theology. In the first session, she presented an “Introduction to Mark’s Gospel”.

The course responds to a suggestion made by many sisters that required online biblical and charismatic formation.  We were expecting that it would be well welcomed by the sisters but its reception far exceeded our predictions. We joined in the participation, connecting from many communities of the Congregation presents in different places of the world and the course was also a moment to share communion in our quest and desire that God’s Word be the constant reference in our life.

The presentation of Sr. Estela has been clear, simple and carried on according to a good didactics in the transmission of the contents and it contributed to introduce us into the subject, opening our horizon to know the general framework in which the different sessions of the course will progressively be developed. She instilled in us her love for the Word and invited us to receive this Gospel, being surprised by the agile story it tells and its attractive reading that always keeps attentive the reader, generates experiences of transformation, puts into evidence the Twelve’s clumsiness as well the Jesus’ paradoxical experience of failure and death; Mark’s Gospel lets us discover the great expressiveness of Jesus, his feelings and emotions …

Neither Jesus, nor the Gospels, nor the theologians … no one can give us “recipes” that we can apply in our journey as Jesus’ followers, but undoubtedly, as Sr. Estela pointed out, the evangelist Mark offers us some signs of discernment that we can discover through an attentive and prayerful reading of God’s Word, with a thoughtful and contemplative spirit.

The first session of the course was on Holy Monday and it was a good chance to open our hearts and prepare ourselves to the events that, once concluded the ascent to Jerusalem, together with the Church we were going to live once again this year, celebrating the Passion and Death of Jesus. May we embrace that Cross of the Lord that Mark, in his Gospel, presents without any adornment, the Cross of Christ that, in his Resurrection, became a Tree of Life.

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