|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
The day began with Liturgy prepared by the Zambezi Region. Fr. Sylvester, CSSp , who presided at the liturgy, had been pastor at St. Andrew's Mission in Zimbabwe where Sr. Anne Barat Corcoran (EAP) had served for many years.
We prayed that the God who fed the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes, the God who nourishes and sustains us on our way, would keep us attuned to the sacredness of all life, so that we might seek to promote all that is threatened, restore all that has been desecrated, respect all that unfolds according to a plan different from ours; and foster care and compassion for the fragility and beauty of life. The work for the day was introduced in the chapter room after liturgy. Jean Alvarez and Nancy Conway, the facilitators, reminded the chapter members of the work they had begun before the elections. They had identified seven areas which might eventually be included in the chapter document. Each member had chosen to work on one area. The groups had begun to develop their ideas about action steps by which we, an international institute of women religious, could promote life in a globalized world. Most of the work during the coming days would be a combination of working in groups and reporting back to the chapter body to get feedback in order to start another round of work.
The members were sent off to their action step groups with the reminder of the words of Jim Wallis, quoted by the Western American Province in their morning prayer, "To live imaginatively in the light of a hoped for future is a prophetic choice." The work day ended with evening prayer prepared by the Portuguese Province. The prayer reminded us in word and dance of the balance between the action of God's grace in us and our freedom in responding. After supper, we had an auction of articles brought to Rome or bought in Rome. A very talented team of auctioneers conducted a successful, though not-very-serious, event. We raised more than US $700. This money would be used to help defray the expenses of a group of religious women and men going to Genoa, Italy for several days of prayer and fasting during the G8 meeting.  |
