From our Mater Gratiae Province, Sr. Tatiana from Russia and I, Sr. Assunta from Codogno, were sent to Assisi from April 11 to 14, to participate in a Seminar entitled:

“LET EVERYTHING BE OPEN TO GOD” (GE15) –

MANY WAYS TO ACCOMPANY VOCATION

In view of this theme, for a few days we were committed to reflecting upon the reality of accompaniment. Pope Francis never tires of reminding everyone of the responsibility to create a different culture, which guides us to overcome all enmity and enables us to take care of one another. There are many invitations to be “fellow travelers” of each person, standing next to one another with a presence that welcomes, supports, guides and takes charge of every effort and suffering. To create new bonds, but above all to “generate new processes and transformations”, there is a fraternal dimension of spirituality that binds us to think about and live a different style of accompaniment, open to everyone, without any exclusion or reservation, with the awareness that “the existence of each and every individual is deeply tied to that of others: Life is not simply time that passes; life is a time for interactions” (from Fratelli Tutti). In brief, I am presenting some indications and recommendations resulting from our reflections:

Cultivating the spiritual life

* Staying in love with Christ

* Growing in faith by taking care of our relationship with God and initial formation (attending to the Word, living in prayer…)

* Being conscious that the beginning of every journey is God’s initiative

* Understanding vocation as a movement of life that walks and of us being children of God

* Listening – inside us and others – to the movement of the Spirit to accompany towards the encounter with Christ

Accompanying

* Walking next to each other in freedom

* Recognizing the gifts of others in every life situation

* Praying for the people we accompany

* Becoming fellow travelers

* Helping to live one’s own historic moment with awareness

Awareness

* Growing in relational skills, affective dimension and freedom

* Witnessing through coherence in life

* Engaging in an experience of spiritual maturity and growth

* Facing a new world and dialoguing with the change of society, institution, church…

The Signs of the Spirit

* Sensing the presence of God in our and others’ life

* Discerning and narrating life considering the Word

* Maintaining high quality desire for God

* Recognizing God’s call in every stage of life

Cultivating

* The Patience to respect our own times, those of the others and those of God

* Mercy, care, paternity/maternity, delicacy

* The Gradualness and progressiveness of each one’s journey

* Elasticity by going beyond the standard schemes, broadening our horizons and becoming friends with the others’ complexity

Our personal Charisma

In Relationship

* Interweaving person-community-environment

* Belonging to the community

* Ecclesial context

* Comparison with different realities and people

Team work

Constant Training

* Keeping ourselves up-to date

* Enshrining our sequela in every stage of life

* Qualifying ourselves in the conscious use of various educational tools

Inclination and Attitude

* Involvement in the Past of the others

* Welcoming without judgment or prejudice

* Giving and giving ourselves informal time too

* Stimulating ourselves to “get out” (to decentralize ourselves)

Loving and close accompaniment

Sr Tatiana and Sr Assunta in Assisi

In group work, we treasured every topic the speaker suggested by listening to each other, sharing and orienting ourselves. In this way, by learning from each other, we could better reflect this marvelous polyhedron which is the Church of Jesus Christ. This is what struck me the most: The Church is able to draw young people precisely because it is not a monolithic unity but rather a network of assorted gifts that the Spirit constantly receives in it, making it always new despite its miseries. Youth Ministry can only be synodal: to walk together. “This is the mystery of the Church: a celebration of differences, a sign and instrument of all that humanity is called to be, united in harmonious diversity, where everyone can actively participate and where everyone has something to contribute” (Pope Francis). The four days of the Seminar passed quickly and we were enriched by the novelties in this vocational journey, in order to be able to say to young people, with the Pope: Dear young people, now is the time to set out in haste towards concrete encounters with others and with Jesus who is calling us.

written by Sr. Assunta Scopelliti MSC

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