Day 2 – 28.6.22
Today, we had the pleasure of Fr. Mariano Sedano Sierra, a Claretian Missionary, who gave us spiritual input, as he delved into the call of mission. He encouraged us to consider the COVID pandemic as possibly a moment of Grace for us. He invited us to look at things with both eyes open; instead of being superficial to go to greater depth. He cited the example of Mother Cabrini, who held such peacefulness in her heart that she could do so much. We are called to immerse ourselves in God’s love, as she did.
Only love can heal our loneliness, and he spoke of ‘Agape’, selfless love; love for the sake of love. Fr. Mariano suggested that we change the words of St. Paul’s hymn from ‘Love is patient, Love is kind..’ to ‘Jesus is patient, Jesus is kind…’ to see Jesus as He is for us. He then went further and encouraged us to substitute our ‘own name is patient, own name is kind…’ to help us realize our own call to be like Jesus. He emphasized Mother Cabrini’s own words that we must work with love, to go out to others.
Mission requires passion and action, to free ourselves from what holds us back, to liberate ourselves. The temptation can be to give up. Mother Cabrini understood ‘flights’ to mean entering into our depths, going out of ourselves, moving from passive to active attitudes, to live God’s passion, to fly high!
The dynamics of mission call us beyond superficiality, and to ask what does mission ask of me? Die to self! Let God be God! To be real missionaries we need to empty ourselves, in order to let God fill us with grace.
In the second part of our day, we received the report from Sr. Barbara Staley, our General Superior, on the work, development, and state of the institute over these past 8 years. We then had small group discussion and sharing on Sr. Barbara’s report.
