On January 16, Tertianship program began at Via Sicilia Institute, in Rome. The Tertianship started with two of our sisters, Martha Lopez and Laura Sanchez participating; it is coordinated and led by two sisters from Holy Spirit Region, Srs. Suany and Patricia, as well as Sr. Annita Turnu.
This is what Sister Laura Sanchez wrote about it:
“ He will do everything in me, and for me, to the extent of my trust: I will repeat continually ‘Omnia Possum in Eo qui me confortat’.” Mother Cabrini
On Sunday, January 16, with a simple and moving Eucharist in the Church of the Redeemer in Via Sicilia (Rome), in the presence of the General Superior, Sr. Barbara Staley, General Councilor Sr. Bernadette Anello, Superior of Mater Gratiae Province, Sr. Marta Maria Lopez, and Sisters of the local community Srs. Joaquina, Franca, Srs. Martha Lopez Prada from Colombia (Guadalupe Prov.), Laura Sanchez from Argentina, Luciana Galdina from Brazil, and Marisel Mora from Argentina (all 3 from Sta. F. Cabrini Prov.), officially started the Tertianship 2022. The Sisters are accompanied by Srs. Annita Turnu (Italy), Suany De Oliveira (Brazil) and Patricia Godoy (Argentina). This formation program involves a special time of grace and kairos to purify the motivations of our vocational call, to work on our Cabrinian Identity, to deepen ourselves in the charism, and see the signs of the times as mature Sisters. We study and pray in community, strengthening the values of community life, working on our on-going self-knowledge in order to offer ourselves fully in missionary service, developing emotional intelligence and cultivating our personal relationship with God, as well as actively participating in a different experience of mission among our brothers and sisters who are refugees, immigrants and those with legal cases.
We would like to share with you some of the experiences of these first two weeks.
We started the first week together with Sr. Barbara at the Curia. In the morning, we shared prayer and formation from the area of self-knowledge. We reviewed together some concepts of the Johari Window, and in the afternoon, we opened a colloquium about different topics. Among these were perspectives of the Institute, our journey since the last General Chapter, restructuring, our options, charism and spirituality, works, Cabrinian identity, actions, sustainability, renewal, interconnectivity, interculturality, mission, formation, new canonical entities, subsidiarity and synodality, among others. It was an intense and rich day of listening and sharing, where we also built the objectives of this Stage of Third Probation: Synthesis-Revitalization-Profunding-Integration-Belonging-CMI-Charism-Self-knowledge.
In the same week, we also began the topic of Interculturality and Community Life within the framework of human-psychological integration and the richness of our Cabrinian charism and identity with the help of Professors, Sabina and Genoveva. This important topic will permeate throughout the Tertianship. It was, and is, a time of deep interior and community work, with new and very interesting concepts about culture, multiculturalism, interculturalism and intergenerational living. These intersecting points within the community experience in a context of internationality, leads the work of constant integration rooted in our own charism and spirituality.
Mission
During the second week, we began our missionary experience in the “Padre Arrupe” Center, which houses one of the programs of the Society of Jesus, the Astalli Center for Refugees and Immigrants. This center is located in the area of the railway station near Via Salaria, on the outskirts of Rome. Every Monday, after our Italian class, we go there and stay over until Wednesday morning, when we return to our community to continue our formation and community life. Our service consists in sharing our gifts in play and care of the children while their mothers work, study or perform other tasks. We also accompany mothers in court cases, attending the night shift to relieve other volunteers, cooking, helping with the cleaning, and learning how to develop this project, which is coordinated by Sr. Paula of the Missionaries of Charity. We also exercise our communication skills, as we face the difficulty of a new language. It is an intense time for us as Sisters, to cry with those who cry, and laugh with those who laugh. Making the Love of the Heart of Jesus present through our gestures! Father Diogenes, (Scalabrinian from Brazil, Psychologist and Formator of Novices and Juniors and a Professor in Rome), shares his gifts with us in the development of the Topic “Virginity and Celibacy today: Towards a Pascal sexuality”. He contributes greatly to the path of integration that we are following – personally, and communally, to be ‘Christified’ every day a little more. We are grateful for the messages received from the different Provinces and Region, as well as all your prayers for us. We ask you to continue to support us with your prayers, your holiness and prophecy for the Kingdom, so that the Love of the Heart of Jesus may expand our hearts to love more and better. “A knot binds us, Charity unites us…”
We pray for each other and until the next edition: A.M.G.G.SS.C.J.
Sr. Laura Elizabeth Sanchez, MSC
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