3rd April 2006
CLOSING ADDRESS
… FOLLOW IN THE FOOTPRINTS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST…
“ I often say to myself that the Institute is going through a very important moment in its existence”, Mary of the Passion wrote on 1st July1899. If the circumstances of her time were different, even the opposite of ours, because the Institute was then “a small work, becoming very big” (id.), for us also, as in the time of our foundation “all our organisation is in the process of experiencing the repercussions of our reality, persons, things, places, charges” (id). And as Mother Foundress wrote, “this transformation demands of us, of all those who form part of the Institute at this moment, greater generosity, more complete zeal and, above all, a perfection and spirit of prayer which guarantee for us the divine help. Because, in the end, all fruitfulness has its source in the all-powerfulness of our God” (id.).
Where are we going? What does our present financial situation tell us? Where are the events leading us, through which the Institute is traversing? How can we prepare ourselves for it? These are some questions which, among so many others, we have been asking ourselves these past weeks. Faced with incertitude, that of a future which remains to us but nevertheless is completely unknown, we allowed an essential, basic questioning to rise up within us, which stops at neither number nor quantity: do our lives today express the radicality of the Gospel that Mary of the Passion wanted for us in the following of Francis? Taking up again what he said in his First Rule “to follow the doctrine and footprints of our Lord Jesus Christ.”1, Mother Foundress too urges us “to follow the footprints of our Lord Jesus Christ as faithful disciples”2 because “the Gospel, the Rule of Saint Francis which repeats it, is the new song of the Spirit of love”3 and her deep desire was to be its echo.4
During the past weeks, we heard strong calls inviting us to be consistent with our consecration in order to offer to creation suffering violence a different, possible form of life. Your task in the coming months is to transmit this experience, certainly to “tell it”, but much more, to “enable it to live” for your sisters so that it may become theirs also. It will only fulfil its function if it is understandable for all, because what we have just lived as an Institute calls us to concrete engagements to be taken together in the province, in community, so that it may become transformation, conversion, new options in each of us and for the world to which we are sent.
1 1 Rule 1,1 2 Daily Letters, 4-9-1895 3 He speaks to me in the heart of his Church, 15 December 1888, nº 293 4 Ibid. The theme of the Chapter, “Franciscan women called to live the kenosis of Christ in creative fidelity and solidarity with our suffering world,” consciously chosen in order to continue to deepen into this journey, will help us to go further on the path of truth. The preparation of the Chapter itself will support the concrete steps which will be chosen with greater coherence with our commitment to follow Jesus Christ.5 Your responsibility, that of each of us present here, is great in welcoming and concretising this gift6 which the Most High Himself revealed to us, to live according to the Holy Gospel7 to have the same sentiments which were in Christ Jesus8. However, we start out again confident, because we carry together this commitment which we have just taken, with a strong sense of communion, of belonging and of shared responsibility so that the Institute may continue to be faithful to the grace of its foundation. “It is this Gospel spirit that I desire so much to see you have, that I ask for so much for you from Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and that I ask for often at the feet of St. Francis”, wrote Mary of the Passion in her circular letter of 19th November 1882, in relation to the affiliation of the Institute into the Franciscan Third Order.
These past years, new paths of collaboration and restructuring have taken form more and more, as much on the continental level as on the inter-province level. Projects for ongoing formation centres are being organised on several continents with inter-province teams. On 1st April, the province of Congo-Brazza, Cameroon made a second foundation in Cameroon, at Yaoundé. Like for the first, in Kouoptamo, this new community was able to come about thanks to the collaboration of Congo-Kinshasa.
On 8th December 2006, we will have a new province France-Switzerland, whilst on 30th June 2005 with much suffering we have had to leave Guiana and Guadeloupe. What our sisters have sown in these regions will continue to bear fruit. Our house in Duzer, Saint Rose in Guadeloupe is henceforth a Franciscan centre, as Mgr. Ernest Cabo, Bishop of the place, wrote to me. And according to his desire, they will enable this talent placed in their hands to bear more. It will find its “vocation” in the people of God in Guadeloupe. As regards Guiana, Mgr. Emmanuel Lafont, has committed his diocese to live the departure of the sisters as a sending, because Mission is sending them elsewhere! The sisters are leaving us, like Abraham, to go elsewhere “to the land which I will show you”9. For them Mission continues. It is not a departure we have to live, it is a sending, he wrote.
In the second half of the month of November 2006, the general council will meet with Sr. Marie Courcelle (provincial of Austria, Bosnia, Germany, Hungary and Slovenia), Sr. Maria Spychalska (provincial of Poland and Ukraine), Sr. Marie Joseph Labrousse (delegate of the superior general for Russia), their councils, their provincial bursars and delegation bursar to build together the future of our presence in central and eastern Europe and as a consequence to seek suitable structures of government. These days, we would also like to meet Sr. Maria Conceiçao de Oliveira (provincial of Brazil North) and Sr. Ophelia Nery Façanha (provincial of Brazil South) to confirm their paths of collaboration, with a view to a future which is still unknown to us but is possible to prepare together.
In October, you will receive the letter announcing the opening of the consultations for the election of the provincials. Many among you will be finishing your service on 31st October 2007. It is good to express to you today our gratitude, to those who are at the end of their
5 cf. Document of the EGC of 2006 6 cf. Chapter Document 2002 7 cf. Test. 14 8 Ph 2: 5-11 9 Gen 12: 1
2 second mandate, as to those who are in their first mandate. These weeks that we lived together, our exchanges and sharings, the real and courageous desire which you have to help your sisters to live more authentically our Franciscan identity10 tell us your passion for the Institute and its vocation in the world of today. Confidently we will continue the journey, no matter what future the Lord is preparing for us. And now I would like to turn towards those who have accompanied us with competence and generosity during these weeks of meetings. In the name of all of us, I would like to express to them our gratitude and appreciation:
In the first place, I would like to name our moderators: Sr. Helen Mendonça and Sr. Lydia Umipig. Without counting the cost, for months, with a great sense of responsibility, they prepared with the general council and the financial council our different meetings, that of the provincial bursars and the Enlarged General Council. For weeks, with perseverance, discretion and the support of the animating team, they were able to place their talents at the service of our assembly, helping us to go right to the end of our questionings in order to discover what the Lord wanted to say to us for the Institute of today and tomorrow.
The editing team: Sr. Elizabeth Houssay, Sr. Mary Motte and Sr. Margarita Peraza who drew up for us the EGC document and the theme of the General Chapter. The way we arrived at a consensus, the unanimous adoption of the EGC document and the large majority with which the Chapter theme was retained, show you our great appreciation for your work.
The translators, those who helped for a time as those who did it during all these weeks of work, the sisters of the different services of the general secretariat, of the printing press, of welcome, of documentation: those who form part of the general services and those coming from the provinces, have responded generously to our call. I would like to name each one personally… You have been able to place your capabilities and your talents at the service of the smooth running of our meetings. Your generous work, often conditioned by limits of time, sometimes at night or in the early morning, were a precious help for us.
I would like here to name especially Sr. Françoise Pécresse who, with great competence and discretion, ensured the coordination of the ensemble of all this, often I am sure to the detriment of a full and entire participation in all our meetings.
The liturgy team: Sr. Cécile Le Mener, Sr. Caroline Kulandaisamy, Sr. Nury Malpartida. For young beginners, you knew well how to enable us to profit from your creativity in order to help us integrate in prayer the journey which we were on.
The sisters of the communications service and of information: Sr. Rosanna Marin, Sr. Bozena Bednarczyk, Sr. Veronica De Roza and Sr. Clara Kang. You know how much your service is appreciated in the Institute and also elsewhere. The logo was a real source of inspiration for us.
The sisters of the bursar’s office and travels: Sr. Sylvie Yeung, Sr. Romana Dolna, Sr. Mary Rosario and Sr. Asuncion Echarte. Thank you for your disponibility in responding to our needs and calls.
10 cf. Document of the Enlarged General Council 2006
3 Sr. Margarita Barayazarra who ensured the coordination with the house. Thank you to your province who gave you so generously and to you from us for giving your time without counting the cost, with devotedness and kindness.
The nurses: Sr. Hanné Saad, Sr. Felisa Ardanaz and Sr. Antoinette Battikh. I think we gave you quite a lot of worry and work with influenza, bronchitis and more serious health problems. Thank you for supporting us with your efficacious service. Sr. Onorina Cubadda and the sisters of Grotta, the sisters of Via Giusti: as always you filled us with admiration by your great devotedness and disponibility. A special thank you to our sick sisters in the infirmary who accompanied us with their prayers and offering.
Here I would like to mention especially Sr. Teresita Arbide who carries the burden of responsibility for these two houses in these very particular circumstances of the restructuring of the House of Via Giusti. We are aware that this service demands a lot of you and of your health also.
Yesterday, the Universal Church began to celebrate the first anniversary of the decease of Pope John Paul II. Once again, like last year, it is the whole world which turns towards the Vatican to pay homage to this Pope who marked the Church and the world so much. His life was at the service of the Gospel, he committed himself according to it, he said it and he confirmed it.
… Follow in the footprints of our Lord Jesus Christ…
When Jesus speaks to us of the future, He speaks to us of a world in the process of coming to be and He invites us, with Him, to lead it to its completion 11. Jesus is fully in the present, in solidarity with this suffering world in order to open to it an access to the future, to hope. In every meeting, beyond the impasses which seem to close in and stifle those who come to Him, He heals, pardons, saves, He enables us to be born anew. At the moment when all seems finished, He affirms that we are at a new beginning. He takes the bread in his hands, He takes his life freely in his hands and He offers it. He gives it as gift so that a new life may be born, He recreates, He makes a new life gush forth.
Faced with a reality which evades us, can we also, become in some way responsible for our future, take it in our hands? Can we let ourselves be filled with the Spirit of the Lord who invents with us methods of life and deeds which tend towards the future? “Father, may the Holy Spirit sanctify these offerings. Let them become the body and blood of Jesus Christ our Lord”, we ask every day at the Eucharist. Then God takes the bread of our lives in his hands to transform it into the Body of Christ. In taking our lives, He continues to create them, the fruitfulness of the mystery of the Resurrection.
A Happy Easter in welcoming the New Life in Christ!
Christiane Mégarbané fmm Superior General
11 cf. Rm 8: 22-25
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