ESTADOS UNIDOS •USA
This posture - unafraid, free, and remaining in the hands of the Potter - is how the doors to the next 100 years will be opened. The story that awaits us (and the world that needs us) demands that we arrive at the threshold steady and sure, rooted and deattached, curious and collaborative. The thresholds of today are spaces of immense curiosity that require our authentic unfolding and unwavering trust in our loving and loyal Map-Maker, our God who has been Guide, Dreamer and Initiator in every movement of our first century as a Province. During the Opening Mass of the Centennial Year, Sister Jessica Kerber, provincial, invited continued collaboration from all attendees, reflecting: “ Our charism is shared - it belongs to all of us. And in the future, what will our charism look like? I promise you that no one in this room knows what the future will look like. That used to scare me – and now that excites me. As I look around this room now, I realize: this is how we’re going to know what it’s going to look like. This community here is how we’re going to hear it, see it, and walk forward into it. So, thank you for being part of the story before, thank you for being part of the story now, and thank you for being part of our future story by helping us to write it. ” During the liturgy, we also listened to farewell remarks from three of our sisters who stood ready to open the doors of encounter in their own personal journeys. Sisters Nhan, Margaret and Lyan, with packed bags, shared this moment of celebration with us, while on the brink of surrendering their belonging to the known landscape of their lives in the U.S. to serve beyond our borders. As they offered their words of gratitude and farewell, a palpable courage stirred in the chapel. “ It’s a WOW moment. For me, going to Ireland is another opportunity to let go, to do what Raphaala did. It’s about being free when Jesus steps into your life, beckons and says, ‘let’s go.’ I feel a sense of adventure and excitement because Jesus and I… we are going together. ”
“ I believe it’s appropriate that at this moment of celebrating the 100 year story, I am being sent to Vietnam. I feel who I am is the fruit of this U.S. Province story - one of the many, many fruits of this story. All the good that you have done in me over these 13 years here – this will all be shared. Vietnam is a very new region, young in foundation. I am grateful for the opportunity to accompany my sisters in Vietnam as we gather dreams and nurture the future. My hope comes from the image that we are all sitting at the same global table where we share the banquet of God’s abundance, where we all belong and work to bring the kingdom of Love into reality. ”
Lyan Tri, aci
Our sisters – in their freedom and fiat – encourage our trust. As they cross their own thresholds to new places with wide eyes and open hands, we too expand. Our hearts suddenly hold more of our world. And through their yes, our story and our capacity for curiosity and Love widens. As Raphaela and Pilar said, “God called this Congregation into existence, and so he has to sustain it.” As we spend our Centennial year remembering the movements of our past, noticing the gifts surrounding us now, and dreaming about our future, we pray: God of our Unfolding Story, Open the doors of our hearts that we may greet you unafraid to journey across thresholds into Your promise of abundance. May encountering You be our daily bread, our sustenance for the journey. And with radical trust in your fidelity, May we lean courageously into your current of Hope.
Jaclyn Newns, Director of Communications for the Province and Coordinator of the Centennial Celebration.
Margaret Scott, aci
The priest who accompanied me in the Spiritual Exercises said to me, ‘You go to a place with new people, and you are their gift, and they are your gift. It’s a mutual receiving. Remember, God is there before you, do not be afraid.’ Please pray for me as I go forward, as I grow up in this formation mission in Cuba, to receive the people as I allow them to receive me as who I am. ”
Nhan Nguyen, aci
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