Three moments marked this opening of the General Chapter: the opening conference, the ritual of calling each capitulant, and the opening liturgy of the Eucharist.
May our desire to be women of our times, captivated by the love of Christ, in the context of our current realities and open to the calls of the world, sustain us as we live this journey together, strengthening one another in prayer.
(Letter of Convocation, 2 February 2015)
Click here to view the video of the opening conference and ritual.
When we open to each other, we realize there is fire in our midst.
Like Mary, we are invited to be contemplative and to learn from what we hear from others.
The Spirit encourages us to open ourselves to something bigger than ourselves.
Clearly the work of the Spirit goes beyond our imagination and our experience.
We do not come to a General Chapter to make our culture known. We want to go beyond our culture. We want to go where the Spirit is waiting for us.
We want to go beyond, and this beyond we know is the gospel, and the gospel is going to take us where we cannot imagine, where we cannot even experience.
He ended by saying that a chapter "requires a lot of prayer". If not done through prayer, a chapter would not have "the depth, the convincing power that we want our Chapters to have."
Click here to view the video of the opening Eucharist.
God welcomes us to this chapter with gratitude, gratitude that we come with openness and desire to see together how to be God's heart for the world of our emerging future.
Jesus is the door through whome we enter the chapter, the One who has called us to this vocation and whose path we want to follow ever more closely.
As we come to this chapter space, we do so with confidence that the Spirit precedes us and leads us. She dwells in our charism and mission, which will frame our work. She inhabits each one of the capitulants with whom we will share this journey.
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