Retreat of the Provincial Community of Venezuela
Palo de Camacuey, 25th December 2014
I. And the Word was made flesh....
The dreams of history become flesh, become Life, become Reality.
What the peoples have been seeking takes shape, becomes flesh.
Nature’s desires are realized.
Mother Earth, the entire Cosmos, vibrates, renews itself, and LOVES.
We recognise it, we live it, we are thankful for it.
We believe and want to announce it.
II. This is my body
And in this body. Yes, in THIS one,
The Word becomes flesh in this body.
1. In the Body of a Place, in the Body of a People,
... in Ayotzinapa and Syria,
... in Gaza and in Ukraine,
... in the Body of Africa, of India,
... in this Latinamerican Body of the integration of peoples,
... in the excluded and in those who have no place,
... where there is dignity, endurance, searching, conviction,
... in my Body I walk the Way, I always walk the Way.
... in Gaza and in Ukraine,
... in the Body of Africa, of India,
... in this Latinamerican Body of the integration of peoples,
... in the excluded and in those who have no place,
... where there is dignity, endurance, searching, conviction,
... in my Body I walk the Way, I always walk the Way.
2. In this Venezuelan Body, alive and active.
... in the pangs of childbirth,
... in the ongoing struggle with oneself: dying paradigms, emerging paradigms; models we cannot find,
... in decisions and concerns: which vaccine? which painkiller? which suffering to accept and come to terms with?
which virus to crush so it doesn’t run wild?
An historical moment in which to be reborn, become flesh once more, in THIS body.
3. In the body of this Provincial community, in the body of the Society of the Sacred Heart.
... the body that I am, that I have, that I take care of, that I love, that I develop, that suffers and gives,
that pulses with a great loving heart in this story,
... a body at once weak and strong, alert and distracted,
... a body that is light and free, with its history, its dreams, with wings and restricting cords;
A body that is of flesh and bones.
4. In my own woman's body.
... in my hands and in my skin,
... expressing dreams, searching, desiring
... much greater, much stronger,
Much more than who I am at this moment.
In my own woman's body.
... in health and sickness, ENAMOURED
... with or without my memory, TRUSTING
... in strength or weakness, GIVEN
... in life and in death, INCARNATED
III. Thank you to my body
I am grateful for THIS body, for the Life it gives me;
for having sustained me, for having sustained us, for sustaining us.
... fidelity, tenderness, patience
... endurance, warmth, a shared history
... firm, strong knees, and knees that buckle
... endurance, warmth, a shared history
... firm, strong knees, and knees that buckle
... dreams already realized, and those that have still to be enfleshed
... smiles and tears, solitude and companionship.
... smiles and tears, solitude and companionship.
Thank you to my body in which the Word is made flesh
... where history resounds
... where peoples keep searching
... where nature yearns
... where Mother Earth, the entire Cosmos, vibrates and renews itself, and LOVES.
IV. Take, eat...
"This is my body. Take of it and eat, all of you.
Who eats of this body will live forever."
The Province of Venezuela
Province:
Our Spirituality: