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V Provincial Chapter - 3
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Given that the V Provincial Chapter's motto is: "Together with the Spirit building our shared mission," we are constantly reminding ourselves that EVERYTHING that comes from the Chapter must be done together with the Spirit and in favor of a shared mission. Thus, we spent three days contemplating, with prayerful eyes, the reality that surrounds us. These days, we had the opportunity to see how our members and communities are doing. We also saw how we are doing as a Province in different aspects.
The process of contemplating the different realities surrounding us was enriches by guests who have presented the ecclesiastical-social reality in which we live out our mission. One of these guests was Fr. Mark C. Padrez, OP, Vicar General of the Dominican Friars, who knows our community well. He spoke to us about the challenges of religious life in the United States today. Fr. Mark greatly praised our province and helped us see the Church's reality in the United States, especially to be aware of the great division from the political, religious, and cultural spheres. Father Mark Padrez invited us to look at ourselves and our communities with great honesty and transparency. Self-knowledge will lead us to self-acceptance and, therefore, to the self-donation that our Church and society need so much. After the presentation, the capitulars had time to share the lights that the Spirit gives us through this reality presented by Fr. Mark Padrez, OP.
We also welcomed two members of the Apostolate of the Cross, Estela Andonie (TX) and Marcia Jimenez (WA), who presented us with a summary of where they are in their ministry and opened a conversation about the role that the MSpS play in it. This space was filled with the spirit of family, where we shared our feelings and experiences with our sisters and them with us. In the Spirit of shared mission, our sisters invite us to walk together. After such a laudable moment with the sisters, we shared the Eucharist and dinner with them, as the family that we are.
Thus, we continue to see and know the realities surrounding us and ask us to plan the six-year term, guided by God's Spirit and sharing the Mission to which God has not called. After concluding this step, we move on to the second step: Looking at what the Church and the Congregation have already given us through its tradition. To study the invitations of the Spirit through our universal magisterium and the word of the Congregation. We are infinitely grateful for your prayers and your presence in the projects that God has entrusted to us for more than 100 years. Pray for us so that together with the Spirit of God, we draw a six-year term in favor of all where the mission is genuinely shared.