BUILDING THE MISSIONARY PLAN

 “I trust in the Divine Providence in which our work is support.”

(Mother Giustina Schiapparoli)

With this same certainty as Mother Giustina Schiapparoli, during the XXV General Chapter (2018), the grace of the Lord spurred the capitulars, in what concerns Ad gentes missions, to seek new paths for the Congregation.

Then the need arose to develop a Missionary Project that would help our Ad gentes Communities to respond to the needs of today’s world, according to the charism of the Institute, the Provident Face of God.

Following the directives determined by the General Chapter itself, the formed Commission began its work, under the guidance of a religious missionary from the Congregation of the Comboni Sisters, Sr. Maria Rosa Venturelli.

Everything seemed to run smoothly, when in 2019 the world was taken by the covid-19 virus event, revolutionizing all expectations. A process of isolation and death began that forced us to reduce our rhythms, change our habits and reinvent our relationships.

Never before has our charism been relevant: “The Benedictine Sisters will abandon themselves to God and from Him they will only hope for everything”. We are relearning to live in proximity, to value listening and not to let ourselves be overwhelmed by hopelessness and negativity.

Together with the Community, we are called to prophesy and witness, living our identity with authenticity, seeking to embrace the different that challenges us.

The opportunity to build our own Missionary Plan at the time of this shift in time, forces us to review our posture. Although isolated and distant, technology brought us closer and awakened us to new creativity.

We learned and improved in the handling of computers and telephones, to better understand digital platforms such as zoom, meet google, etc. We transform face-to-face meetings into long-distance dialogues. The Church, in the person of Pope Francis, urges us to seek new spaces of hospitality, fraternity and solidarity.

Well, in this way, the work started is continuing. From April to August 2021, the Commission, together with the General Council, contacted our courageous missionaries and returned missionaries to contribute to the construction of the Plan.

As Mother Lina Maria Girotto said in her exhortation:

“It is a precious collaboration that will help us to formulate a Missionary Plan truly fruit of the experience of those who have lived and are living the challenges of missionary activity, in order to be ever more useful and supportive of the brothers who they want to know and meet Jesus and his Word”.

Therefore, in this spirit of embracing the new, trying to look from the inside out and from the outside to the inside, we listened and shared the experiences carried out by the Ad gentes Communities and by the returned missionaries.

It was very enriching to feel the gratitude and joy of the missionaries who lived and live the experience of being different. Even though, despite the great challenges that lead the Sisters to drink from the cup of Ad gentes difficulties, they show great satisfaction and joy in spreading the Word of the Lord and sharing life with the poorest.

Some Sisters felt privileged and, if necessary, would be ready to start all over again. In the words of the most experienced

“We need to continue to sow the gift of our Charism throughout the world, because ‘the future will say that we were faithful!’”

To you, dear Sister, who are part of this beautiful story and who collaborate with us, our thanks. Thank you for your presence and for your important service to those most in need. You are very important, because “Every Benedictine is a flower of holiness that the Holy Foundresses offer to God as their precious inheritance”.

Sister Maria das Dores Paz / General Secretary

August 2021