On March 3-9, 2024, the Delegation in Chile conducted its annual spiritual retreat. The event took place at the Trappist Monastery of Quilvo, near Curicó, Chile.
The retreat was led by Sister Sandra HERNANDÉZ (Missionary Carmelite Sisters). The friars reflected on their 2024 Delegation Project: “Celebrating the Gift of the Stigmata: From Wounds, New Life.”
Sister Sandra drew upon the Gospel passage from Mark 1:21-39, which speaks of the public activity of Jesus. She invited the friars to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, from one place to the next, from one home to the next, as a path of reconciliation and a means of healing the wounds and weariness that sometimes arise in our relationships with others.
The first place and home we reflected upon was Capernaum, the center of Jesus’ public ministry in Galilee. It is a multicultural home where we live, serve, and carry out our daily activities.
The second home was the synagogue. The synagogue is the home of the Word and the Light. It is also the home of personal identity, the place that guarantees fidelity to the Torah and thus strengthens our sense of belonging. As friars, this involves living out our charism, our spirituality and our sense of belonging to the Order.
The third place we reflected upon was the home of Peter, the home of care and healing. In this home, Peter’s mother-in-law is in bed with a fever and is unable to serve others (diakonia). Here, Sister Sandra invited the friars to reflect on their family of origin, then, their previous communities and finally, the place where they reside today, in order to ask themselves: “What prevents one from exercising his diakonia? What makes him lose his vitality?” A journey of healing is required. Jesus entered Peter’s home, touched his mother-in-law, took her by the hand, lifted her up and healed her.
After healing, restoring and reconciling, Jesus went on to Galilee, the home of universality and diversity. It is another multicultural setting. Everything begins and converges in Galilee, the place where the Good News is proclaimed. It is a place of living daily life in an atmosphere of brotherhood and friendship. We do not choose whom we live with, but we accept the other, our brother, as a gift from God. In this Galilee, the doors of many other homes open as places of mission, becoming our New Galilee.
As they do every year, the friars shared their personal life plan. In closing, Sister Sandra invited the friars to go back to the beginning: to reprogram their lives the way of Jesus, to create a spiritual itinerary, always choosing what generates more life and vitality, to learn how to distinguish what is from God and what is not, to fully experience humanity and live each day consciously.
On the morning of the last day, March 9, the friars held their first meeting of the Delegation for the year 2024. During the meeting they reflected on the most relevant issues concerning their lives and apostolates in Chile.
Friar Jack GINTING
