Mamen, first row, left

I was finishing my Biology thesis when I finally realised that to discover and reveal the Lord?s Love in everything could fill the meaningless void in my life.

I entered religious life, which is increasingly becoming a symbol of my experience of God?s Love, and the means of responding to it.
I am sharing with you what the charism has come to mean to me through my professional and pastoral work.

Looking for seeds of the Kingdom?
For a year and a half I have been working in a group researching the development of the brain and its capacity for regeneration.
This is turning out to be a most interesting way to ?discover and transmit the Love of the Heart of Jesus for each person?. My daily work entails a great many contacts which provide an opportunity for this, many situations in which to catch glimpses of the Kingdom, which longs to grow among us; it can begin to build on very little, and shows itself in the beauty of God?s creation. It is hidden in difficult relationships, and can be discovered in each day?s journey; it creates a bond and a common outlook among people engaged in this mission (with a small m).
As we formulate scientific questions and look for ways of answering them, other questions spring up without our knowing when or how or for whom, questions about meaning, whether belief in God is compatible with science? questions that challenge my own life, the lives of us all and of the Church?
I think both kinds of questions contain and channel the energy of the seeds of the Kingdom; they involve the human search for Life, inextricably linked with scientific research on life.
Being a religious of the Sacred Heart provides so many opportunities, and I am grateful for them all. My way of being apostolic in following Jesus goes far beyond what I could have imagined. How often I would have given up my involvement in His mission, had it not been for my daily relationship with Jesus and the community, which sends me forth and gives me support and trust. The witness of each one?s determination and commitment is an object lesson, and helps me to carry on. I am also grateful for the horizon opened to me, the sense of belonging to a larger project, the Common Mission of the congregation, and of being part of the Church; the strength of the Charism exceeds all my expectations. In everyday life, I continue to be a witness to Adoration, as a Mystery of Love and Communion in the service of the Kingdom.

Pastoral experience
What has been my ?pastoral? experience with young people? It?s difficult to answer that question when I sometimes have my doubts about just what ?pastoral? work is. But I?ll tell you some of the things I see as connected with it.
I accompany a group that meets regularly for reflection, ?revision of life?. This is certainly pastoral work. We have known one another for over five years, and through the life we share at meetings, almost every Sunday afternoon, we have been journeying together, getting to know Jesus, learning to relate to Him in prayer and to discover and enter into his plans for our daily life. After a long process of replanning, battling with ?I?d like to, but I can?t, or just now I?m giving priority to other things?, we are having no more meetings for the moment, at least until September. We are entering a stage where accompaniment will be a little different, less direct, but more personalised?
Another thing that can count as pastoral work is what I call the ?pastoral of the corridors?, which in reality means listening and responding to life itself, and the opportunities it gives to get to know life and Jesus? plan. Above all, it means discovering, in the concrete details of my own life, how to transmit my own experience of salvation, the experience of the Church and the People of God. In the laboratory where I work, there are many unforeseen conversations and circumstances: while we are waiting for the results of an experiment, or at meals? in the corridors. Being, listening, questioning, seeking with one?s fellow-workers the meaning, the hope, the importance and value of life. It is not easy, but very necessary, in an atmosphere that propels people towards despair and mistrust?
And so, at different times, with different young people, we have shared the experience of transcendence; some find it in ?emptiness?, others in nature itself, others glimpse it in what is most genuine, and so seems to them ?connected with Jesus? (?not with the Church, of course?, they say).
So often we have discussed whether humans are merely selfish, or whether they have a capacity to love, to act without seeking reward, to forgive. It is difficult to make people believe in the human capacity to love and to meet fulfilment in dedication to others, where there is so much competitiveness, and personal interests play such a large part. Yes, we have also talked about God?s mercy, and about Jesus, but I have more confidence in the gospel power of gestures and attitudes, through which, perhaps, God makes me his instrument, all unbeknown to me.