Making progress....

María José Arana

We are progressing little by little, though in rather a circular fashion, by which I mean that we keep facing the same questions, but from different aspects and with different methods. Our latest task was in age-groups; we had to select three challenges and three hopes, which we then wrote on cut-out flowers.

When we came to the plenary session we were able to see again how much overlapping there is in our opinions. Here are some of these overlapping topics (I name only a few): community life, the contemplative dimension of our life, an authentic call to live our spirituality at a deep level, concern for lay people, apostolic vigour, the need to commit ourselves to justice with regard to the urgent problems of Humanity, and especially those that have arisen recently (ecology, women, interreligious dialogue, migrants, etc.)

But the things that emerged, and keep emerging, as perhaps the newest problems were the need for greater visibility in our life; “caring” (spiritual, ecological, in relationships, etc. etc.); the emphasis on young people and our sense of being educators, which although it has always been there, is becoming very prominent, seeking new forms and keeping alive the commitment to justice; accepting our vulnerability as an opportunity, and even a grace, etc. There was also something that sounds like a great novelty, though it is already a reality in the Society: we are aware, and with gratitude, that the new indigenous, African and Asian vocations are causing a certain shift in the Society and giving us a “new face”. There are other things too. Yesterday we did something similar, but today it took on a new form.

Then we wrote on three flowers as a presentation of each group and floated them on the basin of water mingled together from various countries. So this prayerful little gesture concluded the morning.

We have a Sister, Gera Philips, who is of Indian origin, but lives in Indonesia; she is quite young, and is the Mistress of Novices for Indonesia. We are interested especially in the fact that she has done a great deal of research on Islam, and teaches at the University on spirituality and Islam, etc. She has been asked to give us various sessions on Islam and our spirituality: “The inner life in Islam”, “The Heart in Islam”. Today we have had the first conference, which was more of a graphic introduction to the distribution of world religions, specifically Islam. She explained her experience and developed 5 points to be borne in mind, some as sources of difficulty in dialogue, others as strengths that attract people to Islam (e.g. no.3 below):

Fear of Islam
Absolutizing one’s own religion
Human beings’ experience of an inner void
Lack of feminine leadership
Issues of poverty and suffering.

Then began a question and answer session which looked as if it could go on forever. The questions were most interesting, but Gera was unable to answer them all, as it was already time for us to go to Chorrillos.

In the second conference Gera dealt in the same way with Sufism and the notion of the heart. Her application of this to Sophie’s spirituality was most enlightening and original. All this, together with contributions on Buddhism from the experience of our Korean Sisters, is introducing us to a wider spiritual scene and exposing us to aspects that many Sisters have no opportunity of knowing at first hand.

It all serves to create a richer background for discussing spirituality.