For some time, various concerns arose within me about how I am living my life. How are my relationships with God, with my family, and all those with whom I share daily life? It was at that moment that I received the invitation from Sister Beatriz Elena Torres, rscj to the group of laity who seek to deepen their spirituality of the Sacred Heart, together with Sister Alicia Merizalde, rscj and other companions.

To begin to speak about my process in the group, I would say that it gave me the opportunity to reflect on my current life experience and to realize that I am a privileged woman because I have received wonderful gifts: to be able to count on my parents, brothers and sisters, spouse and daughters, to have a profession as a Social Worker that fulfills me and has a very good work environment in an institution directed by the Religious of the Sacred Heart, but above all, my spiritual strength that prepares me to carry out the work of evangelization with my students by means of a formation to initiative. By “initiative,” I mean the capacity that the young people acquire to develop their competencies to work toward improvement of quality of life.

Belonging to the group permitted me to discover how close I felt to the Religious of the Sacred Heart so as to identify with them in the love that we feel for the heart of Jesus and the ardent call and desire to serve the most needy. It gave me a very strong affective link with the sisters, which is supported by sharing the philosophy of Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat and her educative mission.

This process of integration lay-religious that is being offered in our group in the city of Baranquilla is a new way to deepen the search for ways to live the love of God. The lay men and women are an extension and support to the work that the religious do. Working in reciprocity and collaboration, we enrich each other mutually the way it was envisioned in the Chapter of 2000.

From our Mission of participation in common programs with the religious in our situation, the young people we educate in the Social Crusade District Technical Institute in Baranquilla, the social project we are working on with students in the 10^th and 11^th grades of the Institute to promote health and nutrition education. At the same time we give attention to the work of hair dressing for pregnant and nursing mothers and elders in the southwest part of Baranquilla. “We are helping to fulfill a dream of St. Madeleine Sophie, to count on many adorers of the Heart of Jesus.” (“United around the Fire”)

In our last meetings we have been reflecting on: how to develop a critical conscience about the interrelationship of all creation with the events that mark our world? In what way does my prayer impel me to live my commitment to justice, peace, and integrity of creation? In what way does this commitment enrich my interior life? And how do I have to change my personal and communal lifestyle?

The Social Crusade District Technical Institute of Baranquilla has been directed by the Religious of the Sacred Heart since 1970. The current director is Beatriz Elena Torres, rscj. We are several members of our Spirituality group working in this institute

Mission : We are an official educational institution inspired and directed by the religious community of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart.
We educate out of the deepest convictions of the Gospel, welcoming the whole person in all his or her dimensions, and enabling him or her to become competent as person, worker, and citizen.

Vision : to be a leading institution that provides personal formation, with high standards of human, scientific, and practical development for competent professional and practical performance in interaction with today’s networks, and active participation in the building of a new society, based on Gospel living and inspired by the educational pedagogy of Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat.