On the evening of Friday, the 15th of July, we celebrated a Eucharist to mark the end of the first week of the Chapter 2022, a week spent together with the Associates. Prepared by the Region Latin America, it was both a mass of thanksgiving for the fraternity we had shared and the occasion to wish them “God speed”.

The word of welcome of Sr Maria Esperanza Avilez Zambrano

In this Eucharist, we thank the Lord for allowing us to live together in fraternity, as Daughters of Jesus and associates, on a synodal path: where Pope Francis is inviting us, to increased participation of the laity in an open Church that allows communion, participation, and mission. Thank you to each one of you, associates, for your testimony of life, for the fire of the Charism that burns in the heart of each one of you. This is the synodal way, it is the way that the Lord expects us to take. Thank you for the diversity of shared gifts, and for the richness of our Charism. Over and above our frontiers may we receive the same breath of the Spirit, whatever our country, culture, race, or language. We all form a family with a very diverse international dimension, where each and every one of us is encouraged to “honour the Sacred  Humanity of the Son of God”. (Rule of Life n° 3)

We walk with others in the world,

with audacity and availability;

listening to the cry of the poor,

by being the human face of Jesus.

The richness of our diversity

Although prepared by a team from Latin America, the Mass was celebrated in several languages:

• the kyrie in French,

• the first reading in Spanish,

• the psalm and the alléluia in English,

• the sanctus in Lingala.

It was a real example of the “synodal way“ and of a “family with an international dimension”.

The offertory procession

At the moment of the offertory procession, three Associates came forward with symbolic objects – Valérie with a globe, Joël with a plant, and Laura with a copy of the Associates’ reference document – while another Associate, Réjean, explained what the objects signified.

Go and carry the flame of the Charism

A second important moment in the mass was when Sr Micheline Cormier, in her capacity as Superior General of the Congregation and in the name of the whole capitular community, invited the Associates to share the flame of our Charism:

“Nicole, Valérie, Rosalie, Réjean, Laura, Olga Lucia, Joël, Jean-Marc, in the name of our capitular community, I send you out to share with your families, and your brother and sister Associates, the joy and thanksgiving which inhabits you as a result of the international experience which you have just lived.

In the enlarged communion of all the Daughters of Jesus and Associates of the different continents, go and carry the flame of the Charism to where you live and work, the flame of your sense of belonging to a large spiritual family, that of the Daughters of Jesus.”

We work together and with others,

in proximity and solidarity;

respecting people and cultures

on our way of disappropriation.

Jesus, give us the zeal for your Kingdom,

so that we may honour your Sacred Humanity.