07.12.2018
New wine in new wineskins, a proposal to be experienced
Sisters Sally Hodgdon and Ieda Tomazini are visiting Brazil from July 1 to 27, and besides visiting some regions and communities, they are conducting meetings with groups and leaders of the Brazilian province. On July 6 and 7, in Curitiba, they met Sisters with 1 to 20 years of perpetual profession. The guiding theme was the document on Consecrated Religious Life, "New wine in new wineskins". The 31 Sisters present were invited to contemplate the responsibilities, challenges and calls that consecrated life requires. Sisters Sally and Ieda led the meeting and expressed the same goal, enhancing the growth of connections between the Sisters through listening to their dreams, expectations, actions, and questions, and giving each other time to hear one another through the sharing of the heart. These two days were lived deeply in the joy of encounter, sharing the everyday experiences of vocation in its various challenges.
Sister Sally pointed out that the life of the Province and of the Congregation is the responsibility of each Sister, and taking this on together should be predominant in this particular group of Sisters. The current historical moment of the Congregation, the Church, and the world requires of people to be able to offer new wine. Jesus presents the proposal of new wine in life. He is the new good flavorful wine offered to humanity. Among the various forms of being and offering the new wine are the formation of a healthy community, authentic listening at all levels, care for each other, good communication, resilience, a disposition for mobility, feminine being, loving others, economic sustainability, and capacity for leadership, among other things.
The group remained open to welcome the challenges and expectations presented by the Sisters of the General Council, in the certainty that the new wine in the Congregation is the responsibility of each Sister in all stages of life. Together, in communion and led by the spirit of love, it will be possible to taste, enjoy and share the new wine.
Sister Eliana Aparecida dos Santos
