Enlarging the Tent

Life is a precious gift that requires welcome, care and love. Welcoming this gift brings with it good consequences for our own being and all of creation. It is allowing it to have space in the great tent of humanity and expand its capacity to love and to serve.  It means giving it the resources to find meaning and significance in all that it is and does.

As a member of the General Council I am someone who continually seeks to welcome, care for and love life each day and in every context. I feel that as a group, we are all committed to welcoming each other mutually, to care for each other and to cultivate an inclusive love capable of emphasizing that which unites us, while respecting what is unique to our culture and individuality. It is important to keep the tent open and flexible enough for new air to come in, making possible the transformations needed to respond to the needs of an always more inclusive love, a love of solidarity, committed to proclaiming the Kingdom of God. Without a doubt, I feel challenged every day to stretch out the cords and enlarge the tent of my mindset and my cultural and geographical limits.

During these last six months, I can certainly affirm that these changes are a process occurring gradually, and that an INTER community contributes greatly to its efficaciousness. May we continue to be led, guided and animated by the Spirit of the Lord, so that our tent is ever more beautiful in his eyes.

S. Ieda Maria Tomazini (General Council)