Recife (Brazil). From 22nd to 25th June 2018, the community of the “Mary Help of Christians” Formation House in Recife welcomed the mothers of the young aspirants and postulants of the three Brazilian Provinces: BRE, BBH, BMT in order to live together a time of formative and sisterly encounter.
The aim was to present the daily life lived in this community in which their daughters are daily accompanied to grow into the FMA identity to discern and respond to the Plan of God for their life in the Institute of the Daughter of Mary Help of Christians.
Sr. Carmen Lira, taking the idea of the Gospel passage of John 4: 15, the Encounter of Jesus with the Samaritan Woman, led the mothers to approach the Word of God through the experience of Lectio Divina.
There were moments of prayer, reflection, simple and spontaneous relaxation typical of our family spirit. All welcomed with joy and gratitude the formative moment on the theme: ‘In listening and in accompaniment, Jesus makes himself present’. This theme was animated by Sr. Adriana Gomes, using the symbol of the ‘tent’. In a prayerful way, she helped the mothers to reflect and share on what touched their hearts. She invited them to have a three-dimensional experience living in the listening tent, the tent of discernment and the tent of accompaniment. The dynamic of this moment was propitious to guide mothers to enter the next stage of study, led by Sr. Abigail Ferreira, to reflect on the theme of the Strenna 2018 offered by the Rector Major Fr Angel Fernández Artime: “Let us cultivate the art of listening and accompanying”, “Lord, give me this water” (Jn 4:15).
These days of living together – says Sr. Abigail – have strengthened our “being a formation community” and we felt the importance of accompanying, together with the families, the formative process of the young women. When mothers understand the importance of the formative journey, they help their daughters to live this process with serenity and commitment “.
On the 23rd, in the atmosphere of the “Junina” party, a fraternity lunch and a beautiful cultural evening were prepared. The presence of the Provincial Sr. Amelia Assis and of some sisters of the communities who in those days participated in a formative meeting in the Provincial house gave a beautiful setting to these days of celebration.
The experience ended in an atmosphere of mutual gratitude. Both for the formative community and for the mothers and young women in formation these were precious moments that led to live closeness with the families of the young and strengthened their sense of belonging to the great Salesian Family.
