From 10 to 14 August 2024, the Council of the Congregation was held at Ile Blanche, bringing together the Superior General, her Council, all the leaders of the Units and a Sister from the Latin American delegation. The setting of our host house – Ile Blanche, in Locquirec, Brittany, France – allowed us to enjoy the silence, to breathe in the freshness that inspires reflection. This annual meeting was preceded by an important time of formation and sharing with all the members of the government teams, a meeting that opened up the space of our tent to welcome the life of all the Units once again.
Each Unit leader, in her own way, shared the implementation of the acts of the 2021 Chapter, the life of her Unit. The sharing showed how our charism continues to be lived out in diversity and according to the realities that the Holy Spirit gives us to experience as a Congregation.
These were powerful times when we experienced the desire to be part of the same religious family, realising that it is the same ‘blood’ that flows through our veins, that it is a strong expression of belonging to this Congregational Body. ‘As Congregation we receive the gift to live together in the Spirit of Pentecost and to participate with others in his mission of love in the world, coming to understand, that to live in communion with God and in solidarity with our brothers’. Rule of Life art.4.
Together, we continue to care for people, to take care of the Congregation, and to allow the sisters, as needed, to take time to recharge their batteries and become more available. We heard the insistence on serving the most vulnerable, bearing witness to the poor, displaced persons, migrants… as if our ADN as DHS would be, along with the spiritual, the apostolate lived out in simplicity.
The presentation by Sister Anne DONNELLY, General Econome, made us re-understand the vow of poverty as a call to live interdependence, to discern between what is necessary and what is superfluous, to keep for oneself or to put in common and thus be able to share with those poorer than ourselves. It’s a responsibility.
We are very grateful to our sisters in the guest house and to each of you who prayed for the success of this Council of the Congregation.
Now is the time to make the ‘passage’ personally and together, while continuing to hear Jesus say to us: ‘Courage/Confidence’!
ROAMBA Silvie, DHS. Vice-provincial of Burkina Faso. Published on 21 August 2024
