Today, June 20, 2009… the future begins… We take a fresh look at the ?road traveled,? examining the various thresholds we have traversed in our lives, according to the following ?road map?:
1) My life story is sacred. 2) My present situation in life 3) My celibate sexuality 4) My faith history 5) Building community 6) To be Good News 7) Religious life as path of discovery 8) What does God wish me to be?
We did not approach the program as an academic course, even if those who shared with us their vision and suggestions were people of great ability, experience and spirituality. We are grateful to all of them.
Our journey was not made in solitude. We felt ourselves to be travelers, guided and helped by the many companions on the journey. We shared a great deal, not only in community but in small groups as well: analyzing problems, presenting different (even contrary) points of view, speaking about the realities of life that we have had to confront, our searching, hopes, joys: all of these in the context of faith-brotherhood-prayer.
The fact that the participants came from different countries and from different cultures was clearly an aspect that enriched the course, one of its strong points. Eleven countries were represented in the group! Twenty-one Brothers, each with his unique life story, his regrets, his dreams. It did not take us very long to sense that we were brothers, sons of Mary and of Marcellin, men who had come to birth and grown into adulthood in many different parts of the world.
Times for recreation, for rest, and sports for the most energetic among us; outings to Segovia and Talavera-Toledo; the sound of guitars and the voices of Spain, Latin America, Italy, Arab lands . . . all of which served to make clear the rich color of our diversity and the joyous warmth of brotherhood.
– Our sincere thanks to the Claretian community which, with simplicity and availability, hosted us in their residence over the two months.
– The Brothers who guided us through the program: Javier Espinosa, Afonso Levis and Alfredo Villanueva have been quite outstanding, walking with us on the journey , offering us ?spiritual wisdom and fraternal service.? You have our lasting thanks.
Now, as THRESHOLDS draws to a close, we feel that God is speaking to us of new journeys, of new thresholds and new horizons, as a way of responding to what God wishes us to be. The door has been opened to other dimensions of the soul. ?You did not receive a spirit of slavery leading you back into fear, but a spirit of adoption through which we cry out, ?Abba!? (that is ?Father?). Romans 8:14.
Brother Ramon Benseny, June 2009