« Men integrated and integrating »
« Faced with the challenges of the new times, to continue to strengthen our role as community animators». Such was one of the objectives of the workshop which, at the request of the Provincials, was held for the second time running. 25 Brothers gathered to live the experience of this workshop in fraternity.
There were four main subjects. The first touched on « personal acquaintance as the base of any relationship». Ana María, a competent animator, motivated us to do a rereading of our personal histories, to give a new meaning to our « dreams » and to work on our hurts. This work was followed by: « the human and spiritual processes of different stages of life». Group work centred on the different characteristics of the life stages: child, dreamer, hero, master and, finally, sage. Ana María completed her contributions with the topic « The mission of community animators», inviting us to avoid conflicts, resolve them, and transform them into positives experiences.
The fourth subject, animated by Brother Patricio Pino, was an introduction to Marcellin as a community animator, by means of his letters, a work which encouraged us to find our roots.
Something which merits recording about this meeting was the videoconference we had with Brother Superior General, Emili Turú, on Saturday morning. He encouraged us to be animators of our Brothers and ourselves, and, starting from the rich experience of encountering God, « to go in haste, with Mary, to a new land »!
Other important aspects were the organization of the workshops on small communities, community works, the daily brotherly encounters, the simple but deep prayers, firmly rooted in our spirituality.
At the end, we watched a video presenting some experiences. At the time of the closing celebration, each Brother received a little house (donated by Peru), with the recommendation to light the lamps of our communities and make sure they did not go out.
Some echos of the meeting:
– The richness of many ?accounts? of personal life which posed new challenges and calls to growth.
– The need to make a synthesis, in our religious life, of the human and the spiritual. An immense challenge to be taken up, urgent and expected.
– The integrating, realistic and conciliatory look the workshop takes of the real situations of people and communities.
– It seems to me, faced with the challenge of community life, it is necessary to reinforce the animator?s role and the responsibility of all the members in this mission.