26th Day: XXII General Chapter_What have I silenced?

“What voices have I silenced within me during this chapter?, this is the point of reflection in today’s faith-sharing among the capitulars, with basis from the gospel of St. Luke, chapter 9, verses 7-9. In this gospel, Herod imprisoned and beheaded John the Baptist because he wanted to silence him.

The facilitators guided the capitulars, as the day started to move towards decisions that the general chapter aims to finalize. In an “out-of-the-box” dynamics, the capitulars were given the freedom to belong to different working groups. A group of three to four persons who are gifted with the ability to write compelling story is formed and their task is to describe, as in a story or novel the congregation that this chapter wants to give birth to, anchored in the energizing posters made by the capitulars, looking for what is common, using some images or metaphors from the said poster. The second group is composed of eighteen to twenty-two sisters, where they re-grouped themselves into five groups and they were tasked to create decisions as a chapter, and these decisions are linked to a point that came up in the energizing posters. The third group is composed of six to eighth capitulars and their task was to look at the unit proposals that were sent to the chapter and check whether each proposal is actually a chapter proposal or it could be dealt with at another level. The fourth group is composed of six to eighth capitulars and they are tasked to study and see the statutory points that this chapter has to settle and what does these statutory points indicate. The fifth group is also composed of six to eighth capitulars and they are tasked to reflect whether there are other themes, or topics and issues that the chapter needs to address. The last group is composed of three to four creative and artistic capitulars and they are tasked to imagine what would be the output of the chapter would look like. This can be in a form of a document, a video, a song or a prayer, or any means that the spirit would move the group to create.

The whole day is truly a spirit-filled day of working together, of sharing and of inspiration from each other and from the processes that was done days ago. Before the session ended, reports from each group were truly an inspiring output.

Fr. Lawrence Rywalt CP celebrated the Holy Mass which is organized by the delegates from Sri Lanka Province with the theme, being “ONE in the Spirit, ONE in the Lord”. Each capitular was asked to write on a piece of paper what this chapter meant for them. These papers were turned into chains, reflecting unity. During the mass the priest emphasized that the venue of our Chapter holds the 2000 years history and the great devotion of the Sts. John and Paul who stillcontinue to inspire the faithful through their witness to Christian life. All of us are ultimately called to fulfill this duty to be witnesses of Christ’s love.