A group of 36 sisters, coming from the different realities of the Congregation, have gathered in our house in Idanha (Portugal) to celebrate the XXVIII Plenary Council, under the theme “On the path of revitalization, discerning reality.”
This meeting aims to strengthen the sense of belonging to the congregational body.
The opening took place on Sunday, March 15, with a meaningful moment of prayer, beginning in the chapel and continuing in procession to the “Encounter” hall, a space of life and hospitality during these days.
Sr. Idilia María Carneiro, Superior General, in her opening greeting reminded us that:
“We are gathered in the name of the God of mercy as:
- a community of communities, one congregational body, called to strengthen itself in communion for the mission;
- sisters who walk together, in a synodal spirit, seeking God’s will for the life and mission of the Congregation;
- hospitallers who, from the Heart of Jesus, move forward on the path of charismatic revitalization and restructuring, toward a future-oriented hospitality that generates life and hope.”
She invited us to live this event as a “time of grace, of listening, of dialogue, and of fraternal communion.”
Within this space, the sisters from the governments of the different circumscriptions of the Congregation present the signs and emerging shoots of hope and renewal identified in the spiritual, fraternal, apostolic, and ecclesial life of each of the hospital realities. These presentations generate in the assembly feelings of gratitude, communion, and hope.
The day concludes with the celebration of the Eucharist on the Fourth Sunday of Lent, presided over by the new Apostolic Nuncio to Portugal, Msgr. Andrés Carrascosa, a friend of the Congregation.
