THE ASSEMBLY OF THE BRAZILIAN GEOGRAPHIC AREA

by Sister Rosemary Francisca Neves, SFP

The Encounter is always a moment of gratuity, of growth, of letting ourselves love and be loved and of listening to the God of life manifest in every sister and brother. The Brazilian Area Assembly which took place November 15-17 at Casa São José in Goiânia had as its guiding axis the Encounter, in which each Sister predisposed herself to make her experience of this Encounter.

This Encounter took place in four interlaced moments: a Prophetic Memory of the year 2006; Franciscan Spirituality starting from a reflection on St. Francis’ Canticle of the Creatures; the Prophetic Experience of the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor Congregation in the various missions, and a Life Sharing from the perspective of the prophetic mission.

The Year 2006 Prophetic Memory took place in a prayerful atmosphere by bringing all the activities and ministries developed in our Area. We felt through this remembrance that the gratuity, the welcoming and the giving are means we use to heal Christ’s wounds in our wounded world while being prophetic women who practice justice, solidarity and mysticism in the various ministries.

Although being a small group of Sisters, the grace of God the Liberator encourages us to proclaim with Isaiah: “The spirit of the Lord Yahweh has been given to me, for Yahweh has anointed me. He has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to bind up hearts that are broken; to proclaim liberty to captives, freedom to those in prison . . .” (Isaiah 61: 1).

It is this Spirit that impels us to gaze at the whole cosmos and, like St. Francis, experience the hierophany of God in every creature. Responding to the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Committee, we deepened in our Franciscan Spirituality starting from the hermeneutics of the Canticle of the Creatures, which motivated us to follow the way of conversion while recognizing ourselves as creatures praising the Most High among the other creatures, and in that sense to denounce all kinds of violence against all forms of life.

Since our Franciscan Spirituality is actualized in the prophetic mission, we, the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor understand that it is also our mission to be prophetic. In our understanding of this, we, the Sisters in Brazil, feel ourselves in deep communion with all the Sisters in our Congregation, in the various ministries, through the sharing we received from the Sisters in our Area who participated in the 2006 Congregational Assembly celebrated in the United States Area. Once again we verified that “the Spirit is the same” as St. Paul puts it so well in his First Letter to the Corinthians: “There is a variety of gifts, but always the same Spirit; there are all sorts of service to be done, but always to the same Lord . . .” (1Co12: 4-5).

In the diversity of our ministries dwells the Prophetic Spirit impelling us to respond to the outcries of our sisters and brothers calling for justice and solidarity. It is this same Spirit that stimulates us to face missions beyond borders so that we may share with all our Sisters the graces brought by the Prophetic Spirit for us to experience so as not to conspire with inequities, having the courage instead to be prophetic witnesses of the Word in the midst of God’s people who is suffering unfairness, oppression and exclusion.

Within this perspective, we understand the true sense of the prophetic mission interweaving through our graciousness, oblation, commitment, openness and welcoming of those who are different, as well as the mystique that is the concreteness of all prophetic action.

In sum, our Encounter as the Brazilian Geographic Area took place in a prayerful setting, in which each Sister was able to experience the Encounter that happened freely, in our spiritual growth, mutual love and the revelation of God who is Father and Mother, who has been and is present in each of us, the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor.