Table of Contents

Introduction
Being a Gift of Healing
Continuing our Healing Mission as Disciples of Jesus
A Moment of Grace

HEALING GIFT: BELIEVING IN GOD'S DREAM My “take-home” message from our recent International Healing Conference (June 9-12, 2011) is that healing begins at home! Perhaps the most powerful moment for me was the one in which Fr. Anthony Gittins said: “God does not make ‘generic’ people, only specific individuals.  Jesus does not love ‘the poor’ or ‘sinners’ because those are abstractions, and it is impossible to love an abstraction! You love a person, or you do not love at all…Whom do you actually encounter … on a daily basis? Do you truly encounter them – or only handle them?” And so, if you do not love those individual people whom you meet everyday, whom will you love? And then Sr. Antonietta Potente reinforced his message when she said, “It is easier to look at growth from the outside rather than to admit that this irritating circumstance or person is my opportunity to grow!” For me, it is always exciting to learn about new alternative healing techniques. The opportunities to be creative artistically and to share perspectives with our Sisters and Associates about the various challenges we face were interesting and informative. However, to my mind, the essence of the conference is this: we must heal ourselves and we must heal one another if we are to heal others. And the healing begins in the most practical way: How do I speak to this person I see every day? How do I speak about this person every day? How do I act toward this person every day? How do I forgive this person every day? In each of these sentences, I have used the word, every day, because I think that the everydayness of our encounters wears away at the sacredness of the encounter. We seem to reserve our kindness, our gentleness for the abstractions: the poor, the sick, the prostitutes, the sinners… Yet, as Fr. Gittins pointed out, who are we if we are not one of them? Jesus came to save the poor, the sinners. Are we not among them? Are there any among us who thinks she already is a saint? Are there any among us who have not been wounded? Who have not wounded others? Who are not in need of healing? Are there any among us who can honestly say that she always (or even usually) treats the people she meets every day with gentleness and kindness? In her keynote address, Sr. Tiziana said “…we are not here together because we are angels, but because we believe in God’s dream.” Indeed, we are here because we -- each one of us -- believes in God’s dream – and each one of us is a part of it. Each person – especially those whom we encounter daily – is God’s Beloved. God loves you, and you and you, and you…and me. Perhaps we need to say this to ourselves over and over and over again, so that perhaps we may learn to really believe it. And when this happens, we will be healed. And we will treat each person around us as a beloved child of God. And they will be healed. And because we are healed, our communities will be healed. Together we can reach out to heal the people who need us the most! Sr. Joanne Schuster, SFP CCA, U.S. Area [Cover art by Sarah Hellmann]

Being a gift of healing A large group of Sisters and a family of Associates departed from Italy for Cincinnati, Ohio to attend the Healing Conference. There was much excitement and trepidation: they had been praying during Advent and Lent, done a myriad of activities in preparation, and helped each participant enjoy the experience. Upon their return to Italy, each one expressed his/her gratitude and the wish to be a “gift of healing” for humanity.

“WELCOME"  was written on a poster board by Joan, an SFP Associate of the US Area, when we arrived. After many months of waiting, there we were, finally! Then everyone welcomed us, in the typical style of the SFPs in every Area, and this helped us enter into a spirit of reflection and celebration.  The days were intense, filled with many emotions, and  many new and interesting insights. What moved us most was hearing how Mother Frances’ charism is lived concretely and how it is shared in the various Areas, and how the world has a deep need of people who know how to express this charism.”  - Carole and Valerio Tiranti, SFP-A

I was touched by the way each one of us tried to overcome our cultural differences -- especially the language --  by finding new ways to communicate. I liked the creativity among us in the planning of the Conference. I felt that it was a great way to express our being together. - Sr. Francesca Vitulano, SFP

The image I left with is one that happened on one of the entertainment nights. We held each other’s hand. As I looked around, I saw Sisters of all different ages, from the oldest to the youngest, and they were singing and praying together. I felt that it was a healing moment. I personally am aware that there is not just one way to be with people, or one mode of healing, but many ways and methods.  This is humbling, for me, as I always feel I am learning and listening to God’s creativity, which becomes a gift for each one. - Sr.  Jenny Favarin, SFP

This experience helped me --  just as every other experience we live in the Congregation -- because I felt that the topics, discussions, sharing, truly touched my life.  I leave with the desire to begin anew, leaving behind the past and recommitting myself to recognize the new Face that I saw in each one. I know that I do not need to worry about anything because everything is in God’s hands. He is the one who carries the life of each one and all of us.  - Sr. Regina Nigro, SFP

The Healing Conference for me was first an opportunity to encounter and dialogue among the Sisters. I left with the desire to “expand my horizon.” I felt that this became true in our mutual sharing of our charism in our very different environments.  I felt that we are united by our desire to: Serve God in the humanity God puts in front of us wherever God calls us, asking us to listen and to be open,  Journey together, through exchange and concrete sharing.    Sr. Vincenza Scassillo, sfp

After this beautiful experience, I leave with the commitment to learn to be more concrete and responsible for the consequences of my daily choices.   I felt that God, through our charism, is asking me to be a visible witness of God’s constantly healing love. Only if I experience day by day this love of God within me, will I be able to give it to the people I encounter in everything that surrounds me. - Sr. Barbara Torregrossa, SFP

I was touched by the vitality and creativity generated by our charism in the various Areas.  Our charism gets straight to the “heart” of the people. I feel that it is a great resource for us and those we encounter. I leave with the conviction and desire to “generate compassion and hope in the community of life” wherever I am called to be.  - Sr. Monica Stasi, SFP

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Continuing our healing mission as disciples of Jesus in the Brazil Area

A moment of grace:
Reflections from the Senegal Area . . .

The Power to Create Circles of Life
I came to realize that I too am a wounded “healer;” by living the experience of my own wounds I will be able to see the injuries of other wounded people. As Mother Frances says, I can be attentive to other people’s wounds and heal them. My understanding of the charism or of its expression didn't change, but evolved and assumed other colors and dimensions, thanks to the gift I received from the other Areas.

Thus, my understanding of these words: “to be instruments of Christ's healing in wounded creation” or “to heal Christ's wounds in wounded creation” and to heal not only wounded humanity, but the whole community of life has changed because today we refer to the whole of creation, to all of the community of life (with all its meanings that we have explored in Conversations). The whole community of life is considered in this circle of wounds and in the desire to bring about healing. Given that I’m still a Novice, I will not speak of ministry, but of people who surround me and whom I meet in my daily life.

The conference will deeply affect my relations with others. I came to understand and welcome my reality of being as wounded as many other people and my reality of being a healing presence by my words and actions -- especially through my relationship with the “poor,” from whom I can learn and receive new ways of healing. The poor are my equal even though they can seem inferior to me.  They are as capable as myself in contributing something.

This conference has been a blessing, allowing me to see the multiple expressions of healing and to understand that the charism is needed in today’s world -- and this is my hope. The healing that I received gives me an inner peace and assurance that as women we have the power to create circles of life and growth where we can bloom with other people.  -  Domitilde Manga

Renewing and Deepening the Charism
I expanded my horizons and experienced communion with people different from myself and learned about the history of the Congregation and its planting in the U.S. I saw the riches of our charism and the challenges that our Sisters overcome every day. I also saw their hope in life’s daily struggles. I discovered and rediscovered the charism lived by our different Sisters in the four countries where they serve.

It was a time to reconsider our way of being. I became aware that I must take care of ‘the disfigured original beauty,’ and renew myself while thinking that God will continue to dream through me. It was a time to reinvent new methods to express, deepen and spread the charism because the world evolves, bringing with it new needs. Poverty can assume several faces and, therefore, adaptation is needed. From this conference I realize that listening is so important and this will bring me to reconsider my relationship with others. We need to know how to take care of people where they are and without judgment, and to always ask their opinion without imposing anything on them. -- Thérèse Tapsoba

A New Consciousness that We Are all Wounded
It was a great joy to participate. I became aware that I am a “wounded healer” and that Christ represents my healing at every level.

I received the graces of peace and joy of heart and received confidence and reconciliation with myself and with all injuries that I have endured. I am convinced that through all the spiritual exercises I experienced, accompanied by many signs and symbols, that Jesus was at work in my heart and that He healed me of all my internal and external wounds.

This conference renewed my entire life and gave me encouragement to see the good in my life and to live in simplicity. I opened a new page with Jesus, with other people and with God’s creatures. In my opinion our charism, expressed by the sentence, “Healing Christ's wounds in the poor and suffering humanity” did not change after the conference. Instead I have a new consciousness that we are all wounded people because of life’s ordeals. At the same time we are called to develop, even today, our healing gift in following Mother Frances Schervier.

Aware that the charism grows through us, the attention that we give to our diversities can help us grow in our inner knowledge. Then, the fruits of this witness will bloom by our goodness, our service and our gifts to the poor. Knowing that healing starts from the heart, I think that after this Healing Conference that common and personal prayer will be very important. Moreover, the imagination and the creativity in our different tasks can be a source of transformation, edification and healing for all of us. - Jacqueline Compaore

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JUBILATE DEO!
CELEBRATING GOD’S DREAM IN OUR JUBILARIANS . . .

70 Years
Sr. Rita Marie Donnelly

60 Years
Sr. Adelaide Link
Sr. Arlene Mc Gowan
Sr. Daniel Marie Meade

50 Years
Sr. Paula Huecker

25 Years
Sr. Barbara Fiorentino
Sr. Tiziana Merletti
Sr. Vincenzina Raimondo

Sr. Rita Marie Donnelly and Sr. Vincenzina Raimondo . . .

          

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Copyright 2011 Franciscan Sisters of the Poor