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SFP VOICES MARCH 2010
Vol. VI, No. 2 © |
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Dear Sisters and Associates,
As you know, our issues of SFP VOICES in 2010 are reflecting specific themes that promote understanding of our healing charism and how it is being lived and expressed across our cultures.
Since the March theme is: ‘Our Call to Prayer and Spirituality,’ the Formation Directors in each Area were asked to consider writing an article about their privileged ministry of formation. This is usually a hidden work and a special gift -- tending the flame of our charism among those who come to us seeking the face of God in religious life and Associate relationship.
The Formators were asked how they perceive their own call, how they experience our healing charism alive in the formation ministry and what is life-giving for them in doing this ministry.
As you will see, the Sisters and Associate represented in this issue enjoyed the freedom of taking the reflection wherever the Spirit led them, with abundant, grace filled results! We are also happy to include the experience of Domitilde Manga, who is in the Novitiate phase of formation in Senegal.
We are grateful for the generosity and efforts of the Communications Coordinators who worked with us on this issue: Ms. Leah Curtin (US Area), Sr. Giannica Selmo (Italian Area), Sr. Maria Lúcia Barbosa de Oliveira (Brazil Area) and Sr. Anne Claire Kabore (Senegal Area).
United as your sister in Blessed Frances,
Marilyn Trowbridge, sfp Maureen Fullam
Communications Liaison Director of Communications
Sr. Marina Triglia, SFP
I stay on the side of the feet I would like to make room for the noise And in my emptiness I may echo |
 “The Sower” by Vincent Van Gogh, 1888 |
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In this poem, written in Vermicino on Pentecost Day 2005, I see the meaning of God’s calling to serve today’s humanity through formation ministry. I began in 2002 as Director of the Youth Center; since 2004 I am also the Director of the Novitiate and Pre-Novitiate.
What am I learning from this ministry?
• I am learning to believe in the power of life, that becomes complex and then begins anew.
• I am learning to believe in the power of our charism, leading us to love without expecting anything in return in order to give back trust and freedom to the heart of each creature.
• I am learning that cooperation and dynamic interaction is needed with others to reveal to each person her true self and enhance her discernment and growth.
It is difficult and beautiful to establish a deep relationship with another person, walking on my tippy toes, remembering that souls belong to God and that only God is our Light and Guide.
New Seeds of Hope and Compassion
During these past years, I had the grace to walk along the way with twelve women. I felt like the sower who sows abundantly, trusts in the seed and has the courage to name the weeds for what they are. I saw hope and compassion grow as I saw before my eyes all the seasons: search, withdrawal, thrusts, insights carried out. I also bring to the Lord the suffering connected with women questioning a possible call to religious life. It feels to me like a drought that has many faces, that needs to be accepted by looking for new ways and fresh seeds. I behold the beauty and poverty of this land, and of young people, with their resources and contradictions.
I continue asking Mother Frances to help so that the light of our charism may shine in our lives with all its beautiful colors.
 From L. to R.: Srs. Tânia, Bernadete, Goretti, Helena Paula and Maria Lúcia in a group study during the Area Assembly. |
 Sr. Maria Lúcia with the religious sisters from the Cerrado Biome Group of CRB-Goiás, composing a recycling manual. |
 Sr. Marta at Casa São José |
 From L. To R: Srs. Marta, Thalyta and Daniel Marie, during the presentation of their ministries to the Assembly |
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“Though in reality no one ‘forms anyone,’ a Formation Director shows the way, opens new horizons and keeps alive the flame of the congregation’s charism . . .”
Sister Maria Lúcia Barbosa de Oliveira, SFP
I happily accepted and embraced this ministry in the 1990s while working with the indigenous people in the state of Mato Grosso. I noticed God’s action in this invitation, which came to me during a visitation by Sister Maria Helena Carvalho.
I realized that to be a Formation Director I would need to be in a continuous growth process. How could it be otherwise? Those of us who consider ourselves ‘ready’ and ‘finished’ can actually become stagnated in our journey.
My Experience with this Ministry . . .
In religious formation, listening to one’s own feelings is indispensable. Formation is the way to tune in with the other; this is possible only in a posture of learning, listening, welcoming the other and engaging in dialogue. To walk with a person, to help her stay on the journey, not only theoretically, but by freely offering one’s own life as an example, is not easy at all. What a tremendous responsibility this ministry is!
Though in reality no one “forms anyone,” a Formation Director shows the way, opens new horizons and keeps alive the flame of the congregation’s charism, grounded in the historical footsteps of its founders. We may sometimes risk assuming that a candidate who enters a congregation knows nothing about spirituality. However, we know that before approaching us, a candidate already has had living, full religious experiences that began with her conception and birth. We need to consider all the human dimensions of every person we welcome into our community . . . and to receive the new is always challenging both to those receiving the newcomer and to the one who is arriving.
Once while visiting a woman who showed interest in joining our Congregation, I caught in the glimmer of her eyes and in her voice a mixture of simplicity, selflessness, joy and the wish to give of herself to others. She made me remember my own spiritual quest before I entered our Congregation. In my own search I had visited several institutes, but only the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor in Pires do Rio made a difference for me. If at that time I had already known St. Francis’ words – “This is what I want, this is what I am looking for,” I certainly would have said the same thing.
Today’s Challenges . . . “Light and shadow intermingle. ”
Our planet is suffering continuous and rapid changes. Countless are the challenges emerging from our secularized, individualistic and globalized consumer society. Coming from that world, young women who seek us have no support or model to confirm their choice. This makes it difficult for young people to make a decision. This real situation leads us to reflect on how we need to be prepared to welcome them. Many are the trails needing to be widened and changed on this journey filled with hope.
Day by day, lights and shadow intermingle in the ministry of Initial Formation. Not only must we take up our cross, we must also carry the cross of our sisters and brothers on the road that we feel was taken by our foundress, Blessed Frances Schervier.
It is gratifying to see young women become interested in our ministries, who affirm in daily life a feeling of belonging, love and selflessness. If we really wish that other women become part of our ministries and our life together, we need to question ourselves regarding our own witnessing, our co-participation, and whether we are drinking from the Fountain and keeping alive the flame of that first love.
May Mother Frances be our guide, walking with us in such a sublime mission! May Saint Francis of Assisi, our great inspiration, continue to strengthen us and, as a beacon, to light our way leading to Jesus Christ!
The Spirituality of Associate Formation:
“Together we live out our baptismal call to complete the mission of Jesus.”
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with Joan Mills and Chris - a candidate in Associate orientation.
A recent study shows that there are over 25,000 Associates in the USA, and the number continues to climb. However, as a member of the Associate team, I don't consider success to be in numbers.
At the heart of an Associate relationship is prayer and spirituality.
Being in a relationship is not about a way of thinking but a way of being, longing, and striving to be more and more like Christ. So, I am called to invite new and present Associates to develop their spiritual life according to the mission of St. Francis and the charism of the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor. In particular, I am called to evangelize and catechize prospective Associates, enabling them to grow in intimacy and communion with Christ and each other.
Along with the Sisters, I do this by providing opportunities to delve more deeply into the values and mission of the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor, to celebrate our stories through prayer and ritual, and to work for justice, thus nurturing and sustaining our spiritual life.
• Together we help people identify and use their gifts for the common good and for the glory of God.
• Together we live out our baptismal call to complete the mission of Jesus.
Although I have used “I” in this article, in my heart I know that it’s about our relationship with God … and what we do together. It is together that we can be more effective in building up the kingdom of God.
- Joan Mills, Associate
 Novice Domitilde Manga in the Chapel at Agape San Damiano |
 “The Lord Jesus has made us a partner in his mystery of healing.” |
“In the poor and the suffering I recognized my divine
Savior as though I had seen Him with my own eyes.”
These words of Mother Frances always shape us when we talk of our healing spirituality. During our last Senegal Area Assembly in November of 2009, Sr. Tiziana Merletti had also emphasized a reality of our vocation as daughters of Mother Frances that has captured my attention and inspired me. She said: “The Lord Jesus has made us a partner in his mystery of healing.” This phrase has deeply touched me and remained engraved in my heart and my memory. Through this statement, I discovered again the abundance of the great gift that the Lord gave us through Mother Frances: the gift to be a healing presence where we are and for people who meet us and are in close contact with us. The conviction has grown strong in me that I do not have the right to live ignoring and neglecting the suffering around me.
Carrying God’s People in my Heart
I may not be able to eradicate this suffering, but I can carry it in my heart together with those who live it and bring it before Jesus in the spirit of sincere solidarity. For in practical terms I cannot do much; it is the Lord Jesus who is the sole “Healer” and Jesus is not indifferent to people's misery.
Thus, in our moments of personal prayer as members of communities we offer, in a spirit of confidence in the Goodness of God, the poverty (sicknesses, lack of material and intellectual, moral and spiritual resources) of those who are near and far from us. And we make this offering through the heart of the one who is called the “Mother of the Poor,” Frances Schervier.
Children from the local community are welcomed by the Sisters
Contemplation and Compassion
As a first year novice my time is more dedicated to prayer and contemplation in and through which I carry the daily life of my brothers and sisters in all its reality. However, this aspect of my present situation has not excluded all activity. In fact, every Wednesday afternoon I welcome from the local community children who are sponsored by the Sisters to help them in their studies (since they have many gaps in their knowledge). I say this to emphasize that contemplation and action always go hand in hand.
The very words of Mother Frances mentioned above express this very well. Since she was driven by love for God, she devoted her entire life to the service of all kinds of poor people. I express this aspect in my apostolate by trying to be as patient and understanding as possible and by entrusting their poverty to the Lord -- and all this with an attitude of compassion toward them.
I also strive to have prayerful thoughts for all the other people who are either in a more persistent or short-term state of poverty or suffering or by lending an attentive ear, by striving to smile and be kind, by offering a glass of water to those around me or who knock at the door, etc. In this way I respond with a “yes” in prayer to the call to live our healing spirituality.
- Domitilde Manga, Franciscan Sister of the Poor Novice
Prayer and Spirituality in the Ministry of Formation:
Religious Life is a Call to Transformation
Sr. Mary Madonna Hoying
"My most important task...is to develop my relationship with God in prayer and contemplation..."
Sisters and others often ask me, “How many novices do you have?” Certainly a question of fact, but according to Fr. Gary Riebe-Estrella, SVD* not a question of substance! Numbers are not our focus: they are not the Reality or what Religious Life is! Our perceptions of Religious Life depend on How we interpret the data.
Our Lives are Anchored in God
I found this insight very encouraging because it brings us directly to What and Who is Central in our lives. Religious Life is a call to transformation, and this is a reminder that our lives are anchored in God. That is, we cannot participate in the creation of our world if we do not participate in the Life of our Creator! So rather than let the facts discourage us, we can see the whole - a New Vision of our Congregation by looking to God and relying on God -- and not on ourselves.
What a bright Vision of the Future we have With God and each other!
Our most recent Congregational statistics tell us that we have 136 Professed Members. When we look at the picture internationally, we see that we have 17 people in initial formation. And we are all in this Congregation Together… and we need each other across global boundaries. What a bright Vision of the Future we have With God and each other! God is calling us to look at the picture with trust in God and gratefulness for each other.
As Formator, I am called to put my hope in GOD, who is worthy of trust. My most important task then, is to develop my relationship with God in prayer and contemplation – so that I can trust that all is a call to deepen our lives IN God. Then, and only then, will we have the courage to create a New Future Together.
- Sister Mary Madonna Hoying, SFP
Coordinator of Initial Formation in the U.S. Area
* Remarks from his talk at the Religious Formation Conference in November, 2009
 Visit to Narni |
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 Formation at Casetta Nova |
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“Take off your sandals, because you are standing on holy ground” (Exodus 3:5).
Sr. Licia Mazzia, SFP
These words of the Lord to Moses from the burning bush accompany me as I work in Formation. It is a delicate, hidden and sacred ministry, which moves me to contemplate God’s work in my sisters, helps me grow in self-knowledge and gives me new insights into our healing charism.
Beholding the Beautiful Face of God
I have been a member of the Membership Development Team in Casetta Nova since 2001 and the Director of Temporary Professed Sisters since 2003. Throughout these years, I felt a greater calling to know myself more deeply and to help my sisters to do the same. I truly witnessed the beautiful face of God present within me and in each one of us. I savored the vital energy of our charism, which has performed miracles in inner healing and generated trust and abundance in our lives, which are filled with creative skills, precious talents, desire for what is good, mixed with illness, wounds, sin and weakness.
I experience within myself the vitality of our charism through the gifts of listening, patience, compassion, waiting, and silence, which help to “make space” – all the space needed for my sisters’ vocations to grow and mature according to their own vital cycles, unique, unrepeatable and sacred, and generated by the Holy Spirit. I also experience struggles, uncertainty, and trepidation, which lead me to confide more and more in God’s creative work.
Journey of the Heart
I find myself in the midst of wounds and blessings, discernments open to freedom, transformation, and growth. I thank the sisters who let me travel in their hearts, sharing delicate and precious moments of their journey, seeking the meaning of life and their own calling.
With gratitude and hope, I repeat David’s prayer, asking to live “like the morning light when the sun rises, a morning without clouds which makes the sprouts from the earth glisten after the rain . . .” (2 Sam 23:4). May the healing energy of our charism continue to spread in our Congregation and in the community of life.
Copyright 2010 Franciscan Sisters of the Poor