Chapter Day One

 A day of listening –

Stephen delivered the Provincial’s report: the blessings of the last three years, the Province at present, the hopes and graces for our future.

There were also reports on Safeguarding and on Finances.

And part of the homily on the first evening from Simon Limpini MSC, representing the General Leadership Team:

Our Constitutions remind us that our mission is lived:

in community, in concrete commitments, and especially in service of those most in need.

But they also tell us something important and demand that our commitments must be continually evaluated. Which means… we cannot simply repeat the past. We must listen again. And so, the question for us during this Chapter is not first: “What do we want to do?”

But: What is the Heart of Christ asking of us today? Today. Here. In Australia. In our reality.

Saint Paul gives us the path once more: Believe in your heart. Confess with your lips. Maybe today this means: to believe again, that Christ is alive in our Congregation, even when we feel small or fragile. To confess again, not only with words, but with our lives, that Jesus is truly Lord of our mission. to speak with honesty, and to listen with humility.

If we truly return to the Heart of Christ, something will change. Maybe not immediately in our structures but certainly in us. And that is where real renewal begins. At the beginning of this Chapter, let us ask for one simple grace: the grace to remain close to the Heart of Christ.

Close enough to hear. Close enough to trust. Close enough to be transformed. So that we believe in our hearts, we may proclaim with our lips and live with courage in our mission, especially for those who need us most.