Spiritual Collaboration with the Second Order

“If the LORD does not build the house, in vain does the builders’ labor” Ps 127)

The spiritual collaboration of SGF with the Second Order began recently. At the request of SGF some monasteries of Capuchin Clarist Sisters from various parts of the world have shown great enthusiasm to form a “prayer rose” to support spiritually the task of the General Minister to animate the Order in area of initial and ongoing formation through SGF and UGF. At present from ten conferences of the Order ten monasteries have dedicated to pray for our intention in a day of every week (look). Thus each day of the week and all the days of the year, through their prayer, our sisters actively support us in our task of animation and formation. John Paul II, in his apostolic letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, wrote:

‘If in the planning that awaits us we commit ourselves more confidently to a pastoral activity that gives personal and communal prayer its proper place, we shall be observing an essential principle of the Christian view of life: the primacy of grace. There is a temptation which perennially besets every spiritual journey and pastoral work: that of thinking that the results depend on our ability to act and to plan. God of course asks us really to cooperate with his grace, and therefore invites us to invest all our resources of intelligence and energy in serving the cause of the Kingdom. But it is fatal to forget that "without Christ we can do nothing"’ (NMI 38).

We, the members of SGF, thank the sisters who accompany us in prayer and who remind us to execute the words of John Paul II in our works. As we thank the monasteries and the individual sisters who took the initiative, we extend our invitation also to other monasteries and individual brothers and sisters who would like to join this spiritual collaboration. “If the LORD does not build the house, in vain does the builders’ labor” Ps 127). Let us be aware of it always so as to consider our life and work as the work of God. Thanks a lot!

New Bibliographis

• Autores varios, Vita Consecrata, Claretianas 2010
Se trata de una nueva e interesante colección de libros de ágil formato y precio muy asequible, con temas actuales e importantes de vida consagrada. Algunos han sido ya publicados en otros volúmenes de congresos sobre Vida Consagrada o en revistas especializadas. Otros son inéditos. La nueva colección ofrece un recurso valioso para todas aquellas personas consagradas preocupadas por su permanente renovación y formación.
Aquí estan los títulos de los 8 primeros libros:
-La Vida Religiosa en Europa. Realidad actual y actitud teológico-espiritual. José Rovira Arumí.
-La espiritualidad del celibato. Mons. Juan María Uriarte.
-La escuela de la Palabra. Lectio Divina y comunidad. Enzo Bianchi.
-La era digital. Una oportunidad para la vida consagrada. Fernando Prado Ayuso.
-La idolatría de las Riquezas. Redescubrir la pobreza evangélica en tiempos de crisis. José Cristo Rey García Paredes.
-Las ocho montañas de la Vida Consagrada. Joan Chittister.
-Vivir en comunidad. Dinámicas de comunión para hoy. Fabio Ciardi.
-¿Nos interesa de verdad la formación permanente? Pedro Belderrain.

Activites in summer

After many weeks, we would like to share with you fraternally about the different tasks in animation and formation that the SGF had during this summer.

Formators Course in the Conference of CONCAM

EL SALVADOR: From 2 to 13 August 2010 about twenty formators from the Conference of CONCAM came together for the course at San Salvador. In the first week basing on the Letter of General Minister, “Let us fan the flame of our charism”, the friars discussed and shared on the formation program of their respective circumscriptions and their own experiences in this regard. The collaborative dynamism emerged in the dialogue as the potential answer to confront the formative challenges that exist in the Conference.

In the second week Br. Roel Mejía Lara OFM Cap highlighted the particular role of the formator and the urging need of the formator being accompanied. Br. Roel’s competence in the branch of psychology enriched the sessions and enabled active participation in everyone. The friars, on various occasions, expressed their view on the validity of such meetings and the need of having it periodically programmed so as to enrich the formators and to help effective collaboration among the various circumscriptions of CONCAM.

The meeting was highly interesting experience for the two members of General Formation Secretariat. The greater awareness of initial formation in the local situation mutually enriches and makes the SGF function more efficiently in its role of animation. For this we thank Br. Juan Pablo Lobos, representative of CONCAM in the International Formation Council, who was the chief promoter of this initiative.

Third Noviciate

This year the provinces of Versavia and Cracovia together organized the course of ongoing formation known as “Third Noviciate” in Assisi. From 3 to 17 August the friars from Poland lived and reflected together on theme of following Christ in the way of St. Francis of Assisi. During these two weeks they visited the places of Poverello and in a prayerful environment could grow deeper in the gift of the divine call and review the response from the part of the individual friar and of the fraternity. Highly efficient and productive was the moments of sharing that were held in every evening after the visits to various places.

The richness of the experience and its validity is not only from the enrichment received by listening and seeing, but mainly from the experience of mutual knowing and sharing that developed among the participants of the two provinces of Poland.

formation program for EACC & CONCAO

On 4 September 2010, there arrived 26 brothers from 9 countries of the large continent of Africa to participate in the ongoing formation program (Heritage Course) conducted in the English language. The participants were from the Capuchin jurisdictions of Cameroon, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The course began at Frascati on 5 September with the Eucharistic celebration and inaugural address by Br. Agapit Mroso, the Definitor General for Africa. The course was enriched by the input sessions by various professors and experts who dealt on Franciscan and Capuchin charism and related topics and by the sharing and interaction with those incharge of various general offices. The course was an occasion for the participants to visit the Franciscan and Capuchin places of importance such as Rome, San Giovanni Rotondo, Monte Sant’Angelo, Assisi, Greccio, Fonte Colombo, Spoleto, Celle di Cortona, Carceri, Monte Castale, La Verna, Camerino, and Albacina.

Br. Mauro Jöhri, the General Minister, concluded the course with the Eucharistic celebration and renewal of vows on the eve of 25 September at Frascati. In the meeting after the Eucharistic celebration the participants expressed their heartfelt gratitude to the General Minister and the Order for this great opportunity. On 27 September all the participants departed for their respective jurisdictions with great vigor and enthusiasm to live their commitment to the Franciscan and Capuchin charism