On October 12, feast of Our Lady of the Pillar, we had the joy of welcoming our Superioress General, Sister Françoise PETIT and Sister Alicia Margarita CORTÉS, General Councillor for Latin America, on a visit to our Caribbean Province in this year of the tenth anniversary of its foundation. They were joyfully welcomed at the Provincial House by the Sisters of the Community and other nearby houses.
During their stay, Sister Françoise and Sister Alicia Margarita visited some Communities in the Dominican Republic and Cuba, listening to the Sisters, collaborators and some beneficiaries share about their life, hopes and difficulties.
Thanks to technology, they were also able to have a meeting with the Sisters of Puerto Rico, Miami and Haiti who rejoiced in having them, being able to listen to them and have an exchange about daily living in different missions, the joy as well as the challenges.
During the visit, Sister Françoise and Sister Alicia Margarita had an encounter with Sisters, 4 to 25 years vocation. They expressed their concerns, desires and dreams for the Company of today and of the future. Sister Françoise invited them to be light in the midst of so much darkness that surrounds us in today’s world.
In the meetings with the Sisters, she exhorted us to live fraternal life as a prophetic sign of unity in diversity. She invited us to take care of Community moments and spaces, creating these to be times and places of peace and communion for ourselves and for others. Sister Françoise also shared with us some news of the life of the Sisters in different countries, responding especially to our interest in Sisters in places of conflict.
In the Communities they passed through, Sister Françoise and Sister Alicia Margarita enjoyed the cultural richness of our people expressed in dances, songs and poems, presented by the children, youth and elders, as well as local artists.
We thank God for this graced moment for our Province on this 400th anniversary of the Light of Pentecost, for the gift of having Sister Françoise and Sister Alicia Margarita among us to animate and renew our spirit and charism for a new Pentecost in these Caribbean lands.