By means of the dance of the pilgrims, the Morning Prayer led by the region of the United Kingdom set us on our way. The left hand on our hearts invited us to conserve all that we have received and that is dear to us, at the same time the right hand led us in a gesture of offering our experience of the Chapter to the Lord. Pachelbel’s ‘Canon’ over words inspired by the First Letter of St John immersed us in a meditative movement. We are gathered in the Love of Christ. In his light, we follow the path of Truth.

In this same spirit of prayer, Sr. Carmen Sammut invited the Capitulants to respond to the questions for the evaluation of the Chapter. Through this means, we harvested the lived experience in view of helping to prepare the next Chapter.

Later in the morning, the texts making up the next Capitular Acts were made available to the Capitulants. All the mandates confided to the General Council, as well as the Provincial Councils and communities, were submitted to the vote, whereas the content of the texts was approved as a whole. The editing work remains to be completed.
At the end of the afternoon, the Capitulants were invited to walk the way of the disciples of Emmaus. In small groups, they shared their times of desolation and consolation and together they disposed themselves to listen to the Word of the Lord.

Sr. Carmen Sammut, the new Superior General, officially closed the Chapter, thanking each Capitulant for their comprehensive participation as well as the service personnel, translators, secretaries and the communications officer. She said:

We have reached the end of our 24th General Chapter which had as theme:

God’s love is birthing a reconciled creation:
what an incredible challenge!
He sends us to hasten the coming of that longed-for day.
MSOLA, how shall we respond?

In her opening address, Sr Piluca Benavente invited us to have a generous heart, big enough to let all of creation enter.

Psalm 8 reminds us:

How great is your name, O Lord our God, through all the earth!
When I see the heavens, the work of your hands,
the moon and the stars which you arranged,
what are we that you should keep us in mind, that you care for us?

Yes, let us have a large vision. Let us look at the heavens, the myriads of stars, this interconnected cosmos, always in movement, and in evolution. We have hardly begun to know it. Let us open our hearts and our minds.

You have made us little less than gods; with glory and honour you crowned us you gave us responsibility for your creation.

When it comes to taking responsibility for our cosmos, for our earth, nothing is foreign to us. Let us learn from this that whatever we do has lasting consequences elsewhere. Let us remember also the events that took place on our planet during the last three weeks.

‘Let us leave as convinced members,’ after the example of Mary!

The Capitulants gave heartfelt thanks to Sr. Christine Anderson, the Moderator, who lived the Chapter with us through its joys and sorrows, its frustrations and steps forward. She assured us that her Congregation prayed for us MSOLA throughout the three weeks. ‘You are making headway because you are already involved with the poor. The changes will come little by little.’ She also encouraged us to use the methodology that helped us so much to maintain an attitude of discernment in our deliberations. God is with us NOW!

In the evening, to the sound of the bagpipes, we celebrated this Chapter together and took the opportunity to thank each and every one. The experience of the Chapter was made possible and positive thanks to each one’s contribution.

DAY BY DAY