On the 20th day of the chapter the prayer was centred on listening to the source within us that tells us to love, a living water that becomes a river that takes us to the ocean… to a land that awaits to become the temple of a God who makes himself present.
A presentation of Masaru Emoto on Crystals of water showed us how everything we do and think, even the words and the manner in which they are spoken, influence those around us and the milieu…. This affirms the importance of living a deep spirituality and having loving attitudes, to generate positive energy. I can be love or destruction, the choice is mine! If a “thank you” changes a molecule of water, imagine what prayer, love, brotherhood, courage, and friendship can do around us and in the world. I have the power to change the situation. “It all starts with me…!
The last day of the Chapter the facilitators Fr Yago Abeledo and Sr Selina Wavinya summarized the Integration of the process with everybody’s participation. We recapitulated the transformative experiences lived during the Chapter that we can bring home (to myself, to the community, the entity, the congregation and to all creation) and live it in our concrete situations, as the new narrative.
In silence we passed to others the affirmative energy felt in ourselves. Each one met one person at a time, looking at her face, making contact with the eyes, the hands… in deep connection, to transmit to the other this powerful affirmative energy. We did this with as many persons as we wished.
Filled with positive energy we looked at the recipe of tools that helped us to reach transformation during the chapter. From the tools mentioned by the sisters, the facilitators chose the 10 more meaningful:
1. A safe container: to build trust in an atmosphere where people feel safe.
2. Follow the natural process, which is organic. Everything happens at the right moment, and we need time. We cannot become a butterfly without first being a caterpillar! Our personal work in depth will mirror outside.
3. A porous framework (open enough for things to go in and out…) that allows things to happen. This porosity in the circle around the butterfly process, allows the divine to come into the process.
4. Inner work and the quality of relationships, as our inner work impacts on our relationships.
5. Spiritual conversations, allowing expression in trust, sharing and listening attentively and seeing what it does in me…
6. Group/community process approach: creating an atmosphere to go deep into the process, hearing and honouring all the voices, shifting roles and exploring how it feels to be in another’s place.
7. Energy framed techniques: Capacitar, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), nature walks to free energy from the body, etc.
8. Role play, expressing and mirroring different energies (e.g., the energy of the elephant…).
9. Tracking energies, e.g., in the check-in.
10. Mindfulness. We can be containers of own inner process, by meditating in nature, a quiet place, a chapel… favouring moments and actions that fill us with love and compassion. Being fully alive means being connected with all my being: body, heart and mind, and with all other beings. I need to take care of my body and of the negative energy because “our issues are in our tissues”.
I can invite others to use the tool that has been useful for me. The Holy Spirit will inspire us with the right tool and the right moment to use it.
The experiences shared, the songs sung together and the Word of God: “I have called you by your name, you are mine… Should you pass through the waters, I shall be with you; or through rivers, they will not swallow you up…” (Isaiah 43,1-2) These are a reassurance for us, in the certitude that God is giving us a future full of meaning. To trust that it is not me, but the Spirit of God who will guide us, is a shift of consciousness: transformation is about God coming to me to change my perspective.
Searching the meaning of the name chosen by each community and sharing it with the other groups made us discover the link between the name and the transformation taking place!
Fr. Dave giving us his word of wisdom at the end of the day was compared to an old African man under the mango tree of the village looking at his offspring and passing on to them with love and humour his message of wisdom.
The contribution of the facilitators was very much appreciated, in their collaboration and complementarity. They showed great professionalism in the way of accompanying the process and the group, handling persons with respect, listening to what was emerging, and flexible to put aside their plans. The butterfly framework helped us to link the past, the present, the future, the inside and outside world; to trust the experience, to move with reality and to release fearful energies. All this helped us to experience the transformation here and now.
Dave’s last word was on the disciples going to Emmaus. After living very difficult events, they had left the community, and on the road they shared what had happened. Jesus meets them, asks them what they have lived. Then, they realize that He is there, but he disappears… They return to Jerusalem, but they are not the same, now they have direction. They have changed their identity and they return, enthusiastic to share what they have lived, in the safe space of the community… We are returning to our communities, after having lived a transformation and we will face difficulties too… We need to take full responsibility for our transformation, that of the community and those around us… accepting in simplicity that we cannot do it on our own.
The last word of Carmen Sammut reminded us that we are ready to go back to our communities not with answers to questions, but with the experience of transformation.
We know that vulnerable and wounded as we are, the Risen Lord calls us to be his witness as he did to Mary Magdalene on Easter Sunday. We hear him calling our names and sending us as wounded healers to bring the Good News to our brothers and sisters. We have chosen the path to transformation to bring about the new creation, encouraging others to join us in this path.
The community of Trenta Aprile joined the capitulants for the last Eucharist, where the official handover from the outgoing General Council to the new General Council, took place. The outgoing team offered to each of the new ones a small stone plaque with a tree of life with deep roots.
Then the new General Council gave the participants at the Chapter a butterfly as an invitation and reminder of the process of transformation done during the Chapter, with the mission of bringing about a new creation. The celebration ended by singing and dancing the Magnificat, in gratitude for the marvels God has done among us and will continue to do in us, in our communities, in the congregation and in all those around us.
