Sunday September 17, 2023, Spéciosa, Celina and Cécile left early in the morning for a 195 km drive.
This little one-day trip was born first of all from the desire to share with Celina what our community experiences with Muslim women in the city of Kef.
Also, we felt certain about something, without really knowing why and what awaited us: the certainty was that it was God who called us to take this path. Driven by this inner conviction shared as a community, we hit the road. We entrusted it to Mary through hymns and prayers, then we listened to this text:
“Transformation involves listening to our deepest longings and greatest aspirations to create a new vision for the future. It requires letting go of what is no longer true, real or life-giving and listening to God’s call to new life. It is an organic, emergent, and continually itinerant process of visioning the future. It involves taking steps without having the full picture, seeing what emerges, and taking the next best step in light of new understandings.” (1)
Novelty being part of our tradition, we took a break in Testour, a small town of Andalusian origin where each time we pass by there, we have a
cup of tea in the village square! During the trip, one of us said
“By going to Kef, we are taking one step but we don’t know what the next one might be.”
Our meeting with Salwa was transformative in the sense described in Ted Dunn’s text. Why? Because from our conversation there emerged a
process of discernment and common vision. Nothing is clear, but we want to move forward together. We heard the request from the children of Kef who want to open up; they would like another summer camp (like in 2019).
We let our imaginations make connections with our charism, with Laudato Si… We do not know the next step but together, White Sisters and Muslim women, we are in the process of inventing another future. During this meeting we listened to God’s call to new life when Salwa asked Celina to open a community in Kef!
We did not know what awaited us when we left “our Marsa”. In addition to this sensitive and challenging exchange, we also took time to telephone several other friends from Kef who were sick but with whom we could not visit. We experienced Visitations. As with Mary and Elisabeth, our “innards” quivered. On the way back, we shared deeply about this experience in light of our new way of looking at our mission. We were comforted by the strength of our charism which is expressed even in the lives of Muslim women.
Returning to the title of our last general chapter, we can well say that during this one-day apostolic tour we journeyed together without fear, deepened our charism in collaboration with Muslim women, and began to expand our tent by giving birth to a new creation.
Sr. Cécile Dilé, Tunisia
(1) Embracing our vulnerability: a gesture of humility or a call to transformation? Dr. Ted Dunn, 5 Mai 2023, p.5
