Source of Renewal for Life and Mission

“Formation must help each one to achieve personal wholeness in faith and liberty, to base her life on deep convictions, and to discern her place in the Church and in the world” (C. 33). “Formation is a dynamic process of transformation of the person, it prepares the person to live a continuous conversion, growing in openness to the demands of the Gospel and fraternal life in community in view of the mission”. With the power of the Spirit, we will be able to re-signify our style of consecrated life according to the Charism of Marie Poussepin and be a visible sign of God who dwells within us.

We opt for a formation that enables the Charism to become visible through the proclamation of the Word and the service of Charity and that supports the process of going beyond borders.

Source: Document of the 55th General Chapter - 2019

Formation in the Dominican charism of Marie Poussepin

Interprovincial novitiate in ManizalesRatio tells us: Formation in the Congregation, appears within the dynamics Call- Response, as a: vital process towards “the plenitude of Christ” which progressively unifies by the Word and the action of the Spirit, our reality as a woman, a Christian, a Dominican Sister of Charity of the Presentation in order to know and announce Jesus Christ (Ratio Formationis P. 30).

If this formation process forms, informs, and transforms, we can discover, from reading her life, that Marie Poussepin was a formator from an early age.

Her family atmosphere, parish life, education she received from the Sisters of Christian Instruction, her membership in the Confraternity of Charity, her commitment as an industrialist in the world of work, her human and spiritual formation and her entry into the Third Order of Saint Dominic... gave her essentials for her personal formation and to face the poverty of her time with an integral vision of the person and a sensitivity for all those who suffer.    She assumed the formation that she received at home; there we see her always docile, open and available to welcome and assimilate what, through people, circumstances, places and possibilities, was offered to her, searching for the glory of God and the charitable activities which she had been introduced since she was a child.

Even when she was very young in Dourdan, she had to face situations and respond to decisions which required greater transcendence. She also had to take care of certain family situations with her brother Claude, which characterize her as a formator; we see her trying to discover the best for him, to prepare him to assume the responsibility of the business and of the apprentices, giving him basics for his development and growth.

Marie Poussepin was also a formator, not only a Foundress, for her growing Community. In addition to the school and the sick, she took care of girls without asylum and without resources, several of whom decided to associate themselves with this charitable life. She initiated them both in the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ and in the professional tasks linked to the aims of her foundation.

All of us know that love is fruitful and here, we have a proof of it. The great number of vocations with good formation, as Marie Poussepin says, made the first century of the Congregation, "The century of charity"!

Formation is a dynamic process of transformation of the person, which enables one to live in continuous conversion, growing in openness to the demands of the Gospel, of fraternal life in community, in view of the mission. “……the formation must help each one to achieve personal wholeness in faith and liberty, to base her life on deep convictions, and to discern her place in the Church and in the world” C.33.

Marie Poussepin trainerFor an in-depth formation today is to offer evangelical quality to consecrated life. This is vital. Evangelical quality is the fruit of a passion, of living with a heart of love for Christ and love for humanity. When consecrated persons live with evangelical quality, communities become the best school of formation and a stimulus for those who live in them and for the new generations who join them.

We are all convinced that the success of perseverance and the vitality of our response depend to a great extent on the quality of formation. A serious formation more than ever today, is an undeniable act of fidelity to the challenge posed by changing historical situations.

The quality of our life in its essence, its unifying process, its convictions and principles, its basic foundation, is a guarantee of authenticity and claim for truth. For this reason, we have opted for a formation that makes visible the Charism through the proclamation of the Word and service of charity, that helps going beyond borders.

Formation is an apostolic call to respect the people to whom we are sent and a response to the Lord who sends us. The Congregation has always tried to provides means for growth to the sisters coming from different cultural and human backgrounds, because it is clear that, by the quality of our life, we contribute to the building of the Kingdom and that the sisters sent on mission must be seriously prepared. When the Congregation opens itself to give new missionary responses, the number grows. When the attention in formation is emphasized, departures decrease, commitments are assimilated with greater vitality and as the fruit of the life witness our sisters, we do not need to wait long for new vocations.

The principle milieu of formation is the Community, as a place of fraternity, a source of tradition, an expression of faith and an abode for celebration. And its best ambiance is the fraternal life in the Congregation, sense of mission, universal openness, exigence of truth, common prayer, mutual trust and exercise of mutual responsibility.

The Congregation recognizes formation as the vital and first urgency, the most profound in terms of the human, Christian and religious quality of each sister in view of apostolic identity and as a duty of justice for evangelization. The greatest worth lies in having recognized the dynamic character of formation as a vital process, which must integrate all the elements throughout life in a permanent exercise of growth and conversion towards the fullness of Christ.

Formation is a condition for unity and structuring of the person in faith. It is therefore the task of each one, as an indispensable contribution to community building. Whatever slows down or impedes this "personal progress" harms the community in its first duty "communion". The area of formation stands out as an vital responsibility to which everything else is subjected. The first responsibility falls on the Congregation, in function of its own fidelity to maintain and persevere and to respond and adapt creatively.

Let us not forget that for Marie Poussepin, the exercise of charity becomes a task of formation, thus her work emerged and spread.

To live Charity, to live of Charity for the service of Charity is the echo repeated by hundreds of Sisters who takes from Sainville the way to live intensely, "the life that our Lord led on earth" and find in this unifying project, the evangelical journey of the service of Charity.

Text: Sr. Angélica Solano Polanía

Training, lifelong work

An Inescapable Challenge

“....this type of formation (international, interprovincial and intercultural) carries in itself a richness: mutual recognition and trust, capacity for accompaniment, learning to discern, experience of mutual intercultural relationships...” (Cf. Report on the life of the Congregation 2014, p. 61).

“Behold, now is the favorable time...” to assume formation as an inescapable challenge to announce Jesus Christ through the exercise of charity by listening attentively to the will of God. In a world marked by great changes and contrasts, formation is vital. We opt for a formation which emphasizes:

• Solid human and spiritual formation which favors the experience of God, the knowledge of His Word and the following of Christ in the way of St. Dominic and Marie Poussepin.
• Personal accompaniment is a priority for all the sisters in each stage of life and responsibility, in their community and missionary experiences.
• Multiculturalism and internationality from the very beginning of formation enriches our vocation and mission.
• Option for justice, peace and care of creation which places us in front of the reality of our world and the poor, marks our style of life.

To live our vocation in fidelity

Formation enables us to respond in fidelity to the call of God and to be fruitful in our consecrated life in the service of the Church and its mission. It presents a process of consecrated life centered on the person of Christ, which throughout our life generates a conversion that leads to growth, synthesis and unity within our being as a Dominican Sister of Charity of the Presentation.

Source: Document of the 54º General Chapter - 2014

Called by God to life, to faith and to follow Christ in a radical manner, in a religious apostolic life, we want to respond to Him in creative fidelity according to the Charism of Marie Poussepin. Formation in the Congregation, appears within the dynamics Call-Response, as a: vital process towards “the plenitude of Christ” which progressively unifies by the Word and the action of the Spirit, our reality as a woman, a Christian, a Dominican Sister of Charity of the Presentation in order to know and announce Jesus Christ

 From: "Ratio Formationis"

Province of Bogotá