Sisters and Laity, from the beginning, one single community...
From the origin of our Congregation, Marie Poussepin understood that the mission of the community would be carried out by sisters and lay people together.
Laity - Vice-Province of AconcaguaWhen she sends Miss Angelica together with a sister to one of her first foundations, she paves a way for the Congregation that seeks to journey along with the people with whom she shares life; for Marie Poussepin the relationship between laity and sisters is not a simple task, but a constant effort to consider themselves as equals that is to say that laity do not "support" the sisters, but walk with them, search together and share life, as is the experience of the first communities.
Today, more than ever we are invited to live a synodal path in the different connections that are woven within the ecclesial experience as well as in the Congregation.
A Church that defines itself on a journey with others, in the style of Jesus of Nazareth himself who, in order to carry out his mission, calls and forms a group of men and women who, walking together (among themselves) and together with the Master, formed the first communities that gave witness to the experience with Jesus. Our Charism is not reduced only to the lived experience that each sister undergoes personally or in community, but it is enriched by the presence of men and women of faith, who, from their baptismal commitment, also embrace as their own the richness of the legacy of charity received from Marie Poussepin.
- "Being part of the lay associate of the Presentation is meaningful when this membership is assumed from Charity understood as surrender in Love. From there, love itself allows to recognize ourselves as unique persons who share that Love. Rather than seeing it as an association with a different label, I see it as tearing down the tags and recognizing ourselves as parts of the same body, where each person fulfills a function in the construction of a society where Love reigns".
- "It is to assume a commitment and co-responsibility from my position with my brothers and sisters in this beautiful project that is the Kingdom of God."
- "It is to accept a unique role and lifestyle that is born of charity, preaching, study, service and mission.”
- “To be a woman lay associate today, is to live with my feet firmly on the ground so that personal and social realities such as the pandemic, family difficulties, social and ecclesial environment do not prevent to serve with simplicity in the style of Jesus and Marie Poussepin, very united with people, especially those who think differently, because in unity we can find the truth.”[1]
The Church today requires us to return to the origin, to the origin of Jesus and the origin of our Congregation, to fill ourselves with original vision again, in a community that seeks truth in communion with all our brothers and sisters.
Text: Srs. Gabriela Vergara Ríos and Licarayén Torres Miñoz (Aconcagua)
_______[1] Several lay people from the Vice-Province of Aconcagua responded to the question "What does it mean to be a lay associate of the Presentation today?
In the mission of the Congregation
Many of the persons with whom we work are lay Christians and participate in one way or another in the mission of the Congregation. We are happy to recognize the action of the spirit which has awakened in them diverse ways of sharing our Charism: Students, volunteers, lay groups, Presentation groups of laity, Dominican missionaries, fraternities, collaborators, and associates, among others. From all of them we receive their richness, questionings and talents.
Province El Caribe
In our multicultural world, sharing and solidarity is necessary to construct a more just and fraternal society more in accord with what God wants for humanity. It depends on all of us, Christians or not, believers or not, in the daily sharing of life as in the projects of great significance. Civil society offers us through its governmental and nongovernmental organizations, (NGO) opportunities to form alliances to unite our strengths with those who share our concerns and values. The accompaniment of persons and marginalized groups and the ecological concerns could be areas for common actions.
“The journey that we have been making with others, within or outside the Church, in the Dominican Family, with the laity and finally with all those who in the present society desire to contribute to construct a more just, human and fraternal world and to work for peace.”