The 39 participants in the 5th Provincial Chapter of Application gathered via zoom along with the Sisters of the Province on January 8th, Recollection Sunday, for a talk on New Wine in New Wineskins (NWiNW) by Fr. Cielito Almazan, OFM.
Sr. Lilia Nuesca, Provincial Leader, welcomed the Sisters and urged them for a deep reflection and prayer to prepare ourselves for the celebration of the 5th Provincial Chapter of Implementation this January, to be watchful of the holy stirrings within while listening to the talk, for the new wine has come. She assured the Sisters: “We have been blessed with an abundance of graces. Let us allow Jesus to transform our old selves into new creation and embrace the new law of grace.”
This document (NWiNW ) was recommended for study by the 17th General Chapter with an emphasis on interculturality, formation, governance, and mission as Women of the Word. Fr. Cielito in his talk introduced that the new wine offered by Jesus must be received with a new mind and a new heart, with a container that can hold it and with openness while living our vocation as consecrated persons faithfully in the ever-changing times because we are the parables of the kingdom. Our charism is unique. Our roots are our new wine that does not get old. Our Vision and Mission as a congregation are unique. comes first. We must know our identity as to who we are and the objectives to reach our Vision open to the signs of the times and the challenges in the mission namely, secularism, globalization, global warming, threats of world war III, pandemic, non-committal attitudes of vocation prospects, individualism and sexual scandals hounding the Church. Our formation programs need to be updated and investment in re-tooling of formators especially in psychology and missiology is a need. For interculturality, we need to agree on a common language if the community is composed of multi-lingual languages and to be open to new ways of doing things which we can learn from Sisters of other cultures. Authority in governance must be exercised as a service to uphold peace, justice, and love as Servant Leaders. Superiors need to consult one another with a listening attitude and be less judgmental yet faithful to the congregational values. They need to be technology literate as well as their members. Community Life is also our mission, moving as one in synodality. As parables of the kingdom, we are not yet the perfect creation of God. We have different personalities but we need to understand one another and so we need to have the skills in processing ourselves.
Sr. Charito Balancin, moderator of the session, thanked Fr. Cielito for urging the sisters to have a new heart, a new receptacle that is open to the spirit of the Lord to remain faithful as consecrated persons to our Baptismal calling and be prophetic to the Church and to the world.
