From April 18, a time of more intense discernment marked by recollection and prayer began for the chapter assembly. Accompanying us in the experience of Franciscan discernment was Fr. Bernardo Molina OFMCap, known to some of our sisters because he is the assistant of MoReFra, and who held, in the afternoon, a meeting entitled “Authority and Obedience in Fraternity and Life in the Spirit.”
A passage from Regola Bollata (RegB 10:1-6) says that in order to enter discernment one must become the dwelling place of the Spirit of the Lord; it is a process of conversion that leads to profoundness, to an interiority purified of vices. Discernment for St. Francis is a true spiritual experience, a journey of Sequela Christi, in which one lives the humility and charity of the Lord within relationships of brotherhood and service.
April 19, for FMIJ is the day of the memorial of the death of Mother Foundress, the feast culminated with the Eucharistic celebration at 6:00pm in the chapel of Ritiro Sant’Antonio where sisters from neighboring fraternities joined the Capitolari in prayer. The Eucharist was presided over by the Minister Provincial of the Friars Minor of the Province of Umbria and Sardinia, Fr. Francesco Piloni OFM.
At the beginning of the celebration Mo. Lilia Agnese Contini gave or addressed a fraternal welcome to Fr. Francesco. “To be united only with Him, to work only for Him, to please God alone and for the salvation of souls.” Mo. Lilia Agnese, taking from the invitation that the Mother Foundress used to make to the sisters, asked that this be the grace to ask the Lord during the Eucharistic celebration. The Word of God accompanies us to desire, like the saints, like Sr. Mary Joseph, those “heavenly things” like the Gospel. Fr. Francesco, in his homily, points out how all of us – like Saul, St. Francis, Mo. Mary Joseph… – have had a bitter experience…that is also sweet: the fall. For from there, we realized that we can only live with our feet on the ground and with Jesus within us, with Jesus in us. “It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.” From this we build a fraternity that is made of trust, a solid place, where we experience that security that allows us to surrender ourselves to what God wants. This is Fr Francesco’s wish for the Capitolari and each FMIJ sister.
