Our second day of General Chapter began in Loyola as flowers perfumed the air, birds sang and dense mist slowly rose from the surrounding mountains abundantly dressed in green of all shades.   In the midst of this beauty, we began our celebration of the feast of Mary Reparatrix with Eucharist in the room where Ignatius began his profound relationship with Jesus Christ for the glory of God. In addition to all this, we spent the day rejoicing with Begoña Barandiarán over the fifty years she has lived as a Sister of Mary Reparatrix.

All this provided a marvelous ambiance in which to enter more deeply into the work of the Chapter which will set the tone and the direction for the next six years in the life of the congregation.  With the guidance of our facilitator, Maria Pilar (Piluca) Benavente Serrano, we took time to realize even more fully that it is our responsibility as members of the Chapter to collaborate well so that we will accomplish this with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Following this our General Superior, Christine Barrière, presented an overview of the past six years while highlighting important realities that need our attention so that we might live our call to reparation more authentically at this moment in the history of the congregation and the world.  Christine paused several times during the presentation to give us time consider and  respond spontaneously to what she had said up to that point in the report.  This not only allowed us to better digest what we had heard but also to have a sense of what we were all thinking regarding certain points of great importance to us as Sisters of Mary Reparatrix.

Later in the day, Dolores Diez de Revenga acquainted us more fully with the approaches being used to provide formation for members of the congregation whether they are new or sisters who have lived many years of religious life.   When Dolores talked about our Associates she expressed the joy we all experience because we share a common call to live reparation in many parts of this wide world.  

How wonderful it was to bring this rich day to a close with an evening full of laughter, good chocolate and lively song and dance in celebration of Begoña’s jubilee on this glorious feast of Mary Reparatrix!