Walking together towards a regenerated humanity

With the reflections found in this number of the Bulletin, we have tried to seek  a new and  shared way  towards a restored humanism. Walking on this path, the consecrated life can  make a prophetic and relevant contribution. 

The consecrated life is, in fact,  a call to bring into the world the mission of the Spirit which  is constructing unity by reconciling diversity  through the patient search  for harmony which embraces all the dimensions of human life. 

Being a mission on this earth inhabited by our brothers and sisters,  and regenerating  humanism means cultivating a sense of belonging to the human family, growing in  solidarity and in ethical responsibility,  and awakening the consciousness of belonging to  a world  that is protected and safeguarded. 

If the conviction that all human beings are brothers and sisters is not to remain an abstract idea but to find concrete embodiment, then numerous related issues emerge, forcing us to see  things in a new light and to develop new responses. (Fratelli tutti, 4,128)

… It is Your Face, O Lord, that I seek! 
Remembering Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
Sr. Nadia Coppa, ASC 
As consecrated women, we loved and supported the humble labourer in the Lord’s vineyard, welcoming his magisterium’s prophetic intuitions and allowing his teachings to challenge us. We will remember him for the humility and wisdom with which he accompanied the Church and those in religious life.

For a Grammar of the Human Dimension in Consecrated Life
Fr. Carlos del Valle, SVD
God incarnate, God humanized. Our God is Jesus, a poor, weak man, who knows fear,  temptation, pain, rejection, joy, friendship. It is difficult to recognize the Son of God in a  poor human being. If we say that God became human, we are saying that we find God in  humanity. Faith is not possible if it does not produce humanity. Our life would not make  sense in any other way. Being consumers of spirituality, spectators of life, leads us to live  a vacuum-packed story, apart from the story of other people. Conversely, being aware of everything that happens connects us with the depth of everyday life. We ask for great  signs from an illusory God, and we do not see the poor signs offered to us by the real  God, who is always the leaven of humanization.

Where do we place ourselves? Religious on the peripheries – physical, spiritual, and  existential 
Sr. Juliet Mousseau, RSCJ
Beyond those marginalized by physical need, anyone who is seen as less than human  because they are “other” needs the light of Christ. To create a “culture of encounter”  means widening our circles to include those who think and worship differently, those who disagree with us, and even those who seem unlikeable. A culture of encounter is not a place of proselytizing, but rather one of seeking out greater understanding and  recognizing the humanity in the other person who seems so different.

Deep Incarnation as a Radical Call: Ecology, Consecrated Life and Love
Sr. Ann-Maree O’Beirne, RSM
If we, as women religious, aspire to be in communion with God, can we accept and promote  communion with the whole of creation? Francis recognises that when our embrace is  that broad and deep, we begin to feel the pain and suffering of all creation -  the entire Earth community— within our very beings. The call is to expand our understanding of  communion with God, the Incarnation of Christ, and our relationships as vowed women,  to embrace this comprehensive communion and allow ourselves to feel compassionately  the pain and suffering of Earth and Earth’s poor and seek appropriate and effective  responses. Contemplating a theology of deep incarnation can assist our reflection as  women religious and the radical call it invites us to engage.

The sense of being. Cultivating Hope to Regenerate Humanity
Marcella Serafini
Human nature was conceived, in God’s eternal mind, as the noblest to realize the supreme  purpose of creation. The Son of God assumed it in its entirety, without any modification or improvement; in so doing, God showed that He fully loved and approved of it. Since it was assumed by the Son of God, human nature will be glorified in every individual.

Women’s ministry of the Word and Synodality in Luke’s writings
María Concepción Tzintzún Cruz, FMVD
The prophetic word of Jesus constantly interprets the events of history, even the cruellest  sufferings of men and women that parallel his own passion, recognizing them as being  assumed in the Father’s plans that prevail beyond the vicissitudes of history. The  characteristically female capacity for the gestation and nurturing of children finds an  exalted recognition as the necessary path for the disciples of Jesus, whose whole being is  involved in listening to and keeping the Word of God, the same Word that they proclaim  to the ends of the earth.

Sisters for the Environment: integrating Voices from the Margins
Statement
The publication of this statement aims to create a platform to outline principles and  orientations fora more sustainable future, based on the learnings that Catholic Sisters  have acquired through their exceptional engagement with grassroots communities. As a pillar of UISG’s environmental advocacy, this statement will stimulate action that is  decentralized and diversified through the involvement of religious and non-religious  groups, men and women, younger and older people, governmental agencies and inter governmental bodies, international organizations and private companies.

We call on the global development community to engage with Catholic Sisters in promoting  and realizing integral environmental solutions, to ensure a safe and thriving future for all  people and our planet.

UISG Bulletin 180/2023