Presentation of the Formation Plan in the Province of Europe

 

This past month in April a group of lay people and religious met in Madrid to become more closely acquainted with the structure and content of the Formation Plan, “Keep the flame alive, share the gift.”

 

We were led to an in-depth understanding of the Plan in order to promote it in the Provinces of Europe and Africa.  The group consisted of one Albanese, two French, one Italian, one Catalan, one Paraguayan and one Congolese. 

 

Esther Lucia Awad and Arantza Zabaleta, members of the Bordeaux Project made a presentation filled with enthusiasm, passion and depth.  We were all greatly motivated and encouraged to participate in the experience and to share it in our respective countries. 

 

We admired the comprehensiveness and ingenuity of this Formation Plan that contains all the dimensions of the person: human, spiritual and apostolic.  It invites one to initiate a true spiritual adventure.

 

These days also offered us the opportunity of a “community” experience, inviting us to strength our bonds as a group.   

 

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The Start of the Plan of Formation in the Province of Mexico

 

Keep the flame alive… share the gift: a call and a mission 

 

To see a shared dream becoming a reality fills our hearts with enthusiasm and hope, since it allows us to become participators in the construction of a new phase in our history as Company of Mary.  

 

Starting the Plan of Formation “Keep the flame alive, share the gift” in the Province of Mexico has been a significant event for the 37 educators  – 25 laity and 12 religious – who met together at Villa Lestonnac in the city of Guadalajara, Jalisco, with the purpose of beginning this experience. 

 

 Cristina Sanz, the Provincial Superior, in her opening address highlighted, among other aspects, how enriching it was to be able to have formation together and the responsibility we have to keep the flame that we have received alive, in order that with gratitude we may spread it and contribute so that Jeanne de Lestonnac’s Project may continue to be alive today and our world may be a little more human, more just and with more solidarity.

 

After a detailed presentation of the different aspects involved in this Plan, she invited the participants to reflect personally on “Why am I beginning this formation?” “What do I hope to gain from the experience?”

 

 

 

After that, in three groups formed by those who belong to the different geographical zones which have been organized to carry out the process, each participant was able to share his/her reflection and experience.

 

In the plenary session, one could see the convergence and the unity in the feedback which, when shared, enriched everyone.

 

 Expectations coincided and were intertwined:

 

“we want to absorb the Project, to grow as persons and to infect others each from our own role; to open our hearts to the experience of God, to meet together and share our enthusiasm”, “to give meaning to our life, to recognise our gifts and contribute them; to study in depth the Project of Jeanne de Lestonnac”… And there were many more desires which must gradually become reality among us over the next three years.

 

 The Plan was greatly valued as: “an occasion for personal growth and the search for interior life,  for becoming an integrated person, a person of integrity to communicate what has been received and to become better”; “a call to contribute to the building of the Kingdom and to transmit it to others”; “an opportunity to experience passion for the encounter with God, relating to others through education for the good of our society”; “the occasion to continue to study deeply the charism and the Educational Project of the Company of Mary and make it our own…”

 

Starting this formation process coincides with an important juncture in the process of the schools in the Province: the beginning of the new Team of Educational Management which, among other objectives, intends to promote the life of each centre by strengthening its identity as Company of Mary.

 

At the end of the meeting, along with the folder and the first study guides, we carried with us the enthusiastic conviction that we had started a journey which, step by step, will help us to “Keep the flame alive and share the gift”.

 

 

 

Guadalajara, Mexico

 

27^th April 2013

 

 

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“Keep the Flame Alive… Share the Gift”

 

FORMATION PROGRAM. Order of the Company of Mary Our Lady

 

After several years of work, the Bordeaux Project has placed at the disposition of the Provinces the WORLDWIDE FORMATION PROGRAM. This program responds to the request of the XVI General Chapter 2009:  “Create a formation and in depth reflection program for lay people and religious on the identity, spirituality and educational project of the Company of Mary that will help live the Charism, strengthen unity, the sense of belonging and a shared mission.”

 

The program is built around three interconnecting core themes:  personal integration, experience of God and commitment to the transformation of history.   All of this in light of a particular way of understanding the person, living the gospel and apostolic commitment: that is, the style of Jeanne de Lestonnac, the spirituality and pedagogy of the Company of Mary.

 

The content is divided into three key concepts: BEING A PERSON, BEING WITH OTHERS, BEING WITH OTHERS AND FOR OTHERS.   Each concept contains different topics, accompanied by a guide for reflection, assimilation and adoption.

 

The suggested materials are prepared with a three year period of work in mind, a concept per year.   The methodology suggested emphasizes personal reflection that includes, at times, opportunities for gathering and sharing.  Aware of our worldwide dimension, our desire is that this material be adapted to the reality in each region and to the characteristics and needs of diverse groups.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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