FORMATION FOR THE CONSECRATED LIFE IN A CHANGE OF TIMES

As we all know, the present and the future of our life and mission depend on the formation we receive and the formation we give. Indeed, formation is the key that opens the door to a meaningful life and mission. Without adequate training for today’s demands, there is the risk of repeating our past mistakes, lose the meaning of who we are and that what we do is more than a simple working hypothesis.

Formation takes place above all in daily life, in the situations experienced by the person and the community itself; by assuming mundane things as privileged places, including joy, fatigue and pain, successes and failures. (VC, 65; VC, 68; VC, 109)

Inmariquita formation, the most ordinary mediations in which the Lord can be present cannot be neglected. To be formed and to form is to assume life as formation in itself, in such a way that “every attitude and every behavior manifests the full and joyful belonging to God, both in important moments and in ordinary circumstances of daily life.

What is involved in the process of ongoing formation, is to nourish all the aspects of life, not just in one dimension, no matter how important it may be. In formation, the human, Christian and charismatic dimensions must be taken care of at the same time, and work must be done so that it “touches” the four vital aspects of the person: the mind (the importance of concepts); the heart (engaging the heart to assimilate and personalize concepts), the hands (orthopraxis), and the feet (it starts and ends in life since mission is its essence).

Ontecladobanderasgoing formation should awaken in the sisters an open and positive mindset to continually renew and grow. The same person who has received the call of God is primarily responsible for her own formation.   We are continually invited to give a new, attentive, and responsible response; hence study is for us a moral obligation and the quality of evangelization depends largely on it. Formation and study are lifelong responsibility.

Ongoing formation is a personal commitment and a community responsibility in which we all have to participate (cf. PGF).