World Day of Consecrated Life, February 2nd.

What does it mean to belong? 

Consecrated Life is an invitation to belong.  First and foremost, our consecration at Baptism affirmed in our religious vows is an invitation to belong to a life in Christ, trusting that Christ is everywhere incarnate.  We know Christ calls us to live fully always! We belong so we can be Christ for the world – women of compassion and justice.  Women who reach out to touch every human being with dignity, no matter who they are.

We also belong to a community, to the Congregation of the Sisters of the Charity of the Incarnate Word.  As we close our Sesquicentennial Jubilee, we need to ask ourselves what does belonging to this particular community mean today?  Not why we belonged in the past, why we belonged to a particular ministry, or province, or even theological ideal; but, what does it mean to belong to a community in the present?

We belong to Christ in this community.  We belong to each other around all the tables of communion.  We belong to our Mission and Charism.  We belong because we believe.  We believe community is the place where our consecration deepens the roots of our belonging.  We belong to a community that keeps us honest, that keeps us faithful.  We belong to a community where we have cried together and tried together, where we will grief each other and we will make promises to carry this heritage forward into legacy.

What does it mean to belong? It means to be women who have learned to hope in communion. 

Grace and blessings on the Day of Consecrated Life,

S. Teresa Maya, CCVI.

On the header: S. Dorothy Batto, S. Kathleen Reynolds, S. Maricruz Iñiguez, S. Rosantina Garzafox, S. Martha Laura Gaona, S. Tere Maya, S. Carmelita Rodríguez, S. Érica López, S. Gloria Ortíz, S. Peggy Bonnot, S. Elizabeth Ann Vazquez, S. Marichui Bringas, S. Cathy Vetter, S. Ma. de la Luz Cardona.