“My dearest Sisters, appreciate a lot your vocation, and in thanksgiving of its great benefit, serve the Lord with joy (Ps.100,2), as He so command you, by David.
This joy, as St.
Basil says, “is necessary to do marvelous things.” [1]
Great paths in life
begin with small steps, apparently insignificant but of great value. It is
worth remembering our simple history, 35 years from 25th of February
of 1987 until this 2022, when our first sisters Dominicas de la Anunciata
commenced their mission: Sisters Montserrat Casellas Rabaseda, Ma. Angeles
Ortega Espinosa+; followed by Sr. Ma. Sagrario Llorente Herrero+ on the 2nd
of February of 1988 and on the 9th of January, 1989,[2] Sr. Ma. Natividad
Martinez de Castro arrived to Philippines. The four of them together ignited-initiated
such foundation
The support sisters remind us the value of Anunciata Identity. We live in a world that values more achievements and performances than the value of the human person. It is a world of competitions and comparisons. Oftentimes we forget that it is not a world of competitiveness and survival of the fittest that is important, rather the firmness of faith and steadfastness of one’s fidelity. It is not only what we know but what we believe or whom do we believe. Where our faith is grounded? What criteria do we have when we confront situations or when we judge others? How do we relate to each other? How and what do we essentially communicate?
The Anunciata Identity, as Mary of the Annunciation-Incarnation, reminds us the art of listening, of dialogue, of communicating and of relating… not only through the mind but by one’s heart. This implies silence, attentiveness, interiority-interiorization, listening, humility and sincerity. Mary invites us to empty ourselves and embrace our own limitations. This is what an incarnated spirituality implies, it is a spirituality of compassion and communion, of living fraternal-interculturally, and not of survival of the fittest. It is to purify our way of looking and of our mindsets.
“God decided to manifest His presence, thus,
he fulfilled our redemption in human weakness. Jesus made it possible for us to
enter into communion with God, prior to any law or religious precept, it is
necessary to live concretely our relationship with God.” [5]
In the midst of crisis, of wars, of poverty, of this pandemic, we ask ourselves of these 35 years of our foundation: Who are we truly? Whom do we intend to become? Where are we or where do see ourselves years from now? Are we deeply aware of the Gospel values that form and purify our hearts? Does Jesus, our spiritual-sacramental nourishment lead us to embrace each others’ differences and deficiencies? Do we know how to say “sorry” or “thanks” when situations ask us?
[1] Padre San Francisco Coll, “Proyecto de
Constituciones: Aprecio de la Propia Vocación,” en Regla o Forma de Vivir, Escritos Dirigidos a la Congregación de la
Hermanas Dominicas de la Anunciata, Padre Vito García, ed. (Madrid, España:
Publicación de las HH. Dominicas de la Anunciata, 1995), n.77, p. 405.
[2] Libro personal de la Comunidad de la Anunciata
(Cubao, Quezon City, Filipinas). También en la Crónica Congregacional.
[3] Las otras Hermanas que vinieron en Filipinas
después de las primeras cuatro hermanas: Ma. Jesús Muñoz, Dolores Perales,
Ildete Magalhaes, Bernadette Reid, Rolindes García, Marta Alicia Rivas, Isabel
Martínez de Castro, Cirila Zarate Aguilar, Angele Gusemu Molha.
