From June 7 to 13, 2024, 3 Adorers’ Novices and 4 Junior Sisters participated in a Formation Meeting held at the Motherhouse of the Congregation in Madrid.
Junior Sisters Huyen Do Thi, Uyen Vo Nu Phuong, from Vietnam, currently assigned in Ciudad Real and Almeria, respectively, and from Salamanca, Mimose Dauphin, Haitian, and Sofia Gonzalez, Argentinean, came to the meeting.
Novices Ann Mutuku, originally from Kenya, Isis Segura, from Cuba, and Yeraldine Mota, from Colombia, are currently living in the International Novitiate located in Madrid.
The formation was given by Sr. Gabriela Valot, Consultant and Formation Officer of the General Government of the Congregation.
Objectives and Programs of the formation meeting for Adorers’ Novices and Junior Sisters
The objectives of this formation meeting, focused on advancing “In the footsteps of Micaela”, have been:
- To celebrate the joy of the loving call of God who proposes to us to live, like St. Maria Micaela by Him and for them.
- To share faith, life and mission, from the new realities that each one lives as a Novice and Junior Sister.
- To recreate fraternity by sharing life experiences.
- To let oneself be accompanied in order to live the Eucharist with intensity as a daily Kairos.
- To be open to the future, making possible the listening and the transformation that the Holy Spirit proposes to us.
As for the program of this formative event, the contents included the following topics: “Being with Him”; “The sight of the Lord”; “The seal of an alliance”; “The community, gift and task”; “Availability to be sent”; “We do not walk alone”.
The Novices and Junior Sisters also enjoyed a Sunday excursion to Parque Europa in Torrejón de Ardoz (Madrid). Also, on Wednesday 12, they made the “Micaelian Route”, a tour designed to share a time guided by the most significant places and experiences of the life of St. Maria Micaela in Madrid.
Starting from the Motherhouse, Adorers’ Novices and Junior Sisters went to the center of the capital of Spain. From there they went to Libertad Street, the place where our Foundress was born; to the Parish of St. Joseph, where she was baptized; to the Oratory of the Caballero de Gracia, where she went to pray; as well as to the different sites that held the houses for women in prostitution in Madrid (Calles 2 amigos, Fomento, Jardines, Don Pedro and Atocha).
Thus, in addition to following the footsteps of our foundress through her hometown, getting closer to her origins and the work she started, they were able to enter into a personal experience of knowledge and/or growth in our Adorer charism.
Testimonies
Huyen, in her 2nd year as a Juniora Sister, shares that this Formation Gathering has been “a richness”. “Although we are at different stages of formation, we are sisters, we are Adorer Family. In this event, she explains, “we not only learn, but we share what we are and what we have. Thank you for this meeting! I have once again deepened my time as a Junior Sister”
Ann, a 2nd year Novice, says that this has been a “Christ-centered” experience, focused “on the following of Christ in religious life, as women called to a specific charism to give today’s answers to today’s questions with today’s answers”. They also learned about communication in the communities, “how we communicate, how we express ourselves” about “our look, how we look at other people and what we transmit with our look”.
The Novice also emphasized that the material organization was presented “focused on the centre of our life, Christ, with Him, from Him and for Him”. For all this, Ann considers that these days have helped her in her vocational discernment, “to continue walking with hope, making fraternity. God has called us together with other sisters to give answers together, to a synodal fraternity in which we look not only at ourselves, but also at the universal Church”.
Yeraldine, a first year Novice, emphasizes that these days of formation have meant “strengthening, sharing and creating community, it has been a space to know that the one who calls me supports my option for others and with others that I do not go alone”. She also recognizes that this has been a great opportunity to make “this journey in the footsteps of Micaela”, discovering that in the Adorer charism “there is a Mother Micaela who renews us also in her spirit, in her dedication, something that we can feel in her writings”.
