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That was the word of God which called us to celebrate the feast of St
Stephen this year. A work filled with meaning, with the strength of
mission, with Christian commitment.
Seven years ago, eleven women:
María Toro, María Vicenta, Manoli, María Barcia, Pili, María Del Monte,
Rosario, Eloisa, María Reyes, Isabel and Chari formed a group for
Christian study, faith celebration and sharing life, alongside us, the
sisters of the Seville
community. With them we share commitments in the local
area, and outside it, at a social and Church level.
A strong bond of
friendship and love unites us with them – we feel we are sisters who
analyse the challenges presented to us by our society. At our weekly
meetings we start from a formation project that we drew up: to have
a deeper knowledge of the word of God, to pray it and make it
enter into our life. Another important aspect was getting to know our
charism and spirituality.
We did this in practice by sharing in a
simple way some concrete themes about our Congregation.
Since
the General Chapter, and on the basis of the invitation made to us in the
orientation on ‘working with the laity’, we thought that it was an
appropriate time to talk to them of the ‘Fraternities of the Assumption’,
how they came into being, what the motives were that impelled our
Founder to propose to the first Little Sisters that they bring together
and train groups of lay people.
We made a very simple little leaflet to
explain what they are, how they began, what the reason was for these
Fraternities of the Assumption. It was a pleasant
surprise to us to see how this was welcomed straight away — the questions
they asked. One of them exclaimed: ‘It was time you offered us
something of yours!’
From that moment we became
more certain that it was the time to offer them the
possibility of beginning a Fraternity group in Seville. So, there was work to
be done — personal dialogues with each one, talking
at a deeper level with them about the Fraternity. We wanted it
to be a personal decision, that they be able to express their
feelings, their doubts etc.
At one of the earlier meetings, and in
response to our questions, one of them had said — and I give her words:
‘In a world where we feel so lost, this feeling of belonging is very good,
this can be a space were we can help one another, feel that we are
sisters….’ We two sisters who were in the group looked at each other and I
think we were very moved as we thought of the words that Father Pernet
used when talking to the first brothers of the Fraternity.
he path
was open, and the gestation process began.
A year later, on the 26
December, Father Pernet’s feast day, we celebrated the day with a
beautiful event — a group of nine women publicly pro¬claimed their
member¬ship of the ‘
Fraternities of the
Assumption’
We had prepared the celebration together. The hymns and
the Word of God spoke to us of commitment, of being sent, of
mission.
There were over 60 people
there – neighbours, friends from the local area and outside, the Marist
and Divine Word religious from our neighbourhood, with whom we are very
friendly. There were some very moving symbols which will remind the women
of this moment: a little recipient of Seville pottery containing salt, a
lighted candle and the statutes of the Fraternity. .
We
felt we were fortunate that Carmen Jiménez could share in this experience
with us. It was she who had started this group and it seemed only right
that she could savour this moment. After the Gospel reading Carmen
ex¬plained what the Fraternities were, how they had come into being and the
reason for their existence in the Church and in society. 
This event was an intense experience for
the community. We all feel concerned to keep alive this
overwhelming enthusiasm, we are all aware of the responsibility
we are taking on as a group as we
accompany this beginning of the Fraternity in Seville..
Once the
fes¬tivities are over, at our next meeting we’ll begin the first stages of
drawing up a project of human and Christian formation. Along with that, it
is very possible that a new Christian formation group will be started with
women who are interested in this.
We give thanks to the Lord and to all the sisters
who have made it possible for this event to take place today. 
An abrazo to all of you from
the community of Seville,
Pilar Romero,
Pili Cabañes,
Catalina Llabrés y
Valle Castellanos
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