“The announcement of the General Chapter
The Superior General of the Institute will do it,
one year before its celebration…” (Dir. 144)
Christ reigns
COMMUNITY DAUGHTERS OF CHRIST THE KING
Dear sisters,
Shared life, manifested desires and intuited calls are present in us, at the breath of the Spirit, through the evaluation carried out in the first months of this year in each community and in the intercommunity meeting that we had on May 20. Without a doubt, all these reflections and challenges continue to guide the development of our roadmap as a path that we are traveling together, in the certainty that in these times we live in, God continues to accompany us. For this reason, confident that we are living God's time in the Institute, I officially announce to all of you that the XXIII General Chapter will be held in our house in San Gregorio from July 1 to 31, 2024.
If the celebration of a General Chapter is a Pentecost for a religious Institute, this chapter year is a call to continue listening to the whispers of the Spirit and discerning where God wants us, the Daughters of Christ the King. We know our frailties, our weaknesses and that many times the search for the personal can lead us into an individualism that is far from fraternal sharing and the creation of bonds with a touch of gospel and charisma. We also know how the burning desire to live from the essential and opening paths to the Spirit beats in the heart of each one in hopeful continuity with what was experienced after the last General Chapter.
As you know, a few days ago, the General Government met with a group of superiors to determine the Objective of the next Chapter. To do this, we took into account the reflections that we have made in the pre-chapter stage and, in tune with the institutional sentiment, we formulated the following Chapter Objective: “Focusing on what is essential, let us open paths.”
Urgent possibilities continue to open to our feet to be what we are in a simple, fraternal way and in coherence with the charisma received. This is the time to not give room to hesitations and pettiness as the Father Founder would tell us and that would probably be the emphatic way he would tell us “daughters, open paths!” Let us not stop the Spirit by thinking that everything in the past was better, God always makes all things new and, in the midst of crossroads and ups and downs, He becomes certainty.
The various meetings that we are going to experience in this chapter year, are for us not a “requirement” of preparation, but rather moments of listening, dialogue, mutual trust and participation of all, knowing that whatever arises during this time will be the object of reflection, prayer and discernment in the next General Chapter.
In this beloved house of San Gregorio, where I find myself, it is inevitable to evoke the spiritual strength of José Gras, the one that was nourished by the centrality of Christ the King in his life and that launched him to open paths without hesitation. From this place, much encouragement sisters! Let us prepare to live this capitular year as a time of the Spirit for the Institute, the Church and the world, let us ask the Lord for it.
A big hug to each one.
M. Patricia Suárez Calderón
Superior General
Saint Gregory, July 16, 2023.
