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Sharing with ConnecSion

“They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race according to the flesh, is the Christ. God who is over all be blessed forever. Amen”. Rm 9,4-5

During three months ConnecSion group will be living here in Ein Karem. They are six Sisters, Leah and Beth from Philippines; Wafaa from Egypt and Cida A. Cida D and Joselia from Brazil. The Sisters who are working with them are Sister Darlene, Ivone and Maureen. This session is a preparation for their perpetual vows in Sion.
We are going to join them in their sessions about Sion Charism. This last week was the beginning of it. On Monday 6th and Thursday 9th we had our first two sessions given by Sister Darlene.

The first one was an introductory session working with the NDS Constitution. We had a moment for personal reflection to find which three numbers of the Constitution best articulate the Charism for us?. Then each one of us shared our opinion about the questions. The answers were very diverse but we also found out some similarities of our understanding and living of the Charism. We ended the session talking individually or in pairs with Sister Darlene about a project we were asked to do. Each one of us will choose and prepare a project thinking how we will present the NDS Charism for a specific group of people, for example; children, youth, adults, a specific culture, etc.

In the second session, we worked on the Nostra Aetate Document. We were divided in two groups. Each group had to reflect on some statements from Nostra Aetate (Declaration on the relation of the church to non-Christian religions, II Vatican Council), some images about the Ecclesia and the Synagogue. From the statements and the images we answered some questions like What are the teachings of the church now? Why is it important for us as NDS Sisters to know, understand and share this document and the teachings of the church?

These two sessions are giving us a great opportunity to grow, share, understand and live Sion Charism with others NDS Sisters from different background, language, formation and age. It is a challenging and rich experience for us. We hope to continue learning from one and other and to expand our vision and love of the Congregation.

“You must have hearts larger than the world”. Father Theodore

Nancy Mena Fernandez NDS, Novice
Congregational Novitiate Ein Karem, Jerusalem