Chronicle of the final day

Very early in the morning and with much enthusiasm and gratitude for what was shared and lived in previous day, the participants of the I Congress of Sodalit Spirituality began the activities that on Saturday would last all day.

Songs and prayers led into the program today, in which conferences, panels, questions, a big community Rosary and other pleasant and edifying surprises took place.

The first of the talks in the morning, "Sin, anthropological key," was given by Catalina López, member of the Marian Community of Reconciliation, who pointed out that a correct theological vision of sin "gives us a fundamental key for the understanding of the way of man on his journey through this world, for the understanding of our own pilgrimage through the world as a continuous battle. It sheds light on the meaning of human suffereing and opens us up to hope with the luminous truth of the Reconciliation of Christ."

Catalina explained that from the perspective of Sodalit spirituality, fundamented in Revelation and the teaching of the Magisterium and Tradition, "we draw closer to the subject of sin from various particular accents: sin as disobedience, sin as rupture, sin as a suicidal act and sin as a homicidal act."

On the same lines Catalina placed an emphasis on the importance of detaining ourselves in the approach to sin as a force of rupture, highlighting its quadruple dimension: with God, with oneself, with our brothers and sisters, and with all creation. Sin, she added, is a permanent obstacle to growth in love and communion, as much in the hearts of men as in the different structure created by them, in which the sin of their authors has left its destructive trace." In this manner the anthropological consequences of sin "are indubitable, given that the strength of the rupture it bears distorts the four fundamental relationships of the human being."

Even though man experiences himself as wounded by sin, there augurs with even greater force a "longing for infinity which is not a passing experience but permanent and constitutive of his very existence ," she concluded.

At the end of the conference the participants posed numerous and interesting questions, seeking  to deepen in this transcendental theme in order to have a better understanding of man and his urgent need for reconciliation.

During the break the participants were invited to visit the beautiful popular art exhibition whose theme was the Marian advocation of our spiritual family: Our Lady of Reconciliation.

The mornings panels took place immediately afterwards. The first of them was entitled "The approach to the human person in some spiritual authors between the XV and XVII centuries," by Gustavo López, member of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, who underlined the approach to the subject in diverse authors of the era, such as Fray Louis of Granada, Saint John of the Cross, Fr. Miguel de la Fuente and Saint Francis of Sales.

For all of these authors, explained Gustavo, "the body is the exterior part, the "house" of the soul, subject to education, in order that it does not become an obstacle in the path of the spirit." Concerning their approach to the inner dimension of man Gustavo explained that "…the interior dimension of man is constituted by distinct planes or degrees, each with its own faculties and powers…in this interior dimension, in almost every case, a more intimate and reserved place – with faculties for some and without faculties for others and still for others with faculties but in its most noble state - is usually thrown into relief and is the authentic place of encountering God."

In concluding and before the logical question of what is mans task in the face of this constitutive part of his person, Gustavo pointed out that a "taking off the old man – and putting on the new" was necessary in order to cooperate with grace in order that it acts and transforms all his being, from the more exterior parts to the most interior, making them more spiritual.
The next panelist, Felipe Peligrinelli, member of Sodlaitium Christianae Vitae, presented "The trial vision of man in some contemporary authors."

He cautioned that although not all the authors he would mention could be considered, in the strict sense, promotors of a clear and structured "trial vision" of the human being, "they can be considered possible interlocutors towards a better understanding of such a vision."

This qualification allows us to enter into dialogue with the contributions fo the German philosopher Edmund Husserl, with Saint Edith Stein, some aspects of the anthropology of Emmanuel Mounier, the philosopher Ferdinand Ebner, the Viennese psychologist Viktor Frankl, the Italian psychiatrist Roberto Assagioli, the celebrated Catholic thinker Henri de Lubac, the Spanish theologian Olegario González de Cardenal and the German Lutheran theologian Franz Delitzsch.

Felipe sustained that in the midst of a world marked by ideological reductionisms, by a strong fragmentation of the human and in the face fo the insufficiency and incomprehension of what the spiritual dimension means for today's man, "one of the challenges of our time is the recovery of the unitary and integral vision of the human being and the recovery of the spiritual dimension."
At midday, as an expression of our filial love to our Mother a Rosary was prayed for the intentions of the Holy Father and for all the work and fruits of the Congress, meditating upon the mysteries of pain and joy in order to learn from Mary what our Christian life must be like.

IN THE AFTERNOON

At 4:30pm the last block of the Congress began with a prayer and the conference, "The Lord Jesus, Reconciler and Revealer of the human person," by Ignacio Blanco, President of the Organizing Committee of the Congress and a member of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae.

The object of the conference, according to him, was to seek to deepen in the astonishing mystery of the horizon of the reconciliation of the human being carried out by the Lord Jesus, "who reveals man to himself and shows him the sublimity of his vocation."

Deepening further into the subject, he presented reconciliation as a key and fundamental dynamism which the human being is invited to have in and from Christ. "The theological richness of this category of understanding of Revelation has, through its own dynamism, anthropological projections that illuminate the mystery of the human being from the faith."

"In the Lord Jesus man is not only forgiven (justified) but totally renewed, reoriented, "created" anew, and introduced in this reconciling dynamic as its beneficiary and minister," he added.

Before an attentive audience, Ignacio explained that in the Lord Jesus we discover our identity and the horizon of our realization. In this sense he highlighted the importance of Gaudium et spes 22 and Ecclesia in America 10 not only for Sodalit spirituality, but also for the renewed presentation of the mystery of Christ in this third millennium, as well as for anthropological reflection illuminated by faith.

Ignatius presented some concrete elements that Christ reveals to us about our identity and vocation as persons: to be sons in the Son, humility as an existential disposition, obedience, path of authentic freedom and realization, purity, path of fullness in love, the cruciforme dimension of human existence and the missionary meaning of existence.

At the end of the conference he fielded different questions about the application of the reconciling dynamism in daily Christian life.

After the break the last conference of the Congress took place: "The human person and his free cooperation with grace," by Fr. Jorge Olaechea, priest of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae.

Before a reflective audience Fr. Jorge explained what the authentic freedom of the human person consists of. He argued that "through the free exercise of the will, which moves towards what the person – by means of a process in which diverse physical, affective and tendential factors interact with the understanding – evaluates as the good for him in a given situation, the human person disposes himself towards forging himself."

Nonetheless, the mystery of human freedom is not exhausted with that, he pointed out.  Deepening reflection on the subject takes us to a very important concept, which in our spiritual tradition we call freedom possessed.  "It is not a static concept, as if one could say in a given moment "I now possess my freedom," but rather a dynamic reality: we become more free to the extent that we carry out free acts that draw us near to the "deep reality," the selfsameness, of our own being," he said.

"We thus can affirm, - he continued, that the Plan of God is the space of authentic human freedom, because only from the intentionality of the Divine Plan is the authentic meaning of every human reality understood, including freedom, and – we might add – above all the freedom, as Gaudium et spes says, that in the collection of human realities is the "eminent sign of the divine image in man."

Grace is always a loving gift from God and does not annul our freedom but rather "when we exercise this freedom in accordance to the direction of our fundamental dynamisms we become more free by the action of grace," he added.

Fr. Jorge concluded by saying that "the example of the faithful Virgin points us to the fullness of human freedom, since it is not only a capacity for choice, nor is it only the possession of this freedom by means of its correct exercise according to the true and the good, but the self-donation, from within this possessed freedom, in loving obedience to the Lord and his Plan.

CLOSING CEREMONY

A series of gratuitous surprises crowned the closing ceremony of the I Congress of Sodalit Spirituality. The joy of the participants was surged spontaneously with some songs presented by the Aguilar family, members of our spiritual family, in a clear show of the spontaneous joy that springs from the presence of the Lord Jesus among us.

After the songs and music Ignacio Blanco, President of the Organizing Committee of the Congress said that this Congress "has been an indescribable experience, and the first thing that arises is gratitude to God, since it is his force which has gathered us, which feeds these relationships of friendship and brotherhood in our family."

"Who says that changing the world is impossible?" he asked, noting that this thought occurred to him when he visited the exhibition of the images of Our Lady of Reconciliation, all works of Peruvian artists who have been able to make our spirituality concrete in their works.

He also exhorted all the members of the spiritual family, from within their own realities, to "assume the demanding commitment of responding, of really being formed, of setting upon the path of listening, welcoming, interiorizing what we see in our Mother Mary so that it becomes our own path."

CLOSING WORDS OF OUR FOUNDER

On concluding his exhortation, Ignacio Blanco asked Luis Fernando to make some concluding remarks.

After giving profound thanks to God for this intense and beautiful experience that has gathered well over a thousand people of the spiritual family from all over the world, Luis Fernando pointed out that the Spirit of God "moves us to open our hearts; to express what He gives us and to categorize it; to live the Christian experience more deeply, to launch ourselves into the world to announce the Lord Jesus."

He shared with all those present that he was deeply moved by the exhibition of images of Our Lady of Reconciliation shaped "so beautifully and in such diverse forms by the popular artists of that land of so much suffering, Ayacucho…blessed by this creative capacity of men and women in popular art."

Not less impressive, pointed out Luis Fernando, are the photos and paintings that express the vitality of a community of faith, of hope and of love rooted in today's world. He also referred to the Aguilar family as a symbol of a united family, expressing itself in art, a gift that God has given them.  "All this," he said, "should bring us to a very deep gratitude.

Luis Fernando also said that the presence of Alcides Mendoza, the youngest bishop to have participated in the Second Vatican Council and who had been present during the days of the Congress, strongly evoked the Council in him "like a great, strong and intense gift for the Church of our time."

Filled with emotion, Luis Fernando remembered the year 1972, when the auxiliary bishop of Lima, at the request of the Cardinal Archbishop of Lima Juan Landázuri Ricketts, visited the nascent Sodalit community and encouraging the initial group of Sodalits said to them: "the Sodalitium is a full expression of the Second Vatican Council." He continued the story mentioning that twenty years later, in 1992, Cardinal Landázuri, in the Pastoral Center of Saint Mary of the Evangelization, shared these same "famous words" – the Cardinal called them – of his auxiliary bishop. "This meant – said Luis Fernando – the responsibility of transmitting and taking the Council's message to the world."

"How then, along with the full awareness of our fragility, can we not recognize the free election of God who is Love, who deposits such an immense task within us, that of taking his message and his presence to a world that turns its back on Him," he said.  With a strong and inspiring voice, he exhorted the members of the spiritual family to draw near and learn from Mary. "Christ sends us to Mary, our Mother, his Mother, making us brothers in Her and invites us to draw near to Her like Him, with the love of a son, with filial love. What a beautiful expression, filial love; draw near to Mary so that like children we feel her tenderness and can harmonize our hearts with hers, which we well know beats to the beat of the heart of Jesus," he said.

In concluding the Congress' final message, Luis Fernando remembered the words of Pope Benedict XVI about Jesus: "He takes away nothing, and gives everything." He gives us everything, showing us our identity, the horizon of our existence, the true happiness that our heart clamors for, to give ourselves to Jesus."

"We must make Him life in our life, center all our attention on the Lord, not allow ourselves to be distracted by the noise, by the idols the world presents us with, by the hostility of a world that turns its back on God, by an increasingly negative human culture. We must not allow ourselves to be distracted, but raise our faith up high, allow that flame that burns in the Heart of the Virgin to burn in our hearts, open ourselves to receive the oil of the Holy Spirit so that this flame grows and becomes a living torch that goes through the world kindling hearts, kindling realities, making an immense fire that shows the joy, the warmth, the light of God in a world that walks in darkness.  This is our mission, this is why we are here, a Congress doesn't end today, a new dimension of deepening reflection is opened until the next stage, in order that throughout the whole process we may become that torch, that living fire and go through the world radiating fire, radiating light, radiating love," he concluded.

As a final act of the Closing Ceremony a liturgy carried out, presided over by Bishop Alcides Mendoza Castro, who imparted his blessing on all the participants of Congress and extended it to all the members of the Sodalit Family who in these days have accompanied the progress of this beautiful event with their prayer and fraternal communion."

(The present texts are recorded extracts and cannot be considered as official versions of the expositors.)