Chronicle, January 28

Lima, 28/01/09.- The sessions of the I Congress of Sodalit Spirituality kicked off today in what was both a truly family environment and one of spiritual reflection, attended by more than 1200 members of our spiritual family. The delegates of the different institutions and associations of the Sodalit Family, who have come together from six continents, filled the main auditorium of the National Museum as well as a second auditorium set up especially in order to receive the Congress’ participants.

The activities began with a prayer invoking the presence of the Holy Spirit and commending the work and reflections of the Congress to the guidance of Holy Mary.

The inaugural address was given by Ignacio Blanco, President of the Congress Organizing Committee and member of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, who pointed out that “the realization of the I Congress of Sodalit Spirituality is a moment of great significance. We gather in the spirit of prayer in order to reflect upon the spirituality that the Holy Spirit has given rise to among us and granted us as a gift that we must know, interiorize and live in order to be able to transmit it, thus announcing the Good News of Reconciliation to today’s world.

Charism and Spirituality

Speaking to the Congress participants before beginning his conference on the subject of “Charism and Spirituality” Luis Fernando shared some of the essential aspects of the special message sent by Pope Benedict XVI on the occasion of the Congress. The Holy Father encouraged the members of the Sodalit Family to “deepen in the inspiration that has given rise to the Sodalitium and to the Sodalit Family that has risen around it, thus enriching the gifts that the Spirit has granted the Church.” An emotional applause was the response of the Congress participants to the message sent by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, in the name of the Successor of Peter, who encouraged the efforts of the Congress and imparted his paternal blessing on all those in attendance.

In his conference, Luis Fernando shed light upon the meaning and opportunity of the event of a Congress on Sodalit Spirituality, which is a special occasion to reflect, share, deepen and give reason for the experience of our community. “Today, when the world is submerged in a very grave crisis that impinges on the truth, on the possibility of discovering and communicating it, this is so much the more necessary…As Sacred Scripture teaches us, we must be always ready to give reason for our hope (1Pe 3:15).”

He indicated that the current Congress arose “as an expression of the necessary deepening in our own spiritual patrimony, of the dialogue about visions of the tradition closest to our own history as a spiritual family, as well as of the clarification for the sake of the life and action in service of the Plan of God, of the Church, and of the human being.”
Later on in his conference Luis Fernando delved into the meaning and importance of charism and of spirituality. He explained that a charism is “a specific and gratuitous gift of God” for the Church, which inserts itself into the life of the Church under the guidance and custody of her Pastors. He also explained how spirituality emerges from the charism made life and concretizes it in some particular accents.

In an intense and beautiful conclusion, our Founder invited us to have Holy Mary present so that upon drawing near to Her “her mystery might illuminate our reflection from the paradigm of her life, since in our Mother the relationship between the charism of the Holy Spirit which was made manifest in Her, and spirituality, which through the soft breeze of the Spirit arose in the life of the Virgin of Nazareth and is made concrete as a fundamental nutrient of our own spirituality.”
After a recess in which the participants had a chance to appreciate the photo exhibition entitled “The Mystery of the Human Being,” the second conference, “The human person and his fundamental dynamisms,” given by Gabriel Pereyra, member of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, went underway.

Gabriel indicated that the fundamental dynamisms “are constitutive forces or impulses of the human being that dynamize him from his selfsameness ("mismidad") and, being founded in the persons very being, become present in all of his life and action, impelling him towards his personal realization according to the Plan of God. That is why we call them "fundamental dynamisms." At the same time, on being constitutive of the human person, a theologal being, they are marked by theologality, that is, each of them in its own way moves the person towards God.” At the end of his conference he proceeded to answer participants’ questions.

The Congress’ activities will continue tomorrow with the conference entitled “The human person and his relational dynamic” and panel discussions on “Fundaments of trial anthropologies in Greek thought” and “Body, soul, and spirit in Sacred Scripture.”
(The present texts are recorded extracts and cannot be considered as the official versions of the exponents)