This year, the Laity Commission of the Latin American and Caribbean Conference proposes that we make a novena together on the occasion of the celebration of the foundation of the Congregation. The objective is to grow as a Redemptorist family, strengthening the bonds of brotherhood among us, to witness to the world the richness of our shared mission.
We will begin on Saturday, October 31st, with the celebration of the Eucharist transmitted through the digital platform Facebook (Misión Compartida CSsR); and we will culminate on November 9th, also with a solemn mass that each unit will celebrate respectively. The initiative has been designed in such a way that the different units (Provinces and Vice-Provinces) will be represented.
Pope Francis, in his recent encyclical letter Fratelli tutti, reminds us: In today’s world, the sense of belonging to a single human family is fading, and the dream of working together for justice and peace seems an outdated utopia. What reigns instead is a cool, comfortable and globalized indifference, born of deep disillusionment concealed behind a deceptive illusion: thinking that we are all-powerful, while failing to realize that we are all in the same boat. […] Isolation and withdrawal into one’s own interests are never the way to restore hope and bring about renewal. Rather, it is closeness; it is the culture of encounter. Isolation, no; closeness, yes. Culture clash, no; culture of encounter, yes” (FT 30).
In times of pandemic, we believe that it is important to encourage us to dream and work together, for a more humane, more just and more fraternal world. That is why, through this simple proposal, we, the brothers and sisters of the URNALC, URSAL and URB, say together: Long live the mission! Long live Jesus! Long live St. Alphonsus! Long live our Mother, the Virgin of Perpetual Help!
Fr. Juan Pablo Roldán C.Ss.R.
URSAL – Province of Buenos Aires (Argentina)
