Our experience from the novitiate stage in Peru to the first commitment
3 novices – originally from the Congo – who made their first commitment in March of this year share their experience
” The noviciate, it is a time :
– of deepening one’s experience of Jesus Christ,
– of integration of the Charisma,
– of getting to know the Congregation in its history and its international dimension
It is a time to build one’s being in Christ and to allow oneself to be seized by Him”.
We began the novitiate on the 19th of March 2019, the day of St Joseph.
Our journey was accompanied by the Gospel of St. John 1:35-38 “Master, where do you dwell? “Throughout our journey, we identified with this question asked by John’s disciples, and we also sought out where the Master lived. And he answered “come and see“. And we, taking the risk, came, saw and decided to stay with him.
We spent our first year of the novitiate together in the community, participating in the courses of the conference of the Brothers and Sisters of Peru (Confer-Peru), where we were enriched by the exchange with different cultures, generations and religious families. It was a very profound moment with the courses and sessions that helped us grow and integrate. Nonetheless, we found it difficult to leave behind our beliefs and the old images we had of God: an all-powerful God who punishes and controls everything. Sometimes we would tell the community: “Sisters, we are losing our faith! “And the Little Sisters would laugh and say: “Calm down, girls, be patient, take your time, be open to the new, everything will be fine”.
It is true that thanks to the help and support of the community, we were able to integrate and bring to life what we had received. In the daily realities, we discovered a human, close, merciful God who neither punishes nor judges anyone, who always opens his loving heart to welcome everyone.
Through community we experienced a Trinitarian love which brought us joy in our differences of culture, age and journey. Our community life was marked by deep prayer in life and through life, which, with its strength, helped us start again in moments of tension between us, by opening a space for dialogue, forgiveness and continuous celebration.
To live this stage among the people, sharing life with the Christian community, with the children of school support, the adolescents, the young people and the simple families who surround us, has been a blessing and an opportunity to deepen our identity as Little Sisters of the Assumption.
The first year was a year full of life, characterised by: integration, deepening of our relationship with Jesus, and closeness to the people.
The second year, we were sent to different communities of Little Sisters in Colombia and Spain for our apostolic experience. Clerita and Sarah, who were sent to Colombia, were able to leave, while Ruth, who was sent to Spain, had to stay because of the pandemic that was beginning to affect the whole world and the closing of the borders. Despite it all, the three of us lived the mission in an unexpected way, adapting to the reality. We were invited to be creative using the media to get closer to the people and bring hope back.
Enclosed in the communities, we really live what Father Pernet said: “for a little sister, life and mission are one”. At the end of our apostolic internship, the two of us (Clerita and Sarah) who had gone to Colombia could not return to the novitiate community as planned, but we continued our training by participating in virtual courses offered by Confer-Peru. Thank God, when the borders reopened, we were able to return and continue the training until our first Yes, which you witnessed on March the 14th.
Our first commitment was a new experience for us that we would never have imagined. The pandemic became an opportunity to feel that “the whole world is open to us”. This new reality was significant for our engagement. Even virtually, we did not lose the essence of our Yes in the midst of this world so stricken by the coronavirus pandemic and so many other life-threatening pandemics. We have decided to commit ourselves freely to the defense of life in all its dimensions and to the gestation of a new world.
We thank each of you for accompanying us with your prayers throughout our novitiate, especially on the day of our commitment. By your active presence which has encouraged us. Knowing that we are not alone on our journey fills us with joy. It was moving to see so many little sisters connected from different parts of the world. Even though not all of them understood the language, they stayed connected from the beginning to the end, listening to the language of love that unites us, accompanying us and welcoming us into this great international family of the Little Sisters of the Assumption.
We count on your prayers in this new stage on which we have just embarked.
Ruth, Sarah and Clerita