- We become aware of and honestly own the lights and shadows of our intercultural and intergenerational living. We open ourselves to continuous transformation as we befriend diversity and the unknown.
Communion within our Congregation
2019 - SSpS Year of Communion within our Congregation
Our interculturality as SSpS is an expression of the Spirit's many faces.
Humankind is expanding its consciousness to global horizons. At the same time, peoples struggle to maintain their cultural identity and national sovereignty. We experience both the richness and the struggles of intercultural and intergenerational community living.
Our formation today, both initial and ongoing, asks us to be open to paradigm shifts in the expression of our consecrated life, community life, and leadership styles. Congregational structures and leadership styles have to facilitate participation and communion. We experience the value of communal discernment and participative leadership. Moreover, the way we use our resources, both human and financial, and the way we make decisions and carry out our ministries have the concerns of the poor at heart.
- We evaluate and re-form congregational structures to best serve our mission.
- We use appropriate methods of communal discernment in our decision-making.
- We examine our lifestyle in the light of our total commitment to mission and concern for the marginalized.
15th SSpS General Chapter
Immersed in the life of the Trinity,
transforming the world with compassion
PRAYER
Most Holy Trinity
We praise and thank you for calling us to share in your loving unity and for entrusting us with the mission of widening the circle of Communion.
As we prepare for our 15th General Chapter, send us your Holy Spirit to guide us in this discernment process, grant that we may be united as we listen with compassion to the longings of our Congregation and the cry of our broken world.
Help us to be attentive to your promptings and inspirations; empower us to joyfully renew our commitment.
Triune God, we long to be immersed in your life of love and to share in your work of transforming the world with compassion.
In union with our Founding Generation and the thousands of SSpS who have gone before us, we entrust our whole Congregation into your providential care.
May the Holy Triune God live in our hearts and in the hearts of all!
Trinity tabernacle at the upper church of St. Michael Mission House, Steyl
Essential aspects of SSpS life in mission
Spirituality and Charism
As Servants of the Holy Spirit, we are in communion with the spirit of the Founding Generation and the thousands of SSpS who came before us. Living in a fast-changing world that has become increasingly fluid, polarized, and technology-driven, our Trinitarian Missionary spirituality and charism impels us to have a contemplative stance and to be a transformative presence.
Community
There is a longing in us SSpS to make our communities truly homes. Inspired by the communitarian nature of the Triune God, we strive to be more self-giving, compassionate, relational, and united. We want to take a step further in intercultural and intergenerational living by valuing it as a gift to be celebrated and shared among us and with the world.
Mission
Our Congregation was founded for frontier mission. And today, the cry of the victimized, abandoned, oppressed and exploited demands our attention and action. We, like the Founding Generation, are challenged to respond audaciously and creatively to these cries. We foster greater collaboration and networking with laity, other congregations and organizations to continue God’s mission.
Peace-building and Reconciliation
We, SSpS recognize that there is woundedness and violence within us, in our communities, and in our world. We long to give authentic witness to the Spirit’s transformative power by being instruments of peace and reconciliation.
Leadership
Effective leadership is crucial for mission and we are blessed with competent sisters and lay collaborators. However, we acknowledge the reality of an ageing and dwindling membership, and the increasingly complex administrative challenges.
Technology and Social Media
The gift of technology and social media plays a vital role in our lives and holds great potential for mission. As a missionary congregation, we harness the power of modern technology to facilitate communion and promote Gospel values. At the same time, we are concerned about the consequences on the self, community and ministry when it is used inappropriately.
Formation
We are aware that integral formation is a life-long process and we appreciate the opportunities given to us to grow in our religious missionary vocation. Yet, realizing that the complexity of the world and mission itself has an impact on us, we feel that our formation needs to go further in helping us grow in maturity, personal responsibility and dedication to God’s mission.
Spirituality and Charism
A reflection by Sr. Krystyna Szweda SSpS
Spirituality is essentially about how we see, experience, and respond to the world in which we live, and to God’s presence in it. Historically, it was often associated with the so-called religious aspects of Christian life such as prayer, penance and fasting. More recently, it has been defined in wider terms and we can say that “spirituality” is our daily life lived in response to the Holy Spirit.
“let your light shine” – encaustic painting – Roland J. Scheid SVD, Steyl
Community
A slide presentation by Sr. Maria Yosefina Neno SSpS
There is a longing in us – SSpS – to make our communities truly homes. Inspired by the communitarian nature of the Triune God, we strive to be more self-giving, compassionate, relational, and united. We want to take a step further in intercultural and intergenerational living by valuing it as a gift to be celebrated and shared among us and with the world.
Leadership
A reflection by Sr. Ana Elídia Caffer Neves SSpS
Leadership in our Congregation is clearly seen as service. However, it brings with it many challenges, and probably for this reason, many Sisters really do not feel comfortable in this ministry. This year in which we deepen the “Communion Within the Congregation”, it is worth our while to reflect on the role of leadership, a role that requires a response to today’s challenges.
Formation
A slide presentation by Sr. Maria Yosefina Neno SSpS
Formation for religious-missionary life as SSpS is a life-long process, the constant interplay of God’s initiative and human response in the unfolding mystery of vocation. The purpose of formation in our Congregation is to further our growth, to strengthen our vocation and to focus all our efforts on our missionary goal: THAT THE HOLY TRIUNE GOD LIVE IN OUR HEARTS AND IN THE HEARTS OF ALL PEOPLE.
Peace-building and Reconciliation
A reflection by Sr. Carmen Elisa Bandeo SSpS
Looking at my own life experience and reflecting on the questions that we were given, I took everything into my prayer. The name of an NGO (non-government organization) that comes from Cataluña, a northeastern region of Spain and is only a few blocks from our house in Athens, kept coming to me during this prayer. The name of the group is “Provocando la Paz” (Provoking Peace). This group works in many parts of the world, offering lodging, food, medical assistance, accompanying pregnant women, and vulnerable families.
Technology and Social Media
A slide presentation by Sr. Marides Santos SSpS
Communication and Technology have become a necessary part of our life, considering the reach and scope of SSpS’s mission—a myriad of countries on a spectrum of issues. We are in 50 countries, 45 provinces/regions, with almost 3,000 members. Media and technology are part of our daily life—in our personal and community life as much as in our ministries. They are gifts that hold the capacity to enrich and deepen our commitment as SSpS in a globalized world at this particular time in history.
EASTER
We celebrate the Risen Christ
We celebrate the Risen Christ
in every ray of sparkling sunlight
in every flower that opens
in every bird that sings
in every shade of green that surrounds us
in every drop of water that softens the earth
in every heart raised in prayer
in every cheerful face that gives hope.
Let us spread the Hope and Joy of Easter!
Happy Easter!
The SSpS Branding
Creating a common public image
Recommended Links
Materials on relevant topics for the Year of Communion within the Congregation
Community
Becoming Human (audio-book) by Jean Vanier
His journey and wisdom working with the most disabled
Community
Broken Body (audio-book) by Jean Vanier
The little way to be touched and transformed by the broken in our society
Empathy
Empathy
The power of vulnerability | Brené Brown
Studies human connection — our ability to empathize, belong, love
Empathy
Discernment
Spirituality
Spirituality
Spirituality
Spirituality
Religious Life
Sr. Teresa Maya, CCVI: A Vision for the Future of Religious Life
A reflection on religious life presented during the UISG Assembly 2019
Religious Life
Sr. Judette Gallares, RC: The Responsibility of Religious Life: A Biblical Perspective
A reflection on religious life presenting during the UISG Assembly 2019