On 12 and 13 October, a total of 44 Brothers, associates and collaborators from the Province of Spain met at the House of Spirituality of the Religious Sisters Angelicas in Zaragoza to present the proceedings of the XXXIII General Chapter of the Brothers of St. Gabriel, which was held from 3 April to 1 May at the Generalate in Rome.
The assembly asked for the assistance of the Holy Spirit with the song Veni Sancte Spiritus and then our Provincial, Bro. Genaro Fresno, first explained to us what a General Chapter was, its development and its meaning for the Congregation; and then he focused on the theme and motto of this XXXIII General Chapter.
For the explanation of the theme, THE MONFORTIAN PROPHETIC PRESENCE IN THE 21ST CENTURY and the motto, LISTENING AND ACTING WITH AUDACITY, Brother Provincial made use of the seven grouped signs that appeared in the logo, which define the spirit in which the Chapter wanted to work, and which also define the horizon of the religious Institute beyond the Chapter.
After this explanation, he introduced us to the new Central Administration that had been elected to animate and guide the Congregation for the next six years and to face the challenges ahead.
The Bro. Provincial then showed us the minutes of the Chapter, where priorities and strategies, grouped into four themes, were agreed upon by the capitulant Brothers to be prophetic witnesses of our time.
We made a selection of priorities and strategies applicable to the Mission that we share. Following that selection, we prioritized some of them; and Brothers, associates and collaborators worked as a group on concrete actions to implement them. Finally, we met again in assembly to discuss them together.
To the intense and exciting work sessions we added moments of conviviality. The days of the meeting coincided with the celebration of the ‘Feast of Our Lady of Pillar of Saragossa’, which commemorates the apparition of the Virgin Mary to the apostle James the Great – around the year 40 AD -, whom she encouraged to continue preaching in that place. This is the first apparition of the Virgin while she was still alive in Jerusalem. We visited the Basilica and enjoyed the offering of flowers to Our Lady of the Pilar, as well as the singing and dancing of the Aragon people and devotees of the Virgin.
Another of the best moments was the celebration of the Eucharist, presided by Brother Ángel Llana Obeso, with a very Montfortian theme: Divine Wisdom. We all participated with the readings and the songs and some associates and collaborators from Madrid even staged the reading of the Gospel of the Rich Young Man.
The meeting satisfied everyone and this was expressed in the faces, gestures and words of all those present. We will continue with enthusiasm to make Montfortian prophetic presence a reality in the 21st century.
MCG Formation Team
