We woke up ready to face a new day, our hearts still full of what we had experienced during the intense days before. As every morning, we began with Lauds and then celebrated the Eucharist. Today, in a special way, African music accompanied the liturgy, filling the space with a unique beauty that reminded us of the richness and diversity of our community.

After this spiritual moment, we began a calm and reflective reading of the work completed the previous day. The redacting committee carefully prepared tables that compiled all the contributions made regarding the various options presented. These tables were the starting point for continuing the discernment, moving toward consensus, and taking steps toward the agreements that will mark the course of the new phase.

The work was organized into extended communities: two communities united to select objectives, agree on the “why,” the “what for” the “responsible parties,” and some “hows.” From there, the work continued, completing and refining the formulations with contributions from other groups. During this day, the redacting committee assumed a key role, making a great effort to further specify the objectives. Their work was especially valuable today.

The morning concluded with a key moment: the vote on the resolutions. An act that was much more than a formality: it was an expression of the consensus built from diversity, of the communion forged during the days of shared work, and of the shared desire to move forward with firm and hopeful steps.

After lunch, another very significant moment took place: the lay people who participated in the Chapter left their communities, thus bringing to a close an intense experience of coexistence, discernment, and communion. Moments that remain engraved in the heart: the gift-giving, the mutual thanks, and the family photo. Because we shared so much. Because we experienced so much.

Because in these days we have experienced, once again, that the charism becomes flesh when it is lived in community, when we listen with humility, and when we dream with others and for others.

We dedicated the afternoon to work (among the sisters alone) on the Fifth Chapter Option: the new style of community. First with a time of personal reflection, then with sharing in the discernment communities. Guided by the contributions of the communities of the Province and the reports of the provincial animator, secretary, treasurer, and delegate, we were able to develop objectives in each community that speak to the centrality of the mission in our life and the design of communities that are agents in the work of announcing and restoring the beauty of the Church.

After sharing in the Chapter assembly, we headed to the chapel to breathe more calmly in the air of the Spirit, collecting and meditating in our hearts all that had happened in the Chapter up to this point, and beginning to prepare for what awaits us the following day.