Statement of International Finance Meeting

During this meeting, we have had a strong and profound experience of the Body.

Nourished by this experience,

    we believe it is the right time to act. Now is the favourable time!
    We believe it is possible to respond to the call of the Chapter to put all things in common.

In order to do this, we need to face up to the reality of the world and of our Congregation.

The revenue from our ministries is not sufficient to support our life and our apostolate. We believe that God provides but we need to find alternative sources of revenue. Budgeting is one tool that allows us to face our situation.

What is at stake is nothing less than living the Gospel,

    following Christ,
    living the vows
    and se livrer.

International Finance Meeting
10-20 0ctober 2011



Sharing on the International Finance Meeting 2011

Reylie and I (Bubbles went two days ahead of us) arrived in Rome just as the Sisters from France, Italy and England/Ireland were gathering for their formal unification and Ann Turner’s installation as the new provincial. That was an auspicious time to be there. They were starting to build a new body called the European Province. Little did I expect that this “building of the Body” would also be the most profound of my experiences in this International Finance Meeting.

At the beginning of the meeting, there was palpable excitement among the participants. Many of us expressed hope and faith as we began to receive and work concretely on the acts of the General Chapter, specifically Putting All Things in Common. Bubbles, Reylie and I volunteered to lead the morning prayer with the theme of the Begging Bowl, a symbol of the vows, of how we struggle to live the balance between simplicity and attachment in our lives. The prayer properly disposed us for the task ahead of us.

Each province/region presented a symbol/story that best describes the state of their respective province/region. We were encouraged to be as creative as possible and to have fun as well in our preparation and presentation. In true Filipino fashion, we prepared a feast or a banquet as a symbol of our region’s present state. The banquet is entitled “Handaang Asyano, Salu-salong Senakulo.” Using art materials, all the “food” on the table represented a slice of our life as a region. Dishes such as Pancit ng Pangarap (with pancit being essentially Chinese, this is our dream for the China mission), Kanin ng Buhay (our staple food is the Cenacle mission spirit), Chicken Joy (our joy as young women come to seriously explore the Cenacle vocation), Suman malagkit (the unity in our vision), Lechon ng Kasaganaan (our riches: our sisters, friends, benefactors, etc.), Sophia Escabeche (vibrancy of life is symbolized by fish in Chinese cuisine, while the sweet and salty sauce characterize the joy and difficulty of aging), and for dessert, the Halo-halo special (a mix of the different aspects of our restructuring, which can be messy but good-tasting nevertheless).

The other groups also made creative presentations for their respective province. Italy gave a dramatic storytelling using dolls and other materials; France had a combination of song, recitation and Powerpoint; England/Ireland had Lego structures to depict the changes of their communities; the Generalate community dramatized their very mobile life; North America had soil formed into a cross; Brazil did a pantomime to depict their different mission endeavors; and Madagascar used the symbol of a boat. The common threads in our stories and symbols are self-surrender and faith in God in the face of diminishment.

As I listened to each story and looked at each symbol, I cannot help but be moved by the obvious difficulties each province undergoes. At the same time, it is most edifying to see how each province/region strives to be faithful to the mission despite the challenges in our life, inside and outside the Cenacle. I admire their spirit of surrender, courage and steadfast trust in God’s goodness. There is great hope even as we tread new paths and embrace a new way of being as one Body.

The most touching for me was when we connected our presentation displays with all available materials, and eventually, all of us joined hands to symbolize our oneness as a body. While linked together, each province sang its own song one after another. It was amazing that we were able to join in singing songs even in foreign languages. I was moved by the deep desire to connect with one another and how each sister commits herself to that communion.

Working through the nitty-gritty of budgeting, we confronted the reality of our decreasing temporal resources. The statistics and figures can be staggering, especially with the Eurozone crisis looming big before us. However, the dispositions of the sisters were very hopeful, daring and steadfast. We find strength in our oneness of vision, deep commitment to the whole body, and trust in God’s goodness.

As an ordinary sister (i.e., not in leadership or treasurer position) participating in the meeting, I am very grateful for the chance to see how we, as one body, strive earnestly to live the Gospel truths in the most concrete way. This is not just about finances, but a total way of being Cenacle today. We are called to put our human and physical resources, ideas, ministries, etc. available to the entire Body. More than ever, we are called to live out Mother Therese’s “se livrer” in our daily life.

Surely there a lot of things we need to work out after this meeting: new ways of being and doing, greater sense of accountability, keener discernment in making choices, and many more. But in the end, just like the Buddhist monk who knows that his bowl be full at the end of the day, we are confident that God will see us through, that “we will have what we need. We will have enough.” (from the meditation of the ‘Begging Bowl’) Why, of course, our God is Goodness.

Mel R. Benedictos, rc



THE GAZE OF GOD by Sr. Meny Vera-Cruz

July is St. Ignatius de Loyola’s month, so to speak, since we celebrate his feast on July 31. So much has been written on his Spiritual Exercises and what I would like to share is just a very small aspect of my experience of making it year by year. I am struck by the method of prayer called “contemplation.” In prayer we are asked to “contemplate” a mystery in the life of Jesus, for example. For me, it means to enter into the mystery by gazing on the scene, by listening and looking. Contemplation invites us to gaze deeply and profoundly into the event. Thus it is not just to look, nor to see but to GAZE. When one gazes at something, the “gazer” becomes affected by the object of the gaze. As when one contemplates something happens and the process transforms.
St Ignatius
This is what happens in the prayer of contemplation. But often, we get lost in our own contemplation that we forget that God also contemplates us, looks at us. It is not just me that gazes, it is also God who gazes on me. In one of my retreats, years ago, I was asked to reflect on Iain Matthew’s book, The Impact of God. Some of the most beautiful lines of the book say:

“It has been said that a person is enlightened’, not when they get an idea’, but “when someone looks at them.” A person is enlightened when another loves them. The eyes are windows on to the heart; they search the person out and have power to elicit life.

So the gospel has eyes which are not dispassionate, nor merely passive. Their gaze is not an art gallery gaze, wandering from exhibit to exhibit and leaving what they see obviously unchanged. Their gaze engages what they see and affects it: For God, to gaze is to love and to work favours. These eyes are effective: “God’s gaze works four blessings in the soul: it cleanses the person, makes her beautiful, enriches and enlightens her.”

The gaze of God affects! Who can forget Jesus looking at Peter after he denied him three times? And Jesus looking at the rich young man with such deep love, I often wonder what happened to him in his later years. Would he remember at some moment in his life that loving look of Jesus?

Iain Matthews continues: “A person is enlightened when someone looks at them.’ Chaos is enlightened when God looks at it. The Bridegroom casts his gaze across the face of the abyss and sprays life across it. This is John of the Cross’ amazing understanding of creation: the universe, each element in it, each event in it, and the web of those events held together – all thought, all friendship, all history – are given being by the eyes of Another, eyes “communicating” being to the world and to the person. So does St. Ignatius when he invites for example, the pray-er to gaze on the Trinity contemplating the world. It is said that he often gazed at the sky from his window and looked at the stars in the night and his eyes would fill with tears. I imagine he was filled with such awe and wonder at the beauty of the stars that they led him to God, the creator of such beauty.

In this month where we celebrate the feast of St. Ignatius, we ask for the grace of seeing but most of all, of allowing ourselves to be seen – to be gazed at by this God who loves us –and who sees beyond our failings.



Praying One’s Suffering

Who among us has not drank from the cup of suffering? It could be an unexpected illness, an accident, psychological difficulties, troubled relationships, betrayal, loss of meaning, death of a loved one… The question we spontaneously ask would be something like: “Why me?” As we reflect on the reality of suffering, maybe we can also ask ourselves: What is God’s invitation to me with regard to my suffering? How am I to bring this experience into my relationship with God?

When we find that suffering has made a temporary home in our hearts, we are often told to “bring this experience to prayer”. Many are puzzled. How can we concretely “bring this experience to prayer?”

The Gospel of Matthew has Jesus saying:

Come to me, all you who labour and are over burdened and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light. (Matthew 11: 28-30)

When we are in pain, a very spontaneous cry from our depths is Lord! Help me! Save me! Spare me! If the suffering persists, an invitation to explore is how I can share my suffering with Jesus and not be plunged into despair. How can I turn my initial questioning into something like: “Lord, how do we go through this together? Where will this bring me? Where will this bring us?” How do I get through this and still be whole? We have two options when faced with suffering. One is to move into despair, despondency, bitterness, some form of “death” even while still living OR go through the process of questioning ourselves, re-prioritizing, searching for the meaning behind the experience, and holding on to hope and faith.

The faith questions we could be asking in the midst of pain might be: How can I walk with God when I’m hurting so much? When I don’t know how? How can I still take on the yoke of Jesus when I can’t seem to stand it anymore?

A homily once explained what this imagery of taking on the yoke is about. It seems that in the Jewish culture, one yoke is used to harness two bullocks. First to be harnessed is an older, more seasoned bullock. Then, a younger bullock needing to be trained for the job is fitted with this same yoke. These bullocks are tied to huge stone mills which they are supposed to turn by going around and around. The more seasoned bullock is placed in the outer path thus leading the work and pulling most of the weight. The younger bullock in the inner path follows and thus learns to carry the weight and do the job.

When I go through some suffering, can I hear Jesus’ invitation to go to him and let him carry most of my burden as we continue to walk together? Do I hear him ask me to stop struggling, stop trying to control things, doing things my way and just let go?

Sharing our pain with Jesus might seem easy enough for us to do because we could have an image of Jesus as the miracle worker who will take away all our problems. Sharing our pain with Jesus means allowing Jesus to stay with our pain and that might mean that he will not solve our problems or take away our pain. In the Bible we often hear him say, Fear not! I am with you. He did not say, I’ll solve your problems for you!

In sharing my suffering with Jesus, I can choose how to respond to painful experiences. I can choose to grow and shape it into a positive force in my life. To be alive and to grow, inevitably involves pain. How do we make our way through the darkness? How can we say “yes” to growth and be open to new life? Life’s hurts and death are an integral part of our life but they need not be the center.

I would like to suggest a simple prayer form where we could bring our experience of suffering to prayer. I call this Prayer of Open Hands – a way of sharing my suffering with Jesus.

Reflecting on the layers of meaning of “open hands” one can see open hands as speaking of surrender and letting go of one’s control as contrasted to clenched fists or closed hands which speak of control, of being closed. Open hands also connote a posture of begging after realizing one’s emptiness, one’s poverty as creature. I realize that I am a beggar, that I can’t do anything without God. It also speaks of the capacity to receive and to be filled after having been emptied. God can pour graces and I am more disposed to receive.

To begin the prayer, take a comfortable sitting position where your body is relaxed and alert… your hands on your lap with your palms open and facing up. Take a few deep breaths — breathing in deeply through your nostrils … letting the air fill your lungs and your abdomen… breathing out slowly through your nostrils… As you continue your gentle breathing, feel your body going into deeper relaxation… Moving gently into your quiet center, you become aware of coming into the presence of the Holy One… called into the presence of God…

Recall the words of Matthew 11:28-30 Come to me, all you who labour and are over burdened and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.

Pray to the Spirit of Jesus for the grace to be open and to be generous in responding to what Jesus may be inviting you to.

Recall an experience of great personal suffering and pain you have been carrying. Try to come up with a symbol for this experience. This suffering can be imaged as a broken heart, a torn letter, a withered plant or whatever else speaks to you.

Imagine that you come before Jesus and you hear him speak the words from Scripture addressed to you. You may even see Jesus with his arms open and outstretched to you – a symbol of welcome. Hear Jesus say to you, Come to me, you who are heavily burdened and I will give you rest.

In your imagination see yourself stretch out and open your hands to Jesus. Imagine you are holding in your open hands the symbol of your suffering that you want to surrender or hand over to Jesus. As you do so, repeatedly pray this short petition: Into your hands, O Lord, I surrender my pain. Into your hands I rest my body, my mind, and my being. Keep repeating this until you are brought to a point of quiet and silent presence.

At the end of your time of quiet prayer gently pray the Our Father.

Let this be my last word, that I trust in Your love.
(Rabindranath Tagore)

Sr. Malen Java, rc
March 2009



GOODNESS

Homily of Fr. Jett Villarin SJ during the Perpetual Vows of Sr. Susay Valdez
27 Dec 2008
Our Lady of Pentecost Parish

Good has many senses which can reflect the many moods and movements of our life. You can say that the moods of Susay or of anyone here can swing about these many senses of good.

One sense of goodness is that of “goodness gracious.” I’m sure Mother Superior Meny here and the sister have gone through this mood many times. “My goodness” has nothing to do really with goodness; it is an exclamation or sigh of exasperation, of surprise or wonder over nothing good or gracious at all.

You can also understand goodness in terms of being “good at something,” that is, being competent, clever, or skillful. I’m sure that Sister Susay is professing the vows not because she is an expert in poverty, chastity and obedience. On our own, we’re never really good at these things. They are an invitation to shape a life patterned after the Christ we profess to love.

Good has another sense when you’re playing blackjack. “Forced to good” we say when we are compelled to stay with the hand we’ve been dealt with. The mood mirrors someone being forced to a corner, someone who is unfree. Another sense is when something is “good to go” which is to say it is okay enough. “As good as it gets” indicates a mood of making do, of being resigned to whatever is there.

So again, you can say that Susay is here not out of exasperation or competence. She is not here by default or because of closed doors and options. She could have been a wonderful mother and wife and perhaps a nightclub singer. She is not here because life in the Cenacle is as good as it gets.

She is here by willful choice and intentional freedom. She is here because by her life (more than her words) she is like John the evangelist proclaiming what she has heard and seen with her very eyes and touched with her hands and heart: the Word of life, who predicated good of every single thing created from nothing. She is here out of the goodness of God from whom the goodness of everything is drawn
(Thérèse Couderc).

When I asked Susay why she has stayed in the Cenacle all these years, she replied that this is where she has found God’s Goodness. She has discovered God’s Goodness in the goodness of the people she has helped in the ministry of the Spiritual Exercises. She has known God’s Goodness to be real in the goodness of her very self revealed in the intimacy of prayer and in the goodness of her sisters lived in
community. Later in the liturgy, we will see the incarnation of that goodness when her sisters profess their commitment to take care of her. She is going to wear an old ring used to be worn by another
Cenacle sister who has since passed away, to signify to us and to God the goodness of the “yes” that threads through the life of every Cenacle sister from day to day and from generation to generation.

The other sense of goodness has something to do with rightness and desirability, We say something is good when it is right and desirable. But because of our blind spots and fallen histories, the many possible appearances and directions of rightness and desire can and do collide. Hence, goodness too can be broken and crucified, by fear and doubt, and by forces as big as betrayal or as petty as envy.

How this can happen so easily to goodness is found in the very mystery of goodness itself. The power of goodness is its power to surrender. Surrender, not in the sense of giving up or resignation. The power of goodness is its power to give in and let go, which is the power to trust and be the one who is given.

If goodness surrenders itself to be bound and broken and crucified, it is surrender as well that ultimately transforms and resurrects goodness to life. For Thérèse Couderc, surrender is more than offering oneself; it is to keep oneself continually turned to God in a process of metanoia or conversion that may very well mean dying to everything and to one’s very self. If I may add, it could mean dying as well to goodness to make room for what is better or greater; to surrender is to let go of the rightness and desires that may on the surface give quick meaning to our lives, but in truth are fleeting movements that leave us empty and lost and tired.

Susay, remember your own experience of the Contemplatio ad Amorem when you were doing the Fourth Week of the Spiritual Exercises. There you found the quiet joy of constantly turning to God, which turning is a lifelong labor of love. Of course, there and then you knew in the heart that the ad amorem too is God’s constant turning to us, whichturning is God’s eternal joy and labor of love.

Before we close, I draw you to another sense or mood of goodness which happens when we begin to fit and gather and belong together. The life you Susay have chosen is good because this is where Susay will be most Susay. If the vows and the Cenacle were a dress, when Susay wears this dress, this dress becomes her. You yourself said, “dito ako makikiugnay sa Kanya.” Dito rin Siya makikibagay at makikisabay sa iyo, sa buo mong pagka-ikaw.

And so in the midst of all this goodness, we wish you Susay one more good. We say to you: good bye. Good bye not in the sense of tearful weddings when parents part with their beautiful daughter. We wish you good bye in the ancient sense of the word: God be with you. You have found joy and life and goodness here, where you are most you, when you are most with God. Help us to turn to what you have found, to what was from the beginning, what you have heard and seen with your very eyes, what you have looked upon and who your hands have touched. By what you are about to proclaim and do, help us believe the very goodness in everything and the very goodness of God.



Back To The Basics

New year is always a good time to begin something new. It is not a severance of the past though, but a continuation. I like to see my journey not as a straight line but a spiral going up. What better way to prepare for the coming year than by reviewing my planner and journal entries to know how I have spent the months, days, minutes and hours of the past year. I find it so ironic that my days were packed with significant experiences yet I felt that the days have gone by so swiftly.

How did life become complicated? This has been a favorite refrain. All the necessary introspection in novitiate formation can be a dizzying and nauseating emotional roller coaster ride but I realized that I have had a hand in complicating my own life – the whys, the shoulds and the what ifs that I stubbornly would not let go of.

“Only the simple are free.” I guess I have forgotten this, thus, I felt that the call for me this year is to go back to the basics, to simplify – to go back in order to move forward. When questions are unanswered, when sufferings seem meaningless, when I cannot understand what God wants I just have to surrender to the reality that God is God, that I am creature and He Creator. The new beginning then is a new awareness of self and of the realities around me.

It is a matter of shifting perspectives. It is not as easy as changing eyewear though, but it is God’s grace that makes everything possible. Sometimes it helps me to look at the evening sky – the moon and the stars, and see how infinitesimal I am in comparison yet God continues to personally seek me out. What is man that You should spare a thought for him, mortal man that You should care for him?( Psalm 8 )

The best gifts I received last year are not tangible things but intangible treasures that enrich my heart and my soul, not temporary things but things that last beyond a lifetime. Indeed the best things in life are free. When we see life from God’s perspective we are able to truly rejoice over this. And so my prayer for the new year would be simplicity of heart that I may be more noticing and discerning of God’s gifting of himself every moment. That I may not only see Him as the glorious all-powerful King that He is but may also receive Him as Jesus who humbled himself to be human like us, and was born in a manger in the little town of Bethlehem.

P.S. This year I began with something new. Together with my community we prayed over our clocks and watches, calendars and planners. I’d like to share some lines from the prayer we used which you might also find helpful for beginning your new year, taken from Prayers for the Domestic Church by Edward Hays:

Bless our clocks and watches, You who kindly direct us to observe the passing of minutes and hours.

May they make us aware of the miracle of each second of life we experience.

May these our ticking servants help us not to miss that which is important, while You keep us from machine-like routine.

May we ever be free from being clock watchers and instead become time lovers…

Bless our calendars, these ordered list of days, weeks and months, of holidays, holy days, fasts and feasts –

All our special days of remembering… May they remind us of birthdays and other gift-days as they teach us the secret that all life is meant for celebration and contemplation…

by: Sr. Yna Onate, nc



Sharing from Mel Benedictos, rc

Part of the Reflections from the Young Sisters Meeting

It’s been three weeks since the International Meeting for the young sisters but I am still basking in the afterglow of the wonderful experience. I am awed by the experience of being and working with almost all the young sisters of the congregation. I only fully appreciate the value given to it by our leaders who called this meeting when I listened to each sister of different provinces. In the gathering, I have heard a call to the future. For me, it meant hope and life for the future of the Cenacle. Having listened to their dreams, concerns and desires, I knew in my heart that we are journeying together as one international body to the fulfillment of God’s mission for us. This is a source of joy and confidence even as we fully realized the realities within and outside the congregation.

The process of communal discernment has also made an indelible impact on me. I felt the Holy Spirit had worked powerfully in all our reflections, workshops and sharings. Even the differences in language have not been a barrier to understand each other in a deep way. I realized the value of communal discernment in being “one body.” This is a foundational grace that I believe has to be nurtured if we want to remain committed to the self-surrender of Mother Therese.

The informal and spontaneous sharing during mealtimes and breaks have also been quite impactful for me. Knowing them personally has made me claim my being part of a large sisterhood. I remember Irene Benedetto of the Italian province who I teased as my Italian cousin because of our family names. She readily accepted our connection as “oh yes, globalization!” But seriously, I felt the at-homeness that can only spring forth from oneness in heart and mind. Indeed, this is my home and these are my sisters!

As we synthesized our dreams, desires and hopes for the future in the statement that we will forward to the General Chapter, we know that we also face many challenges, even our own fears, in making true our conviction. However, we will strive with audace!



Sharing from Perry Inso, rc

Part of the Reflections from the Young Sisters Meeting

Two things stayed with me after the Young Sisters’ Meeting:

1. The process that was used.

It is said that one of the basic human needs is to understand and to be understood. I believe that listening and being listened to is the best way to achieve this. This was my experience during the meeting. The process that was employed allowed us to really listen to ourselves and with one another. First, the groupings: home group, work group, and passion group. These facilitated our different encounters. We did not only bump into one another, we really spent time listening to where each one was coming from and the dreams and desires. I sensed a great longing to really connect with each one despite the language difficulty. For me this was life giving. I really felt we were one body. Second, the articulation of the goals at the beginning, and the surfacing of values we want to live as we gather together were also very helpful for me. These made me more attentive to what has been going on. Furthermore, I was also challenged to live out the values that were expressed. No wonder then that at the end of the meeting the statement that came out was that of great love for the Congregation and the desire to say yes to life and hope in the midst of diminishment. Finally, the times of prayer and reflection every after a task also helped me listen and understand what were asked of us. The process that was employed allowed me to listen deeply, make choices and help me let go of my preference for the good of the body. Listening and being listened to were indeed of great help.

2. Paragraphs 6 and 69 of our Constitutions.

“…Impelled by love of Christ and concern for a world in need of this message, ‘salvation and life are in Christ’, we give ourselves with all our strength to making the Gospel known so that it may become a source of life for everyone. #6” “The joy of a community depends on all the sisters’ acceptance of the demands of common life for the sake of that love which consists in sharing what we are and what we have (Sp. Ex. 231) This is the meaning of having all things in common. The quality of our community life is reflected in our apostolic works. #69” These stayed with me because in each group that I was with, these were always quoted. Looking at the statement that we have made, it seemed to re-echo what paragraphs 6 and 69 is about. There is a strong desire to strengthen what we have done to face our diminishment through refounding. It is indeed a call to life and hope. I believe that the quality of community life will be a counter-culture to a world so caught up in individualism. This too will give witness how it is to be in solidarity with others in sharing what we are and what we have locally and internationally. I am challenged to be more accountable and to be more available not just with ministry but with my sisters as well.

This also stayed with me because I felt that we all are going through the same struggle: how it is to live in community and be sisters to one another. At the same time it affirms the value of community living.

The Young Sisters’ Meeting made me see the Cenacle as one international apostolic discerning body. It is possible because everyone listened and was listened to. At the same time there was a readiness to let go of one’s preference for the good of the body.



Talitha Kum

Part of the Reflections from the Young Sisters Meeting
By Susay Valdez, rc

in the Cenacle
we gathered
from the four corners of the earth
we became one

with the words
talitha kum!
we began our journey
mischievous angels
moving together
steadily

what language,
what words do I speak?
we shared a common fear

talitha kum!

rising above comfort zones
we found ways
of listening
of speaking
communicating
generously translating
what fills our minds and hearts

rising
from a world of individualism
we came
prayed together
discerned together
hoped as one
solidarity
union
oneness

talitha kum!

we are mischievous angels
living one mission
we choose to live life
generously and graciously
committed to a Gospel-filled life
ready for the transformations
and remaining rooted
in God’s goodness



Sharing from Sr. Cecille Tuble, rc

Part of the Reflections from the Young Sisters Meeting

In the Young Sisters Meeting in Rome, 3 things struck me the most:

1. Solidarity – in those 6 days, I experienced in a very deep way some of the joys, challenges and costs of being part of an international congregation, as I met, shared and worked with the other young sisters. In spite of the language difficulties, I felt an “at-homeness” with my sisters. Throughout the meeting, I felt a resounding affirmation of a deep love for the Cenacle and a conviction to be faithful to our charism.

2. Communal Discernment – One very strong conviction that came out was the place of communal discernment. While personal discernment is necessary and foundational, communal discernment is also needed, and – in this individualistic world – is a powerful counter-witness. It is an integral part in our being cenacle.

3. The call to refounding and restructuring. We young sisters, looking at the future and listening to the cries of our people in the world, feel that this is urgent. We are now ready for many new things, even as we anticipate its costs and consequences. We draw much hope, because of our desire to be faithful to our founding grace, and our conviction of its place and relevance in the world.