Between October 2025 and February 2026, three spirituality meetings were held in different areas of the Betica region. By dividing the meetings between different areas, the aim was to facilitate attendance and make it an important moment of encounter and deepening.
This year, the meetings focused on exploring one of our lines of action more deeply: how to be “Signs of Hope” in the face of the current challenges that question us in today’s world and in our Church
With the help of our regional advisor, Antonio Venceslá, CMF, we worked on and shared some key insights to reflect on these realities from our Claretian identity and from the Magisterium of the Church.
We share some of the conclusions and reflections that emerged from these meetings:
• How do we live out our Claretian identity in the face of social realities? As Christians, we cannot live as if these realities did not exist.
• Our voice should be both a provocation and a promise. Our comforts must not hold us back.
• God calls us in the ordinary circumstances of life.
• It is the responsibility of the laity to carry forward a new evangelization.
• Evangelization must take place in public life: in the world of politics, social realities, economics, culture, science, the arts, and international life.
• Women who suffer exclusion, abuse, and violence are doubly poor. The world is still far from clearly reflecting that women have exactly the same dignity and identical rights as men.
• God calls us to mercy without excuses.
• Every human being is a child of God. Our duty is to welcome, protect, promote, and integrate each person. We are the first responsible for recognizing this. We must strive for a more just society, a fuller democracy, a more supportive country, a more fraternal world, and a more open Christian community. Where the world sees a threat, we—as the Church—must see sons and daughters. Where walls are raised, we must build bridges.
• God gives the earth and all it contains for the use of everyone. Therefore, created goods must reach all people. Private property itself, by its very nature, has a social dimension, grounded in the universal destination of goods.
• Our common home is Mother Earth. Climate change is one of the main challenges. The world sings of an infinite Love—how can we not care for it? Strive to pollute less, reduce waste, and consume responsibly.
• I cannot claim to live a deep religious life if I demand time to pray all day. Spiritual life and daily life go side by side. Both are necessary. Both shape my Christian and human identity. This implies professional commitment—working from justice, protecting the vulnerable, and humanizing structures. It means seeking an explicit encounter with God in prayer and worship, but also seeking Him in daily life. It is a two-way journey.
Betica Region Meetings “Signs of Hope”
