On Saturday 28th January, members from the four Lay Claretian Communities of Puerto Rico met in the Parish of San José de Bayamón.
In a beautiful day sunshine, we came with joy from the communities of Claret, Jessed, Kaleo and San José to celebrate together a retreat day.
We started at 10:00am with a prayer led by Nancy Burgos, sc., thanking God for the blessings received and reflecting with Psalm 133 about our fraternity (“Look How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!”).
After the prayer, we had the privilege to meet up with our beloved Fr. Juan Carlos Martos, cmf. who conducted the day around the themes: Identity and Depth. He suggested a rereading of the Claretian charisma, its definition, its transmission and Claret´s figure as our Founding Father. We had time to meet up in small groups, where we had very interesting discussions. Fr. Juan Carlos shared with us a theme which clarified our DNA as Lay Claretians, our most profound identity and our vocation.
We also had a meeting with two of the members of the Regional Council, Tomás Lamberty, sc., the Economic Trustee and Nancy Burgos, sc., the Caribbean Region Coordinator. They told us about the meeting of the Council held in December 2016 in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), about the visits conducted to the communities by Fr. Félix Herrero cmf. in Santo Domingo, in Los Ángeles del Señor, in San Francisco de Macorís and to a group that is currently discerning in Fusimaña, Puerto Plata. In addition, they informed us of the general situation of the Caribbean region, about the triennial Work Plan for the and about future projects.
We shared the food and ended up our day with a Mass a 5:00 pm. We feel very happy and grateful for the company and support of Frs. Juan Carlos Monroy, cmf. and Héctor Cuadrado, cmf., and even more for the availability of Fr. Juan Carlos Martos, cmf., who superbly conducted us during our retreat day. We are profoundly grateful to them and to our God of Life for the beautiful day shared together.
Nancy Burgos, s.c.
