Evoorptt fro-vw tWu Kaywo-ta Adtdtrayy o'f owr Swporl.,o-r Gowetwl,

Mww{.,l,,w, foUrwwry B, 2013

Being here with you is a grace f or me: first of all because I am happy toparticip ate ... in thi s 2nd Assumption T ogether Congr ess of thePhilippines-Thailand Province, and secondly, because this is a kind of"initiation" for me as I begin my mandate.

Rooted in the very heart of God,

communion is a missionfor us.

Our conviction thatwe cannotimagine the work oftransformation in the worldalone encourages us to cometogether and to make ourcommunities places ofcommunion. There, we can

experience the power of ourcommon search and thepossibility of coming to a morehuman quality of life.

As o proverb soys: "lt is the feetthotblazethetrail of brotherhood or sisterhood"...thisproverb recalls the necessity to go the distance,to take up the route, not as a one way streetnor only once, but mony times... we need lots ofsteps...we need eoch other and we need themultiplicity of our gifts...to feel ourselves moreand more a real family with a unified vision.

It might seem

strange to speak ofeducatingforrelationships, butwe know very wellthatmany signals

are indicating a

great lack of truerelationships in oursocieiies... an

apprenticeship inrelationship-building makes us

get out of our littleworlds.8

Communion is a desire hidden in theheart of every human being. Thisdesire marks our way of understandingour world, with its joys and sufferings,its opportunities and its questions. ltalso marks our woy of envisioning

"Planet Assumption".

When the Lord calls us to join others, it is to openus to something greoter than ourselves and tolive service, by giving oneself . .. ln calling us tobecome part of AssumptionTogether, the Lord is

inviting us to have a particular experience withhim and to share itwith others.

We cannot live our faith in isolation... .This task of communion is

incumbent on the whole Church. lt is our duty.

The document " AssumptionTogether" encourdges us toem phosi ze " r ef I e cti ng togethe r,"" deepening together," laypeople andsisters, in a double movement of"giving and receiving." lt is throughthis " doing together" that we can

co n cr etely exp eri ence thi s Af r i can

notion of "Ubuntu: I om what I am

thanks to whatwe dre all together"

By choosing to deepen communion, you have shown your attachment to whatSaint Marie Eugenie held close to her heart. She was d woman of actionbecause she was a womdn of faith, but above oll she was a woman ofcommunion, a woman of the heart. That is the secret of her path to holiness...

let us follow in her wake with great confidence!