The mass this morning was presided  by our confrere, Mgr Oswald Escobar OCD. His homily can be summed up in these words: a spirit of discernment and to listen attentively to the Lord.

At 9.00 a.m., we met in the large Chapter meeting room where we had a morning of spiritual renewal. We began by listening to Mgr. Libanori, SJ, auxiliary Bishop of Rome. His meditation was based on 1 Kings 19, in which the prophet Elijah fled into the desert and walked for forty days and forty nights until he reached the mountain of the Lord. We recall these phrases: the fact of being chosen and invited by God gives us the capacity to return to Him who invited us. However, we must go into the desert, where God speaks, where God made an Covenant (with Moses). Mgr. Libanori made these practical conclusions: we must keep hope alive for the sake of our world. To this end, it is perhaps the time to adopt the position of the Apostles who were together in the Upper Room with Mary, as they waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit. Only the true contemplative can discern and announce the ways of the Lord.

In the second part of the morning, our confrere, Mgr. Oswald Escobar, OCD, shared with us something important, along the lines of Pope Francis, “Going out from Carmel”. He mentioned the many anniversaries and centenaries that will occur during the next sexennium, he then spoke of two unique events in the history of our Order which took place during the last sexennium: for the first time, the Order in its diverse branches read together and on a worldwide scale the writings of our Mother, and then all the friars have reread our Constitutions. Mgr. Escobar sees three challenges for our Order today: to commit ourselves to the new evangelization, to move away from self-reliance to solidarity with others and to look after those whom God has put into our care (sheep or friars).

This afternoon, the friars met again in small groups to discuss what had been said in the morning. Then at 5.30, in the Chapter meeting room, every group shared the questions raised from the reports of the various structures linked to the central Government, as well as  specific questions from some geographical areas.

The day concluded at 7.00 pm. We then prayed vespers together.