Celebration of the Year of Consecrated Life, Canoas, Brazil

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You have not only a glorious history to remember and to recount, but also a great history still to be accomplished! Look to the future where the Spirit is sending you in order to do even greater things. (VC nº 110)

To celebrate the Year of Consecrated Religious Life, the Sisters of the Our Lady of Aparecida Province from Canoas/RS, participated in two significant events in the Basilica of Our Lady of Aparecida in São Paulo. In the month of April, a group of Sisters attended the Congress of Consecrated Religious Life, organized by the CRB–Brazilian Religious Conference. The theme of the congress was “To take on the Identity of Consecrated Religious Life: Prophetic Attitude.”

In August, the Archdiocese of Porto Alegre, which in 2017 will celebrate the 300th anniversary of the finding of the statue of Our Lady in the waters of the Paraíba River with a Jubilee program titled “300 years of blessings”, organized a pilgrimage to the sanctuary of Our Lady of Aparecida in São Paulo. Thirty-four Sisters participated in this event, representing the various communities of the Province of Our Lady of Aparecida. This time of integration, prayer and sharing with Our Lady of Aparecida provided a rich experience of renewal of Consecrated Religious Life.

For the pilgrim Sisters who had the opportunity to pray in front of the small image of Our Lady of Aparecida, these two meetings were opportunities to express feelings of gratitude for Consecrated Religious Life, to be grateful for the history of the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame and for the life of the Our Lady of Aparecida Province. It was also a time of prayer for blessings on the Notre Dame mission and the future of the Congregation.