Yesterday evening I spent about a half hour planning (and drinking coffee) with Mother Carmelina Mosca (mother general) and Sr Graziella Benghini (counselor for lay associations)… and as we worked through the themes of the various talks, I commented that I had prepared a lot of material but that, after the first talk, I would probably revamp things.
"What is the theme of these days of ongoing-formation," they asked me. I was a bit stumped, because the theme had been given to me by Jesús Manuel Garcia as "Hope". This was not doubt a result of his thinking of the second encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi (issued 30 November). So my response to the sisters was simple "Hope".
"Yes," said Sr Carmelina, "but we need a title. Tell us again the themes of the talks."
Hmmm - I was a bit confused, so I just threw out the themes again: The Promise (la Promessa), the Covenant (L’Aleanza), Hope (la Speranza) all in the Salesian style (in chiave salesiana).
Hearing this, Sr Graziella formulated a title: La Promessa È La Speranza Che Si Realizza — The Promise Is Hope Fulfilled. Okay, that sounds good to me.
This morning, then, I gave an overview during a little homily during Morning Prayer, and after breakfast, I gave the first talk: Promise and Hope: Reflections from the Hebrew Scriptures. After the talk, we had a few minutes for discussion, and the comments of the sisters gave me an idea of how to proceed. In the afternoon (16.30), I offered the second conference on Hope in the New Testament. I got my ideas from Monica Hellwig’s article in Nuovo Dizionario di Spiritualità — the 2003 Italian edition of Michael Downey’s publication.
Two hours were not enough really to cover four columns in that article; but it made for a simple introduction. The sisters supplied the rest in a lively question and answer period after both talks. And… they related many things from this scriptural approach to the words of their own founder, Bishop Giuseppe Cognata. So… day 2 has gone very serenely and happily.
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