Daily Report Congregational Conference 2017 at Brothers FIC House in Buin, Santiago Du Chile. (Sunday 1, October 2017)

Congregational Conference 2017.

Brothers FIC House, in Buin-Santiago Du Chile, 1^st of October – 11^th  of October, 2017.

First of all, we thank God that all participants of our Congregational Conference have arrived safely in Buin-Santiago du Chile, yet in a good condition and healthy. We were happy to be in Chile to meet our fellow brothers and to participate in the Congregational Conference, Sunday 1^st of October – 11^th of October 2017. We were very grateful for the warm welcoming of our fellow brothers in Chile.

Bro. Diego, the Provincial Superior of Chile province welcoming all participants: “Inline with our tradition, and as host I wish to once again extend to you our blessing and warmest welcome to Chile. I welcome you, especially to our dearest General Superior, Bro. Martinus, and his Councilors, and the Provincial Superiors. We are truly happy to see all of you here in this opening ceremony of Congregational Conference. It is our hope that you would feel at home and enjoy the short time you will have with us”. He also gave a remark about the theme of our Conference, as follows: “The GC has chosen “Brotherhood, the Gift to Receive and Share” as theme for this Conference as an invitation to deep on the identity and mission of the religious Brothers. Hope we can bring good news for the entire Congregation. Brotherhood will be a nice Gift especially when we are to prepare the Apostolate Congress in view of the General Chapter 2018”.

The theme of the Congregational Conference is “Brotherhood, the gift to receive and share”. This theme is in connection with our deepening session on the document of “Identity and Mission of the Religious Brother in the Church. And the main focus of discussion will be some resolutions of the Chapter 2012 and the preparation of the General Chapter 2018.

Before we started our opening Eucharist Bro. Martin Handoko read the well wishes message from Bro. Raphael Besigrinee who could not participate in this conference because of his healthy. We prayed that Bro. Raphael would have the best treatment for his ill. During our Opening Eucharistic Celebration our priest shared about the openness to the time. We had to listen carefully to the voice of the Holy Spirit. He shared that the mission of his society was to make dialogue. In order to make dialogue we have to open to the differences, to appreciate the others and to put ourselves in the same level with others. He stressed very much what Saint Paul have said to us, “Always consider the other person to be better than your self, so that nobody thinks of his own interest first but everybody thinks of other people’s interest instead.”

By trusting in God’s guidance and the protection of Mary, our mother and patroness, our General Superior officially opened the FIC Congregational Conference 2017. In his conclusion of his opening address Bro. Martin also mentioned that through formal and informal interaction among the participants, we wish to receive and give mutual support, inspiration, and encouragement. We hope that the spirit of love and service continue to grow in us following the example of Jesus himself who said that he had not come to be served but to serve.

Theodorus Suwaryanto