Introduction

We intentionally put the first part of the first session from two sessions on the Identity and Mission as Religious Sisters. Our awareness and our being convinced of our identity and mission will make us more confident and have a strong spirit to live out our values as religious Sisters.

Then on the second part we reflect on the ideal and the reality of our lives as religious people. (Ideal versus Reality) The ideal of our life as religious people is based on the “Life among the believers” (Act 2:43-47) BUT, the reality our lives is not like the ideal that we would like to follow. On this part we really need to confront ourselves with the ideal and reality of our daily life as religious. We shall focus on happiness and gratefulness…especially focus more attention on how to manage our emotions.

On the third part, we will focus on how to manage our relationship with others, especially in our communities. According to many experiences and observations, most problems we have in community life arise from our personal relationship with our fellow sisters. The better our personal relationships, the healthier our community life. Then we will become happy and joyful persons.

Finally on the last part, we will conclude our reflection with a short deepening on “LOVE”. “What matters is faith that works through love” (Galatians 5,6) First of all, great care for a good community-life, great care for one another should become the characteristic of our Congregation. However difficult our relationships turn out as a result of our living together, yet we should greatly appreciate one another, in spite of everything. Sisterly love should be the queen of the Congregation. We should dare to continue to grow in sincere care “for the happiness of everyone in the house.”