The month of June represents an important halfway point of the year and it’s a significant time for us to pause and check our initial goals that were set out at the beginning of the year. I cannot truthfully say that was the main reason why our Region of the Americas held our Assembly in June but as the days of the Assembly progressed, it surely felt like a check-in time to review our journey together since the beginning of the year. The theme of the Assembly was Sharing and Breaking Bread Together, and because June marks the transition into the second half of the year, it is a perfect time to re-look, re-focus and re-new what Sharing and Breaking Bread Together really means for us as SMSM religious sisters, as individuals and as community members.
The Assembly opened with a message from Sr Cristina Giustozzi, our Congregational Leader, and a remembrance of all our dear Sisters who went to heaven since the last Assembly in June 2025. They are:
The three days of sharing and breaking bread together at our assembly – both with those physically present and those on zoom were truly an experience of profound communion and a sacred liturgy of presence. When gathered around the tables whether for eating, for reflection or for sharing thoughts and ideas on our mission ministries, it was simply a spiritual nourishment and a beautiful reflection of who we are. Within these three days, a spirit of community, trust and companionship created a safe space for all. This softens any prior differences and promotes our real sense of belonging to our small communities, to our region and our congregation as a whole – our SMSM family. We witnessed during these three days of sharing and breaking bread together “each sister personally contributes not so much by what she does, but above all by gradually becoming the person she is called to be: joyfully given to God for the Kingdom in the spirit of Mary”. (Con #23). Thank you, my Sisters, and also to Fr. Kenneth Thibodeau, sm, our chaplain, and Father Gerard Petringa for “Sharing and Breaking Bread” with us in our daily Eucharist liturgy.
