II MEETING OF DOMINICAN WOMEN THEOLOGIANS How can we work out our spirituality as Dominican women today? Cochabamba - Bolivia     17 - 21 August 1998

Art by Sr. Joana Swanson, o.p.

Introduction

Marcela lived among those snows of the North. In Oslo one night she met a woman who sang and told stories. Between each song, this woman told a good story, and as she told it, she glanced obliquely at little papers as one who reads fortunes.

This woman had a huge skirt, completely full of pockets, and from these pockets she kept pulling out little papers, one by one, and on each scrap of paper she found a story to tell; a basic, fundamental story. In each story there were people who wanted to turn back and live by the art of witchcraft. And as she went on bringing to life the forgotten and the dead; from the depths of this skirt surged forth the loves and the wanderings of the human race -- (E. Galeano, "El Libro de los abrazos").

There in Puntiti (Cochabamba, Bolivia) thirty-eight Dominican women theologians met to elaborate our Dominican, Latin American spirituality. We had begun this work four years before, in 1995, in Buenos Aires (Argentina). We continued with regional meetings in Columbia, Peru (with Ecuador and Bolivia), Argentina and Chile.

All of us, like the woman of Oslo, were doing this work from our theological reflections, from our own different experiences, and from the experience of Mary Magdalen (John 20, 11-18). We divided our work into three parts for reflection: "Woman, why do you weep?", "Woman, whom are you seeking?", "Let go of me and go and tell my brothers and sisters---"

From a distance our brothers and sisters accompanied us, communicating by letters or FAX. Among them, was the Promoter of the Dominican Family, Manuel Martinez Maciel, who communicated his desire that "this way of doing theology, from the point of view of the woman, would become more and more the "Good News".

The first day: the welcome.

The coordinating team of the meeting and the representatives of CODAL (Conference of Women Dominicans of Latin America) welcomed us warmly. They introduced the work, reviewing the steps we had taken since 1995 and the necessity of maintaining the same method.

We concluded the introduction with a reflection from Antonieta Potente, who told us, among other things, that we should discover how the woman of Oslo thought and how this contrasts with the way the Evangelists communicated their stories. As she pondered the woman of Oslo, she wondered what the Evangelists would have written if they had been women. She inspired us to go on emptying our pockets of all the little papers that we carried.

I. Prayer

We began the day with the prayer prepared by Peru. Woman, why do you weep?" To the beat of "The Condor Passes" we entered the room in procession, carrying a clay pot and a poster with the image of a daisy. We took our places and the leader pulled from the pot cloth panels which carried the reasons why women weep: "Abandoned but not destroyed, At Work Very Early, Violated, Half-breed"; and the ways that the women overcome their grief: Joy, Hope, Worthy of Confidence and Trust, Loving. Using the poster, she explained the history of the daisy which in the course of her life loses her petals, her leaves, her stem---and finally dies, but gives life to many more daisies.

We listened reflectively to the reading of John 20, 1-2, 11-14. We remained in silence for some moments until the leader began the song "Our Lady of America." Then each sister received the name of the sister who would accompany her during the meeting, and with much joy and many hugs, we greeted our respective companions.

The prayer ended with the recitation of "Our Mother, Our Father."

A short ritual accompanied the presentation of the painting of the weeping Mary Magdalen made for us by Joana Swanson.

II. The Reflection

Ines Maria Gramajo pulled out her little paper and began: "Woman, why do you weep?" (Jn. 20, 13). I wish to clarify the context from which I reflect and speak this morning. I perceive more and more how the sharing of poor women is marking my reflections about women. The social and economic situation, the politics and the culture in which we live in Latin America and especially the women who live in the poorer barrios, settlements and towns. Most of these women are from the interior of Argentina. This reality, these names, these faces, their histories past and present, condition my reflections with increasing intensity. I hear their dreams, their fears. I share with them joys and sorrows. I know how they feel in their bodies, in their sexuality. I walk with them during their childhood and their adolescence. I hear their experiences of being mothers, wives, daughters, friends, sisters. These stories have marked my views and feelings, my silence before some situations and my talk here today. I have talked with them about what weeping means in their lives, and many times I have shared with them what it means in my life. Often these are tears that have been guarded for years.

Today we are sharing the life of Mary Magdalen. Her life and that of the other women who accompanied her to the empty tomb were noted and remembered when the evangelists wrote their books. But Tatian, writing at the end of the second century, made a composite of them and trivialized them by converting these protagonists into the passive spouses of the twelve apostles rather than treating them as independent followers of Jesus. Who knows how much more we would have lost of these sacred texts if their authority had not been recognized. Without this authority they would have remained open to alterations. In spite of this, it is important not to restrict our exploration of the New Testament; we have to lament the stories of the women. It is good for us to remember, to re-imagine and reinvent that which we can in order to empower us today. We have the same liberty that those obscure writers of antiquity had when they selected what they would record in their histories. We are invited to honor, to become enthusiastic and to celebrate the life and the voice of Mary Magdalen.

Historical Context:

I was happy to see that our program is based on the figure of this woman, who like Jesus, begins by contemplating her tears -- the weeping of a woman. I think it will help us to begin by remembering simply some of the characteristics of her history.

1. Her name seems to indicate that she was a native of Magdala, but she did not live there. This also indicates that she was someone special since she was not known simply as Miryam, as were other women, but as Mary Magdalen.

2. She was liberated by Jesus from diabolic possession. by seven demons, which seems to indicate a psycho-somatic illness. Jesus cured her in one of his journeys which he made through the towns of Galilee. Mary, as a response to the complete liberation which she had experienced, surrendered herself completely to the cause of Jesus and to Jesus himself, following him as a member of the group of intimate disciples who attached themselves to Jesus in Galilee and accompanied him in proclaiming the Reign of God.

3. This woman, who had experienced the liberation and the salvation of God's reign, accompanied Jesus along with other men and women disciples on his last trip to Jerusalem where he confronted the Jewish authorities. She is marked out as the most important of the group of women. Together with the other women and while the male disciples disappeared from the scene when Jesus was captured, she remained close to the Master, she was present at the crucifixion and burial of Jesus and became an important witness of these events for the community; she gave Jesus the final proof of support.

4. Mary and the other women went to the sepulcher of Jesus with the intention of mourning for him, and of showing a last sign of their belief and appreciation of him. It was they who found the empty tomb.

This is the historic context of the encounter with the Risen Christ which Mary Magdalen was the first to experience.

The encounter with the resurrected Jesus

After this brief historical location, we see this woman as she is met by the resurrected Jesus. First, we are invited to contemplate receptively her weeping under the light of the Lord's glance.

We see Jesus approaching close to her, interested to know the cause of her tears. He shows sensitivity to this women wrapped in overwhelming grief. Jesus asks her why she is weeping, appearing not to know the depths of the heart of this woman. Before such sorrow, Jesus does not order her to stop crying nor does he try to teach her. He does not pray to the Father to console her. He does not recriminate or ask her why she doubts.

I feel there is an attitude, a movement of Jesus to put himself in contact with the feelings of the woman and the reason for her grief. I believe this reflects a very human dimension in Jesus. It is a feminine gesture, this attention and interest of Jesus in the emotions of this person, this suffering woman.

In this first appearance of the resurrected Jesus there is a question which rushes from his lips: "Woman, why do you weep?" I never had realized that according to the gospel of St. John, these are the first words of the resurrected Lord. I believe I see a connection between the mystery of the sorrow of this woman which she expresses by the cries and tears which envelope her, and the mystery of the Resurrection.

I perceive that Jesus understands well the situation in which Mary finds herself. He does not ignore it. He asks her a question, cordially, with interest and attention. After this question, there is another which we will consider tomorrow. But finally I believe I see also the silence of Jesus, which makes possible the reply of our companion.

If we continue reading the text, we know that Mary Magdalen is still very confused until she is called by her own name. At that moment she is able to recognize Jesus as her Rabboni, teacher. She makes her profession of faith and finally receives her commission.

For this process I took as the point of departure the question about the cause of her sorrow. And this sorrow, this search, this discomfiture is not unknown to the risen Master who offers definitive wisdom. I believe that I see that this appropriate, cordial, attentive question forms part of the definitive wisdom which it desires to offer.

We know that John the Evangelist was very interested in the personal relations of the men and women disciples with Jesus. Here Mary Magdalen serves as an historical person and John proposes her as model, a paradigm of accompaniment and discipleship. She illustrates what the Song of Songs says of the Beloved and the anguish of the search for her Lover.

In Mary Magdalen we see:

a woman who searches with tears for the one she loves,
also for the community which is the image of the beloved of the Canticle and which goes forth in search of her lover.

In Magdalen I see women of all times reflecting the deeply feminine experience of a sorrow which never gives up its search. Facing this is the resurrected Jesus who, in questioning her, asks all the women of all the ages the reason for their sorrow. This is a question which moves even more profoundly the daring search rooted in the feminine heart. It is a question which takes away a rock as large and heavy as the stone that sealed the tomb of Jesus; but in this case, it awakens the life of a woman. The sorrow of a lost good, a provocative situation, can be a heavy rock. In framing this question Jesus wants to recuperate the existential reality of this sorrow and of the women herself; and finally to allow the women to speak freely. We wish to hear them who have been silent for centuries.

Challenges for us as Dominican women

We are invited to cultivate Jesus' attitude of deep compassion as we meet the women with whom we work. There is a sympathetic question which Jesus might ask through us..."Woman, why do you weep?" There are ideas and convictions, judgments and opinions which fall and are cut away as we enter into contact with the sorrow of our sisters.

It is a challenge to learn to stay with people as they meet their sorrows. Weeping, they descend into their own tombs and it is there that they have the opportunity to encounter the resurrected Jesus.

We must challenge the macho culture which calls the cry of sorrow a sign of weakness.

We must refute the lie that women have come into the world to suffer. On the other hand, we discover in this lament an accusation and a force for resistance.

We search in this sorrow even though we are afraid; we may be obligated to rethink our convictions. We search in our lament where men do not care to search because it is a "woman's thing".

---Sister Ines Maria Gramajo

III. Reflections of the Groups

Reflecting on the words of Ines Maria, we formed small groups to share the little papers we had brought in our own skirt pockets.

1. How do we reread the text about Mary Magdalen?

"Magdalen, on the other hand, remained... She stayed. "She didn't recognize Jesus but she kept on looking and waiting for news. The women of our land have this same attitude of staying in tears in order to question:

"Where is my daughter who was killed in the embassy of Japan in Lima? I want to accompany her in her death!"

"What will happen with my daughters who have been violated? (Are they woman in order to suffer?)"

"Why do we have so many women who are beaten?"

"How can I stay close to my sister who for weeks and weeks has cried for her daughter who has been violated? She stays in her sorrow while she travels to the hospital and the court. How can we learn to pardon, yet not accustom ourselves to evil? This questions my faith, asking me, How can I take on the sufferings of others?"

"I saw the angels.." .Mary Magdalen went alone to the tomb in the darkness of early morning. She was preoccupied and her heart was set on finding Jesus. She met the angels and spoke with them. The angels would help her.

Today are there not angels who help persons in trouble without knowing who they are? The abandoned women always encounter angels who, little by little, permit them to enter into themselves and encounter Jesus who lives in them.

Could those angels be we ourselves? Do we not show the resurrected Jesus by our own lives, attitudes and witness? We must be consolation for others: "Oh that God would give us sensitivity and feelings before the sorrows of others!"

"She leaned toward the tomb..." The search gave Magdalen the courage to enter the sepulcher and bend down. Do we bow down to see better that which is close to us? At times the Church is indifferent and passes along the side of the sepulcher without entering or bowing down.

Bowing means lowering oneself. This is difficult. Nevertheless, we see that the women of our villages or cities are seated on the ground. What do these women hope for? They sell lemons, rest, talk about their sufferings and joys. Julia, a prostitute, is held in contempt by the society, yet she has registered in a night school because she hopes that something in her life might change. The fragility of these women does not destroy their dreams of a more dignified future.

"Woman, why do you weep?" She weeps because she doesn't see Jesus; she loves him and cannot find him. It is an experience of something very specific which occurs in life and which must be redeemed. Mary Magdalen cried without concern for what people would say.

Jesus receives the woman just as she is; he neither interrogates her nor interprets her lamentation. His question invites her to enter into the depth of her heart; only she may enter into the most profound part of her being. The resurrected Jesus, with his question, helps her to recognize the profundity of her life. These free and spontaneous tears have converted Mary Magdalen in to a dynamic force. Now the Magdalen is not embarrassed that she weeps, nor does she fear ridicule.

This lamentation we cannot interpret nor mystify. Tears and sorrow have been made mysterious by theology; the lamentation has a deep relationship with the secret and with love. In the Gospels we discover that when Jesus encounters pain and sorrow, he approaches and offers consolation. Only persons who love can offer this gesture of protection and accompaniment.

"Why have they carried away my Lord?..." is the cause of the lamentation of Mary Magdalen.

"And we ourselves, why do we weep?...Rescuing an alcoholic that I had searched for, who was without money, without consolation; I began to weep with him. It was as if I had found something I had lost."

Many women weep because love brings forth forgiveness, and this gives us the capacity to hope. They weep also because society does not allow them to do what they wish to do.

When women weep, they are able to relieve their pain, cleanse their vision and thus see again that life is possible.

Events occur which leave us impotent; we cannot flee; we are prisoners of sorrow, sinking into the tomb of despair. After hearing and sharing the sorrow and its causes with the others, we have to continue accompanying them and searching with them for alternatives. We cannot ignore those who look to us for help; we must serve them. To serve is also to confront the causes of injustice and not content ourselves with merely alleviating its consequences. This frequently obliges us to enter the fields of socio-politics and economics.

Mary Magdalen, in this context, causes us to remember that which we would have forgotten or would not have known without her.

2. Why do the women of my pueblo weep?

They weep because of the violence: mistreatment by their husbands, scornful treatment by their children, unjust treatment at work; a corrupt system that is turned against women so that they experience lack of support, insults, contempt and rejection. They experience the violence of the globalized economy which requires that a few persons live at the cost of death of the many. They die because of poverty, marginalization and the terrorism that kidnaps and kills husbands and children, subjecting them to silence and threats.

They weep because their bodies are violated -- (There are many cases of little girls violated by family members, kidnaped, or violated and killed at the hands of depraved sex fiends), There are women deprived of their right to motherhood because they are mutilated without their own knowledge, leaving them unable to have children. They weep because of depersonalized sexual relations which in some cases cause them to conceive children in pain and violence. The women call these children "children of tears".

They weep for broken human relationships: infidelity, problems with the children, alcoholism of the spouses, abandonment by a husband, and at times, abandonment even by the family if the woman has fallen into disgrace,

They weep because they have no expectations: they do not have a life project; their dreams are lost and broken. They lack hope because ways out are not visible to them.

They weep because of frustration: they feel deeply and suffer depression which causes the disintegration of the person and the family. Many times the women weep without knowing why, unaware of the ultimate reason for their depression.

They weep because of the machismo, sexism and patriarchy: In our society, where men are dominant, many women weep because they recognize themselves to be the victims of deception and abandonment by those men who do not assume the responsibility of being fathers to their own children. They weep for the tyrannical and derisive treatment they receive from their husbands; fathers and brothers who demand privileges as men, and who treat the women with contempt. Cases involving patriarchy are less frequent , but also cause sorrow to the woman. Many live with men knowing they have other wives, but it is not easy for them to leave. The women have internalized suffering and tears as something that is natural to the essence of woman, and they manifest it in this way:

"We weep because we are born to suffer, we are accustomed to sorrow, because the man believe that in us women evil is personified. They have poured out on us all the culpability for the sins of humanity. They consider us strange, seducers, dangerous persons. For this reason the men have the right to dominate us. "

This false conscience of the woman promotes a sexist and macho mentality in both her husband and sons. And if we are sincere, we religious will recognize that we too are immersed in this mentality and that it is necessary for us to examine and change our attitudes.

They weep for the joy of being valued and treated with dignity. The women weep but continue with courage; they do not collapse, but continue to do their daily work and to search out ways to survive. Their tears give them an internal dynamism of consolation and hope.

It is true that the women weep much, but our pastoral work in the villages of the indigenous peoples has revealed to us something new: The native women do not weep in this way anymore, nor are they dominated as we thought. In the popular organizations it is the women who "carry the tune". They do not speak in loud voices; the husband speaks out loud what she dictates in whispers, and he must obey. Nor is her sorrow inconsolable in the face of death. These women weep, singing to their loved ones, and in the middle of their sorrow they know how to relax the tension and make a place for joy; they even dance if the dead person is a child.

3. Why do the Dominican women weep?

because at times our religious communities do not offer us the opportunity for integrated development as persons, women, religious and Dominicans. because we lack a life project that we can be passionate about. We are not as happy as we wish to be and as people think we are.

because the structures and style of life make our initial and continuing formation very difficult. There are times when work has a higher priority than theological or professional studies.

because many times uniformity is emphasized more than unity.

because, for all that we are inserted and inculturated among the people, we still feel like strangers. We do not fully understand the wisdom of the people with whom we live and whom we serve. We do not penetrate their most profound feelings, and because of this, we are limited in our wisdom and judgments.

because we do not understand how to enter deeply into the world of the women, our life and study many times are not connected to it.

because of the influence which we, as religious, have among the people, we do not work to free them. We create dependency; for example, through the projects of the non-governmental agencies and others.

because we are not sufficiently recognized or supported by the hierarchy.

because our Dominican brothers have not arrived at an understanding of our manner of life and our way of looking at reality. We do not often feel close to them or committed to common projects with them.

because our structures are not always at the service of the Reign of God. We encounter the truth in the people, but our closed structures do not take them into account.

We weep because of the lack of coherence between that which we think and desire and that which we live out in practice.

because outsiders recognize us more for what we do than for what we are and the spirit in which we live. We almost always put efficiency above other values.

because we undervalue tears. They are the sign of a step to new life, they give us strength, they cleanse us; after a good cry we are relieved, it is a balsam for our sorrow. Tears express the abandonment, the confidence, and the intense hope; it is the starting point for seeking solutions to the reasons for our sorrow. They are the sign of the experience of the encounter, of the greatness and the beauty of the woman, not of her weakness. In these tears Magdalen recognized the face of the resurrected Lord which would soon open for her doors of life and hope. They make us feel the love of God in the silence and the loneliness.

The text as related to the Dominican tradition of COMPASSION.

Dominic had the sensitivity to be with the people who suffer. It is an alternative gesture. The face of Dominic was transformed by his contact with the misery of humanity. In the nights he carried the sorrow which he had discovered among the needy to the heart of God. Dominic possessed the feminine virtue of sympathy; he listened with tenderness and mercy to the cries of the people. Catherine is also an example of compassion for us as she accompanied the people and the church in suffering. Martin de Porres, Rose , John Macias and many Dominican women who shared the life of their people acted in the same way.

Dominic is at the foundation of a theology of the sepulcher which, following the example of Mary Magdalen, we need to cultivate, The Word Incarnate, in the most abandoned and excluded state of the human condition, invites us to live our option for the poor in an authentic and believable manner.

In that historical moment, the attitude of Dominic was prophetic. Dominic, recognizing the thirst for truth of the Cathars, learned from them a profound desire to live in the truth. He decided to become a mendicant, considering study as a fundamental element for his preaching. This was not only study from books, which were few in his time, but his study would be fed principally by compassion, prayer and contemplation. Dominic saw that his task was to recover the truth by proposing an alternative model of how to be Christian. He presented a new image of a God who rescues the dignity and value of the person in a new vision of humanity.

It is not possible to have compassion without indignation. When the truth is not recognized or the dignity of persons is injured, the prophetic voice rises in denunciation. For Dominic and Diego the manner in which the church had preached to the heretics was a scandal. The truth of the Gospel was compromised by the untruthful witness of the preachers. In this context, Dominic became the Preacher of Grace, a witness to the fullness of Truth and Life, which is God himself.

Compassion in the Dominican style invites us to leave behind the despoiling of knowledge. Dominic, with his patience and capacity to listen, allowed himself to be evangelized by the poor who had submitted to the heresy of his times. As he listened to the sorrow and suffering of the poor and the heretics, he himself was evangelized. He proposed alternatives to the Christian life in order to rescue the lost values of the faith. This attitude of letting go requires us to engage in a strongly disciplined and persevering study of reality from our hearts as we hear the cries of those who suffer. This attitude is not a fad or novelty.

Compassion asks us to be effective and fruitful in service to life; this is not possible if we live isolated from life. We need to create and strengthen nets of information, utilizing all the positive things that the post-modern world and globalized economy offer us.

It is good that the people of the area see us inserted in the culture, but at the same time, as itinerants. This should not be confused with instability. Our people should not see us as passing birds. It is important to know how to accompany the people even from a distance, and by means of occasional visits, experience with them strong moments of encounter and mission. We must not forget that our blood is already intermingled with theirs and that our hopes are unified in the construction of a more just and more human world that will be capable of living out the values of the Reign of God.

Second Day: Woman, for whom are you looking?

I. Prayer

The sisters from Ecuador had prepared for us a celebration based on the schema of the meetings of the Base Communities or Living Church. Ligia invited us to sing "Virgin of Nazareth". We drew close by means of a video to the reality of the indigenous community of Chimborazo, named Mayushina or As a Seed. We reflected on these questions: "What is the woman in the video seeking?", and "What are the women with whom we work seeking?"

We listened and reflected in silence on the reading of John, 20, 15. We followed this by reciting the Creed of the Dominican Woman. Next followed the rite of the counselors of the Purua: two women sought counsel from two other women, bringing them a gift.. We concluded by singing, and then sharing the typical food of Ecuador. We committed ourselves to continuing reflection during the day.

Joana's painting of Mary Magdalen searching for Jesus was put in place to catalyze our reflections.

II. Support for the Reflection

Maria Jose Caram followed the example of Ines by pulling out her little paper, which said: Who did Mary Magdalen seek?

Maria cried and bent down to look. She wept and searched. She wept because she missed someone. "Why have the carried away my Lord? I don't know where they have put him!" (John 20, 13) In her tears was reflected the Resurrected , but she could not see him. Nevertheless, these cries are the first step in her search; she recognized the cause of her weeping. Her attitude gave her the capacity to look profoundly, and this special look permitted her later to recognize her beloved.

The text of John presents us with a Mary Magdalen exercising her role as the representative of the community of men and women disciples. She is the disciple who searches for the Master who has been carried away--she searches in darkness, in the place of the dead, groping in the shadows, in the sepulcher.

We can relate Mary Magdalen to the beloved woman of the Canticle, searching for her Beloved, not knowing here to find him. The loved woman searches with thirst, with desire and with passion.

For whom are the women of our pueblo searching?

Yesterday we stood weeping beside the women with whom we live and serve. The questions which guide us today are:

"The women of our pueblo---are they searching? for whom do they seek? where do they search?"

"And we, Dominican women---are we searching? for whom do we seek? where do we search? is our seeking the same or different from the search of the women of our pueblo? do we search with them?"

As Mary Magdalen on the first day, most poor women rise very early, even before the sun is up. Perhaps they too have gone to bed with their hearts in agony because a son has not returned, or because they were beaten by their husbands or because there is no one to earn a penny for the family. Nevertheless, before the rising of the sun, they rise and begin their life of pilgrimage.

I have asked many of them, "How are you today?" and they have responded, "In the name of God I got up!" Thus, with the conviction that God helps them, they begin to prepare breakfast; they go to their little stall in the market or they go off to wash clothes in the houses of richer women, or they walk to the countryside to pasture their animals.

I wish to point out a very common action in our towns and point it out as a symbol and expression of the life of many women: the pilgrimage. The humble poor, who have a profound conviction of the presence of God in their lives, know that God accompanies them each day in their struggles, sufferings, desires and joys. For this reason they are accustomed to frequent certain places in which God has made himself known in a special way, so that they might nourish themselves there in order to continue their journey through life. These places are mountains or sanctuaries which shelter an image of the holy patron of their community (who might be the Virgin, the Lord or another saint canonized by the church). In these sanctuaries our people realize a basic religious experience which extends itself from the sacred space to the entire universe, sewing life together minute by minute.

As Magdalen, these women exercise many times a representative role in their community. I remember a young woman pilgrim who participated in a religious dance who told me that as she entered the sanctuary with her companions, she wept with emotion because she felt that here, dancing, she represented her family of origin.

Also, like Mary Magdalen, these women are disciples and seek to learn from the Master the wisdom of life; they search with passion for this wisdom.

There, in close contact with the God of life, the one they can see, touch and feel embrace them; they discover their personal dignity. They learn that they are called to be recognized and loved because he recognizes them, hears them and loves them. And from the Master they receive a complete, full life for themselves, their children and their communities.

For whom do we Dominican women seek?

Like Mary Magdalen, and like the poor women, we women Dominicans seek the Beloved. And we search for the Beloved in the daily life of the people with whom we live, in their sorrows and joys, in their work and their fiestas, in their pasts, their presents and their futures. Our experience of God lets us recognize that the persons we encounter who are different from ourselves are for us bringers of salvation, moments of grace, companions on the journey. We discover that this other person is equal to ourselves, although different; and the place created in this relationship becomes a flowing spring of wisdom.

Perhaps we should ask ourselves, "whom are we seeking in our studies and in those we meet with compassion?" Thus these proper characteristics of our Dominican spirituality would make much more sense if we learn to live them and recreate them in the light of the experience of our people's search.

Maria Jose Caram, O.P.

III. Reflections of the groups

We continued as yesterday pulling out our own scraps of paper and sharing in the groups.

1. For whom did Mary Magdalen search?

Mary Magdalen searched for the meaning of her life, her reason for being, her life force and her future.

She sought to recover that experience of having been given dignity by Jesus. This urged her to stay in the sepulcher looking for her Beloved (she was confused with love) in order to honor him and to render him homage according to the traditions of her people.

She looked for more than a corpse, someone who meant much to her people. (She sought a sign of life in the middle of the uncertainty of death; she felt that there was indeed hope, and for this reason she stayed.)

She sought to respond to the needs that the situation or moment demanded at the time.

She wanted to return to her feeling of being loved, in the middle of loneliness and uncertainties.

Mary Magdalen, in the middle of the crisis, did not lose the sense for what she sought and this impelled him to reveal himself to her.

She looked for an encounter with herself, with her culture; she did not lose the vision of her purpose, she searched and searched with the certainty that her faith and love gave to her.

She sought to represent her people, her community and hence, all of humanity.

2. What do the women of our pueblo seek?

2.1. On the personal level:

They seek to love and to be loved; we were created to desire and to be desired. A person who is not loved, dies. In the profound depths of the heart, we do not find the desire to possess, but a more profound desire to love.

They seek places where they are recognized for their dignity as persons, recovering their identity, independence, their worth, self-esteem, and liberty.

They seek certainty in moments of confusion, lack of understanding, and absence of goals.

They seek to satisfy their economic needs in the daily struggle for the survival of their families.

They do not want to be victims of any kind violence: physical, psychological, moral or political.

They wish to organize themselves to plan common objectives for the good of the community and to strengthen their solidarity in seeking a better quality of life.

They wish to improve themselves, to study and thus be able to help their children.

They wish their children to succeed, and they promote their education even at great sacrifice to themselves.

They wish to open up new horizons, breaking the negative traditional customs (The woman stays in her house; the men think, the women emote.)

2.2. On the religious level:

They seek close by to find the God they believe in, and to recognize how a provident God (Father/Mother who guards life and strengthens it) walks with them in their daily lives.

In their search they try to relate faith and life, expressing spontaneously their own experience of faith. These expressions are manifested by songs, dances, art, piety, and nature.

They seek to contemplate, praise and give thanks by their patronal fiestas and other expressions.

2.3 On the community level:

They seek to be heard and to make room for sharing, for healing themselves, for working together and surviving.

They seek to reestablish or maintain harmony in their families, communities and traditions. This harmony is constantly threatened by the new liberalism.

They seek to maintain the joyous feeling of the fiesta.

They seek political representation for their community.

2.4 On the level of values:

They seek to perpetuate the value of life, faithfulness, liberty, solidarity, and justice.

Like Magdalen, they wish to remain present and persevering in the face of difficulties.

They try to maintain their cultural values even when there is forced migration.

They seek to have news of their disappeared children.

3. What do the Dominican women seek?

We seek to follow the path of discipleship as did Mary Magdalen, rediscovering her person and leadership in order to find new ways of meeting the people. This requires us to hear their cries, to make times for silence and prayer each day; not to abandon formal study, to maintain ourselves in fidelity to the work of the Spirit in the middle of the people of God; to stay open, accepting and receiving of that which is different.

We seek to make the pilgrimage together with the people, men and women, from their poverty, in compassion and brotherhood.

We seek a prophetic mode, the fruit of our own entrails, in order to detect the footprints of the Lord in history, which is prophetic in itself, because it contradicts and completes the masculine paradigm of seeing, preaching, feeling and being.

4. Study as a Dominican way of seeking.

The study of the Order is an element that helps constitute its spirituality, and which should lead us to harmonize and balance perfectly the other elements of our charism.

Our study should not have any other objective than to recover or redeem from reality this God of life who journeys together with his people.

Our study tries to learn from the cries and groans of humanity. We see how Dominic sold his books because he didn't wish to "study from dead skins while his brothers died of hunger." He sold his books to rescue these unheard voices, those lost words of the excluded poor.

This study does not let us forget that, in justice, this pertains to the most simple and excluded persons of history.

Study is a form of wisdom, a gift of the spirit, which we are called to share, which is indeed given to us for others.

We are called to a study that is a sharing in solidarity in which we overcome individualistic visions. This attitude is proper to our feminine spirit of collaboration and mutual assistance.

We should strengthen ourselves so as not to loose our freedom or be crushed by the dominant patriarchy of most centers of study.

Study should help us to harmonize the word of God with the word of the people living in community.

This study cannot be pursued except with asceticism and compassion.

As Dominicans, our study should lead us to become women with grand passions.

Third Day: Don't hold on to me...go and tell my brothers and sisters...

I. Prayer.

The Brazilian sisters convened our prayer in the garden where they recalled to us that the Creation and the Resurrection took place in a garden, and that the desire of humanity is to return to the Garden, the Promised Land, which is Paradise.

There, with joyful hugs, we remembered the encounter of Mary Magdalen with Jesus and her mission to announce his resurrection to his brothers and sisters.

They began a march through the garden in search of their Brazilian brothers and sisters, carrying posters and photos of them. The procession was headed by a sister carrying a cross draped with white cloth, symbolizing the death of Jesus. We entered the room singing, and we reflected on those bonds which impede our living out and announcing the Resurrection. We ended with a psalm written by black religious of Brazil.

With a short explanation, Joana hung her painting of Mary Magdalen holding on to Jesus and simultaneously letting go of him to carry out her mission

II. Support for the reflection

Delia invited Marcela to direct a brief dramatization in which we were asked to imagine from the experience of the fetus that we live when we are born or set free. As she finished the dinamica, she took from her pocket a little piece of paper, which said:

Today I will try to motivate the reflection from the text (John 20, 17-18) and from my personal experience. There are three key moments: "the Encounter , Let Me Go..., Look and Tell."

John tells us that the encounter of Jesus with the Magdalen brought with it the experience of Let me go. This requires that there must be someone who holds on and someone who releases. This was a special time, a time away from time; I will try to explain what I mean. When Magdalen saw the empty tomb, she asked for help; Peter and the other disciple responded. They went with her, but immediately they saw that there was nothing they could do, and they returned home. Not the Magdalen. Weeping, she stayed, and in this way the Encounter happened; this is the time away. Today where is the away in a world so globalized, neoliberal and postmodern? Away is a precious place; the place of the Encounter. In this precious time the situation is one of conflict. Magdalen wept. The encounter is away from time, away and in a situation of conflict. It is not the only way to meet the Resurrected, the Beloved of my soul (Cant 1,7) but it is one way.

To Mary Magdalen and to ourselves, this experience leads us to another, Let go of me. I asked myself, what is it that gives us the courage to let go in the midst of uncertainly, fear, and the intuitive recognition that one should let go? I found three reasons: the first is undoubtedly the Encounter, our experience with Him. In second place, we let go so that the Mission continues , and third, because above all we intuit that this place where he sends us is a place of Encounter. The Magdalen went and said, "I have seen the Lord!"

In Lima we asked ourselves, "What do we preach and from where do we preach?" We might become like the shepherdess in the Song of Songs: "Tell me, beloved of my soul, where have you taken your flock to pasture? Where do you rest at midday,? Tell me, so that I will not wander like a vagabond behind the flocks of your companions." (Cant 1,7)) We do not have to wait for the answer:-- "If you don't know, follow the footprints of the sheep!" (Cant 1,8)

After we study the documents of the Church from Medellin to Santo Domingo, our own Constitutions, and that which we discover with others through study, we realize that all which we have to preach can found in history, in reality and in the mission. Will it be difficult in our world to see the footprints of the sheep?

We can look at our work today from the viewpoint of Mary Magdalen, from that of the women with whom we work and from our own viewpoint, asking ourselves: "From where do we preach, what do we preach and how do we live as wayfarers today?"

Delia Saez Betancourt

III. Reflections of the groups

After this we shared in groups the following "little papers"

1. Encounter

The fact that Magdalen stayed at the tomb is a sign of the hope of maturity, her time of formation, and her reflection and contemplation which prepared her for what was to come. As Magdalen, we should learn and stay when we don't know what to do.

Mary Magdalen did not recognize Jesus because she remained with her previous experience; we should dare to seek an encounter the Lord in other experiences. The Lord is found in real people.

That which we have seen and heard, this is what we preach: this is the fruit of encounter from having lived with Jesus. We are not able to announce a God who saves without a spiritual experience like that had by Magdalen. It is this that gives courage; at the beginning, it is pure intuition. If this experience of encounter does not exist it would not be possible to divest ourselves and we could not transmit hope to the marginalized.

There are distinct times of encounter; one example is that which Jesus had with Mary and Martha when he detained them and wanted them to enjoy and take pleasure in his presence. At another time, he asked Mary to run from his presence and announce that he is risen.

The diverse language of the three translations of verse 17 might make us think that there was not a physical contact between Jesus and the Magdalen; based on this idea, a theology has developed. But if Jesus said, "Let go of me," it was because he had been embraced; and this affective life experience was already present in the community of the disciples.

There is a close relationship between letting go and discerning: many times we have to leave our plans and projects; we are not able to discern when we are carrying too much baggage.

Magdalen lived a reaffirmation of her identity because she was able to stand up to the apostles. She appears as the one who confirms the faith; it is she who makes strong the foundations of the community. She is not alone, she is the representative of the unity of the men and women disciples of the community.

It is because of this encounter with Jesus that Mary Magdalen encounters herself and recognizes her dignity as a woman. This interior experience of Jesus with her and within her began at the moment of the encounter with Jesus.

2. Let go of me---

Loosening ourselves and letting go disconnects us and leaves us without words. In order to let go, one needs to have a spiritual experience.

The letting go of Mary Magdalen is breaking with beliefs and traditions and becoming familiar with new ideas. It is leaving the known and articulating it with the new project; from here springs creativity and preaching.

Magdalen went far, she was global, without limits.

The more attention we give to letting go, the more we are preaching. Many times we are blocked because we do not free ourselves. How can we find places to preach if we do not go to the encounter?

One has to let go in order to remain searching; this is the dynamic of divestiture. What did Jesus feel when he said: Let me go! to Magdalen? Was he not reminding her not to rest in intimacy?

Mary Magdalen represents a community and could not remain a prisoner; she had to see other horizons and frontiers. The Holy Spirit is not personal property, but universal, and for this reason one must cut oneself loose so that the Spirit may enter.

This cutting loose produces fear and anguish, but another encounter follows afterwards. The communities can help us to loosen ourselves without fear, to trust because others are going forward.

3. Go and tell---

Before we ask ourselves what we should preach, we should ask ourselves what we understand by preaching. Is it to preach from the text and from the women of our pueblo? They do not preach with the same idea which we have of preaching. Preaching is the relation between what we preach and the encounter. It is not a task, a job, although many times we have assumed it as such, because we are not able to preach as does the pueblo. The key to the drawing of Joana is that which Delia calls the encounter. The preaching becomes encounter. That is not to say it is something like a concept or a doctrine. Dominic acquired the passion for preaching through his encounters with the heretics. He realized that there is a strong relation between preaching and encounter, for it appears that when the preaching is only instruction, the preaching is false.

We should bring to birth in ourselves a longing for the encounter. If this is its content, our preaching will be as real and concrete as life itself. There is also biblical preaching, which is not learned in the Bible but in the wisdom with which the women seek counsel as in the culture Puruha Quichua of Ecuador. The gift of preaching is the verbal form of the encounter.

Religious life has entered into a mentality of efficiency. If we do not see significant results, it seems that we have done nothing. The people do nothing; their business, their survival and all else is gratuitous. Religious life in Latin America expresses the mentality of Europe but not of the Latin culture, because we have not known how to incorporate the values of the people.

In preaching and encounter there are some moments of silence and other moments with words. The words for the Dominican women should be close to prophecy, because today it is important to speak as a prophet. Already the people of our times want an evangelization that does not bother them or make them uncomfortable. We must not forget that our Order was born as preacher to the official church which was preaching badly at that time to the heretics. For us it is important to recover the work of prophecy as did the women after the Resurrection. The work of the people is also prophecy, which many times we do not really hear. From this reflection we are able to think of how many unjust silences we have supported. One way of being silent might be all those times we do organize or systematize what we are experiencing.

Joana's painting is very significant, what is in the voice of her brush is the same as that of the little people. This is the announcement of Resurrection which the woman is going to declare. The color of the people in the painting is gold because Magdalen's message is gold, it is illumination.

Jesus sent Mary Magdalen so that she would become embodied; this is the challenge of the Dominican men and women. It is as if Jesus had said to Mary Magdalen: "Let go of me so that you may go and embody that which I have begun!"

"The mission is the place where God manifests himself." Itinerant persons are not all led to the same place; itinerancy is a kind of wandering. It is the experience of the Pasch; it is like passing through a dark tunnel to the light of Easter. I think of persons who wander from the country to the city because of a drought; in the same way there are people who accompany the Peruvians who emigrate to the United States and Japan.

Our hierarchy does not announce a risen Jesus. There are bishops who say, "I do not understand these people because they are religious, yet pagan." Others say, "Those who are dedicated to social and political justice are not evangelizing", and others, "I do not believe in shared pastoring."

The preacher is the person who asks, "What do you seek?" because to preach is to beg of the listeners memories or anecdotes of their longings and desires.

The word Brothers gives us the idea that they are persons who are beyond our own circle, far away from our own culture, our boundaries, our ways of thinking and feeling. Many times we are left silent with them; therefore, how can we preach? We don't know what to say, but even so, in this encounter we feel joy, and a desire springs forth for more encounters.

Dominic founded the order of men and women preachers, and yet no sermon or homily of his exists. His preaching was the encounter and each day was for him an adventure, a new moment.

Translated by Thoma Joana Swanson, op
Edited by Mary Anne Rivera
This translation omits the final section, IV Before the reality of our globalized world, the questions, supporting reflections and final conclusions. Also ommitted are the Creative Joint Sessions at the end of each of the three days.