14 Jan CALLED TO WALK, SOWING HOPE AND PEACE – Peru–Bolivia Assembly
From January 12 to 14, 2026, 54 sisters from across the Peru–Bolivia Province took part in the Provincial Assembly. The gathering was held at the “Nuestra Señora del Camino” Spirituality Center, an apostolic center of our community in Chaclacayo (Lima, Peru).
The joy of encounter and fraternity
The first thing we experienced in this gathering was the encounter among all those who participated. Many of us met again after almost a year. This atmosphere of welcome, joy, and fraternity marked these days and made us available to open ourselves to the Spirit of the Lord.
The themes addressed during the Assembly were Synodality, Good Treatment, and Shared Mission. In this direction, the presentations we received not only enlightened us but also set our hearts on fire, awakening the desire to seek and commit ourselves to the Magis.
Synodality and good treatment: a new way of relating
Daniela Cannavina, HCMR, spoke to us about Synodality and Good Treatment, and once again we felt that the Spirit of the Lord is calling us to walk together from a new model of relationships, rooted in the art of encounter and in the “blessed difference.” The call is to be lucid, creative, and harmonious in living our differences, for we are wonderfully diverse: different in language, tastes, culture, sensitivity, and in ways and styles of living spirituality.
Synodality, therefore, encompasses all that we are and all that we do. It refers to a new way of living and acting, of being present in everyday life. It requires us to review our relationships, mindsets, communicative dynamics, and structures—at the personal, community, and structural levels.
Furthermore, it helped us recognize that a culture of Good Treatment fosters, within us and within our communities, just and fraternal relationships, horizontal role dynamics, and the ability to see the other as a gift. Ultimately, it is a path of humanization in the style of Jesus.
Shared mission: a charism that opens and is shared
On the other hand, the presentation on Shared Mission, given by Jesuit and Marist lay people who have walked a long path of reflection and practice in this area, helped us understand that, as Slaves of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and as part of the Church, we share in her mission through the Eucharistic-Reparative charism. To this charism, diverse vocations are added.
Understanding this implies a paradigm shift: moving from being helpers to co-responsible collaborators in the mission. This does not dilute identities; rather, it strengthens them. Thus, we become an Apostolic Community that joins the mission of the Church with different levels of belonging and commitment, each according to the particularity of one’s vocation. This brings many challenges, because it is not merely an organizational matter, but a spiritual journey in which shared formation is essential so that Sisters and lay people may speak a common language.
Maria Flores, from the community of Lima – Perú
We received many insights for our spiritual journey, for one does not love what one does not know. What a richness it was to share experiences! They set our hearts on fire with the desire for this conversion which, we feel, is born from God’s desire for the Province.
We also felt that all these calls we experienced are embodied in the Provincial Motto—which has already been a small step toward shared mission:
Let us walk, sowing hope and peace.
It gathers the call to walk together, ALL who share the Eucharistic-Reparative charism, carrying and sowing hope and peace in our surroundings, in our world, so deeply in need of them.
Thanks be to the Lord, thanks to His Spirit for showing us the route, the path. Thank you, Rafaela María, for showing us how to do it: all united, like the fingers of one hand.
Thanks be to God!!!
María Rosario Flores Rios, ACI
Doris, from the Oruro community, Bolivia
For me, the experience of the Assembly has meant feeling God’s presence moving through me—shaking, renewing, challenging, and calling me to go further.
The Assembly enlightened me to live a spiritual journey as artisans of Peace, with evangelical quality, following the relational style of Jesus, grounded in the ethics of care.
The Assembly enlightened me to live a spiritual journey as artisans of Peace, with evangelical quality, following the relational style of Jesus, grounded in the ethics of care.
This Assembly made me more aware of the need to invest in spiritual growth that cultivates interiority, strengthens love and welcome, nurtures tenderness, the ability to give affection freely, an inclination toward the small, fragile, and vulnerable, and to marvel at the beauty of the world and of humanity.
I felt called to live co-responsibly with the laity, to encourage and protect life, to cultivate God’s life, and to restore respect and dignity to every person.
Doris Cerdeña Vizcarra, ACI
Nelly, from Cochabamba – Bolivia
From the depths of my heart, I want to share the resonances that remain with me after the Assembly of our Peru–Bolivia Province. I feel it has been a time of grace, of listening, and of truth, where the Lord has called us together once again.
We walk together toward the reparative mission.
We did not come on our own initiative, but because He called us. In the opening prayer of the Assembly, we were invited to reflect. I felt strongly that synodality is not just a working method, but an evangelical way of living our charism today: walking to the rhythm of the Spirit, supporting one another.
With the presentation by Daniela Cannavina, HCMR, on good treatment and synodality, and the panels on shared mission by the Jesuits and Marists, we were enlightened, challenged, and became aware of the path we are walking with the laity. In looking at one another and allowing ourselves to be seen, I felt a sincere desire to start anew, to let the Lord transform our bonds and make us a healing, fraternal, and co-responsible community in mission. We have the richness of our Eucharistic-Reparative charism, which we cannot keep to ourselves—it is the Church’s mission. Daniela’s final words moved me deeply: “Do not be afraid; the protagonist is the Spirit.” There is hope; something new is being born for us, the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Let us allow ourselves to be guided fearlessly by the Spirit, so that our bonds are transformed and we become healing, fraternal, and co-responsible communities in mission.
Another strong echo was the call to a paradigm shift: moving from collaborators to co-responsible participants in a synodal mission. I feel the Spirit invites us to a deep and radical change. It is no longer just about “helping,” but about recognizing ourselves as part of a common mission, shared with others, in the diversity of vocations. A more circular model, where everyone listens, discerns, and participates, and where the Eucharistic–Reparative charism and spirituality are truly lived and shared. A major challenge is joint formation: laity and sisters together. This made me grateful for FACI; the sisters who shared felt that the charism fills them and moves them to live it in their daily environment.
A shared mission
Let us boldly embrace the call to a shared mission, forming ourselves together so that the Eucharistic–Reparative charism becomes life and hope in every reality we inhabit.
Finally, looking toward the future, especially toward life and mission in 2026, I was struck by the desire to organize ourselves and discern together to walk sowing hope and peace. Our motto will allow us to carry out a shared mission in each of our presences. May our structures, choices, and projects not become ends in themselves, but expressions of an integrated, evangelical, and available life, in the style of Jesus: who prays, proclaims, serves, and continues walking toward the new places where life awaits.
I appreciated the process we have gone through, gradually creating a climate of listening and empathy, humanizing ourselves and becoming more synodal. We placed before the Lord the processes we are living regarding shared mission, evangelizing and transformative education, youth and vocational pastoral care, and restructuring, asking for the grace to be guided by His Spirit. Spaces for prayer, joint adoration, and the Eucharist were the lubricant that allowed the machinery of priorities to start moving.
I remain with deep gratitude and serene certainty: the Heart of Jesus continues to beat among us and keeps sending us.
May we know how to listen to Him, care for one another, and walk together, faithful to the gift received.
May our goal be to shape ourselves as fraternal communities, in the style of Jesus and for the mission.
THANK YOU, LORD, FOR SO MUCH GOOD RECEIVED…
Nelly Sempértegui Ramírez, ACI
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