Fri 25 Nov 2022
IX National Reconciliation Congress concludes with missionary dispatch
At the conclusion of the ninth version of the National Reconciliation Congress, Monsignor Luis José Rueda Aparicio, Archbishop of Bogotá and President of the Episcopal Conference of Colombia, told the more than 450 participants that this closure was a sign of missionary sending, where each one left with the commitment to take to the different regions that represent a message of reconciliation, peace and hope. Following the readings for Advent Sunday, which is now approaching, the prelate observed that this is a time that leads us to hope and this must be constantly strengthened. “This mission of reconciliation that we all want to assume and renew must be accompanied by a high dose of hope and this is lacking for us, as servants of our communities, but it is also lacking for our communities.” During his homily, he warned that hope can easily be lost because the fruits are not seen quickly, “hope can be lost because sometimes we see more of the negative than the positive, what is growing, what is beginning, what is beginning to germinate and some of us can look back and say this is the ninth congress, we have spent many years reflecting, praying, working, committing ourselves to the issue of peace and reconciliation and as the psalmist says, when we say peace, the others cry war . It seems that we ended one phase of the war and started another, and not only at the regional and national level, but also internationally.” The manager in three points described what the commitment of a missionary shipment means. First. A sending celebration is a missionary celebration that should strengthen us, that should send us to our territories thinking that there is an Advent, that there is a social hope for transformation. Second. In light of the second reading, let us think that there is an Advent and there is a personal hope, each one of us will also be clothed with Christ and will begin to walk with dignity in the dawn of our personal life. Third. As a church we must be very attentive, we do not know when it will be, we cannot dare, nor venture to say, neither with a catastrophe, nor with too much optimism, the Lord will arrive on such a day, but let it be part of our daily walk. Let nothing break that hope that we must communicate and cultivate in our communities. “The hygiene of hope” For his part, Father Rafael Castillo, director of the National Secretariat for Social Pastoral Care, at the end of the Congress, referred to the theme of the “hygiene of hope”, pointing out that hope is not a simple decision of personal will, nor is it a pure gift of God entirely alien to personal responsibility, he said that it is rather a combination of both aspects. “Many times what most influences the tone of our hope is the adequate or unwise management that we give to the factors that daily harass our hope. It is not enough to decide to have hope (voluntarism) nor is it enough to put trust in God (spiritualism). The “hygiene of hope” is also necessary. He listed several factors that threaten the poor today: the economic recession, violence, unemployment, the growing number of young people who drop out of universities, these and other aspects, he added, are what make people lose the ‘reference utopias’ and diminish the meaning of their lives, causing many to enter into personal crises, such as psychological depression and psychosomatic symptoms. Faced with this reality, the manager observed that it is when it is most necessary to carry out an adequate “hygiene of hope”, for which he formulated four ways to prevent it. First of all, one should not add fuel to the fire by cultivating negative thoughts and falling into the polarization that is already fragmentation. “Today we are urged to look and take stock of the positive and good things that have happened and the achievements that have been achieved (…) The path taken so far is a call to climb to the next step. There are not few steps that are missing”. Second, it is important to take advantage of what history teaches. “What is happening to us is hard and it is not little. It is one of the many “low hours” in 200 years of the Republic. I don’t think it’s the lowest, but it is, most likely, the most hopeful. In Colombia, when things have not gone well, we have always had men and women in a position to fix them. There are traces in the mud of our history as a Nation”. Thirdly, “it is important to be strengthened by the memory of the testimony of all those, ordinary people like us, who in situations similar to those we live in today, knew how to wait patiently for the winter floods to pass, without renouncing their convictions. nor steal from the opprobrium that they had to endure.” Fourth, “we must have and remember the Nation’s own project that the young people are showing us with the different social sectors. “If the reasons are still there, intact, or even increased, there is no valid reason to give up. On the contrary: today we have new reasons. Let’s not lose heart, the signs of a new dawn are already beginning to emerge. Symbol of missionary sending At the close of this Congress that was held in the city of Bogotá, from November 22 to 24, its organizers: the Episcopal Conference of Colombia, through the National Social Pastoral Secretariat (SNPS) and the Conciliation Commission National, gave each participant a bracelet: “The Artisans of Peace”, this as a sign of missionary dispatch. With this sign they wanted to exalt the memory of Monsignor Luis Augusto Castro Quiroga, archbishop emeritus of Tunja and who dedicated his service and pastoral dedication in favor of peace and reconciliation.