Discalced Carmelite Nuns: Pray for Approval

The Discalced Carmelite nuns of the community located in San José de Maipo (Metropolitan Region) shared —through a letter addressed to Chileans— their reflections on the proposed constitution prepared by the Constitutional Convention. The reflection was born within this group of women dedicated to contemplation, inspired by the figure of the Mexican Juan Diego, the first indigenous saint, and the Virgin of Guadalupe regarding the recognition of native peoples. Guadalupe is the first apparition of the Virgin Mary in America, outside of Europe.

It seems to us that the new Constitution, on which 154 men and women chosen and mandated by the people of Chile have worked without hours, recognizes the indigenous peoples as nations, restoring to them, even partially, their lands, their waters, their language and what they essential, its dignity, is a gesture that dignifies Chile and deeply joys Mary, Virgin of Guadalupe. It is fair to give the space that is proper to our brothers from native peoples who have allowed us to build in union with them, this beautiful country, called Chile, ”says the letter.

This declaration arises independently and reveals matters different from those expressed by the bishops of Chile, after their plenary assembly last July.

“NArticle 67 seems important and noteworthy in paragraph 1: Every person has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion and worldview and in the following 67.3: The State recognizes spirituality as an essential element of the human being; in no other constitution had mention been made of this transcendental dimension of the human being”, they add.

In addition, they appreciate what is raised in social rights such as: health, education, housing, pensions, work, among other issues that they consider essential.

This new Constitution is ecological, respects and legislates on nature, as Pope Francis asks us in the encyclical Laudato Si, in which he calls us to respect and love the ‘common home’, the earth and the common natural assets. Water, an essential element for life, is regulated according to human needs, the needs of nature, agriculture and ultimately mining and agricultural export activities. Ecology and hygiene of the soul are absolutely necessary values ​​in a society like today’s oriented towards consumption, selfishness and the superficial, lacking solidarity and empathy with the brother “.

They affirm that the new Constitution is perfectible “and can be solved with dialogue, respect and good will, but the fundamental thing is that it is constituted as a social State of law; Chile is conceived as a Republic of solidarity, where human rights , individual and collective, are the foundation of the State; a participatory, inclusive and parity democracy is structured, as well as regional, taking a great step so that each region can self-determine and develop its potential. These concepts are essential to understand all the new Constitution and the north of it. If we reject the proposal of a new Constitution we are rejecting the possibility of taking a big step in the future of our country”.

And they close with a reflection with an excerpt from the homily of Cardinal Silva Henríquez in the Te Deum of September 1974, which Pope Francis cites in his latest Encyclical Fratelli Tutti No. 14: “The peoples who alienate their tradition and by imitative mania , imposing violence, unforgivable negligence or apathy, tolerate having their souls snatched away, they lose, along with their spiritual physiognomy, their moral consistency and finally their ideological, economic and political independence”.

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Discalced Carmelite Nuns: Pray for Approval