July 16th

The work of the commissions begins.

After yesterday's festive day of rest, today we returned to the regular routine of Chapter, beginning with a normal day's schedule. At 7 a.m. we celebrated the Eucharist with Lauds, presided over by representatives of the Italian provinces. Fr. Bernardino Prella, provincial of St. Dominic's province, presided while Fr. Giovanni Matera, definitor of St. Thomas' province, preached. Everything was in French, with some singing in Italian, under the direction of Fr. Lorenzo, the vicar of Turkey. At the chorus the "friends of Italy" united - Argentineans, Irish, Belgians, Flemish.... Let us celebrate the humility of the Italians, who accepted the rules of the game in using only three official languages and thus deprived us of their beautiful tongue.

Fr. Giovanni in his homily played a little with the similarity - in French - between pecheur and precheur, on this day on which we began to work on the mission and the life of the Order. Later he made us see that, as the Gospel says, only a profound love can separate the daughter-in-law from the mother-in-law. Even though the homily was in French, in which he was fluent, Bernardino converted two admonitions into two more opportune little homilies. The Italians have the gift of speech in French as well as in Italian and we like to hear them and see them at the same time, since their words are always accompanied with gestures.

After the liturgy began the work of the commissions. As much as one could see it was rather a morning of reading the texts before beginning to dialogue. The texts are, above all, those of the preceding chapters, to be read in order see if they have been fulfilled or not, and most importantly, so that no one try to discover the Mediterranean, or that is: to say what has already been said.

The commissions continued in the afternoon. Some began to recess too early. Others used their class time to good advantage. Not a few preferred that each member continue with an individualized study of different texts.

Vespers was celebrated in French even though it was presided over by an Italian and there was some singing in Italian. Participating as soloists in this sweet language were Sister Leticia, a religious of the Roman Congregation, one of our best and most assiduous translators of almost all the languages, who lives in Rome, and Sister Gabriela, a nun from the new foundation at Turin. We give them a minimum of space in these chronicles even though they merit much more. A special mention is also deserved by the excellent work of the liturgical team, headed by James Marchionda, OP, with the assistance of Mary Fran Fleischaker, OP, Michael De Temple, OP, and André Descoteaux, OP.

The new Master confers with the commissions and in other consultations to see how he will fill those positions in the Curia which are vacant: some secretaries fluent in different languages; the very important position which he left, that of procurator of the Order. Moreover the Assistants or Promoters for Italy-Malta, Portugal-Spain, the United States, Latin America, Asia- Pacific, and the Intellectual Life have also finished their terms of office or will finish them soon.

At the end of the day various participants want to show that they feel as young in body as they are in spirit. Editing documents about globalization cannot compare to playing soccer. In tune with the harmony that reigns at the Chapter, the game resulted in a tie, with neither victors nor vanquished. Thank goodness there were no wounds, which in itself is a victory.

(Translated from Spanish)