On January 14 and 15, the National Council of the Vincentian Family in Honduras met. Here is a brief summary of this meeting:

Saturday, January 14

The meeting began with an opening prayer and welcome by Mirna Guzman. Then a brief description of the objectives of the meeting were presented; at first there was a meeting by branches of the different zones and later sharing in a big group of the reality of each one.

A recess was taken for a snack, followed by a plenary session with the contributions of each branch.

Mirna said that the regional councils should be elected, assuming responsibilities for a better functioning of the branches. Likewise, she noted the urgency of appointing regional councils. She then detailed how HONDUFAVI is established at national and Central American levels. He also indicated that on June 9, 10 and 11, 2017, the regional meeting of the Vincentian Family in El Salvador will take place in the House of the Daughters of Charity. To this meeting the Executive Council of HONDUFAVI and the presidents and national secretaries of each branch of the Vincentian family are invited.

The next meeting of FAVILA will be March, 13-18, 2018, in Bolivia, and the entire HONDUFAVI Executive Council will be attending.

The meeting was concluded with the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament by Father Edwin.

To conclude the night each branch participated in a “night of talents,” a sharing among all the brothers and sisters.

Sunday, January 15

We began with the morning prayer at 7:00, coordinated by Father Edwin and Mirna.

Then we had breakfast.

At 8:00 am Monsignor Luis Solé offered a reflection on the 400th anniversary of the Vincentian Charism. Monsignor stressed that spirituality is the concrete form of how the charism is lived. The heart of Vincentian spirituality is “To serve Christ in the poor.” He emphasized that we must incarnate ourselves in that spirituality, we can not serve the poor from afar. The mercy principle reminds us that we must also open our hearts to the poor not only with alms. Whether or not the poor are guilty of their poverty, the answer must be the same, the answer must always be of mercy, not judgment. Missionary spirituality makes us strangers because we must get into the reality of the poor. Monsignor Sole thanked the invitation and the attention of all participants.

At 9:00 am we set out to visit some of the social works facilities in the San Vicente neighborhood. In the tour we visited the nursing home and the children’s home.

At 10:30 he participated in the Eucharist of the community church.

At 11:40 we met again in the halls of the training center to form the Regional Councils, and proceeded to choose the vacant positions of Vice President and Vocal II.

To end, the HC and AIC of Copán requested to be visited to encourage young people to create groups and so the charism would not disappear in that parish. Similarly a follow-up to AIC is required.

We concluded our meeting with lunch and farewell at 1:30 pm.