On this 5th Day of our Assembly – Open Day – we woke up for a special\n one. First we welcomed Father General! This began after breakfast with a\n grand group photo in our chapel\u2026 since it has been raining outside the \nlast couple of days. We somehow managed to pack ourselves in. You should\n be able to see the photo on the World Assembly website. Michelle and \nCatherine managed somehow to allow themselves to be lead almost behind \nFr. General in the photo:) I am a little more to the right of the photo \non the floor:) Then all of us flowed right back to the big tent to hear \nFr. General speak to us as an Assembly encouraging us to move forward in\n a discerning way, developing our sensitivity to the times in which we \nlive and making room to hear the Spirit of the Lord within the silences \nof our hearts. What also struck me about Fr. General\u2019s talk was his \nvision of the Spiritual Exercises as a school of discernment. This seems\n so obvious. But there was a wisdom to this reality that struck me more \ndeeply in his talk to us\u2026. the Spiritual Exercises as a school of \ndiscernment\u2026 Mmmm! Then Fr. General celebrated eucharist with us. I wish\n I had something to say about his homily to us, but since it was all in \nSpanish I am at a loss. But Catherine, who knows Spanish (and French!) \ntold me it was a beautiful homily… with a rubbing it in smile on her \nface. I asked her if it was the most beautiful talk of the Assembly so \nfar\u2026 she then took pity on me and said she would not go that far:) <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Father General was just in the morning of our day! As if this was not\n enough, we were then joined by CLC members and the local community for a\n time of festive celebration. There were people everywhere! I think our \nAssembly quadrupled in size\u2026 including many children, which was a \nwonderful addition. So many were dressed in all kinds of cultural \nmanifestations\u2026 including Michelle, proudly wearing her Canadian red and\n white plaid shirt like our Olympic hockey team in a gold medal game:) \nThe scene was like a street carnival with festivities all around the \nperimeter of the courtyard as we tried to keep out of the rain. For us \nwas served all kinds of delicious local receipts, Argentinian wine, and \nlocal crafts for us to be tempted by in stalls set up by local artisans.\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then back to the big tent\u2026 where hours of wonderful local \nentertainment awaited us. There were pop songs, proud songs of the \nnationalities of Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina, Tango dancing – \nincluding by some of our own CLC members, folk songs, little orchestras.\n Then to end it all later in the afternoon came the large French \ncontingent\u2026 members who have been touring Paraguay, Uruguay, and \nArgentina during the time of the Assembly. They came to this Open Day \ndecked with flat hats wrapped with ribbons of the French flag with \nsketches, songs and dances\u2026 to the roar of the crowd. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then they were gone\u2026 to leave us delegates to continue the business \nof our Assembly. We have concluded the half way point of our Assembly, \nwith much more discernment to be entered into.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Continue to pray for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trevor <\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/new.christianlifecommunity.ca\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/IMG_3195.jpg\" "\\"IMG_3195\\"")
<\/a><\/div><\/div>