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The Gift of an International Experience: Faith Alive!

The Gift of an International Experience: Faith Alive! A Reflection by Sr. Xiaowei Li, rc A particular aspect of formative experience prior to my final vows, that of living with a Cenacle community outside of my region, had to be postponed due to the pandemic. I was glad that it was finally possible to do so in September of 2025 and that I would be with our Sisters in Kremlin Bicêtre (KB for short). These are some highlights that stay with me. Living interculturally – challenges and joys Just when I thought that I was already living in a multicultural community in Cebu, the Sisters in KB community also come from diverse cultural backgrounds – different parts of France, Togo and Madagascar. I was certainly challenged to understand French better (and with different accents too!). Thankfully, the Sisters adapted to my lack of the language and would often check on my understanding and translate or speak English with me.  I was happy to have also been included in the community meetings and to participate in the common life of the community. Knowing that I would need Asian ingredients, I was introduced to the Asian food stores in Paris. All the Sisters in KB cooked really well (and really fast)! It was challenging for me to learn to keep up, but I enjoyed myself sharing some Asian dishes and tasting cuisines of different origins too. One aspect of life in the community that struck me was the way in which the community expressed hospitality. I experienced several times in which the community had welcomed their collaborators, friends, parish dormers and neighbours for a meal. I also find such grace and joy to witness not just the creativity among the Sisters, but also the support that the Sisters show to each other and adapt to one another. Despite my poor language skills, I felt at home and deeply grateful to have experienced the Cenacle in KB.  Accompaniment I am thankful that I also had the opportunities to share time and meals with the other communities in and around Paris, and Lyon! Something which moved me very much was the various moments when the Sisters would offer to accompany me to the train stations (for fear that I might get lost) or to visit various places. For someone who had been so used to being independent and going alone, such experiences stand out for me. I felt thankful for these gracious and sincere gestures – they not only assured me that I do not have to walk alone, they also showed me that they are one with me.  Celebrations It was providential that my time in France coincided with various celebrations and occasions for gatherings. A few days after I arrived, the community had an outing to La Ferme de Gally to mark Sister Yoanna’s 40th birthday. We welcomed a Togolese postulant soon after. We then joined the Montmartre community for the celebration of the Feast of Mother Thérèse with the Sisters from Versailles community. I was also happy to get to meet 2 Sisters from the UK at the celebration.  I was able to attend the 10th anniversary mass of the Créteil diocese Cathedral, Notre Dame de Créteil. The diocese had existed since 1966 but the new Cathedral building was erected in 2015. It was an architectural and engineering marvel that there are absolutely no columns inside the cathedral! (Click here to see/know more.) Beyond just a celebration of the construction of a building, the event had also highlighted how alive the faith of the diocese was with an outreach exhibition showcasing the various movements, organizations and groups in the diocese. Encounters I also had various opportunities to go with and observe the KB Sisters for some of their apostolic services which included spiritual accompaniment/ formation and youth ministries in the Créteil Diocesan Center and in the Jesuit-run Magis Network, catechism to children and other involvements at the Holy Family Parish and at St. Ignatius Church, and with various lay groups (eg. Faith and Light, Fidei), etc.  Among those encounters, some of the young adults had left an impression on me – it was a joy to witness their openness and to hear their faith experiences, their passions and questions about faith and life. I was happy to hear that there is a growing number of catechumens in Paris and a number of them are young people! My time in Paris also coincided with the end of the summer holiday which also marked the beginning of the apostolic and school year.  There was such a burst of activities for young people in Paris! The mass for students at the biggest Church in Paris (St. Sulpice) was packed with 3000 students! There was also a 3-day evangelical Mission Congress that was organized by lay missionaries and Catholic/Christian communities (eg. Emmanuel, Chemin Neuf) in Paris. I was able to attend the youth gathering at the Accor Arena on its final evening with Sister Nathalie. The stadium was filled and the young people (ahem, as well as the young at heart) spent an evening of praise, of listening to testimonies through various forms and an input. The program also included a time of adoration and they even had a round of ‘holy game’ of judo between 2 Christian judokas before they came up on stage to be part of a panel of sportsmen and women for an interview. Apparently, the theme of the evening was ‘Fight the good fight’. (Click here to watch on youtube.). Despite not being able to understand most of what was said, the energy and excitement of faith among the participants were certainly palpable! I was also rather struck by how eager the various institutions and movements were to organize outreach exhibitions and open house during that time. These were opportunities to share about their ministries and to attract participants.  I was also happy to hear that some parishes in Paris are able to provide lodging and pastoral care to students/workers from outside Paris. I

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Courtesy Visit with Archbishop Albert Uy

Courtesy Visit with Cebu Archbishop Albert Uy Sr Linda Lizada, rc and Sr Malen Java, rc had a courtesy visit with our 5-month old archbishop, Abet Uy. It was a very friendly exchange, recalling his Cenacle connection when he was a student-priest in Loyola School of Theology and he would say Mass in Barangka and the retreat house in Quezon City. He fondly remembers Sr. Lily Quintos, rc who was his mentor. 

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Cenacle Sisters – Asia | Regional Assembly 2026

Cenacle Sisters – Asia | Regional Assembly 2026 The Annual Assembly was held from 2-6 February 2026 attended by all the Sisters. On behalf of the Cenacle Sisters, Sr. Linda Lizada, rc, offered a message of gratitude to Fr. Roger Champoux, SJ, who has been a “Kintsugi artist” to many Cenacle Sisters for over 40 years. Fr. Champoux was the resource speaker during the recently concluded Regional Assembly. “I would like to thank you for how you have been present in our lives through the many years. And borrowing the inspiration from our Bicentennial theme, I think you have been God’s Kinsugi artist who have worked with us. Many of us have felt that artist’s touch that is like the Kinsugi master. You are our Kintsugi artist. In our prayer last Sunday, we said that our small congregation, now entering its third century, may be part of the world’s journey toward wholeness. We will not be around and you will not be around when Cenacle celebrates 300 years. But what we’re hoping for is that those who do celebrate it will look back to this time and say: because Father Champoux walked with the Cenacle Sisters, we have something that we can rejoice about. Thank you Fr Champoux from all of us!”

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Cenacle Bicentenary Launching Ritual

𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐝: 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬𝐮𝐠𝐢 𝐑𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 (This ritual was held right after the Launching Mass on 1 February 2026.) In this ritual, as we offered our prayers for the shattered parts of our world, we did not simply repair the broken jar. We reassembled it, piece by piece, as a visible sign of our prayer. Each prayer became a petition for God’s healing grace—the sacred gold—to mend a specific rupture in our human family. As one Cenacle Sister read a prayer, another placed a broken piece onto the jar. Each action represented a particular form of brokenness in our world: •⁠ ⁠For War-Torn Areas •⁠ ⁠For Refugees and Migrants workers •⁠ ⁠For Our Common Home •⁠ ⁠For the Displaced •⁠ ⁠Against Structural Injustices and Abuse of Power We continue to pray for our ruptured world, trusting that our fractures can become vessels of grace, resilience, and beauty. We are invited not to turn away from brokenness, but to face it with hope and to see in every fracture a potential vein of gold, and in every wound an invitation to healing.

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Cracks of Beauty

Cracks of Beauty Homily delivered by Fr Arnel Aquino, SJ on the Launching Mass for the Cenacle Bicentenary Celebration Our dear Cenacle sisters have carefully chosen the theme of earthen vessels for their 200th anniversary. When we think of earthen vessels, we straightaway think of Jeremiah & his very comforting metaphor of God as a potter, and we, the vessels that emerge from ugly, formless lumps of clay in God’s masterful hands. But as it happens, clay pots that we are, we get knocked over & fall & break. This is where Kintsugi comes in as an accompanying theme the sisters have chosen for their anniversary: the Japanese art of repairing broken vessels, but in a very distinct way. Once upon a time, a Japanese shogun accidentally broke his favorite ceramic tea bowl from China. He sent it back to China to be restored. But the bowl came back like Frankenstein; the shards hideously stapled together by crude metal braces. Disgusted, the shogun asked his craftsmen to do something, anything, and bring his poor mangkok back to its native perfection. So, they unstapled the broken pieces & stuck them back together w/ lacquer blended w/ powdered gold. Gold gave the lacquer durability for hold and a glimmer beautiful to behold. The shogun’s craftsmen did not even try to hide the cracks, no. They still very well ran up, down, & around the restored mangkok. But how the cracks shimmered now in gentle magnificence! By the way, the first sight of a kinstsugied vessel can be quite jarring. The gold just jumps right at you. But stay with it for a while and you realize, “Ah, the breaks are actually beautiful.” Stay a little bit more & you realize, “Ah, the cracks recite the poetry.” Stay a little bit longer still and you realize, “Ah, brokenness is not hidden. It is humbly honored.” A precious blessing we’ve received from God is the faithful accompaniment of our Cenacle sisters. As the Divine Potter shapes & reshapes our awkward, lumpy selves in his firm, gentle hands, a Cenacle sister has been there to help keep the potter’s wheel turning. And every time life knocks us over & we fall & we break, a Cenacle sister has helped us pick up the broken pieces of ourselves, so we can together offer them back for the Divine Craftsman to do kintsugi on us.  For when we needed someone to get us to somewhere we can pull our life together, a Cenacle sister was there to walk us through a spirituality. When we were beside ourselves w/ joy & wanted to celebrate how life was turning out, a Cenacle sister was there for a quiet gratitude recollection. When we kept waking up from nightmares after a breakup, a separation, an abuse, a Cenacle sister was there to paramedic us through deep, long, existential breaths of prayer. When we felt ganged up on & pushed against the wall at work, or in our community, or by our very own family, a Cenacle sister was there to open up a space for our tears & our pain, then, to remind us that in God’s eyes, we have always been enough. And when we were the ones who were desperate to control others, when we were the ones hurtful in our dominance, when we did unto others what we precisely suffered through ourselves, a Cenacle sister was also there for the gentle scolding. Our Cenacle sisters tirelessly teach that we need to cooperate with God in shaping & reshaping us into vessels of grace. But they never want us to forget that God was only too happy to create someone other to Godself, different from Godself, fragile, yes, but lovely, intricate, beautiful. The Cenacle sisters taught us to say, “Maganda ako! Magaling ako!” But when we’re knocked over, and we fall, & we break, the sisters help us admit our own carelessness, our mindlessness, our refusal to be still, and to let God be the God, ‘yun bang mga ambag natin sa sarili nating pagkabasag. But they’re there to pick up the shards w/ us & offer them to God, so God can do what God does best to broken humanity, divine kintsugi. Why are our dear Cenacle sisters able to do all this, sisters & brothers? Because like us, they are vessels themselves, far from flawless. May mga galos din sila. Nasugatan, nagpasa sa mga kalmot at suntok ng buhay. Sure, they’ve seen through much filling with God’s grace. Pero nauubos din sila. Hindi lang natin nalalaman. Tahimik lang. Because even if God lines their brokenness in gold, sisters & brothers, our sisters know they should never wear their tragedies like medals & play the victim. Rather, they integrate their brokenness into their wholeness precisely by helping us do the very same. But not crying out, not shouting, not making their voices heard in the streets. That’s kintsugi right there. Brokenness accepted & restored, but unhidden & part of the overall design. In that first ever cenacle where Jesus ate his last ever meal w/ his friends, he must’ve felt utterly broken-hearted. He knew his enemies would soon splinter him & take him down. Sa lahat ng kabutihang ginawa niya, siya pa rin ang masama. Sa lahat pagbubuo niya sa mga nabiyak at nabasag, siya pa rin ang bibiyakin at babasagin ng mga nagkukunwaring matuwid, buo, at walang kalamat-lamat. So, what did Jesus do? He broke the bread that was his body & poured out the wine that was his blood. The heart of kintsugi. To be life-giving to others by being broken into many pieces. To forgive & be forgiven by being emptied out. Whenever we celebrate the Last Supper in the upper room at every mass, sisters & brothers, we are to ever remember: Jesus binds our brokenness with his own. Yaman din lamang at bungi-bungi na tayo, ang gamit niyang pambuo ay ang pira-piraso na rin niyang katauhan. At ang kanyang panghinang? His never-fading, never-failing, intricate, luminous love. Dear Cenacle Sisters, congratulations on your 200th anniversary of existence in the world. Thank you again &

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Hush

Hush Homily delivered by Fr. Jose Ramon (Jett) Villarin, SJ Christmas Eve Mass 2025 There is no noise in space. The light of a star is quiet. The quiet belies the immense power of atoms firing of in a nuclear furnace. We tend to link light with sound, as with lightning and thunder, or even a firecracker. But the light of a star, like sunlight, is silent. The sound of Christmas is like that of starlight, streaming through the dark, steadfast yet silent, laden with power. Of course there are other sounds that accompany Christmas. We know these all too well. These are the sounds of gifts being opened, carols being sung, the laughter of children, the table chitchat of grownups. And yes there is the sound of Jose Mari Chan as early as September, singing Christmas in our hearts. But the real sound of Christmas is like the silent light of a star. We can catch it in the dark. We only need to hush all the hurry to listen to it “truly in our hearts”. And so tonight, for a few moments here at our vigil, we will be quiet. We will set the other sounds aside to listen to the sound of Christmas, the sound of God coming into our world. The sound of Christmas is the sound of Jesus, the Word of God. His is the sound of God who “will not wrangle or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. He will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick until he brings justice to victory.” (Mt 12:19-20) And so we shall befriend silence to listen to the sound of Christmas. That means dialing down the chatter and turning away from the noisy lights of our little screens. Those little screens are the shining lights of the attention economy. Money competes for our attention. And so our attention is fractured by relentless noise, images, words, and never ending scrolls of sensory delights that assault us from all over. To listen to the sound of Christmas, we need to welcome silence into our lives. That means cutting down on our quarrelsome ways and refraining from having the last word. There are no words when we are before mystery, before something truly wondrous and ineffable. In the presence of the deeply joyful or sorrowful or glorious, we fumble with words because words are not enough or words are just too much. When we mourn those who are no longer with us this Christmas, when we are going through unspeakable pain, we are quiet; to those we have loved and lost, we over a moment of silence.  Silence can be a fearful thing. We equate silence with nothing, and sound with something. We connect silence with death; and sound with things that are alive. We can be as afraid of silence as we are of nothing. But silence is not nothing. The quiet light of a star is not nothing. Silence is not the absence of life but the fullness of presence. It is the space we hollow out inside us to let the holy come in. True silence is presence, the quiet of hope, the stillness of faithful waiting. It is silence that settles us down. When we unplug, when we let go of the headphones and microphones, we are met with silence. When we go to a chapel and learn to pray again, silence. Even when we are quiet, we can saturate silence with white noise, i.e. with a lot of background hissing and rewinding and regretting. Let silence just help us relish and rest and breathe. We need silence to know the value of words. Words are plentiful. You don’t need to be an economist to know that when something is plentiful, it becomes cheap. Salitang mura. Words can be weapons sharp enough to cut people down. There is a di8erence between being talked at and talked to. We cannot understand each other when there is a lot of talking at, not much talking to, much less listening to and listening for one another. If words can hurt, words can also heal and rebuild and reconnect us to each other. Simple words really. Words like “thank you, forgive me, sorry, I love you, I forgive you”. The writer Pico Iyer has this to say about words: “We all know how treacherous are words, and how often we use them to paper over embarrassment, or emptiness, or fear of the larger spaces that silence brings. “Words, words, words” commit us to positions we do not really hold, the imperatives of chatter; words are what we use for lies, false promises and gossip. We babble with strangers; with intimates we can be silent…. In love, we are speechless; in awe, we say, words fail us.” This Christmas, amid the merriment, let us listen to the quiet light of Bethlehem’s star, streaming into our night, laden with power. This is the sound of Christmas, the sound of God fulfilling his promise. It is the sound of Jesus, the Word of God, breaking the silence, speaking to our worry and fear, telling us we will never be alone, assuring us how much we are loved. Jose Ramon T Villarin SJChristmas Eve Mass at the Cenacle 24 December 2025

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