This New Year 2017 the City of San Antonio, TX, received a rainfall of blessings, as it was the city that hosted a five-day event organized by Focus; “SEEK 2017”. The event was on January 3-7, in the Henry B González Convention Center, where 12 500 Catholic young people from several Universities in the United States, some from Ireland, Mexico and Costa Rica, got together to strengthen their faith, to share a time for prayer, reflection and singing, in a thoroughly festive environment.

The presence of approximately 300 priests, 7 Bishops, and many seminarians, religious men and women from many congregations, was a must. It was an event that gave a great testimony of the love of God for his Church. Among the participants, there were 39 students from the University of the Incarnate Word, who with Beth Filut Villareal, Director of University Pastoral, enjoyed the event.

Focus is an organization that started in 1998, when Pope Saint John Paul II invited us to a “New Evangelization”. Its mission is to share the hope and the joy of the Gospel with university students. From the beginning, this organization has grown in the number of missioners. It shares the teachings of the Catholic Church, it promotes prayer and invites people to a personal relation with the Lord Jesus, the love of the Virgin Mary, the study of the Bible, and the promotion of vocations to Consecrated Life and to Marriage.

The topic of SEEK 2017 centered on “What moves you in your search for God” “What moves you in your personal relations” “What moves you in our current world”, and the reflection on these topics was done through a great variety of lectures such as: Feminine Identity and Masculine Identity as Children of God, Authentic Friendship, The Calling to Change the World, Forgiveness, Mercy, Finding Jesus in the Poor, Sharing Faith through Instagram”, etc. Some lectures were presented in common, others were given separately to men and women, and there were many others that each person chose to attend. The youthful environment of joy, sacrifice, tenacity, perseverance, enthusiasm, but above all, of great faith, could be seen in the different moments of adoration, sharing and full participation. It was very impressive to see thousands of young people in prayer, adoration, confessions. It will be wonderful to see how these Young people change their environment and live the presence of God in their family, the university and the streets where they interact with others. We will be praying for each one of them, may God protect them, enlighten them, guide them; may the Virgin Mary cover them with her veil and lead them by their hand… Amen. We want to thank God for this spectacular event!

The second Friday of the month of January, Marileth Cabrera and Christi Sánchez will start a new stage in their life as pre-novices in the Congregation in the area of the United States. They had their discernment process and it is now time for them to start the pre-novitiate stage living in the Emmaus Community with Sisters Eleanor Geever and Jean Farek; their director in this stage will be S. Brigid Marie Clark.

On the weekend of January 230 – 22, the formation team in the United States area, the three pre-novices and Adriana Calzada (who has perpetual vows), will be sharing the Spirituality and Charisma of the Congregation here in the city of San Antonio, TX. During this encounter, we will have a prayer to start the Pre-Novitiate of Marileth and Christi. This is for us a time of Grace and Blessings, because formation is an invitation so that all the Sisters may make real the answer that God is giving us by calling us every day. We are one in prayer and in giving thanks to the Incarnate Word!