“Hope is in the DNA of consecrated life because Christ is our Hope! There is no consecrated life without Christ!”
This is what Sr. Dorina Zanoni, Superior General of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, shares with UISG in view of the Plenary Assembly, and of the current Jubilee of Hope. Therefore, the motto of the Assembly “Consecrated Life, a Hope that Transforms” is an expectation and a wish for a promise. The Assembly itself becomes a moment to live out the Jubilee, explains Sr. Dorina:
“A promise that we want to make to each other and to all humanity with which we walk through our ministries. It is a promise that together with our life there is a Hope that does not disappoint, a Hope that is a light in the darkness, that an opening to a gift, that is a concrete, real closeness, made up of small daily gestures. The promise that with the grace of God and the collaboration among us, we can keep despite our fragility.”

This hope finds great harmony with the spirituality and charisma of the Sisters of the Holy Cross. They feel called to bring life to extreme situations. The Superior General emphasizes that the related challenges are many, and sometimes one feels the disproportion between what we are, and the great need of people. Precisely in this time of hope we can go deeper in our spiritual life, and accept our vulnerability with serenity, says Sr. Dorina:

“We feel the decline in vocations, the tiredness of the energies that are lacking, the challenges of today’s ever-changing society but in our weakness we experience His strength. We learn to live the mission not as a simple doing but as a witness to Hope.”
They have a project in this respect. Sr. Dorina tells us about her experience in a village, in the middle of the forest, where the sisters are present. She met a woman who thanked her for the presence of the sisters not for what they did but because they actually came there:
“She had felt this in her heart: God has not abandoned us, he has reached us here in this lost land. We exist for someone… This is an activity of hope that we are called to live and promote on every continent: designing concrete spaces of relationship in our communities and in a mission to make people feel that they are not orphans, but are loved, confirmed in their dignity and potential, through our ministries.”
With regards to synodality, the Sisters of the Holy Cross immediately felt called to grow in this awareness and experience of the Church. They participated in various meetings and works, for example, in opening themselves up more and more to appreciate the paths shared with the laity, to restructure leadership styles at various levels.

The Superior General of the Sisters of the Holy Cross also recalls the “beautiful and meaningful” African expression “Ubuntu”: I am because we are. It means that one cannot truly exist without the other. Synodality spurs us to this conversion of openness and trust: together we can, we grow, and we bring life, highlights Sr. Dorina and continues:
“Synodality is precisely that path of light that fights the individualism which exists in the modern world, and that also affects us, when we are not careful in our communities. I think that synodality is the path to hope that transforms because in Christ we become One, we grow in respect of the beauty and prophecy present in each person and vocation.”
In conclusion, Sr. Dorina admits that it is a slow, yet possible path: “It is beautiful to believe in it and to want it together!”

Watch the interview in Italian HERE