In ACAY’s final newsletter for 2023, Sr. Sophie Renoux, ACAY’s Founder & Executive Director reflects on her experience with ACAY, and realizes that the true strength of any organization lies in its authenticity and alignment with its core values. This inner harmony is what transforms individuals into radiant “fireflies” illuminating their communities. By embracing the Metamorphosis method, both young people and established organizations can rediscover their unique essence and shine brightly in a world that so desperately needs their light.
The older I get (let’s face it!), the more mature I become as a missionary and as a developer in the professional world, the more I see that the lines of strength of an organization are those where it is most authentic, where it is rooted and aligned in what is its DNA.
It’s all there in this inner and outer alignment, in the alignment of a vision and objectives, of identity and direction, of charism and mission, where being and doing come together. That’s where they become, as Yves Meaudre wrote in the preface to my book Defying Chaos: fireflies in the night!
I have begun to take my first steps in “seeding” the Metamorphosis method in various contexts: in an NGO and a community that wanted to formalize its identity. And other perspectives are on the horizon. Adapting Metamorphosis, which I believe is so well suited to new generations, in such diverse settings makes me jubilant! Each time, it’s like a new birth for the organization.
In Bacolod, the members of an NGO told us at the end of the first phase that “in just a few days you’ve given us a real metamorphosis“. There’s no better word for it. For the young people and the professionals, it means returning to their unique being. For associations, to refocus on their uniqueness and vision, with simplicity and clarity. Ultimately, this inner alignment transforms them in fireflies in the nights of the societies they are called to inhabit.
I’m immensely happy to be working with my sisters and our teams on this: bringing fireflies to life and transforming young people! In fact, this is perhaps the anchor of ACAY: this constant work over the years of trying to understand the underlying wisdom that has driven the events and the development of the missions, in order to unify the whole.
By joining the ACAY boat, young people finally find that space of security that transforms them into spaces of generosity (to use Maurice Zundel’s beloved expression).
Whether they’re Filipinos or from Marseille, since we’ve had the joy of welcoming several of them among us in this year of ACAY’s 25th anniversary, I’ve been dazzled to see this ACAY DNA: now they’re the bearers of a word that goes beyond them, because it comes from this inner work of unification between what they’ve experienced and what they’re called to share in this world.
Not everything is finished, far from it, but Life is taking its place and unfolding… and it’s splendid!
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Read the other articles from our December newsletter!
