Jubilee Year: Venezuela celebrates the IV National Meeting of the Family of the Incarnation

IV National Meeting of the Family of the Incarnation in Venezuela

Valle de la Pascua, 1-3 May 2026

By: Joanna González (Layman of the Fraternity of the Incarnation)

51 siblings of the Family gathered at the meeting.

There are meetings that are planned with an agenda, and meetings that are simply summoned by the Spirit. This IV National Meeting in Venezuela was one of the second. When the fraternities of Caracas, Tanaguarena and Easter Valley met to celebrate the 20-year Jubilee of the Family of the Incarnation in the world, with the FMI fathers and the valuable presence of Mgr. Ubaldo Santana fmi, it was not simply another event, we recognized ourselves as what we have always been: a single tree with three branches, fed by the same sap of the Word made flesh.

The logo that accompanied us was: a tree, three branches, a dove perching from the sky. But beyond the symbols, what that image was telling us to the heart, simply and deeply, is that we are not alone. Although geographical distance separates us, each community lives its own struggles and joys, the Spirit remains the bond that keeps us one.

The logo of the meeting designed by Father Gilberto Párica fmi

During the meeting, we sat as brothers and not as strangers sharing a roof for a few days, but as that family that has learned that faith is the main thing. That is why, in the interviews with the brothers, we asked ourselves a question that seems simple but can change everything: "Today where did you find the Incarnate Word?".

We are not looking for theoretical answers, but for that small gesture of the neighbor who did not let us fall, that unexpected light in the midst of the Venezuelan chaos, that silent presence of the brother who knew how to listen without judging. For as we have learned with Pope Francis, the Spirit speaks not only in books, but in the living conversation of those who walk together.

Msgr. Ubaldo Santana fmi, opening the meeting.

We take as our guide the early Christians were not in a comfortable situation. There were deep differences, clashing cultures, questions without easy answers. But they did not run away. They gathered, invoked the Spirit, listened in silence, and finally discerned. We wanted to do the same, not to impose our ideas, but to be surprised by what God wants for each one of us, of whom we make up the fraternity in Venezuela.

There were moments of silence. Because without silence there is no deep listening. And without listening, any advice becomes noise. Everyone was able to share how they really felt, without interruptions. And we wonder: what happens in my brother's life that also resonates in mine? It was not a matter of giving hasty answers, but of accompanying us to discern.

Venezuela has shaped our soul with its contrasts. Therefore, the meeting looked directly at three realities that cross us:

The challenges that hurt us, those circumstances that seem to want to extinguish hope. The challenges that challenge us from within, the temptation to abandon fraternity when it makes us uncomfortable, the criticism that hurts instead of building, the indifference that masquerades as fatigue. And our experience of faith, which is not a museum faith, but an incarnate faith, sweaty, lived in the day to day, starting from the fact that "What is not assumed, is not redeemed".

Brothers of La Guaira present the traditional dances of the Venezuelan coast to the rhythm of the drum and the joy that characterizes their state Basseball team "Los Tiburones de la Guaira"

At the end of those three days, we did not take a minutes or a document full of beautiful conclusions. We took with us, if the Spirit helped us, a heart more disposed to unity. Because we are not simply asked to be united (something that can sometimes be just courtesy), but to be one, one despite the bad mood, one despite the fatigue, one despite the distance that so often separates us.

The brothers of Valle de la Pascua presented the dance of "joropo" traditional music of the Venezuelan plains. They were accompanied by Father Maurice Tampangou (Togolese missionary in Venezuela) who spent many weeks practicing the dance for this meeting.

We are committed to finding ourselves where there is division. To get up again and again. To look with tenderness at the most fragile brother, not as a problem, but as a holy place where Christ is reincarnated.

We want to stop here, because there is something we cannot leave in silence. Everything lived these three days would not have been possible without the generous heart of the Fraternity of Valle de la Pascua. They welcomed us not with folded arms, but with open arms and busy hands. They prepared every space, thought of every detail, made us feel at home, even though we were far from ours. They shared their roof, their table, their time and, above all, their human warmth, that warmth that not only comes from the sun of the plain, but from the soul.

The FMI priests of Venezuela

Behind every hot meal, every tired but sincere smile, every "sleep calmly, here you are among brothers", there were days of silent work, of surrender without applause, of brotherly love made flesh. They taught us that the incarnation is not a beautiful idea, it is to receive the other as one receives Christ, with what one has, not with what is left over.

Thank you, dear brothers of Easter Valley. Thank you because without you this meeting would not have been what it was. Thank you for reminding us that fraternity is not declared, it is demonstrated. May God bless you and multiply you, as you multiplied bread and hope among us.

Visit to the diocesan Shrine of San José Gregorio Hernández, the first Venezuelan saint, recognized as the doctor of the poor.