The 14^th General Assembly of the Union of European major superiors (UCESM) was held in Czestochowa, Poland, on February 8—14. Delegates of 37 Conferences of Religious Life, members of UCESM, from 25 European Countries participated in it. They represented 400.000 religious. The theme chosen for the reflections was, "Religious life in Europe: histories of hope, hope for history". One of the participants was Mother Pierina Scarmignan, mother general of the  Daughters of "Maria Immacolata di Verona" and Councillor of USMI national. She is an expert in Consecrated Life, with a deep knowledge of the mission ad gentes.

"Every time, the members of the executive committee of the Union choose a different country to conduct the Assembly. This year they chose Poland for its 14^th Assembly. Personally, I do not know the reasons of the choice (this is the first time I participate in it), however I think that this choice was wise. Poland is a great country; it acts geographically as a link between East and West; historically and ecclesially, it lives and fetches from two Christian traditions: the Latin and the Orthodox traditions.

Moreover, Poland is a land rich in religious life. Though there is a reduction of vocations, we see in a vivid and numerous presence of men and women religious.

Poland is also a Country that is living the grace and the travail of the peculiar time after the fall of Berlin’s wall, like all other Eastern Countries, but with different modalities. Therefore, it can be of help to the religious life in the East as well as in the West.

Having emerged from the grip of communism and having found once again the invoked freedom long waited for, the religious life today must come to terms with the difficult binomial: huge structures, great apostolic works…and the deep quality of a radical sequela Christi.

The UCESM (Union do European Conferences of Major superiors) is an organism "at the service of Religious Life in Europe". It organises a formation meeting every two years. This becomes an occasion for the sharing of reciprocal knowledge among the representatives of all the European Conferences.

It offers orientations, but it does not have legislative roles. At present, it unites 37 National Conferences from 25 European Countries for a total of 400.000 men and women religious.

"The theme of the Assembly, "Religious Life in Europe: histories of hope, hope of history" was amply treated by Father José Cristo Rey García Paredes, cmf. The participants received the theme, reflected on it and re-formulated it in nine groups – laboratory. The testimonies of the participants and the visit to meaningful places of Poland enriched it. The theme of the Assembly "took face", above all, in the direct contact with some realities of evil and death in the Polish territory, where life and hope seem to have been buried for ever by the sin of man.

We understood it as the theological state, where all the wounds and fears of man find integration in the fidelity of God to his Covenant with humanity, in the incarnation of Christ. We understood it also as spirituality of "Holy Saturday", of silence, of listening to the Word and to the Spirit, of waiting, of tears, of the seed fallen on earth, which must die so that a new sprout of life may be born; as spirituality of the Apocalypse, the book of revelation, of compassion and faithfulness of God for man. The time given to us is the context in which we live the spirituality of hope, the Kairos: time of salvation, a gift of God that arouses our personal and group responsibility".

"In the visit to Auschwitz – Birkenau, while our heart was in anguish at the question, "Where was God? Where was man and the Christian believer?", we experienced the emerging of faith that allowed us to intuit and to believe that God, in His Son, was present also in Auschwitz. He, the Crucified for love, was with and among the crucified on earth; the mystery of Easter assumed and redeemed hatred, evil and sin forever, therefore, the last word is life and not death. In listening to the testimonies of some Eastern Conferences, (Byelorussia, Leetonia, Bulgaria…) and some Western ones (France, Austria, England…), we were moved by some hints from the situation of religious life during communism and the actual urgency of re-reading our life and reality with humility and courage. Equally moving were hints on numerous aged and sick brothers and sisters, on the very few vocations, on the union processes of some institutes and the elevated number of disappearing Congregations. Above all, it was very much moving the expression of a renewed trust in God who, in Christ, walks at our side, and this makes our time beautiful. Finally, on our meeting the saints of Poland we touched with our hands that no darkness exists that the light of God cannot defeat. Edith Stein and Maxsimilian Kolbe testify that the love of God and of our brothers is the unique way of life beyond death".

"To incarnate Christian hope in a time of ambivalence, of vulnerability, of fatigue to integrate the past and to live the freedom that we have been waiting for…means, first of all, to enter the logic of the "missio Dei". The first responsible person of the mission is God himself. The mission belongs to God and we must intensify our bond with Christ to learn from Him how to entrust ourselves to God, how to live in an invoking listening to the Spirit. We must allow the Spirit to change and to lead us; to educate us in hospitality of mind and heart, in respect and dialogue between the East and the West. We must consider the aspiration of our people seriously and show the beauty of God with the traits of the suffering Servant.