For the third consecutive year, representatives of the North-Northeastern Light-Network and the Venezuela Light-Network were gathered together in Roraima for the Roraima Sacred Call Meeting, held at the Flor do Sagrado Tepui Light-Community.
The 2025 edition, which took place from the 21st to the 23rd of November, is part of a cycle begun in 2023, and set to take place at the end of each year, a period that favors the synthesis of experiences gone through, an updating of ongoing processes, and a renewal of the commitment to service developed throughout the year.
According to Friar Thomas, administrator of the community, the choice of Roraima as the headquarters of the meeting underlines the geographic and logistics challenges faced by the Light-Network. Located in the extreme north of the country, the region imposes great distances, a predominantly air access, and a high cost in traveling, which makes the physical presence of the groups a constant exercise in organization, planning, and engagement. The network the Light-Community supports is broad, distributed throughout the States in the North and Northeast of Brazil, besides Venezuela, which demands specific strategies for maintaining cohesion and continuity in the work.
Friar Thomas explains that the annual meeting specifically seeks to symbolically reduce those distances. On meeting, even if it’s for a few days, the members with different levels of participation – residents, collaborators, and participants of the Light-Network -, create a concrete experience of communal life. Within this context, the sharing of tasks, the meals, the silences, and the daily living expands the perception of the importance of the contribution of each person makes in sustaining group work. “It’s an opportunity, on a small scale, for manifesting what should be our daily life, but which is not always possible because of the material and geographic circumstances”, he points out.
One of the most striking aspects of the 2025 Meeting was the attunements performed at sunrise. For Friar Thomas, that moment has special significance in the work developed in Roraima, because silence, the attention to the environment, and the morning light foster a deeper listening and a more clear connection with the feeling of the service carried out by the Light-Community. Those experiences were added to the silent walks through the spaces considered sacred, creating an environment conducive to reflection, to a turning inward, and to the renewal of the participants.
The schedule also included moments for musical expression, a characteristic of the Light-Community. Rehearsals and performances involved a large part of the group, with songs mainly about inner auditing, reinforcing the contemplative and integrative character of the experience. Besides that, there were moments of study and guidance: on Saturday, an online conversation with Friar Luciano, also transmitted to the groups of the North-Northeastern and Venezuelan Light-Networks; and on Sunday, an update on the inner and outer aspects of the manifestation process of the Light-Community in Roraima.
Another new feature of this edition was the fact that all the participants were housed in the Light-Community itself, and something unprecedented in the three meetings held until now. In all, 35 people participated in the event, 13 being residents and 22 coming from other States. Containers used as an office and a prayer room were adapted to become communal bedrooms, as well as there being the activation of other spaces for accommodations. This intensive co-living strengthened ties, expanded the sense of belonging, and supported the sharing of responsibilities in taking care of the spaces and the organization of activities.
For Friar Thomas, this experience highlighted a central learning point: the need for continually investing in strategies that made the meeting and a presence throughout the year possible, and not just at specific moments. He emphasizes that when a greater number of collaborators manage to meet, the Light-Community gains vitality, clarity of purpose, and a greater capacity for responding to future challenges. The regular presence of members of the Light-Network in Roraima is seen as an important step for strengthening the communal life, sharing in daily activities and supporting the ongoing work in a more balanced manner.
Celina Santos, coordinator of the North-Northeastern Light-Network, also emphasized the importance of the meeting held in Roraima. For her, the most striking aspect was the deepening built over the period of the three meetings, especially at this last edition, which was characterized by a strong integration of the participants. She points out that to coordinate a network present in eleven States of the North and Northeastern regions is both a great challenge and a great treasure, demanding a constant practice of unity, dialogue, and cooperation.
According to Celina, the annual meeting, which has been carried out since the founding of the Light-Community, has shown itself to be a fundamental space for the strengthening of the group. At each edition, new lessons emerge and contribute to processes of transformation and group maturing. The fact that everybody was housed together this time intensified the co-living, and supported people coming together who had different ways of acting and levels of responsibility, expanding an understanding of the work as a shared construction.
As the main message, Celina reinforces the importance of participation in those meetings for those who have the possibility of doing so. She recognizes that not everybody is able to be physically present, but emphasizes that the time experienced in Roraima fosters simplicity, co-existence and inner renewal, elements that are reflected in a more conscious, collaborative and balanced attitude in light of the challenges of service and daily life.
The Roraima Sacred Call Meeting was brought to a close on Sunday afternoon, with the offering of the Sacraments and a moment of group synthesis. At the end of the activities, many participants described a feeling of inner alignment, a strengthening of the links, and greater clarity in relation to the next steps of the work. The meeting reaffirmed the importance of being present, of coexistence, and a joint building of pillars for continuity, and a deepening of the path trod by the Roraima Light-Community.
