In Chile, Regnum Christi members have turned a bookstore into a place of formation, spiritual transformation and evangelization.
The Red Stone Bookstore is a center of personal formation and meeting of many souls that arrive at the Regnum Christi mission center of Las Condes. Ximena Undurraga and Vivian Dowding run the store: along with making themselves available to those who seek some spiritual reading or a sacred image for their home, the two try to meet others where they are. The bookstore has been transformed into a space that often gives support to souls that need a word of encouragement. What began 9 years ago as a small recreation area has become a nerve center of the life of the movement where books often take a back seat.
“When the Lord gives us a gift, it is not to save it, but to share it.” Fr. Donald O ‘Keefe, LC, said to motivate Ximena to transform the recreation area into a bookstore with a lending library of books and spiritual items like rosaries. Although Ximena was not very sure of taking on this task, she began to tackle her new challenge the very next day.
Today, the Red Stone Bookstore has about a thousand books on its shelves and is a space where Regnum Christi members can go to acquire texts and works that help them learn, reflect and meditate on a variety of current and spiritual issues. Ximena told us, “People come to seek information, they ask with clarity and without shame, about several issues that are relevant in the national discussion today. And above all they ask about issues related to the family that is the basis of life and of the Church.”
Evangelizing and making God known is one of the main objectives of this space, but there is another one that is even more relevant. Vivian Dowding added, “Many people open their hearts in the bookstore, we are a link with priests, because we take these people to speak with a priest so that with his words, he can guide them in their day. That’s the way to shelter the people we have here.”
And what does it mean for these two women, who are members of Regnum Christi for 19 years, to work in the RC Red Stone Bookstore? Ximena explains, “Besides evangelizing through books, it is working in my second home where I feel good, understood and listened to and where people feel accompanied. It is an apostolate where I return to the Lord all that he has given me in life.” While Vivian states, “Apart from evangelizing, it is sharing my way of being and my joy with the members of the RC family. It is to serve the clients well, in a close and affectionate way.”
Read the original on the Regnum Christi Chile site.
