Lettera Madre Epiphany 2018

My dear Sisters …

CONGREGAZIONE
SUORE DELLA PROVVIDENZA ROSMINIANE
Via Aurelia, 773
ROMA

My dear Sisters,
The Church commemorates the journey of the wise men to find the new-born Christ child; we celebrate their arrival at the manger with yearning in their hearts and appropriate gifts for the One who would be our king, our priest, and our Saviour. What a dangerous journey they had!
We come to the Epiphany – the “Manifestation” or “the Revelation” of God’s presence to unlikely people in unexpected places. God has become one of us. “The Lord is here,” says Karl Rahner, “therefore everything is different from what we imagine it to be. Christmas is the revelation of God’s love for humankind, for every person. This is the gift which the new-born Christ brings to us: the new life of God. “When we say, ‘It is Christmas,’ we mean that God has spoken into the world his last, his deepest, his most beautiful word in the incarnate Word, a word that can no longer be revoked because it is God’s definitive deed, because it is God himself in the world. And this word means: I love you, you, the world and human beings… And now he says to us what he has already said to the world as a whole through his grace-filled birth: “I am there. I am with you. I am your life. I am your time”.

Epiphany challenges us in this way: “A new year has begun. During this year, too, all the paths from east to west, from morning until evening, lead on and on as far as the eye can see, through the deserts of life, with all its changes. But these paths can be turned into the blessed pilgrimage to the absolute, the journey to God. Set out, my heart, take up the journey! The star shines. You can’t take much with you on the journey. And you will lose much on the way. Let it go. Gold of love, incense of yearning, myrrh of suffering – these you certainly have with you. He shall accept them. And we shall find him.” (K.Rahner)

Over and over again, Providence ‘incarnates’ God’s Word in the good people we know and meet; Providence is alive and is present in us because we continue in loving and supporting one another each day, and in being light and trust for one another.
Mindful of God’s goodness – which has sustained us during the past year, as we come to the end of our official ‘Year of Gratitude’, let us give thanks for ALL we have received from Him and from other people. Let us live, trusting in His love and providence, and make this year, 2018, ‘A Year of TRUST’ in God and in others, beginning in a significant way, in each community on 2 February. Only in this way, can we too become an Epiphany: “Arise, shine out for the glory of the Lord shines upon you” and “You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace.”

Thank you for your Christmas greetings, messages and prayer. I am still very much present with the Sisters in India, having spent an enriching time both humanly and spiritually in each community. What an amazing experience it was to see the children enjoying their first day in the new school in Maharashtra! I express loving gratitude to Sr Francesca Saveria and to each Sister for all they are and do among the people for education and in pastoral care.
It is not possible to think of them without getting involved in their present situation. In community, not a day passed but there was talk, concern and prayer for all those fishermen who died and the many who mourned deeply following the tragedy of cyclone Ockhi which at the end of November battered the coast of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Some of the Sisters who are part of diocesan organizations in charge of the families affected by this tragedy, meet the elderly and very young mothers, offering them some consolation and time to listen. Archbishop Soosa Pakiam M (Diocese of Trivandrum), whom we went to see, as a sign of sharing in this suffering said there was no star in his house this Christmas and emphasised there are no words to communicate with those families who have lost everything and are in despair. Again, I commend these people to your prayer.
We continue to remember Venezuela also, the difficult situation in the country of which conflicting news arrives and in which our Sisters continue to be dedicated to their mission.

Thanks be to God for our 5 Postulants who entered Novitiate on 1 January and for Sr Anisia Bernardi Kiondo and Sr Rehema Adam Lukanka who made First Profession on 2 January!
Happy Feast of Epiphany of the Lord and a Good journey of ‘Trust’ through 2018!
With love,