Mother's letters 20 Feb 2019

My dear Sisters …

CONGREGAZIONE
SUORE DELLA PROVVIDENZA ROSMINIANE
Via Aurelia, 773
ROMA

My dear Sisters,
We come to the next ‘signpost’ on our journey, the General Chapter, having celebrated the respective Chapter-Assemblies in each District, as outlined in the letter 22 October 2018. Thank you to the Coordinators and to all the Sisters who took part in these ‘events’ with enthusiasm and to those who supported them with prayer.
As we know the General Chapter will be celebrated in Rome, from 3 July 2019 until 13/14.

District of ‘Madonna delle Grazie’, Italia: delegates elected
11. Sr. Ave Vilardi
12. Sr. Maria Angelica Bacca
13. Sr. AnnaLuisa Fontana
14. Sr. Ausilia Deriu
15. Sr. Alba Balzano
16. Sr. Roberta Vienna
17. Sr. PierAntonia Colombo
18. Sr. Ilaria Mazzotta
Substitutes: Sr. Daniela Cattani
Sr. Maria Michela Riva

District of ‘Our Lady of Sorrows’, UK: Delegate elected
19. Sr M Celine Leydon
Substitute: Sr. Anna Patricia Pereira

District of ‘Maria Tumaini Letu’, East Africa: Delegates elected
20. Sr. M. Andrew Kydd
21. Sr. M. Agatha J. Chuwa
Substitute: Sr. Marietha G. Macha.

District of ‘Our Lady of Perpetual Help’, India: delegate elected
22. Sr Mary Grace Jose
Substitute: Sr. Faustina Lilly

The District of ‘Our Lady of Guadalupe’, Venezuela-Colombia will be represented by the Coordinator.
The General Chapter has already begun in the heart of each one; and each Delegate, with her own specific gifts of nature and of grace, adds a unique richness to the Chapter, united in hope that the Holy Spirit will continue to guide us and challenge us, both as individuals and as a Congregation.
The Chapter is the instrument through we examine our lives and our mission in the Church and in world of today, starting from its title: “Only TOGETHER we become weavers of HOPE … Revitalizing our ROOTS …”.
We re-read with attention the Letter of Convocation of 20 February 2018, reflecting on the many rich facets of our Charism and what it means in actual practice, discerning God’s vision for the Congregation. Let us take the following statements to heart:
 “We come face to face with what is the mainstay, sap-life-blood of our call where we find two vitally interwoven elements:
– the roots of our identity, our call in our particular charism and Rosminian spirituality in the history of our Congregation;
– the continual search, together with certain tensions (personal and communal), in expressing the profound significance of our identity, in our mission within the Church, in the world of today”.
The ‘search together’ is bound up with individual and communal co-responsibility for the common good:
“In God’s saving plan the Church is <like the faithful and prudent steward [who] has the task of carefully taking care of what has been entrusted to him>. In fact, <he is aware of the responsibility of protecting and managing his own goods, in the light of his mission of evangelization and with particular care for the needy .. Every member of the community, therefore, rich in this gift, is an active and co-responsible member of community life. They know that what the have is not theirs, but it is a gift to be preserved, to be made fruitful with one purpose: the common good, <because only together is it possible to reach it, increase it and keep it, also in view of the future”. (Economy at the Service of Charism and Mission 2018)

Our practical response can be summed up with the call to:
– evaluate our way of living the radiance of our charism – today in following Christ;
– transform our individual ‘weaving’, reflecting the blessings of our diversity and interculturality, into an integrated and unified tapestry.
We look to Mary, to her Mother of Hope, in her life and mission, and to her we commend our little Institute.
***********
On 13 February, Pope Francis approved the canonization of Bl. John Henry Newman; the words addressed by Newman to Pagani on the occasion of Rosmini’s death are appropriate for us today: “The news reached me unexpectedly and profoundly moved me, for although Rosmini belongs in a special way to your Institute, a man like him, as long as he lived, was the property of the whole Church”. (10 July 1855)
“…God knows the times and the moments
and you know my motto: it is good to wait in silence for the salvation of God. This is the key
to all that I do, and I have had it put over the door of the cell I live in at Monte Calvario”.
(AL Vol V lett 165)
Happy 20 February – celebration of ‘Cell Day’, in memory of Blessed Antonio Rosmini and a fruitful journey of Lent.
God bless, with love,
c.m.