Lettera Madre June 2019

My dear Sisters …

CONGREGAZIONE
SUORE DELLA PROVVIDENZA ROSMINIANE
Via Aurelia, 773
ROMA

My dear Sisters,
We come to the celebration of Ascension and Pentecost 2019! two interrelated events which again I want to link with World Communications Day, the only worldwide celebration called for by the Second Vatican Council (1963), celebrated in most countries, on the basis of the recommendation of the bishops of the world, on the Sunday before Pentecost.
The Message for the 53rd World Social Communications Day entitled, “We are members one of another” (Eph 4,25). From social network communities to the human community”, reminds us that since the beginning of the internet, the Church has always tried to promote its use in the service of “the encounter between persons, and of solidarity among all.”
With this message, Pope Francis invites us again “to reflect on the foundation and importance of our being-in-relation and to rediscover, in the vast array of challenges of the current communications context, the desire of the human person who does not want to be left isolated and alone.” He further emphasises that “the present context calls on all of us to invest in relationships, and to affirm the interpersonal nature of our humanity, including in and through the network. All the more so, we Christians are called to manifest that communion which marks our identity as believers. Faith itself, in fact, is a relationship, an encounter; and under the impetus of God’s love, we can communicate, welcome and understand the gift of the other and respond to it.”
From Ascension to Pentecost: in this in-between time the disciples returned from the Ascension experience “with great joy” (Lk 24:52). The following period between the Ascension of the Lord and Pentecost was not empty; during this time of waiting, the disciples “all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus.” (Acts 1:14; cf. Lk 24:53).
This time was necessary to transform their lives and their communication: in their relationship with the Holy Spirit of God, their relationship with one another and with the entire world. Looking at this experience of the apostles, we face a great challenge in our busy culture of today: for us, for me, is this ‘prayer time’ a conscious time of encounter with the God of love or is it simply fitted into the ‘left-over’ space…?
Bl. Antonio Rosmini explained that “on the day of Christian Pentecost God promulgated … his law of love, writing it through the Holy Spirit not on stone but in the hearts of the Apostles, and through the Apostles, subsequently communicating it to the entire Church” (A Catechism of Christian Doctrine Arranged According to the Order of Ideas, n. 737, Turin, 1863).
In the words of St Paul, let us pray:
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name,
that according to the riches of his glory
you may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being.
So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith –
that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
may have strength to comprehend with all the saints
the breadth and length and height and depth,
and to know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge,
that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think,
according to the power at work within us,
to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.
Amen”. (Eph 3:14-21)
We remember Sr Francesca Saveria and the Sisters in the District who are preparing for the beginning of the new Rosminian year. May God bless them in their many and varied ministries.
What a joy it is begin a new mission in Punalur, India, with the opening of a community of three Sisters! Although this community is made up of certain Sisters, it is the whole District, the entire Congregation, which rejoices in this new initiative. It is a blessing for all that we can begin something new, in a small way.
There is a change in the list of Delegates to the General Chapter: as Sr Agatha Chuwa is unable to come, Sr Marietha Macha (substitute) will take her place.
Happy feasts of Ascension and Pentecost!
United in prayer as we await the power of the Holy Spirit.
With love,c.m.