Meeting of New Provincials
Rome, 2 – 23rdMarch 2016
Word of Welcome
On behalf of all the sisters of St. Michael’s fraternity I welcome you to this meeting!
Welcome to St. Helen’s House which is filled with the presence of Mary of the Passion!
Several months have already passed since your election as provincial and it is now four months since you began your missionBefore all else, I want to tell you our deep gratitude for your “yes”, for having welcomed the choice of your provinces and of the General Council in faith and disponibility for this service in the Institute.
God knows what feelings at that time troubled your heart and the feelings that today dwell in your heart.
Each one has come to this meeting with her own history, having journeyed in her own particular way. For some the surprise of the election or the fear that the election aroused, is perhaps not yet completely over, while others have already had the time to get organized and feel fully «at work». Some have already had in their life, the experience of being provincial, while others, who were well committed in other fields of life in the province, must still discover little by little this new mission.
Each one comes also bearing with her the situation of her country or of the countries of her province, some with great suffering, serious questions.
Together during these three weeks we will be able to share and discover or better understand what some are going through.
We will let the Spirit make of us together, one Body, to respond to the call of the Lord to carry the responsibility of leadership in the Institute for the four years to come.
Mary of the Passion will be our companion for the journey. For this reason already tomorrow afternoon, we will spend time with her. She will take us aside to listen with her to the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. In this way, she will tell us how she understands the Gospel spirit that she wants with her whole heart to transmit to the present and future provincials.
She who was so sensitive and so open to all of God’s invitations through the events of the world and of the Church is surely rejoicing to see us gathered together during this jubilee year of Mercy. A Jubilee that is not limited to an opening and closing date but, as Pope Francis asks is a year to live as a source of deep transformation. “Mercy: the ultimate and supreme act by which God comes to meet us. Mercy: the fundamental law that dwells in the heart of every person who looks sincerely into the eyes of his brothers and sisters on the path of life. Mercy: the bridge that connects God and man, opening our hearts to the hope of being loved forever despite our sinfulness.”(Misericordiae Vultus 2)
Since the whole person of Jesus of Nazareth revealed the mercy of God, the Pope urges us “to gaze even more attentively on mercy so that we may become a more effective sign of the Father’s action in our lives.”(Ibid 3)
Together we will speak of your mission as provincial and enter into its very concrete aspects.
Together also we will have the grace to live the Lenten Season and to celebrate the Passover of the Lord.
I invite you therefore to let God speak to our hearts through all that makes up our life. For the Lord is a God of the present who reveals to those who are attentive to what they are living, the steps that they will have to make in the future.
Have a good meeting, in the joy of starting off, in answer to His call, towards the new horizons that He will show us!
Françoise Massy, fmm
Superior General