Franciscan Missionaries of Mary
Via Giusti, 12
I – 00185 – ROMA
N° 3
Grottaferrata, 26th March 2010
Peace and All Good!
On our return to Grotta after our visits to the different provinces, from late November to mid-January as planned in our calendar, we would like to share with all of you something of these last months spent in St. Michael's Fraternity.
Grottaferrata was "clothed in white" for a few days, to the joy of many sisters. For some, it was the first time they "touched" this magical ‘atmospheric phenomenon’ which is very unusual for Grotta. Photos taken in the cloister show this amazing event and are a cherished reminder of the Creator of all Good…while our hearts sang: "Snow and ice, bless the Lord"!
In fraternity…
We celebrated the wondrous Christmas season in many different countries which made it possible for us to be united with our sisters of different cultures, in the many situations of the Christian communities we visited. We shared with great joy, this awesome mystery of our faith, thanking God for the immense gift of the Incarnation of His Son, who wants to be for us, "Emmanuel" - God with us.
Thanks to the means of communication at our disposal, it was possible to keep in contact, wishing each other Happy Christmas and a New Year filled with tender love and best wishes. On our return, we were even able to enjoy some rich "panettone" and nougat ("turrón") as well as other sweets typical for these feasts.
Missionary sending.
Accompanied by a small group of Korean sisters, Sisters Clara Hwang Mi Hwa and Myriam Park Soo Seon received their missionary sending from Korea to Pakistan in a simple but very moving ceremony in our “Magnificat” chapel. They received their missionary cross from Sr. Suzanne in the presence of all the sisters of the General Council, while we sang with emotion and enthusiasm:...to be a missionary is a vocation…born of God's call; allowing God to fulfil his Work in us…to be a missionary is to Love."
Afterwards, we shared lunch with the community, in an atmosphere of great joy and Franciscan simplicity, wishing our Sisters Clara and Myriam for their mission.
The Formation Project
We continue to reflect on and move towards the realization of the Formation Project for the entire Institute, as we announced to you in our last "LINK".
Counting on the collaboration of a large group of sisters, we are trying to respond to the General Chapter's call to "foresee and intensify preparation for services of formation and animation in the Institute"[1]. You have already received a Communication with regard to the Formation Project.
The reflection on the theme for this year - "The Humility of God" - has already begun in the provinces, on the material we sent you to work and deepen so as to help one another in this search for a greater integration of our life as FMM disciples of Jesus today.
The earthquakes of Haiti and Chile.
Deeply affected by the sad accounts of what has happened in Haiti and Chile these past weeks, we have sought to respond in solidarity through prayer and financial aid to these two countries of the American Continent…
We feel especially united to our sisters of Chile where we have several communities and a good number of sisters who are safe as are their families – Thanks be to God! However, there was structural damage to several buildings and churches.
Future Planning
We devoted several days to reflection on the organization of the meetings of the New Provincials and the Enlarged General Council to be held in Pune (India). In this setting, which takes us back to our roots in the country where the Institute was born, we will undertake a process of discernment in order to discover where the Spirit of the Lord is leading us today given our current reality.
Following in the footsteps of Francis of Assisi, we desire to seek in freedom of heart a word of hope for our world; to re-read the Gospel and to welcome the call made to us to conversion and openness to Gratuitous Love, in order to live our FMM vocation with greater depth and joy.
At these meetings we want to reach a deeper understanding of our spirituality in order to change:
Ø our way of seeing
Ø our way to contemplation
Ø our way of being in the world.[2]
The proposed dates for these meetings:
· Meeting for new provincials:
6th to 31st January 2012.
· Enlarged General Council:
2nd February to 2nd March 2012.
Financial matters
As every year, we reviewed the year-end accounts of 2009 and the provisional budgets for 2010. It was encouraging to see the efforts in all the provinces to assume responsibility for the Sharing Fund. Reductions in the attributions and contributions to the sharing Fund are evidence of this effort.
We would like to thank all the provinces who sent in their reports on the Projects for the poor.
After several meetings with the architect and FMM team responsible for the work, we are completing the plan for the second phase of the project (building of St. Michael's and St. Agnes’ community); we hope to begin by mid-year.
Our Thanks
Our deep gratitude goes to Sister Mary Rosario who has left Rome after many years of generous service in the Travel Office. We wish her many blessings in her mission in Bangalore, India.
Malgorzata Mazur from the province of Japan has kindly accepted this service, so necessary for the Generalate House.
Our sincere thanks go to Rosanna Marin for her gift of self and competency in the work of the communications service. We wish her the best in her mission in the Middle East.
Sisters Mary Lobo, María Isabel Gomez and Clara Kang will continue this important service for the Institute.
To keep our Web page and "Meeting Space" bulletin up to date in a creative way, the sisters of this office are asking for the provinces' collaboration and invite them to send articles related to the life and mission of our communities.
As we approach Easter, may the experience of the Lord's Resurrection, celebrated with great happiness and peace in community, transform our lives and lead us to announce to our sisters and brothers that
CHRIST HAS RISEN, and lives among us!!! ALLELUIA.
A Happy Easter to each one!
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[1] Ch. Doc. 2008, B-4, 5
[2] Ch. Doc. 2008, A 1