Messaggio della Consigliera per le Missioni_14 dicembre 2020 eng

1. Rome, 14 December 2020
Dearest Sisters,
In this our last appointment for 2020, I send an
affectionate and grateful greeting to all of you and to
your Educating Communities.
We have recently celebrated the
solemnity of Mary’s Immaculate Conception,
which is a very special recurrence for our Family.
With Don Bosco we have recalled the beginning of
the Oratory and with Mother Mazzarello, her
formative-spiritual journey as a Daughter of the
Immaculate and a Daughter of Mary Help of
Christians.
In Volume 1 of the Cronistoria, we find a detail that arouses joy and gratitude under the
meaningful subtitle, “We will be no less of the Immaculate by being all of the Help of Christians.”
I invite you to re-read this beautiful account to strengthen even more our Marian spirituality. I
highlight some expressions: “Fr. Pestarino tells us that in all the Salesian houses, the feast of Mary
Immaculate is celebrated solemnly like that of Mary Help of Christians. Regarding the vow of chastity
in our Constitutions Don Bosco recommends us to have a tender devotion to Mary Immaculate Most
Holy. Yes, Don Bosco did not separate us from our early devotion, but he perfected it. Now we are
Daughters of Mary Help of Christians because we have loved Mary Immaculate very much.”
In this liturgical time of Advent when everything invites us to a journey of preparation for
Christmas, Mary is the motherly presence that teaches us to dwell in the Word, to take care of this
time of expectancy to recognize God’s passage in our personal story and that of humanity.
Christmas 2020 will certainly be unforgettable, as every event of this year, because of the
unexpected and furious storm that has taken us all by surprise – the Covid-19 pandemic. This
historical period makes us experience our vulnerability, the fragility of our certainties, and the
limitations of our knowledge. However, it has also re-awakened missionary passion in us more
forcefully and the desire for the good translated into many gestures of solidarity and in the ability to
find a way out for every difficulty that presents itself.
For Mother Mazzarello as well, the typhoid was a propitious occasion to begin life again and
to make a decision. Her ‘conversion’ came precisely at a time of suffering when she realized that she
could no longer live and work as she did before. At that moment, Maìn did not adapt herself to a ‘new
normal’, but she made a leap of faith. She changed her daily life and grew in her love and fidelity to
the Lord.
Dearest Sisters, to end the proposal carried out during 2020, meet Mother Mazzarello through
her letters to the missionaries in the simplicity and concreteness of daily life, I would like to leave
you for your reading and reflection some of Mother’s expressions regarding Christmas.
In Letter 27, Mother Mazzarello writes, “During the Retreat we lit the fire in our hearts, but if
we don’t rake the ashes from time to time and put on some wood, it will go out. Now is the best time
to rekindle that fire. During these feasts of the Immaculate and Christmas we must stir up our
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2. fervor so that we will remain fervent until death. So let us all get down to work with courage and
good will.”
To Fr. Cagliero, missionary of the first hour, Mother writes on 29 December 1875, “Viva Gesù
Bambino! And all those who love Him, wherever they may be! If you were a bit nearer, I would wish
you a Happy Christmas season, but in the New World! By the time my greetings reach you, Christmas
will almost be forgotten. Oh! yes, may Baby Jesus bless your sacrifices and your efforts with such
blessings that they may bear abundant fruit, so that when you enter Heaven… you may accompanied
by thousands of souls you have saved” (L 4).
Also in Letter 4, Mother Mazzarello asks Fr. Cagliero to send news. At Mornese, everyone “is
anxiously waiting a long, long letter” from our dear Director. She tells him pleasantly and with
healthy curiosity, “Write and tell us also if it felt strange to be celebrating Christmas and beginning
the New Year in summer! I think these feasts would not be as beautiful during that season, right?
Seeing the snow covering our countryside, and the silence reigning everywhere, they give a clearer
idea of the Divine Child lying in a manger, abandoned by everyone, shivering in the cold.” She then
presents the ‘missionary readiness’ of the Mornese community, “For all that though, if God wanted
some of us to celebrate the birth of Baby Jesus in that far away land called America, we would all
willingly go.”
Together with the desire to leave for the missions, there is a very important request. For
Mother Mazzarello, the good will to go is not enough, preparation is needed. She is aware that a
missionary must ‘divest’ herself of her own culture to enter into another and learning the language is
the first tool for embracing another people. “Be so good as to send us the Spanish books soon so that
we can study and be ready at the first call. I would like to be able to send you some of the cool
weather that is so abundant here. Since I cannot, we wait for you to send us, via your Guardian Angel,
much of that warmth which Baby Jesus spreads…” The topics are mixed… books, first call, cool,
warmth, Baby Jesus…
Still again in a letter written to Fr. Cagliero on 27 December 1876, Mother gives news of the
community, expresses again her desire to go to America, and gives the names of the sisters who are
ready to leave. Since there is still the Christmas atmosphere, Mother assures him, “…we all offered
heartfelt prayers to Baby Jesus for our dear Salesian missionaries… We spent the day in holy
cheerfulness in the company of Baby Jesus. Now that I remember, do you have Baby Jesus in
America? If not, we will bring Him with us.” (L 9)
Dearest Sisters, in this special Christmas 2020, let us go before the crib to receive in faith the
word Baby Jesus has reserved for each one of us. Listening to His word, let us be challenged by the
reality that surrounds us and offer the best of ourselves so that the world may live a season of healing
and new life
I would like to end by recalling Mother Mazzarello’s words to the Sisters of Montevideo-Villa
Colón (L 56) “I am praying and will continue to pray to Baby Jesus for you that He may give you His
choicest blessings, firstly, spiritual health and then great physical strength… Yes, may Jesus keep
you always zealous and fervent in His service… God bless you and all your sisters and believe me to
be in the Heart of Baby Jesus…”,
A warm, affectionate embrace and always in communion of prayer.
Counselor for the Missions
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