Messaggio della Consigliera per le Missioni_14 agosto 2021 por
Triduo Sr. Angela Vallese_2 giorno eng
1. 1
2nd day: 15th August2014
A COMMUNITY «FOR» AND «OF» GOD!
Guide: After the Second Vatican Council the documents of the Church recall us to a proclamation that
becomes more convincing when it is made in the community. «The announcement is never something
personal». Even if a missionary goes alone…he/she is always sent in the name of the community.
«The missionary is present and operates by virtue of a mandate received, and even if he/she finds
themselves alone, they are connected by invisible, profound bonds to the evangelizing activity of the
whole Church. Those who listen to them, sooner or later, will see behind them a community that
supports and sends» (cf. RM 45).
The novelty of the Pentecost confirms, with greater intensity, how important it is to be united in
community, sharing the answer to a call: the Spirit transforms the disciples “from fearful men to
ardent missionaries, who, full of courage, bring the Good News of the Risen Christ to the world.” (Acts
of the Chapter XXII, 33)
Sr. Angela Vallese did not leave alone! Sent to America in 1877 as a missionary she left “with the
community”. Together with her five other FMA, she left Italy to go toward their dreamed-of goal:
Patagonia.
Invocation to the Holy Spirit… (choose a song or a prayer)
From the life of Sr. Angela Vallese
Reader 1: Sr. Angela’s community was one that worked hard, and found time for prayer and
cheerfulness and even for silence. All was lived together, simply together, without any need for orders.
«It is the custom of daily life, the industrious respect for the rules of obedience and poverty. This is
what one lives and transmits to the children and young girls, who learn many things from books and
lessons, but especially from life beside their “white mothers”».
Reader 2: Sister Angela Vallese, far away in America, made communion her first commandment. As
community animator and then as an official visitor, she always had a maternal glance of tenderness
and a caring presence towards her sisters, towards "community-communion." Paraphrasing the
Encyclical Redemptoris Missio, we can say that Sr. Angela Vallese immediately understood that first of
all “we are missionaries in the first place, because of what we are, as a community that lives in love,
before whatever we say or do” (cf. RM 23).
Reader 1: «On a clear day from Punta Arenas you could see Dawson Island in the distance. Sr. Angela
Vallese would pause, look over the water, and think: “I wonder what my daughters are doing today.
Are they all right?”»
2. 2
From the Word of God (Lk 10:1 – 3a)
«After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town
and place he intended to visit. He said to them, "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so
ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way”…»
From a letter of Sr. Angela Vallese
«In the meantime what comforts us most is to have Jesus always and entirely with us. He will never
leave us. Oh, if we could at least love Him very much and make Him loved by our girls. After all, this is
the reason we have been sent here!
Regarding the holy Rule I believe it is observed although not always as perfectly as might be desired.
Nevertheless we have great good will to become more and more perfect and we are not lacking in
charity and obedience. Therefore we hope to become real saints that we may one day be united with
our beloved Superiors in eternal happiness. We pray for them always, each and every one of us,
offering them the devoted and grateful hearts of Daughters.
We send a very special remembrance to our venerated Father Don Bosco, as we beg him to bless his
poor first missionaries in Patagonia.» (Letter to don Cagliero – 2nd February, 1883)
From the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (92) – (alternatively)
1. « There indeed we find true healing, since the way to relate to others, which truly heals instead
of debilitating us, is a mystical fraternity, a contemplative fraternity. It is a fraternal love
capable of seeing the sacred grandeur of our neighbour…
2. … of finding God in every human being, of tolerating the nuisances of life in common by
clinging to the love of God, of opening the heart to divine love and seeking the happiness of
others just as their heavenly Father does.
1. Here and now, especially where we are a “little flock” (Lk 12:32), the Lord’s disciples are called
to live as a community which is the salt of the earth and the light of the world (cf. Mt 5:13-16).
2. We are called to bear witness to a constantly new way of living together in fidelity to the
Gospel.
1. Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of community!»
Guide: Let us spray together…
O Lord, we ask you to help us to remain united: you taught us this, because you know how love is
important. Help us to be one heart and one soul, to be faithful to one another and to our community, to
help one another and to share our diversities. Give us the courage to announce you to others. Amen!
Guide: May the Lord lighten our hearts and make us understand the importance of being “one heart
and one soul” so as to be authentic witnesses of your Word.
Our Father....
Conclusion: (choose a suitable song)
3. 3
For the personal reflection:
«As a member of a specific community the Daughter of Mary Help of Christians is a person who is
sent» (C 64), at any stage of life, irrespective of the service and the mission entrusted to her.
The new vision of the mission ad gentes essentially expresses a way of living the mission of the Triune
God. For this reason the mission ad/inter gentes is always communal.
In the logic of missionary spirituality the community is the hearth of the proclamation, it is «the house
that evangelizes with young people».
The first community of Mornese was, over time, the living example of a community that was the
«House of the Love of God». It was a community that was not without poverty, tensions, premature
deaths, and various difficulties, but there was a homely atmosphere. In fact, Fr. Giacomo Costamagna
called it the «house of holy joy». The first FMA remembered that "even the walls seemed to breathe
happiness."
Don Bosco, in July 1873, as a guest in Mornese, thus described that environment: “Here one enjoys
freshness, even though it is aflame with the love of God”.
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