Rome (Italy). On 13 December 2025, in the Chapter House of the General House of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, several members of Salesian Family Associations and Groups –Salesian Cooperators, the Mornese World Confederation of Past Pupils, and FMAs, ADMA, VIDES, and FVGS Onlus – gathered in person and online to express their Christmas wishes to the Superior General, Mother Chiara Cazzuola, and the General Councilors.
Olivia Furlan, Vice President of the Association of Past Pupils, led the initial prayer, “Beloved to Love: with Saint Maria Troncatti, Disciples-Missionaries of Hope. Walking together as the Salesian Family”, inspired by the quote from Pope Francis’ encyclical Dilexit Nos (164).
“God’s love consists in making one with us, in pitching His tent among us and in choosing to be poor, thus identifying Himself ‘with the smallest of society’ (DN 170)”, specified Sister Leslie Sándigo, General Councilor for the Salesian Family.
In light of the Jubilee of Hope and Pope Leo XIV’s exhortation Dilexi Te on love for the poor, members of the Salesian Associations and Family feel called to be communities of hope, welcoming, listening, accompanying, and sent, not only to “do mission,” but to live in a state of mission, wherever the Lord sends them. Every Salesian and every group of the Salesian Family is a sign of hope that springs from love.
From here comes the awareness that “being loved increases in us the desire to give some answer with our small and limited abilities (DN 164). Also, become the One who loved us and whom we love. This is Being loved to love,” motivated Antonio Boccia, World Coordinator of Salesian Cooperators (SSCC).
Christmas is also a time to share love with others, especially the poor, needy, the least and the least in society. Each Association, through a video, shared with Mother and everyone present a solidarity project carried out with various groups of the Salesian Family, because it is only possible to share when one is filled with God’s infinite love, as was the case for Saint Maria Troncatti.
With the gesture of delivering a symbolic briefcase, like that of the new Saint, Antonio Boccia, on behalf of all the Associations and Groups, therefore delivered to Mother an offering, the result of the donation of many lay and consecrated people, to support the solidarity projects supported by the Institute. It is a small gesture that will multiply with love.
Mother Chiara, taking the word, thanked and praised the various initiatives in which the strength of the shared Charism is made evident and expressed her Christmas wish for “a holiday that perhaps still speaks to the humanity of our time.” She recalled the different characters and elements of the nativity scene: the angel announcing Glory, the shepherds wrapped in Light, the sign of the Child of Bethlehem, reason for hope, the song of peace ‘for the people God loves’, a song of wonder, of amazement, of adoration that continues to resonate in the hearts of the shepherds. It is a song that never ceased.
“Now it is up to us to proclaim Jesus’ Birth and His peace, with hope, with trusting prayer, with apostolic industriousness, as we have seen in the videos.
In too many countries around the world, the sinister sounds of war seem to prevail over the chorus of angels. Not a few of our educating communities live in zones of war, violence, injustice, and share the suffering of the people, give what they have, and, above all keep alive, guard, and promote every attempt at peace, strong in the hope that comes from faith in Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Let us support them with our prayer and our daily actions, whether small or large, with concrete gestures of solidarity and humanity.
Peace is an invaluable asset and depends, for a large part, on the policies of governments, but it also depends on the choices we can make as people, as communities, as citizens of the world.”
And she concluded with this wish. “On this Holy Christmas, we are all committed to sowing words of peace, to allow the angels of Bethlehem to still sing, in our history, in our hearts, in our families, in our groups, in our meetings. ‘Glory to God in the highest of heaven and on earth peace to people, whom He loves’.”
After the group photo and greeting to the representatives connected online – including the President of ADMA, Renato Valera; the President of the VIDES, Guido Barbera; and the President of the Mornese World Confederation of Past Pupils, and FMAs, Maria Carmen Castillon – the fraternal and Christmas atmosphere continued in a convivial moment enriched with sweets from different origins, enjoyed together with Mother and the Councilors present, by lay people, FMAs, and Salesians present.
Photos: Flickr FMA
