Rome (Italy). On 20 December 2021, the Presidents, Delegates, and the Council of the Mornese World Confederation of FMA Past Pupils from all over the world expressed their Christmas greetings to the Mother General of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, Sr. Chiara Cazzuola. Present at the online meeting were Sr. Leslie Sàndigo, newly elected Councilor for the Salesian Family Sector, and Sr. Gabriela Patiño Osorio, World Delegate of the Confederation.

The Confederal President, Mrs. Maria Carmen Castillon welcomed Mother General. About 100 participants were connected with the desire to listen to the newly elected Superior General.

On behalf of the whole Association, the Vice President, Ms. Olivia Furlan, then greeted  Mother, recalling the image of preparing the Nativity scene in churches, communities, families:

“I think with how much care we arrange the grotto, the manger that will welcome the Child Jesus, the shepherds with their flocks, and the star. As the shepherds let themselves be guided by the star to go to the grotto, so we Past Pupils of the world let ourselves be led by you, Mother Chiara, to guide our steps. Together with you, our hearts will be full of joy and hope to share with those we meet on our path. Together with you, kneeling in front of the nativity scene, we will rediscover how important it is for our life, so often hectic, to find moments of silence and prayer.

We wish you, Mother Chiara, to contemplate the beauty of the face of the Child placed in the manger, an immense gift of love that is offered to us, which can illuminate your journey, bring new hope, and give you strength to walk Salesian paths”.

Mother Chiara thanked and drew inspiration from the Word of God of the day (Lk 1: 26-38) to focus her message on the figure of Mary, highlighting two important attitudes: attentive listening to oneself and  to reality and taking charge of life.

Regarding the first, she said, “It is important to listen to who you are and to the reality in which you live, to understand yourself and be more and more aware of your identity and mission as FMA Past Pupils. You have a whole formative path to live, as suggested by the programmatic guidelines proposed by yourselves and that emerged in the International Congress celebrated last July. In them we read:

“We are convinced that the ability to face the challenges crossing our societies requires adequate formation, which means  deepening our reflection on the fundamental values that characterize us.

You are FMA Past Pupils through a gift of Mary Help of Christians, who led and welcomed you into our houses. Through  life lived alongside  friends and  FMA, the Salesian Charism of Mornese was handed on to you. This Charism is what characterizes you; therefore, it is important to reflect on its meaning”.

Mother Chiara continues, “The second important element is the attitude of taking on life. Listening led Mary to reflection, to ask questions in order to understand and to be able to respond with awareness, to freely offer her readiness to God.

The proposals you made to the Congress, state the programmatic guidelines, ‘seem to suggest that the challenges  the contemporary era is facing can be gathered into the theme of solidarity. This is understood as an attitude of listening by becoming neighbor, by taking on the responsibility of the life of those who are near or far from us, by making ourselves attentive and alert towards everything that damages the life and dignity of any human person, regardless of their ethnic, religious, generation, gender, etc. and by becoming the voice  for all those who more than others live in situations of hardship, suffering, exclusion, marginalization’.”

Mother concluded the greeting by inviting them to make a special place for the child Jesus and Mary, His Mother and mother of everyone, “We entrust ourselves to them and we also entrust the little children, girls,  young people, those who are confused and lost, those who are suffering and alone, the littlest and poorest”.

At the end of the encounter, the participants opened the microphones and spontaneously expressed their gratitude and personal wishes to Mother Chiara. Everyone desired to make their voice heard and tell her where they came from, making visible the presence of the FMA Past Pupils from all over the world in a significant family moment around the Mother General of the FMA.

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