Mornese (Italy) On 5 August 2020, at the Sanctuary of St. Mary Domenica Mazzarello in Mornese (AL), nine Daughters of Mary Help of Christians from different parts of the world, of the Preprovince of Mary Mother of the Church (RMC), made their Perpetual Profession in the hands of Mother General, Sister Yvonne Reungoat.
The nine FMA professed at the end of the Spiritual Exercises lived in Mornese, on the significant date of the 148th anniversary of the birth of the FMA Institute, the official beginning of the second year in preparation of the 150th of Foundation (1872-2022).
The solemn celebration, attended by the Superior of the Preprovince, Sister Maria del Carmen Canales Calzadilla and a representation of all the RMC Communities, was presided over by the Rector Major of the Salesians of Don Bosco, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, who recalled: “A day like today in 1872, in the presence of the Bishop, Don Bosco came to start the first community, that seed which today is the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. Today you take this light which, by the grace of God, expresses that the Salesian charism lived in fidelity is a precious gift for the Church, for girls, for the young people of the world”.
Perpetual Profession is a public and ecclesial act, a definitive consecration that commits the FMA to give herself totally to God, loved above all else, in joyful service to young people, according to the spirit of the preventive system of St. John Bosco and of St. Mary Domenica Mazzarello.
The celebration was characterized by gestures and dances, expression of the multiculturalism of the Perpetual Professed, around the characteristic symbols of the Gospel passage of the Wedding at Cana, according to the chosen motto: “Do whatever He tells you” (Jn 2:5).
In his homily, the Rector Major addressed this wish to the Professed: “I find your consecration beautiful in a covenant of love, which is to give fruit of life among girls, young people, families, to ensure that our water jars may be full of the good wine of life, of compassion, of tenderness, of fraternity. May the Holy Spirit fill us today with His Presence and the God who makes all things new rekindle the dream of having Daughters of Mary Help of Christians with the fire that Mother Mazzarello had in her simplicity”.
At the conclusion of the Rite, the new Perpetual Professed expressed their praise and gratitude by dancing to the notes of the Magnificat.
