Thank you Mother Yvonne!

Rome (Italy). World Gratitude Day 2020 is celebrated this year during a special time due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

On April 25, 2020 in Rome, with Vespers and the traditional Goodnight, in communion with all the Provinces of the world, the start of World Gratitude Day 2020 was celebrated.

Gratitude is the fundamental element of the identity of the FMA. The Feast of Gratitude is a family celebration and makes all the FMA of the Institute feel in communion with Mother General, Sister Yvonne Reungoat. During the time of prayer, gratitude was expressed to Mother, “sign of unity and bond of communion”, of all the Institute’s FMA present in the five continents.

The Animator, Sister Bernarda Santamaria, said: “The FMA concretize the gratitude of all the communities that live and testify to the charism of the Founders, of each ‘daughter’ and of each member of the great Salesian Family whom Mother met along the roads of the world.”

In the moment of prayer, between Psalms, songs, and intercessions in different languages, listening to some texts taken from the Circulars of Mother Yvonne, helped us to remember the ‘good wine’ which, like ‘amphora’ (Jn 2: 1- 11), she poured out on the Communities during the twelve years of her service of animation and government in the FMA Institute.

“If gratitude is an attitude, is part of our being, this celebration is a very beautiful and meaningful tradition and is typically a sign of the ‘family spirit’, of gratitude first of all to God, because all that we are comes from Him, everything is a gift. We can never thank God enough for our life, for our family, even religious, for our vocation, for our mission, and for the many graces we receive from God.”

With these words, Mother thanked the FMA and all the Educating Communities of the FMA Institute in the world.

The World Feast of Gratitude, on April 26, 2020, will have an appointment in Live Streaming, with the recitation of the Rosary at 4:30 PM on the YouTube channel of St. John Bosco Province (IRO) and the greeting of Mother General to the whole FMA Institute, to young people, lay people, and the whole Salesian Family.