Castelgandolfo (Italy). On 10 and 11 February 2024, at Casa Santa Rosa in Castelgandolfo, the formation meeting for the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians Temporary Professed of the Preprovince Mary Mother of the Church (RMC) and of the Generalate of Rome (RCG) took place.
16 Temporary Professed FMA’S from different countries of the world participated, accompanied by the Superior of the Preprovince, Sister Jessica Salvaña, and Sister Anna Trotti, Vicar.
In continuity with the goal of the year – With Mary we learn to live union with God and, together with young people, we build His dream and the common home – the theme of the two days was: “Our dreams and the dreams of young people. Challenges that the young people of our realities present to us.”
After a moment of welcome and introductory prayer, Sister Jessica proposed a reflection on the power of dreams, which need to be awakened, especially those of young people. She also recalled that we must never lose confidence in young people, who sometimes appear difficult, but always carry within themselves a good seed, waiting to be discovered.
The novelty of this meeting was an opportunity for the Temporary Professed to listen to the voice of young people from 6 Provinces of the world, through videos prepared by some participants. The interviewed young people answered three questions: What are your dreams? What do you need to achieve them? How could the FMA help you?
While listening, the participants summarized the responses of the young people represented from 2 continents, Africa and Asia. Subsequently, they divided into three groups and each group considered one question.
From the sharing, it emerged that young people have big and beautiful dreams, both for a dignified personal life, for a better world, and some also to become Daughters of Mary Help of Christians! To achieve them, almost everyone said that there is a need for strong health, patience, constant commitment to study, and that prayer is indispensable. Regarding the third question, the young people filmed expressed requests for accompaniment, support, closeness both spiritual with prayer, and physical with the presence of witnesses.
The first day ended with Eucharistic adoration, a privileged moment to speak to God about young people and about themselves. The evening was spent with a fraternal recreation.
For the Eucharistic Celebration on Sunday, 10 February, a group went to the Pontifical Parish of Saint Thomas of Villanova and was another celebrated at home with the novices. In the middle of the morning, group work resumed, reflecting on the challenges presented to the FMA today, faced with the dreams of young people. Starting from these challenges, each group traced the identikit of the FMA of today, that is the profile of Salesian Sister that young people expect.
In the afternoon, the Temporary Professed chose together a concrete step to take in the formation process: closeness-listening-prayer. At the end of the meeting, a moment of personal silence was left to pause on the Word (Jn 17:18-19), on the Constitutions, on all that has been received, shared, and to think about how to implement it in everyday reality.
“After the intensive period of examinations of the first semester of the academic year, – expresses a participant – these days of meeting were an opportunity for me and the Temporary Professed Sisters, students, to rest spiritually. We appreciated the fraternal joy and strengthened ourselves in the Salesian Charism. We wish to commit ourselves to the solicitations of the young people by whom we felt called, so that we can say like Don Bosco: ‘For you I study, for you I work, for you I am also willing to give my life'”.
