Rome (Italy). On 29 May 2022, the Community of Mary Help of Christians of the Generalate of Rome (RCG), with the Mother General of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, Sr. Chiara Cazzuola, and the General Councilors, experienced a time of prayer and contemplation in the garden of Generalate, at the end of Laudato Si’ Week.
The celebration, held on the evening of Sunday of the Solemnity of Ascension, had three moments. A first moment of motivation and community introduction to prayer, with a reflection on creation, interspersed with songs and Psalms:
“Creation was born from the hands of God. It is the fruit of His love, the cradle prepared to host His creatures, the human beings, the place to welcome them and make them grow. As the work of the hands of the Creator, nature naturally refers to Him, allows us to contemplate His infinite goodness. Just as St. Paul writes to the Romans, ‘His invisible perfections, that is, His eternal power and divinity, are contemplated and understood from the creation of the world through the works He accomplished’ (Rm 1:20)”.
In the second part, each sister chose a place in the garden to personally experience the contemplative moment, guided by a path for prayer and some biblical ideas. The text of the prayer by Michel Quoist, a French priest and writer, favored the meditation and contemplation on creation:
Grant, O Lord, that I may never lose the sense of the surprise. Grant me the gift of amazement! Grant me respectful eyes for your creation, attentive eyes, grateful eyes. Lord, teach me to stop, the soul thrives on pauses. Teach me to be silent; only in silence can one understand what was conceived in silence.
You have written letters everywhere. Grant that I may know how to read Your sweet signature in the grass of the combed flower bed, Your strong signature in the troubled sea waters. You left Your fingerprints; grant that I may know how to see them in the dots of ladybugs, in the glitter of the stars. Everything is a temple; everything is an altar!
Make me, Lord, ready for surprises. I will understand the pure liturgy of the sun, the mild liturgy of the flower. I will feel that there is a common thread in all things … and the voltage of the soul will rise. Amen.
At the end of the personal time, the community gathered again to conclude the prayer with some invocations and praise to the Holy Trinity. “God of love, while we remain in Your presence, enable us to grasp the infinite beauty of what You have created, of everything that comes from You, of your inexhaustible compassion. Increase our attention to others and to all creation. Teach us to discover the value of everything and make us bearers of peace in the human family”.
“Everything is connected, and this invites us to develop a spirituality of global solidarity that springs from the mystery of the Trinity” (LS 240).
Que linda iniciativa e aproveitando da linda natureza que a Casa geral tem ao seu redor plantas flores parabéns a contato com as beleza que deus nos da e nós conservamos mesmo numa grande cidade como é ROMA… Laudato si meu SENHOR !!!