On the second day of August 2021 we celebrate the feast of our lady of the Angels of the of the Porziuncula “The Pardon of Assisi”.

That date was a very memorable and important event in my life. I was filled with emotions, excitement, anxious, fear, and joy as the day finally came that I had longed for and desired to say my total yes to God. The Psalm 118:24 saying “ This is the day the Lord had made.  Let us rejoice and be glad” expresses clearly what I felt. I believed it has been the day chosen by the Lord to gather us to celebrate my perpetual Profession, a special moment of confirming my total commitment to the Lord, in giving my whole self forever to Him, to the Church and through the mission of our religious Family, the FMSC. Truly how good is the Lord in letting me to experience His love and compassion for giving me the grace to make this event possible amidst in our pandemic situation!

The Gospel of Luke 1:46:35 speaks up of the Joy of Mary proclaiming the greatness of the Lord as the chosen one; like Mary my heart sings with full of gratitude to the Lord for all the wonders He has done on me in special way for gift of my vocation calling me to live in this life as consecrated person.

The solemn Eucharistic celebration was held in the Church of Mary Immaculate in our Provincial House in Centocelle. It was an honor having the presence of Fr. Vidal Rodriguez Lopez OFM who presided the ceremony and concelebrated with Fr. Raymond OFM; great joy was given to me by the presence of the sisters of my religious Family, some physically present and other spiritually deeply united to us.

Fr. Vidal in his homily reminds us that” no one is saved alone and no one makes profession alone “ that there’s no vocation that can go alone. A vocation is always sown by mediations and by them it grows and bears fruit to develop and make perfect the way  of the Lord’s call. A part of his homily there was a question that made me to reflect. He said “We don’t know why God’s call us and love us so much? He calls us even if with fragile faith. He love us asking to live with a simple heart…He asks us to be witnesses of the Gospel … Fr. Vidal concluded his homily thanking the Lord for my vocation ,for my family who shared to me the Christian faith, , for my formators who accompanied me to respond with generous maturity to the call from the Lord.

The my most awaited moment started when Sr. Tiziana our Vicar General, delegate of the Superior general Sr Paola Dotto, presented me to the Church, represented by the Presider as candidate for perpetual Profession; I was filled with emotions but  with joy and conviction  I pronounced  my “yes” to God in publicly to the church. I was carried by emotions as the celebration continued when I was prostrating for the litany prayer. At that moment I experienced and felt the mercy and unconditional love of God despites of my weaknesses and shortcomings but what matter most I felt God’s forgiveness expressed in Corinthians 2, 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”. That made me stronger and gave me strength to present in the hand of the Vicar General my vows to God forever with the three evangelical council of obedience, poverty, and chastity according to the Constitution of  our Congregation of FMSC. I was so deeply happy when I was welcomed by Sr. Tiziana Tonini  to be  fully part  of the congregation of the FMSC with its mission in the Church. Apart from this, I felt more responsible to respond to the redemptive love of Christ and God’s divine salvation for humankind with hopeful desires to be a living testimony by living out concretely the Franciscan virtue and share my spiritual identity expressed by my religious name: Sr Angel Rose of the Pierced heart of Christ crucified.

In this occasion, I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere and deep heartfelt gratitude to my religious Family who joyfully accepted me and guide me to live continually our charism.  With love I thanked all of you, with whom  I journeyed and helped me to nurtured my vocation throughout my formation and for my natural family I express all my gratitude  for the love, sacrifices and  support given to me always in my journey with God.

As what Fr. Vidal said in his homily that to make my perpetual Profession is not to reach to the peak; the journey is not finish. For thus, I am humbly continue to ask your prayers that I will remain faithful to the covenant of God and to our Congregation remembering the words of our Founder the venerable Fr. Gregory “Trust always In God’s Divine Providence”.  That will accompany me to walk in the path of God and conform myself with Him forever following His words in John 15:  “remain always in my Love”.

Sister Angel Rose

"Remaining in Christ to live our fraternal relationship with missionary faith" is the title of the XVI Chapter of the Province "Santa Maria degli Angeli", whose preparation journey was inspired by the Gospel of John, "The vine and the branches". The Chapter took place in the Mother House in Gemona del Friuli from June 26 to July 4, 2021. Sister Paola Dotto, Superior General, arrived at the Mother House a few days before the beginning of the Chapter, in order to greet and give comfort to the sisters much tried by the painful experience of the Coronavirus, which affected them from November 2020 to January 2021. She arrived together with the Vicar General Sister Tiziana Tonini, the General Councilor Sister Augusta Visentin and the Superior of the Vice-Province “St. Martyrs of Uganda "Sr. Beltha Ngwashi Mange.

On Saturday 26 June the delegate sisters arrived at the Mother House and on Sunday they lived the important time of the recollection in preparation for the Chapter, entitled "Do not fear, just believe!", The recollection was led by Sister Grazia Paris of the Congregation of the Dorothes of Cemmo, who gave significant and concrete ideas for the delegated sisters. The reflection was divided into three flashes: the purpose of the provincial chapter - discernment – moving from the “individual” to the “person”, and in three key words: REMAIN - ACCEPT - BELIEVE.

On Monday 28 June, the liturgical memorial of Saint Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr, the Eucharist was presided over by the Archbishop of Udine Andrea Bruno Mazzocato. In his homily, the Bishop based his reflection from the first reading, Genesis 18, 16 - 33: Abraham is the great man of prayer, to whom we should all look upon. He turns to God with humility, constancy and courage; this should also be our attitude, thanks to which we know how to get on our knees to entrust to God, our Congregation, the whole Church and all humanity in a difficult historical time, where prayer is the essential dimension of the consecrated person and of the believer.

The Bishop then, with Sister Paola and Sister Giordana, brought greetings and his blessing to the sisters in the infirmary; he was particularly attentive and present to the great suffering experienced in the Mother House due to the coronavirus.

The opening of the XVI Provincial Chapter began at 10.00 in the Church, the delegate sisters gathered for prayer in the presence of Sister Paola, Sister Tiziana, Sister Augusta, Sister Beltha. The Gospel of the Wedding at Cana was the Word of God proposed for the Liturgy at the beginning of the Chapter, because only by assuming the attitudes of Mary can we look beyond ourselves and entrust ourselves to Jesus: “Do whatever He tells you”. After the prayer, Sister Paola gave each chapter delegate a lamp, a sign of Jesus and of his Word. The Chapter members then went down in procession to the Chapter Hall, where Sister Paola, president of the Chapter, officially declared the opening of the XVI Provincial Chapter.

Sister Paola listened attentively to the report of the Provincial Superior Sister Stefania Bandiera, highlighted the concreteness of the relationship, underlining how the pandemic on the one hand made the journey more difficult, on the other hand it highlighted the courage and the ability to take care of each other. The following interventions of the sisters focused, in particular, on the drama experienced in the Mother House from the months of November 2020 to January 2021. The sisters most directly involved in this indescribable and unimaginable suffering, shared their still living and strong experience in the assembly. All listened to them with emotion, all expressed the closeness and solidarity that came from Gemona and also from all the missions of our Congregation.

On Tuesday 29 June, the Solemnity of the Apostles Peter and Paul, the birthday and name day of the Superior General Sister Paola was joyfully celebrated.

The parish priest of Gemona, Mons. Valentino Costante presided over the Eucharistic celebration in the morning, highlighting the prayers of today's liturgy, of the solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, in which the two Apostles are called "friends of God", to remind us that the goal of our life is precisely this: to be friends of God. During the day and in the following days the chapter assembly was engaged in the usual formalities and in the presentation of the reports, in the sharing and discussions for the preparation of the new chapter document .

Throughout the day there were various moments to express good wishes to our Mother General SISTER PAOLA: the songs at breakfast, the special prayer in the chapter house, the well-prepared lunch for the occasion with the cake that crowned everything. Special was the recreation of the evening: all the delegated sisters and the whole fraternity of the Mother House joined in a cheerful and relaxing evening of celebration for our dearest Sister Paola. The sisters, young and old, although with little time, prepared songs, dances, poems, small joyful and meaningful dramatizations.

On Wednesday 30 June, the delegated sisters, after invoking the Holy Spirit in Eucharistic Adoration, elected the new Provincial Council constituted as follows:

Sister Stefania Bandiera                    Provincial Superior
Sister Francesca Fiorin                      First Councilor and Vicar
Sister Miranda Sforza                        Second Councilor
Sister Giordana Marta                       Third Councilor
Sister Chiara Ceron                           Fourth Councilor

All the sisters present in the Mother House joyfully welcomed the new Council.

After the announcement to the sisters of the community of the Mother House, Sister Paola, with the councilors Sisters Tiziana and Sister Augusta accompanied Sister Stefania and the new Council to greet the dear sisters of the infirmary.

Within the Chapter, a special moment was reserved for the visit to the cemetery.

Since the morning of Friday 2 July in the Liturgy of Lauds and in the Eucharistic Celebration our deceased sisters were remembered, in particular those who left us because of the Coronavirus:

In the afternoon, at 5.00 pm all the Chapter Sisters drove to the Gemona cemetery for a prayer, a greeting to our sisters, to Father Gregory and to our dear Franciscan friars.

Stopping in front of the graves of our sisters, especially of those who, due to the pandemic, were not accompanied with the usual liturgy, caused a lot of emotion in all of us despite the certainty that spiritual communion was and is even stronger.

 The morning of July 3 saw the conclusion of the work in the assembly and so, in the early afternoon, Sister Paola, after reading her final report, declared the closure of the XVI chapter of the “Santa Maria degli Angeli” Province.

Sister Paola and her councilors have given the sisters of all the communities of the Province beautiful gifts !!! Furthermore, they donated to the Community of the Mother House, a wonderful chasuble and an ambo cover that Represents Joseph and Jesus in their daily life.

In the evening, all the sisters had a super final party to cheerfully welcome Sister Stefania and her Council and joyfully praise the Lord for the week spent together.

The Thanksgiving Mass for the Provincial Chapter was celebrated on July 4th.

In the evening a large, brightly coloured rainbow appeared in the sky; a sign for all of Hope, of Peace, of fraternity for our journey as Franciscan Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

The 60, 50, 25 years of religious profession arrive and you find yourself in the full spirit of the feast organized by your sisters, wondering: is it I who have travelled such a long way? This was the question, which the sisters who celebrated the jubilee seem to have asked themselves.

Sr. Bernarda Alvarez and Sr. Leandra Desideri celebrated their first 60 years of religious consecration.

Sr. Paola Dotto Superior General 50 years of profession together with

Sr. Anna Bizzarri and Sr. Diomira Cavasin.

Sr. Mini Alex celebrated her "young “25 years of Religious Profession.

The Eucharistic Celebration was presided over by the parish priest of "San Filippo Apostolo” Father Antonio Saturno and the assistant-parish priest, Fr. Joseph. The mass was well animated by the choir of the community sisters and the juniors with very meaningful hymns, which gladdened of our hearts and raised our spirits.

The Word of God of the day, on September 18, invited us to renew our fidelity and to "present ourselves to the Lord with exultation" (Ps.). The celebrant invited us to dig deeper the soil of our heart, so that the Word of God may take roots and bear much fruits and perseverance. (Lk 8:4-15)

Together we thanked "The Almighty, Most Holy, Most High and Highest God”.. we renewed our Religious Profession and expressed our happiness to belong to the Congregation of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart.   Our Founder, Venerable Fr. Gregory gave us the response, "Rejoice, my dear sisters, in the graces that God grants you in religious life... But make it clear that yours is a joy full of fidelity to the graces that you receive and above all a fervent joy of zeal for your salvation".

The hyms sung, in various languages, made us taste the internationality of our Religious Family and the prayer of the faithful opened our hearts to the needs of the whole world.

The presence of the Provincial Superior of the Province St. Mary of the Angels, Sr. Stefania Bandiera and Sr. Giordana Marta, made us taste the closeness of the Mother House, which is always in our hearts. The presence of Sr. Christina Bottan and Sr. Federica Imperatore the provincial councillors, who represented Sr. Marta Camerotto the Provincial Superior from the Province Mary Immaculate   added our joy in living the fraternal communion. The sisters from Assisi and Grotte di Castro with the jubilarian, Sr. Mini Alex,   got here in the morning itself.  

Lunch was a highlight! Simple and familial...!

In the afternoon, we had the joy of a recreational, felicitation section together with    the sisters of all the   provinces and vice-province.  They were virtually present in greeting and expressing their joy, alternating with the colourful dances and songs performed in presence by the juniors and the community sisters of  Asisium. We saw and listened to the wishes addressed to all of us and, with special gratitude and affection to Sr. Paola the Superior General, from communities all over the world. The variety of languages and expressions of gratitude and good wishes moved our hearts. Each video transmitted with simplicity and enthusiasm, expressed the love of each sister for the Congregation and for Sr. Paola, who now represents us all.

The song of Vespers ended this beautiful and serene day.

Lord, let us continue our journey with joy, while waiting to contemplate your Face in the eternal joy, give us the strength to love and forgive each day with the support of your Word and the Eucharist. Thanks to all of you!

At the house "Christian meetings in Capiago Intimiano" of the Dehonian Fathers I sr. Natalina, with some spiritual guides I lived the experience of: "Giving spiritual exercises" according to the spirituality of Saint Ignatius. For fifteen years, with a team of two priests, two sisters and two consecrated virgins, we have been helping people on the path of discernment who wish to put their lives in order and make evangelical choices.
Cooperating for me is certainly a gift and I am very grateful to God and to my Congregation for this call. In fact, also this year I was able to collaborate, from August 4 to September 4, 2021 at the House of Spirituality of the Dehonians, with a group of guides, to offer the service of "giving exercises" to walk and discern the action of God in their lives.
The person who does not discern let himself to be carried away by the vicissitudes of life, but does not act. In order to become aware of them and to take responsibility for deciding in which direction to walk, it is important to look at what moves within us. David (2 Sam 11) is the example of one who is not attentive to what moves within him. The sin of David is precisely his superficiality, his failure to what life asks him to be; David underestimates his inner motions.
For the Christian, this investigation in interiority and the choice of the direction to be taken, takes place in prayer.
Outside of prayer there is common sense, not discernment. Even the criteria that the believer uses are no longer just those of common sense, but those that emerge from Scripture and the experience of God.
The criterion for assessing what happens inside me and for recognizing its origin is: what I feel helps me to go to God or does it move me away?
What moves within me is not the criterion of action (I feel I want to be a priest, then I do), but the object on which to discern (I feel I want to be a priest, I wonder where this desire comes from and where it leads me).
Discernment is not a rational calculation, precisely because it involves first of all the world of affections. Learning to discern means first of all recognizing the movements of our heart.
The first difficulty of discernment is to go deeper, that is, to become aware of what moves in our interiority. Sometimes discernment does not start because we do not even realize what is happening within us.
With surprising anticipation of recent conclusions of psychology (but probably echoing the insights of the desert fathers), Ignatius relates inner thoughts and motions (because of a thought I move toward an object or move away from it).
The service of the guides in giving Exercises is precisely this: to indicate the biblical texts (for the 5 times of prayer) and to help thepersons to understand what is happening within them in order to be able to choose how to act in a conscious way.
I thank God that this service not only helps others but also supports my inner journey towards my spirituality as a Franciscan Missionary Sister of the Sacred Heart.

Sr Natalina De Nobili

Some Testimonies:

I thank the Lord for having led me this year to live the experience of the Ignatian spiritual exercises. A Balm and a moment of Grace. The pandemic has awakened in all of us so many fears, feelings of solidarity and profound uncertainty. The exercises were a great gift to make order within, to put the Lord first and this helps to reconsider and to look at the rest of one’s life with more truth and freedom. It is a spiritual experience that I recommend to all people who know me and ask me how I feel and how the experience went on.

Fr Luca

... the mystery of the incarnation, childhood, hidden life and public ministry of Jesus, his passion, death and resurrection. I went down deep and witnessed the work of the Holy Spirit in me. I saw how He rebuilt me after demolishing me. No violence or arrogance, just a love and tenderness difficult to describe through words.
Only such an overflowing love is able to pour itself independently to the outside, in the daily life, in the choices and in the relationships that surround us. This is the experience of election: making meaningful choices for one’s life because one feels so loved that one feels the inner need to do something, anything, just to say thank you!
In this regard, I thank the Lord infinitely for the opportunity he gave me during the Ignatian Month and I thank him also for the people who put beside me during this experience: Sister Gabriella, Fr Cesare, Fr Francesco, Sister Natalina, and all the men and women who, though in silence, have walked beside me in these intense and decisive days for my spiritual life.

Antonio

I cannot fail to tell you what my colleagues told me on the first day of work. Many were amazed at how I had changed, how I had a different light in my eyes, how even my face was different, they wanted to know what I had done so beautifully that I had changed so much ... It was truly an experience of grace!

Marta