Blessed Christmas 2015

Happy New Year 2016

Rome, 10 December 2015

“Mercy: the word reveals the very mystery of the Most Holy Trinity; It is: the ultimate and supreme act by which God comes to meet us.” (MV 2).

My Dear Confreres,

The celebration of Blessed Christmas gives me once again this year, the opportunity to reach out to each of you, wherever you may be, and bring you my fraternal wishes as well as those of the General Council for the Holy Days. Christmas reminds us of the gift that God gave us of himself in the person of Jesus. From the moment of this extraordinary event, our life has been filled with the divine presence, and has been endowed with a special character which we are invited to accept and value; a special character that we are not to keep selfishly for ourselves but to share with others every day. God has revealed his face of a Merciful Father in the Little Child of Bethlehem, born amidst the indifference and rejection of many. His coming was not triumphant, but marked with humility, simplicity, silence and lack of fanfare.

I would like that these greetings reach also our many young men in formation, who are preparing to be of service to the cause of the Gospel in the spirit of Reconciliation; and our sick and elderly brothers whom we appreciate for the witness of their lives and their commitment and fidelity to the Congregation in spite of their diminished physical energy; all those who are experiencing moments of difficulty and uncertainty in their community life and ministry; the many “La Salette Laity” who are guided by the message of the Weeping Virgin, and wish to build with us a bigger “La Salette Charismatic Family.”

This year, Christmas is marked by some ecclesial events which touch us dearly as Missionaaries of La Salette, and which can be an opportunity for us not only to praise the Lord but above all to reaffirm with renewed determination our commitment and love for the Church and to re-appropriate for ourselves the values which are fundamental in our religious, community and charismatic life. These are:

• The beginning of the Year of Mercy and the opening of the Holy Door.
• The celebration of the 170^th Anniversary of the Apparition.

*The opening of the Holy Door which marked the beginning of the Jubilee Year of Mercy, in its simplicity, tells us what should be the attitudes we must assume during this year, in a special way for the People of God: to open our hearts to tenderness, to mercy, to reconciliation. “Pope Francis wishes that we be conscious that mercy should not be seen not only as a pure pastoral attitude but above all as the very essence of the Gospel. The Pope has always considered and continues to consider Mercy as the spiritual fulcrum and base of the Joy which comes from the Gospel of Jesus, as he wrote in his Apostolic exhortation: Evangelii Gaudium. Since God is merciful, Jesus of Nazareth has always exhorted his disciples: “Be merciful as the Father is full of mercy.” (cfr. Tomasso Stenico, “The Jubilee of Mercy, 2015). This will indeed be the Evangelical Word that will accompany us, enlightening our minds, our hearts, and our ministry during this whole year.

Like the whole Church, our Congregation: in all its communities, in the parishes it serves, and in the associations and movements it animates, is also called to be an “Oasis of Mercy” (MV, n.22) I invite each and every Province and Region to discern the ways in which this can be concretized, in every level, from the personal to the community level, in such a way that everyone is involved and no one is excluded in the process. Each one of us will be called to live in joy the certainty of being the object of Mercy of the Father. Without this personal experience, all our talking about God and about Mercy for each person, will not be credible, and as a consequence will be an obvious and harmful counter witness.

I would like to gladly remind everyone that the Bishop of Grenoble has also decided to “open the door of Mercy” at La Salette Shrine in France, in as much as it is a destination of many pilgrims coming from the four corners of the planet. The solemn ceremony will take place on the 19^th of March, 2016, on the Feast of St. Joseph. The whole General Council will be there as well as all the participants in the PPP.

*The Celebration of the 170^th Anniversary of the Apparition is another event that unites us all. In fact, what happened on September 19, 1846 is the very basis of our vocation and mission in the Church. It is my wish and hope that decision #3 of the Council of the Congregation in Luanda, 2015, regarding the anniversary would be actualized and put into effect in every Province and community. This commitment will help us acquire a greater consciousness of our being missionaries of reconciliation in a world that is so much in need of mercy and forgiveness because of its having been damaged by discord, division and war.

In his recent trip to Africa, in his homily in the Cathedral of Bangui (29/11/2015) Pope Francis forcefully asked the Catholics to be “builders of forgiveness, to be specialists of reconciliation, and experts of mercy”. In this call, I see the true sense of our mission in the Church today. For this reason, I encourage you all to “own” this message of the Pope, as if it was said to each of us personally.

I am happy to know that numerous projects have already been programmed in the various provinces for this celebration. I do hope that these reflect the profound desire in all of us to more vigorously make known the actuality of the message of reconciliation of the Beautiful Lady, to strengthen our sense of belonging to our religious family in order to motivate the youth to become Missionaries of La Salette, in order to share with us the joys, the challenges and hopes linked with the proclamation of the Gospel in our world of today.

And finally I ask all of you to remember in your prayers the Provinces of Angola and India and the Region of Argentina which will be holding their chapters of election in the coming month of January.

May the Child Jesus whom we shall welcome on Christmas as God made man, bring to the heart of each one,  peace, joy and serenity, and make each of our communities a true “Oasis of Mercy”.

In the name of the General Council, and my own, please accept all our  warm wishes for a Holy and Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year 2016.

Fraternally yours,

Fr. Silvano Marisa, M. S.

News from the General House:

November has been filled with happenings that have enriched the life in the general house:

• On the 3^rd, Fr. Silvano and Henryk returned to Rome after having spent 35 days of Canonical visit to the Philippines and Australia.

• From the 9^th to the 13^th the International Formation Commission met under the accompaniment of Frs. Adilson and Joe. The meeting restudied the document that was submitted to the attention of the Council of the Congregation in Luanda 2015.

• On saturday, the 14^th, in the presence of the General Council, Fr. Heliodoro, Provincial Superior of Italy, and the priests of the Parish, with some student priests of the General House, Fr. Henryk of the General Council, officially assumed his duties as Administrator of the Parish of Our Lady of La Salette in Rome before Cardinal Agostino Vallini, the Vicar of Rome.

• On the 16^th and 17^th, the General Council of MS met with the General Council of the La Salette Sisters. It was an important moment of reviewing the mutual commitments undertaken in 2014, among which is the signing of the new contract regarding the joint administration of the Shrine, and other possible areas of collaboration by the two congregations in the near future.

• On the 20th of Nov. Frs. Joe and Silvano participated in the funeral services for Bro. Albert Girard at the Shrine of La Salette. Bro. Albert, a member of the international community, died on the 17^th of November.
  • From 25^th to the 27^th, Fr. Silvano participated in the annual Assembly of the USG (Union of Superiors General) held in the General House of the Salesians (Salesianum). The first part of the meeting was centered on the reports on the recent Synod of Bishops, where some General Superiors participated. The second part was devoted to the election of the President and various institutional councils. Fr. Johri Mauro, OFM Cap. was elected President.

• Also from 25^th to the 28^th the Provincial Secretaries met under the guidance of Frs. Belarmino, Adilson and Joe Bachand. In the meeting, the new software on “General Registry of Members” chosen during the Council of the Congregation in Luanda to facilitate the filing of data of members was presented and explained.

• Sisters Fara and Maria, SNDS, guests at the generalate since Oct. 1, fruitfully continued their study of the Italian Language in one of the schools for foreign students in Rome, in view of a new assignment of attending to and animating Italian pilgrims at the Shrine of Our Lady of Protection in Marseille, France, beginning February 2016.

• On Dec. 4^th, Fr. Joe Bachand, General Councilor, went to the Shrine of La Salette for about 10 days in order to meet with the members of the International community before they disperse for their well-deserved winter vacation. His ministry as local Superior will begin on January 1, 2016.