Rome Italy). The Mother General of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, Sister Chiara Cazzuola, in Circular No. 1024 presents to the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and to the Educational Communities the Strenna 2023 of the Rector Major of the Salesians of Don Bosco, Don Ángel Fernández Artime:
“LIKE YEAST IN THE HUMAN FAMILY TODAY.
The lay dimension of the Family of Don Bosco”
Recalling the recipients of the Strenna – addressed to children, adolescents, young people and the Groups of the Salesian Family, invited to discover the lay dimension and called to be true leaven in the midst of the people of this time – Mother highlights the specificity charismatic of the FMA:
“As consecrated women, in the Salesian Family, we too are called to be “yeast in the dough for the bread of humanity” and to live close to others, together with others, for others, letting ourselves be enriched by the evangelical secularism of our brothers. and sisters, to make the Family whole and alive. Faithful to our specific educational charism, we want to help girls and boys, adolescents, young men and women, to discover their own resources for good in order to be in the world the leaven that helps to leaven the dough and make the food tastier. “bread of the human family”.
The likeness of yeastextracted from the evangelical word (Lk 13,20-21), reveals an abundance of pedagogical and educational elements and describes well the reality of the Kingdom of God, “humanly small and seemingly irrelevant” that requires poverty of heart, trust, humility, collaboration, “but it is above all initiative and gift of the Lord”, which multiplies good and makes every action fruitful.
This is what Mother Mazzarello also expresses, saying “It is the hand of God that works in us.” (cf L 66,2), words that reveal the experience of a woman who “He allowed himself to be enlightened and to work internally by the grace of God”, with the conviction thatit is necessary to let oneself be modeled throughout life by the creative and purifying hand of God”.
the daughters of SeaAuxiliadora, together with the other Groups of the Salesian Family, are therefore asked to “to be the good leaven in the flour of humanity and recognize the richness of the vocation of lay men and women in all educational communities, valuing, in different cultures and societies, the gift of life, the strength of faith, the creativity of love, the beauty of the family , experience and professional competence, evangelical witness”.
The appreciation of the everyday as a place where life is embodied, the promotion of youth leadership and the consolidation of behaviors that reinforce peace and fraternity among peoples, are elements on which the Salesian Spiritualitywhich animates and enlivens the Salesian Youth Movement, in which relationships bear the imprint of the family spirit.
“To be leaven in today’s world”, summarizes Mother Chiara, “is to respond to the call to be, to be a presence that generates life, that accompanies the growth and maturation, especially of young people, feeling that they are a living part of society and of the Church, ready to leave the narrow horizons of their own lives to discover, in the fabric of day-to-day life, the dimension of ecclesial, political and social commitment”.
At the end of an intense year of celebrations for the 150th founding of the FMA Institute, La Madre invites you to continue on the journey by keeping alive the fire of belonging to the Lord and to the Salesian Family.
On behalf of all the FMA, she also expresses her gratitude to the Rector Major for having offered, with this Strenna, “the opportunity to renew our commitment to be instruments of communion within the Salesian Family, giving our specific contribution as consecrated women educators”.
The Circular concludes with a wish to the Salesian Brothers, to the Groups of the Salesian Family, to the Educational Communities, and to all the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, “for a 2023 bearer of peace and understanding among Nations”.