Genoa (Italy). On 13 October 2024, in the church of St. Gaetano and St. John Bosco in Genoa Sampierdarena, in Liguria, which saw the first sprouts of her consecrated vocation as a Salesian, Sister Giorgia Mucedero, Daughter of Mary Help of Christians of Our Lady of the Cenacle Province (ILS), made her perpetual vows in the hands of the Superior General of the FMA Institute, Mother Chiara Cazzuola.
The excitement and joy for this feast were also fueled by the presence of Mother who, in her short visit to the ILS Province, wished to have a time of encounter with the Temporary Professed and the young Sisters.
On the morning of Saturday 12 October, she shared with the young FMA a moment of dialogue and exchange, guided by three questions: What are steps for a conversion of the heart that favors “Remaining in his Love”? How can we be witnesses of hope with/in our fraternal life? Our mission is to serve young people “by walking with them on the path of holiness”. How do we achieve this today?
Mother then gathered what was shared, leaving us a message of hope that comes from knowing that we are called by a Love that always precedes and only asks us to know how to abandon ourselves, letting His Love descend into our life.
After lunch, offered by the delicate hospitality of Mary Help of Christians Community of Genoa, Mother Chiara and the Provincial, Sister Elide Degiovanni, continued the visit to the houses of the Province, reaching Mary Help of Christians Community of Alassio, Villa Piaggio, while the young women moved to the oratory of Sampierdarena for the final preparations and dinner, shared with the family of Sister Giorgia and some laypeople.
The vigil on Saturday evening accompanied the FMA, young people, and parishioners in three steps: meet love, embody love, stay in love. Main’s encounter with the God of Love in sickness and the example of Don Bosco, good Father for young people, prepared the ground for the time of adoration, that closed the prayer and allowed entrusting Sister Giorgia to Him who first and most fully gave His life for His friends.
In the Salesian Good Night, Mother, taking up the phrase chosen by Sister Giorgia, addressed her and those present:
“There is a very beautiful phrase that we prayed tonight, ‘Remain in my love’. It is what the Lord promises us. It is an invitation, a call, and also a certainty for us who believe in His Love. Remain in my Love… and I remain in you. It is reciprocal; the Lord assures us this and meanwhile asks us to accept it totally. This is the fundamental choice, that of Love, which is Him.
The second thing: we are reflecting so much on the dream that Johnny had at the age of 9. This dream remained in his memory for his whole life and becomes a guiding dream, a call that is reflected on at various times throughout his life. Inside this dream are we, each of us. In this community that prayed tonight, which will continue tomorrow, we are all part of this dream and have this great grace to be called to share a very beautiful charism, which is a gift to the Church, but also to us all. A Charism that is entrusted to our hands. The Lord also gives us the Teacher, who is Mary, who accompanies our steps today to realize this dream, this call. Our prayer becomes a sharing, a support, a strength, also for Sister Giorgia.”
The rain on Sunday morning did not prevent the Sisters of the Province, the family of the new perpetual professed, and many young people and lay people to reach the church for the Eucharistic celebration, presided by Fr. Stefano Aspettati, Salesian of Don Bosco, Director of the Salesian Work in Florence and Scandicci, and concelebrated by the priests who have accompanied Sister Giorgia to this day. Sister Elide presented her path: love for the game of football, an unexpected proposal that opened the way to service, the encounter with the tenderness and welcome of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, who gave face and flesh to the Love which slowly made room in her life.
It is in this love that Sister Giorgia has chosen to “remain”, saying her “yes forever” in the hands of Mother Chiara, in a daily life that – as Fr. Stefano stressed in his homily – is not a simple “succession of todays”, but living today consciously within the eternal. A choice that becomes a challenge against sadness, because consecration is a trajectory that identifies a very clear final point of arrival, namely Paradise, in which to bring all the young people who will be companions on the journey.
This is the wish to Sister Giorgia, so that her life may show young people the fullness of joy and she can be, in the words of Mother Chiara, “a happy and faithful Daughter of Mary Help of Christians”.
Photos: Flickr FMA
