Mornese (Italy). The Piedmont Province of Mary Help of Christians (IPI), in whose land will take place, on 24, 25, 26 April 2022 in Turin, Mornese, Nizza, the 2022 World Gratitude Day with the theme, “They are my daughters”. The website www.festadelgrazie.org, makes available to the FMA Communities and Educating Communities an itinerary to prepare for the event.
ACCOMPANIMENT
Accompaniment is the key word that characterizes the third and final week, from 18 to 24 April, set in Nizza Monferrato (AL), where Don Bosco, on 22 August 1885, meets the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians for the last time. “Our Lady walks in this house and covers it with her mantle” are the last words he addresses to them, words that evoke an experience he really lived, rooted in faith and in the Salesian charism. Mary is present as protector, guide, and inspirer in helping the FMA and the Educating Communities to live the generative power of the Charism in the today of history. By “house” we mean the world, where the mission entrusted to the FMA and the Educating Communities takes place and Mary, as in Nizza, continues to cover with her mantle all the Houses of the FMA and those who enter them.
A video leads to Nizza, where Don Bosco’s visit took place and to the rooms of what was once the Mother House of the FMA and the Generalate from 1879 to 1929, where Mother Mazzarello lived the last moments of her life.
The texts available on the site offer ideas to the Communities to experience, during the week, celebratory or formative moments in preparation for the Feast.
Among the biblical ideas that present female figures from the Old Testament in which to contemplate the features of Mary, in the third week the accompanying experience of Deborah, one of the judges of Israel, is presented. The wisdom that God gives to Deborah through the gift of prophecy and the light of her Spirit is strengthened in the human qualities already present in this woman capable of accompanying with delicate discretion, as if she walked silently and powerfully among her people (Jdg. 4: 3-10).
The commitment proposals for the communities concern the sharing of experiences of the accompaniment of Mary experienced in one’s own life and on the accompaniment of young people, and can be extended to youth groups or represent ideas for brief testimonies.
The communities are also invited to create a small community “Marian gallery” by projecting or displaying photos. Worldwide, the page Mary in the world is being enriched with images of Mary representative of each nation where the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians are present and with hints to the wonders that Our Lady has worked and continues to work for the populations and of the different world realities.
The special entrustment to Mary accompanies the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians to live the time towards the World Feast of Gratitude, that is now near, with a grateful heart for the journey of the FMA Institute in the 150 years since the Foundation.
