Almagro (Argentina) Within the frame of the celebrations of the 140th anniversary of the arrival of the first missionaries, on 2 November 2019, Mother Yvonne Reungoat arrived in Argentina to visit Saint Francis of Sales Province (ABA).
She was welcomed into the ABA Province by the FMA who had gathered to participate in the National Meeting. “Welcome to the house of joy, welcome to the hearth of love,” was the song that accompanied the reception of Mother in Almagro (Buenos Aires).
In the afternoon, Mother participated in Holy Mass in the parish of St. Charles, where she expressed her joy to be present at the International Congress of Mary Help of Christians which will be held on November 7-10: “It is very beautiful to think that from all over the world men and women of the Salesian Family will arrive with the same love for Mary Help of Christians. She always blesses us and accompanies us, she is always the Mother of the Salesian Family.”
The day ended with the good night during which Mother expressed her appreciation for the unity created in the meeting: “More than we could say and meditate, the fact of living the experience together is already very important . Meeting each other, feeling ourselves sisters gives us strength, animates us, makes us feel we are the same family. It is as if we were all one province. ” Moreover, Mother Yvonne focused on the importance of letting ourselves be challenged by the Word of God: “We will discover, step by step, what He will tell us. Reading, availability, the desire to discover with a loving heart what He is telling us through all of us is important. “
On Sunday there was the official beginning of the National Meeting of the FMA which gathered around Mother the three Provinces of Argentina: St. Francis de Sales (ABA), St. Francis Xavier (ABB), and Our Lady of the Rosary (ARO). At the beginning, the history of the arrival of the first missionaries in the country was presented, bringing back to the heart’s memory the first steps of the charism in Argentina. A grateful memory rekindled the memory of what the country was like, the city of Buenos Aires, and the neighborhood of Almagro, which welcomed the first Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in 1879. The journey continued through the Basilica, the chapel – to meet deeply with Mother Mazzarello – and the Missionary Spirituality Center, where they were able to contemplate the first fruits of FMA presence.
On Monday, space was given for prayer, to learn about and deepen the process of Resignification that the Institute is going through in Argentina. The group in charge, letting themselves be guided by the verbs resignify, restructure, and revitalize, presented the path lived starting from its formation in 2018. Echoing the above, Mother encouraged us to continue to renew ourselves starting from the charism, with trust, sweetness, and without fear. She then invited us to take steps together with the young people of the communities so as to be in Argentina the presence our founders dreamed of.
