Roma (Italia). On the occasion of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary 2024, the Superior General of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, Mother Chiara Cazzuola, addresses a Message of greetings to all FMA and Educating Communities:
Today is a day of joy and beauty in which the Church celebrates the fullness of grace, the Woman whom the love of the Father created for His Son, the all-beautiful and radiant Mother of the light of the Holy Spirit.
There is no room in Her for the darkness of sin. She is like heaven found on earth for the beloved Only-Begotten Son. Mary is the sign that nothing is impossible to God. His plan of salvation for humanity is clearly designed in Her. Full of the presence of God from always, Mary is ‘the youngest of humankind’ (G. Bernanos, Diary of a country Priest, II, 1988, p. 175). There is only one thing, in fact, that really makes one grow old inside. It is not the age, but rather sin that makes one old, because it hardens the heart. It closes it, makes it inert, makes it fade.
At the origin of our charismatic history there is Mary. We find Her especially in the “sacred” dream of a child, called to things that seem impossible and therefore, he is confused, I would say anguished. But there She is, the Woman dressed with stars, radiant with resurrection and grace who takes him maternally by the hand.
She, the full of grace, always has her heart open to welcome and give in harmony with life. In her, God shows us the full accomplishment of His wonderful plan for humanity.
The beauty of Mary does not only shine in heaven, but it illuminates our lives as well. We too, “enlightened” by Christ in Baptism, received the Light on that day. With these words, in fact, “Receive the light of Christ,” the Church invites us to spread the light which we have since then carried in our hearts.
As Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, we are called to shine, to illuminate with our lives even the darkest places of this world. We must, however, know how to “remain in the Light”, in the brightness of a design always thought for each one of us.
We know the secret of Mary: the Word of God heard, meditated, guarded in her heart, assimilated in her being, that in her womb becomes flesh and, in her life, becomes mercy for us, co-redemptive love, light of hope for all.
In the beautiful homily of Saint Bernard Abbot (From the ‘Homilies on Our Lady’ of Saint Bernard, Abbot Om. 4, 8-9; Opera omnia, ed. Cisterc. 4, 1966, 53-54;) which is located in the Office of Readings of 20 December, we read: “The whole world is waiting, prostrate at your knees. From your mouth depends the consolation of the poor, the redemption of prisoners, the liberation of the condemned, the salvation of all the children of Adam, of the entire human race.”
And the incarnation by divine will combined with the ‘yes’ of Mary, is really the central event of history. Heaven and earth meet, they are not confused; they love; they transform. The Father wants to do something new, “a new humanity” open to His joy. To the cry that had crossed history for millennia, the passionate cry of God from the garden of origins, “Where are you?” Behold, how a girl from Nazareth can answer, “I am in grace; I am in the love that You, O God, have had for me; I am in Your land of blessing.”
Like Her, we want to live the full acceptance of God’s plan for us and for our communities, to be a proclamation to young people of life and true joy. We will be for them an announcement of the possibility of a luminous path of faith in the Word of God, in His presence, in a world where mistrust is growing with its sad consequences of flight from God, humanity, and the earth.
We bring to the young people the attitudes of Mary, full of grace, in entrustment to God.
We bring Mary Immaculate as a great hymn to life. (…)
In Sister Maria Troncatti, whom we now have the joy of celebrating in the fullness of holiness recognized by the Church, her maternal solicitude is inspired by the goodness of the Mother of God. We can say that she was ‘helper’ with the Help of Christians! (…)
Finally, a thought to the young. Today, Mary can offer them a life proposal: that of a woman fully realized, a woman who hopes and works for a real change in the world.
It is beautiful and useful to imagine Mary, the mother of people who are living the time of human youth, extremely important and decisive for the life of each one. But it is good not to think of young people in a static way, because their condition is that of the becoming and ‘not yet’, where patience, trust, and hope are needed both in those who educate as in those who are being educated.
To Mary we entrust not only the young people of the world, but also the populations and communities that live in difficult situations due to war, violence, climatic upheavals, poverty. On all humanity we invoke with faith the gift of a true and lasting peace.
May Mary keep alive in everyone the certain hope: She is the Mother of Hope!
Happy Feast!
Rome, 8 December 2024
Sister Chiara Cazzuola
Superior General of the FMA Institute
Muchas gracias querida Madre por su hermoso mensaje que nos invita reavivar y fortalecer una vez el amor y la adhesión a María; felicidades y augurios a las hermanas del consejo.
Grazie Madre, le Sue parole danno luce e coraggio. Maria è per noi una forza pura e forte. È davvero l’Aiuto nostro. Grazie!
Gracias Madre Chiara por este hermoso mensaje…la Auxiliadora Inmaculada continúe bendiciendote. Feliz fiesta. Augurios
Grazie, Madre Chiara di questo bellissimo messaggio. Buona festa dell’Immacolata