As we come to the end of the year 2025, a propitious time has come for us to pause, look at the road we have traveled and give thanks for all the good we have received. Each year-end is an invitation to recognize God’s faithfulness, his silent and fruitful passage through our personal and community history.
In this spirit of gratitude, in this last week of the year, we share a thanksgiving that comes to us from the Dominican Republic, where our sisters have celebrated 70 years of the presence of the Daughters of Jesus in that land. Seventy years of mission, closeness, dedication and hope sown in the lives of so many people and communities.
Thanksgiving for the 70th anniversary of the Daughters of Jesus in Dominican Republic
On the 13th of this month of December we joyfully celebrated the Eucharist, thanksgiving, for the 70 years of presence of the Daughters of Jesus in the Dominican Republic. With a grateful heart we raise our gratitude to our Father:
Lord and God of life, today we raise to you our thanksgiving. Seventy years have passed since we arrived in this Dominican land, and in every step, in every face and in every story, we recognize your faithful hand and your generous heart.
Thank you for having called us, for having sent us, for entrusting to us the mission of being a credible sign of your love, of your tenderness, of your closeness. Thank you for having placed in our hands the work of educating, of accompanying, of forming, of caring for life, especially that of the smallest and most vulnerable.
Thank you for this land that received us, embraced us and made us yours. Thank you because in every school, parish, community and neighborhood we discover your humble presence, your living word, your Kingdom being born in the small.
We thank you for the sisters who have preceded us along the way: for their dedicated lives, for their silent prayer, for their hidden service, for their faith that sustained the work when it seemed impossible. They are part of our most beautiful heritage.
Thank you for the bishops, priests, consecrated men and women, and for so many people of the Church who welcomed us, encouraged us and accompanied us, trusting in our mission and opening doors for us to serve.
Today we thank you for your faithfulness, which is stronger than our frailties. For in these 70 years, you have been the rock, the light and the encouragement. You have been the one who sustains our steps when we lack strength, and who renews our hope when the mission overcomes us.
Thank you, Lord, for every teacher, for every collaborator, for every family and every child who has passed through our hands. They have been companions in mission, and also teachers of the Gospel, showing us your face of joy, fragility, strength and hope.
And we also thank you for the trust you have placed in us: for believing in our smallness, for calling us by name, for inviting us to follow Jesus through education, with a passionate and humble heart.
Today, Lord, we give thanks for the vocation shared with so many lay men and women who, with passion and dedication, have made their own the educational mission born of Mother Candida’s charism. They are faithful continuators of the apostolic task, guardians of hope and sowers of your Kingdom in classrooms, families and daily life.
Renew in us, Lord, the spirit of Mary Immaculate and Mother Candida: make us women of faith, of joy, of audacity, of service; women who know how to embrace life, accompany processes, sow hope, heal wounds, and keep the flame of the Gospel burning.
May these 70 years be a grateful memory, a fruitful present and a confident future. May your Spirit push us to continue walking, dreaming, serving and educating, with a universal heart, contagious joy and creative fidelity. Finally, we thank you for today, for those of us who are here, for those who continue to arrive, for those we do not yet know, but who will be part of this history that you continue to write with us.
To You the glory, Lord of life. To You our gratitude, our history and our tomorrow. Thank you, Lord!
United in gratitude and mission
From other places and realities, we join our sisters of the Dominican Republic in this thanksgiving for the 70 years of presence of the Daughters of Jesus in that blessed land. We are grateful with them for each step taken, each life accompanied, each gesture of silent dedication that has been weaving this fruitful history.
We make their prayer our own and we also raise our gratitude to the Lord for his faithfulness throughout these years. May this shared celebration strengthen our communion, renew the joy of our vocation and encourage us to continue walking together, with grateful hearts, lively hope and readiness for the mission that God continues to entrust to us.
