Every September 24, we, the Daughters of Jesus, commemorate the day when Candida María de Jesús and a first group of 42 sisters sealed their “forever” commitment to fidelity with their perpetual vows. That gesture, born of a profound experience of feeling like daughters loved by God, gave rise to a way of life that has spanned entire generations of the Congregation.
On this very day, more than a century later, that “forever” inspires us to take a decisive step today: we are embarking on a congregational journey to deepen our sense of belonging—the aspect of our charism that the 19th General Congregation identified as central, based on the discernment of all the communities and Provincial Congregations.
A path that arises from the discernment of all
The Resolution of the 19th General Chapter invited the Daughters of Jesus to renew their very being, first and foremost, in their deepest identity: to feel and know themselves as daughters. From this arose the desire to embark on a shared journey to draw closer to the filial experience of our Foundress and, through that, to feel God as our Father even today.
At the request of the Superior General, Graciela Mirta Francovig FI, a commission composed of Daughters of Jesus of various ages and cultures has devoted months of reading, prayer, and discernment to preparing this journey: the Commission to Deepen the Meaning of Filiation, composed of Mª del Pilar Linde Cirujano, FI; Mª Dolores Giménez, FI; Mª Cecilia Martínez, FI; and Mª Teresa Hu, FI. The fruit of their work is the document On the Path to the Roots of Our Vocation: To Be Daughters, a journey conceived not as just another study, but as an authentic communal pilgrimage to, in the commission’s own words, “experience the experience.”
Twelve Roadmaps to Follow Together
The itinerary unfolds across twelve Roadmaps, each with two complementary dimensions: Mother Candida’s spiritual experience—the landscape—and the traces that experience has left along the Congregation’s journey. Between these two extremes, the journey invites us to contemplate who God is and who Jesus is for our Foundress, ultimately leading to the filial attitudes that spring from this: trust, fidelity, love, strength, and generosity…
Each community will carry out this process with the freedom and creativity called for by the diversity of the Congregation—which is present in 17 countries and on four continents—always through dialogue in the Spirit and under the protection of Mary, today honored under the title of Our Lady of Mercy.
An Invitation to Walk Together
This journey is, above all, a gift for our communities. But we also want to share it with our charismatic family: those who feel a close connection to the spirit of Mother Candida are invited to join us in prayer, to accompany us on this journey from wherever they are, and to gradually learn how it is being lived out in each community. We will share this experience as it unfolds, in the hope that others in the charismatic family may also embark on their own journey back to this same root.
This is a journey that seeks to have our membership “transform the way we live and serve.” May Our Lady of Mercy, together with our Foundress and the many Daughters of Jesus who have gone before us, accompany us on these first steps.
