As Daughters of Jesus, we welcome this new year 2026 with a heart full of hope and gratitude for the 365 days we are granted to continue announcing Jesus, available to those who need us most, in any part of the world… We begin this journey with our eyes set on the horizon given to us by the XIX General Congregation, held in May 2025.
During this year, we are especially invited to continue to make alive the calls of the Spirit for the Daughters of Jesus and the entire Mother Candida Family, which have been expressed in the “Determination of the GCXIX”, based on those words of M. Candida that reach us today as a revelation: “I wish to be called the Daughters of Jesus”. Candida’s words that reach us today as a revelation: “I wish to be called Daughters of Jesus”. We are invited to deepen our own identity: filiation. We are called to be daring women and bearers of hope, capable of giving daring answers to the challenges of our world today.
World Day of Peace
On this first day of the year, we also join in Pope Leo XIV’s message for the 59th World Day of Peace, under the motto: “Peace be with you all: towards a “disarmed and disarming” peace”. The Holy Father reminds us that peace is a presence and a way that must dwell in us, functioning as a principle that guides and determines our decisions. This peace, humble and persevering, is born of openness and evangelical humility, values that resonate deeply with our desire to be “Daughters” in the Son.
In a special way, the Pope links this call to peace with the Jubilee of Hope, inviting us to recognize it as a time of grace that will bring about an authentic interior disarmament. May this Jubilee be a fruitful fruit for humanity, awakening in millions of people the awareness of knowing that they are pilgrims and encouraging them to begin within themselves this disarmament of heart, mind and life. To this path, God faithfully responds by fulfilling his promises: “He will be judge among the nations and arbiter of many peoples. With their swords they will forge plows and pruning hooks with their spears. No nation shall lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more: come, O house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the Lord” (Is 2:4-5). Thus, hope becomes concrete when peace begins to brew in the depths of each person and is projected as light for the world.
From the first day of the year, every day and in every situation, let us spare no effort to achieve peace.
Mary, Mother of God
And today, January 1, the Church also joyfully celebrates the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, the greatest title of Mary, a simple woman, available in everything to God’s will. As we conclude the Christmas octave, we honor Mary as the Theotokos, recognizing that she is truly the Mother of the eternal Son of God made man. As we begin this life journey of the new year 2026, we entrust ourselves to her maternal protection:
– She is our Ark of the Covenant, who carried in her womb the Word itself and the Bread of Heaven.
– She is the Star of our paths, who guides and accompanies us.
– We have recourse to her so that, as the “full of grace,” she may help us to be the Daughters of Jesus that the Church and humanity need today.
– We entrust ourselves to her, asking her to teach us to love Jesus and to live with Him and like Him.
May Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, lead us to Jesus every day of the year that we begin today.
Happy and blessed 2026!
